Every once in a while, an atheist responds to one of my tweets by sending me some kind of picture of a horrific situation, and telling me that religion is evil.

Usually, it’s a picture of a malnourished African child followed by a comment like, “Look, here is your loving God letting kids starve to death!”

I always respond by defending God in some kind of fashion.

I can relate to some of these objections about religion because after all, I’m a former atheist myself.

When I was an atheist, I didn’t
understand how a loving God could allow so much suffering in the world.

But now, I know the answer to that question, and I’m better off for knowing it.

So is religion evil? And more importantly, is Christianity evil?

If you’re a Christian, then you need to know how to answer this objection
when it comes up.

And if you’re not a Christian, and you’re someone that believes that Christianity is evil, then please consider these five reasons why I believe that’s not the case.

[size=16]5 Reasons Why Christianity is Not Evil[/size]

1. True Christianity is Not a Religion First of all, we have to ask the question, “Is Christianity really a religion?”

If you look it up in a college text book or on Wikipedia, then you’ll read that of course Christianity is a religion.

But for those who practice Christianity in its truest sense, we beg to differ, and here’s why.

Religion is about what humans have to do to get to God. Most religions of the world teach that you have to do a bunch of things to get to God.

This is not the case with Christianity. Christianity says that God has done one thing for humankind, so that we could have a relationship with Him.

God gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes on Him, would notperish but would have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

So when people bundle Christianity with other religions, it shows that they misunderstand the key difference
between them.

And there’s a huge difference between religion and relationship!

It’s one of those things that you have to try yourself to really understand.

2. People Twist the Meaning of Bible Verses

Usually the people that say religion is evil, and that Christianity is evil, will cite people killing, hating, and hurting others all in the name of God.

If you read the Biblethe right way from cover to cover, you’ll find that God instructs people to do just the opposite of those things.

He commands people to love, serve,
and help others.

So then, where’s the problem?

The problem is that people twist Bible verses so that they will serve their own agenda.

For example, people from Westboro Baptist Church preach that God hates gay people.

They take Bible verses out of context, and twist them to serve their own beliefs that aren’t compatible with the Bible.

While homosexuality is listed as a sin in the Bible, so is fornication, which is also known as sleeping with someone outside of the context of marriage.

But the Bible says that God loves all sinners, which certainly includes gay people, fornicators, and all those that commit other types of sins as well.

Westboro Baptist is a perfect example that illustrates this problem of people taking Bible verses out of context, and speaking wrongfully on behalf of God.

One day those people will be judged, and they won’t have a happy ending unless they repent.

3. People Do Things in the Name
of Christianity that God Hates

What about evil events in historylike the Crusades?

Well, you can be sure that there’s nothing in the Bible that supports one nation conquering another, so that it can change that country’s religion.

That time when the Crusades occurred was a dark time in history, and unfortunately, people did some evil things in the name of God.

This is a case of not only people taking verses out of context to justify their agenda, it’s also a case of adding scriptures that aren’t found in the Bible.

4. God isn’t Evil Because He Doesn’t Feed Starving Kids in Africa

This objection is quite popular with some atheists.

They say that if God really existed, then surely He would help starving kids in Africa, amputees, and other helpless children.

Since the Christian God doesn’t help out these types of helpless people,
some atheists conclude that God is an
evil God. That’s why they don’t want to believe in Him.

The problem with this objection is a matter of having a wrong perspective about God.

God created a perfect world in which there was no sin.

But when Adam and Eve fell in the garden of Eden, sin entered the world.

If you don’t believe in the whole Adam and Eve story, then how would you answer the following questions:

¤ How do you explain all the evil and suffering in the world?
¤ Why are people sinners rather than saints?
¤ Why are people inherently bad rather than being inherently good?

God says that one day, He’ll take away all the sin that entered the world, and will judge everybody for the things that they did here on earth.

In the meantime, all the suffering that we see today is a result of original sin that’s been multiplied through time.

Additionally, God doesn’t promise
a suffering-free life to believers.

The book of Job is a perfect example of this. Job suffered the loss of His kids, his finances, and his spouse.

God allowed Job to experience these
things for God’s own reasons. And at
the end, God restored everything that
Job had, and much more.

God promises His children that all things will work together for good for those who love Him, and are called according to His purpose.

5. God isn’t into Genocide

Some people have a problem with the God of the Bible because they say that He ordered genocide.

If you’re not familiar with what genocide is, it’s the killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation.

Atheists use this objection to say that God is a murderer because He ordered the killing of innocent women, children, and animals in the Bible.

The Bible does record that God ordered the killing of the Ammonites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and several other nations.

But here is what people fail to see when it comes to this objection:

None of these people were innocent. In fact, they were excessively wicked.

Imagine mothers who burned their own children in order to sacrifice them as offerings to fake idols. What does such a mother deserve?

This is just one thing on a list of hideous crimes that these wicked nations committed.

God, in His mercy, gave these nations many chances to repent. When they didn’t, God executed His judgment on them by using the nation of Israel to destroy them.

If there were as few as ten people who weren’t guilty of practicing such terrible things, then God would have probably spared the entire nation.

Just read the story of Lot, and how God would have spared the entire city from destruction if Abraham found as few as ten people who were innocent.

Furthermore, we know that the Bible says this about God:

[size=16]He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He. -Deuteronomy 32:4[/size]

I could talk about this last point in a
separate blog post of it’s own, but I
decided to keep it short. Any questions, please feel to post them in the comments.

[size=14]Here’s My View on Religion That Might Surprise You[/size]

So after you read this article, you might be surprised to learn that I actually do think that religion is evil.

I’ve established in point number one above, that Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship with God.

With that in mind, I believe that any religion that keeps you away from coming into a relationship with the true and living God is evil. That’s because [size=14]"The best thing that can ever happen to you is to become a child of GOD by putting your faith in Jesus"[/size]

Anything that stands in your way of your relationship with God is in my opinion, evil.

All religions that preach that there is some other way to heaven other than through Jesus, is wrong.

So that’s my two cents, or actually more than just two, about this whole topic of religion being evil, and Christianity being evil.

[url=notashamedofthegospel.com/apologetics/is-religion-evil/]Source.[/url]

Praise tha LORD!

Cc: Seun

Following

NZAGHA:
Following

The food don done...

(Pidgin english shaa.)

Dont Worry DoctorAlien the prediction on signature will come to pass for some of them, if they are still alive

GoodMuyis:
Dont Worry DoctorAlien the prediction on signature will come to pass for some of them, if they are still alive

I sincerely hope that all of them will be in the first group.

DoctorAlien:


The food don done...

(Pidgin english shaa.)

Thank God for your conversion. May I correct an impression.
Your no.2 Concerning Homosexual. God is clear that such persons practising these are abominable and wicked and shall never inherit the kingdom of God. Except they repent of course.

The bible is also clear that no sinner shall inherit the kingdom of God. Rev 21:8.

MrPRevailer:


Thank God for your conversion. May I correct an impression.
Your no.2 Concerning Homosexual. God is clear that such persons practising these are abominable and wicked and shall never inherit the kingdom of God. Except they repent of course.

The bible is also clear that no sinner shall inherit the kingdom of God. Rev 21:8.

All what you said is true. However, GOD does not hate homosexuals. He died for them too. He loves them and He is willing to help them overcome their sinful lifestyle.

Bump!

Nice thread.

What made you change from Atheism?
Have you ever had an encounter with 'God'?

Mementoes:
What made you change from Atheism?
Have you ever had an encounter with 'God'?

The article was not written by me. The source is there.

And yes, I've had an encounter with GOD.

DoctorAlien:


The article was not written by me. The source is there.

And yes, I've had an encounter with GOD.

Sorry... I didn't see the reference initially because I skimmed through the thread.

How can I get a personal encounter? I'm on the verge of thinking such things are mere delusions (no offense intended pls) at the moment. Maybe I'm not doing something right.

Mementoes,

"And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." Jer. 29:13

The first qualification for having a life-changing encounter is being totally willing to find Him. As the verse above states, the LORD is not found by those who search with half of their heart, or even 99% of their heart: the LORD reveals Himself to those who are totally in for discovering GOD.

This all-consuming desire to discover the LORD GOD of hosts, and the truth about His nature is what keeps the soul searching and searching until he eventually finds GOD, because, as a rule, any body that desires and searches for GOD with his whole heart must find Him.

The next factor is where you search. Even though I desire with my whole heart to find an orange, I cannot find it if I continue ransacking a mango tree. Even so, GOD cannot be encountered when one searches for Him in the wrong place. Reading and meditating on the Bible, and praying are the avenues through which we can encounter GOD.

Mementoes,

As such, my sincere advice to you is to pick a copy of the Bible, preferably the King James Version, and begin to study the Word of GOD prayerfully. As the LORD GOD sees your desire to know Him, He will send the Holy Spirit to illumine your heart, and make you understand how much GOD loves you. He'll also expose to you the folly of skepticism, and you will find joy and peace.

I personally was at that point when all that concerned religion was tasteless to me. Even then, I knew that GOD was in Heaven. I just felt that I could not connect to Him; at least not through the system of things being peddled as Christianity. I would not go to church on Sundays(I later found out the truth about Sunday), my parents could even notice that I had no zeal for all those religious stuff.

That was when the truth about Jesus hit me. I saw that much of today's "Christianity" far from what it should be. The desire to worship Him was rekindled in me.

Mementoes,

And we can trust the Bible as a guide to GOD because a careful study will reveal that it is 100% truth. The Bible contains prophecies that have been fulfilled exactly as it states and prophecies that are being fulfilled exactly as it states it too.

In the Bible, and in the Bible alone can one discover the true identity of GOD(which has been misrepresented so much), what He really demands, what He has provided and what He will do for anyone who will accept Him.

So, my sincere advice to you is to come to GOD through Jesus, and you will see that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, as opposed to what skeptics think, that wisdom is living one's life without acknowledging the giver of life. I recommend no pastor to you, I recommend no book to you, I recommend no church to you(for now). The only thing I recommend to you is the Bible and prayer.

You can ask me any questions you have about anything.

GOD bless you.

PS: Ignorant skeptics on Nairaland and the internet at large have made it look as if belief in GOD undermines appropriate reasoning. They have not been able to show how belief in a loving GOD who is willing to save man from this sin-cursed condition is foolishness. That is beside the fact that without a just GOD in the picture, evil has every reason to exist, reign and become arbitrary.

Ignorant skeptics have also made it look as if the Bible is opposed to science, when, in fact, GOD commanded man to fill the earth and subdue it. Many a great scientist has testified that the ideas that led to the great discoveries they made were from the Bible, GOD's word. An example is the discovery of ocean currents(paths of the sea) by Maury, who was inspired by Psa. 8:8.

The main reason why men deny GOD and refuse to acknowledge Him is because they love sin. In the Bible is portrayed a just and holy GOD, who abhors sin greatly, and reproves men for their evil deeds, while providing a way of escaping from the clutches of sin. Men don't want a GOD who tells them to stop fornicating, lying, being greedy, cheating and engaging in riotous living. They therefore begin to convince themselves that such a GOD does not exist.

"And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." Jn. 3:19

The good news is that GOD has provided a help in Jesus Christ. He will accept anyone, no matter who they are. As many as will remain stiffnecked and choose not to repent, upon them will the anger of the LORD be visited on that great day.

"Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? ... they have not called upon God." Psa. 53:4

"Now consider this, ye that forget GOD, lest I tear you in pieces..." Psa. 50:22

Religion of which christsisnity is one of it is EVIL..no politte way of putting it..the information contained in the religious books is for us to know and leave accordingly not to build high rise buildings, clap, dance and collect peoples money...that is wickedness of astronomical proportion...

sonmvayina:
Religion of which christsisnity is one of it is EVIL..no politte way of putting it..the information contained in the religious books is for us to know and leave accordingly not to build high rise buildings, clap, dance and collect peoples money...that is wickedness of astronomical proportion...

Read James 1:27 to see the only sense in which Christianity is a religion.

DoctorAlien:


Read James 1:27 to see the only sense in which Christianity is a religion.

who is James?....and how did he become an authority in these matters..? And where did he get the information from and why should i believe him/her?