Narcissism is defined as an excessive obsession with one's self. Narcissism allows people to view themselves as more important than everyone else. In the mind of a narcissist, the only thing that matters is himself. His needs come first. Narcissists tend to perceive their world as revolving around them.

Apathy is the inability to care about the suffering of other human beings. It's an emotional detachment from the pain of others. An apathetic person, is inclined to callous indifference towards the suffering of fellow humans.

Going by the definition of the above terms, how does it apply to Christianity? I'll explain.

How does Christianity perfect or promote Apathy?
Say for instance, a christian is involved in an accident that claims the life of everyone involved, while he escapes without a scratch. What's the common immediate reaction of any christian to this? What the average christian would do, is to immediately kneel down on the floor, raise his hands to the clouds, and give God thanks for saving him from the accident. Then the next sunday, he'd go to a church to give a testimony. This scenario doesn't strike as egregious at first glance, but vetting it critically, what you'd realize in such an act, is extreme selfishness and detachment from the suffering and pain of others.

Some christians might disagree with me at the above paragraph, but let me expatiate further.
Just imagine you and members of your family were having dinner one evening and the house suddenly collapsed, killing everyone but yourself. If you make it out alive and realize that everyone was dead, what would be your immediate response? Would you be transfixed in complete numbing agony as a result of the lives of your family members that has been lost, or would you raise your hands in the air to glorify God? Would you go to a church the next sunday with gifts for the pastor, to give a testimony celebrating your miraculous escape from greedy hands of death?

You see, everyone would do the former. This is because we have all developed empathy towards our family members. We love and care about them, and we most times put their needs ahead of ours. Imagine if we felt this way towards other people? Wouldn't our world be a better place? But what religions like christianity do is that they preclude the possibility of this. The reason why anyone would express elated gratitude for being alive, despite the gruesome death of other people, is simply because he doesn't feel empathy for those people that died. Those who have lost family members that were dear to them would agree with me that when you lose someone, you'd feel so deeply sorrowful that you'd wish they were alive and you were the one that died. You'd wish you could take their place. That's empathy, but religion prevents us from feeling this way towards others.

Just imagine the level of apathy or lack of empathy that it would take for someone to walk to the altar of a church, with a ram, or an envelope, or car key in hand, to give a testimony for surviving an accident that claimed the life of 20 other people. I mean, this is an overt example of callousness and selfishness. What is such person actually thanking God for? That God saved his life and allowed 20 other innocent people to die? Like, is the life of this person more important than the life of those that died?

The things about religion, christianity and islam in particular, is that it attenuates compassion and discourages empathy.
We have heard stories of plane crashes and natural disasters where all the people involved lost their lives and one only person survived, and we have seen religious people use such scenario to paint God as merciful and loving. Isn't this a cause for serious concern? That someone would leave out the pain and suffering and death of other humans, and accentuate the survival of one? Not only is this delusional, but it is also morally reprehensible.

We all heard about the earthquake in Haiti that caused the death of thousands of people and destruction of houses and property, and we all witnessed christians detach themselves from this immense, unprecedented havoc and death, by celebrating the fact that a statue of Jesus wasn't destroyed. Isn't this behavior a cause for alarm?

Religion erodes compassion. It allows presumably normal, empathic people to develop indifference towards the suffering of other humans by making excuses for their God.
One of the common rubric christians use to exonerate God from death of fellow humans, is by confidently asserting that there was a reason for the occurrence of such calamity. Or some might even take their delusion further by saying that those who died, died as a result of their sins, and that their death was punishment. I mean, not only are these ideas stupid, they are extraordinarily callous. They are nothing more than the refusal to genuinely connect with the suffering of other human beings.

Christianity is actually the perfection of Narcissism. It allows people to fixate only on themselves, and celebrate the good in their lives, while ignoring the suffering of other people. Say for instance a christian prays to God for a promotion, and luckly for him, he gets promoted after few weeks of praying. Such christian would invariably begin to thank God for his goodness in his life, and then use that experience to reinforce his believe that God is good. But what this individual fails to realize or acknowledge, is that at the very moment when he was praying for a promotion, someone else was praying for his child to survive from a terminal illness, or for food to eat, and such person's prayer wasn't answered.

I mean, to think that God is good for promoting you to assistant manager, or providing money to buy a new house on banana island, but failing to save a dying child or provide food for a starving person, is to fail to reason sincerely, or care sufficiently about the suffering of other humans.

Bro,

You're stressing yourself too much over Christians. You'll soon develop a migraine if you don't forget about GOD and enjoy your atheistic life.

Your Sincerely,
A Caring Christian.

DoctorAlien:
Bro,

You're stressing yourself too much over Christians. You'll soon develop a migraine if you don't forget about GOD and enjoy your atheistic life.

Your Sincerely,
A Caring Christian.

Well, I live in a society that has been polarized by religion, and I live in a world where people have allowed literature not only to cloud their judgments, but to modulate their perception of reality.

You'd agree with me that the decisions we make affects not just us, but our society as a whole. So what I am trying to do, is disillusion people from dogma and free them from intellectual bondage by pointing out the flaws in their beliefs. Not just because I feel I would be doing them an immense favor, but because I want to live in a better society, and religion has not only atomized our society, it is also the bane of it's intellectual and moral growth.

Don't forget hypocrisy.

They fight against homosexuality but you never hear a word about adultery

hahn:
Don't forget hypocrisy.

They fight against homosexuality but you never hear a word about adultery

Yet, the biblical principles that prompts them to marginalize and even harm homosexuals, still instructed them to do the same to adulterers.

Leviticus 20:10 - "If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife with the wife of his neighbour, both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death."

Leviticus 20:13 - "If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is
detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will
be on their own heads."

True case of hypocrisy and cherry picking.

DoctorAlien:
Bro,

You're stressing yourself too much over Christians. You'll soon develop a migraine if you don't forget about GOD and enjoy your atheistic life.

Your Sincerely,
A Caring Christian.

What a good advice.

Although I doubt if there will be anything worthwhile left in his lonely atheistic life to talk about if he doesn't do this.

felixomor:



What a good advice.

Although I doubt if there will be anything worthwhile left in his lonely atheistic life to talk about if he doesn't do this.

Why do you guys have the habit of circumventing the subject of the thread, and resorting to attack the personality of the op?

If for instance someone was buying petrol at a filling station thinking he was buying kerosine, and people came to meet him trying to explain that he was making a costly mistake. Would it make any sense if instead of asking these people why they thought he bought petrol instead of kerosine, the individual begins to attack their physical appearance, their clothes, or their accent? But this is exactly what people like you and Doctoralien above are fond of doing.

The beliefs we hold are very important, because they control as how we perceive our world and the kind of decisions we make. It would be unwise if we decide be dogmatic about our beliefs and resist any idea that contradicts them. I think the hallmark of having a belief, especially a religious one, is the certainty that such belief is true, but how would you validate it's veracity and reinforce your certainty of it's truth, if you fail to discuss honestly about such beliefs, especially when you are confronted with opposing ideas?

GrizzlyBear:


Why do you guys have the habit of circumventing the subject of the thread, and resorting to attack the personality of the op?

..............

Coming from A person that just created a thread to attack "the christian personality" in a religious section, yet has nothing to do with religion in the first place.

Is this not hypocrisy?

Yes it is.

felixomor:


Coming from A person that just created a thread to attack "the christian personality" in a religious section, yet has nothing to do with religion in the first place.

Is this not hypocrisy?

Yes it is.

Christianity isn't a personality, it's a belief system, and that's what I am "attacking."

I am appraising your christian beliefs and instead of you to respond to my appraisal, you went ahead to insult me.

And you still haven't addressed the subject of the thread.

GrizzlyBear:


Christianity isn't a personality, it's a belief system, and that's what I am "attacking."

I am appraising your christian beliefs and instead of you to respond to my appraisal, you went ahead to insult me.

And you still haven't addressed the subject of the thread.

Exactly, I didnt attack you also.

I only thanked someone who gave u a candid advice.

Who was concerned that you were part of a trend i have observed among people who call themselves atheists on NL and it happened to hit you because u were doing exactly that.

Moreover, pls lecture us on how to attack a belief without attacking the believer ?

GrizzlyBear:
If for instance someone was buying petrol at a filling station, thinking he was buying kerosine, and people came to meet him, trying to explain that he was making a costly mistake. Would it make any sense if instead of asking this people why they think he bought petrol instead of kerosine, the individual begins to attack their physical appearance, their clothes, or their accent? But this is exactly what people like you, and Doctoralien above, are fond of doing.

This analogy is inappropriate, to say the least.

1. Prove to me that I'm making a mistake by being a Christian.

2. Show me how I would be better off than I am now if I became an atheist today.

3. Exhaustively list out the ways atheism is better than Christianity.

DoctorAlien:


This analogy is inappropriate, to say the least.

1. Prove to me that I'm making a mistake by being a Christian.

2. Show me how I would be better off than I am now if I became an atheist today.

3. Exhaustively list out the ways atheism is better than Christianity.

1. I think NL atheists have been doing this since you registered. If you aren't convinced by the critical examination of the doctrines of your belief, and the flaws and contradictions that have been pointed out that has proven your belief to be wrong, inaccurate, and a mere construction of humans less knowledgeable than yourself, then there is nothing I can say now that would actually persuade you.

2. I think this is where most christians make a very huge mistake. The benefits you get for believing in something doesn't authenticate the validity of that belief. I can wake up tomorrow with a belief that I am the heir to the british throne. This belief comes with benefits. I would become a more confident person, because I would begin to see myself as more noble, richer, and of a higher social class than every other person. I would become happier and I would perceive myself as having a unique and important purpose in life. My beliefs would bring me these benefits, but do these benefits make my beliefs true? No. I am just being delusional and stupid.

This question just shows why you are even a christian in the first place, and it's a mirror into understanding. why people find it hard to drop religion, despite it's obvious flaws.

But to answer your question, I think you'd be better off because when you acknowledge that your religion is no different from every other religion, and that their claims are all false, you would become suffused with a feeling of freedom and inner joy, the kind you'd get when you are unshackled from physical bondage, but in this case, it's intellectual bondage. To say it in the most basic way; You'd feel like a space in your brain has been unlocked.

You'd start to perceive the world differently. You'd realize that it's only us humans in this world, and the power to change our world, and make it better, rests with us and us alone. This would make you appreciate humans as a specie, and other animals as well. You'd realize that humans are all one, and the only thing that has atomized us, is dogma and belief systems, and being free from these belief systems, allows you to care more about others on a deeper level, and also to understand people better.

You'd develop genuine love for people, not because you want to go to heaven or avoid hell, but because you understand the history of humanity, and you understand that we are just biological species that are trying to survive in our world, and our job is to aid the survival and progress of our species, in anyway we can.

You would begin to consider animals and care for them. Religion doesn't allow us to value animals. Religion has a heliocentric perception of reality, that tends to portray humans as the centre of their world. The bible views animals as unclean beasts to be eaten or sacrificed. But when you understand that they are just biological species, as we are, and are able to experience pain and suffering like we do, you'd begin to care more sufficiently for them, and this would encourage a better relationship with nature and everything within.

Having a new understanding about your world and about yourself, would kindle a new form of curiosity, that would push you to want to study more about yourself, about the history of society, and about how best to improve our species and make our world more favorable for us to thrive.

You'd have a better understanding of morality. You'd realize that our morality shouldn't come from religion, because every religion claims for itself the autonomy of objective morality, and they all present a skewed framework of morality that doesn't dig into the heart of what morality even means, and most are founded on age old cultural norms, created by people who knew nothing about their world. This new understanding of morality would make you realize that questions about morality are questions about maximizing human and animal flourishing, and promoting factors that would lead to proper physical, mental and psychological growth for humans. Acknowledging this fact, would allow you become a more generous, more loving, and more empathic person.

You'd become a more hard-working person because you'd have a new understanding that hard work is the only thing that would help you reach your goals, and not wishful thinking. You'd approach life's hurdles head on, and with a more optimistic mindset, because you'd gain a certain new kind of confidence and belief in yourself, that would push you to become better than yourself.

You'd raise your children to think independently and to critically examine ideas before subscribing to them, because that's how you also approach new ideas. And this helps build self confidence and rational thinking.

You'd begin to use your money more wisely. Either by investing it, or using it to better the lives of people who actually are in dire need of it, rather than fill the pockets of men who already have enough.

3. I think the truth is better than lies and fabrications.

Yes. I am a Christian today because I felt the love of Jesus, and He reassured me that, following Him, I have everything to gain.

You don't want to turn me into an "atheist" who would wake up by 2 am just to post meaningless things on nairaland in a bid to battle the idea of GOD in his head, do you?

No bro. You have shown me that I cannot be better than I am now if I became an atheist.

I love my fellow human beings.

I live a joyful life.

I have a sharp, critical mind.

I live a life of freedom.

I don't bicker about all day about a Being I insist does not exist, citing the belief of other people in such a Being as the reason for my restlessness.

I am cheerful.

I don't hate.

I know that when Christ comes back in His glory, He'll take me to Heaven where there'll be no more atheists.

I am Christian.

Bye.

OP on another thread you created I adviced all Christians to desist from responding to you or your comments and I will do same here.

when a confused individual decides to open a thread about ones beliefs and begins by comparing it with all sorts of nonsense like he is all wise and all knowing it reeks of absurdity.

I WISH TO ENCOURAGE MY BRETHREN TO KINDLY IGNORE THIS GUY AND HIS THREADS FROM NOW HENCEFORTH. HE DOES NOT WISH TO KNOW THE TRUTH NEITHER DOES HE WISH TO LISTEN. ALL HE WANTS IS AN OBJECT OF RIDICULE.

YOU MAY BE ITCHING TO RESPOND TO HIS COMMENTS BUT LISTEN TO THE WORD OF GOD. HE SAYS ANYONE WHO CAN BRING HIS TONGUE UNDER CONTROL HAS TAKEN CONTROL OF THE WHOLE BODY...

REFRAIN FROM HONOURING HIM WITH ANY FORM OF RESPONSE.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL AS YOU ADHERE.

DoctorAlien:
Yes. I am a Christian today because I felt the love of Jesus, and He reassured me that, following Him, I have everything to gain.

You don't want to turn me into an "atheist" who would wake up by 2 am just to post meaningless things on nairaland in a bid to battle the idea of GOD in his head, do you?

No bro. You have shown me that I cannot be better than I am now if I became an atheist.

I love my fellow human beings.

I live a joyful life.

I have a sharp, critical mind.

I live a life of freedom.

I don't bicker about all day about a Being I insist does not exist, citing the belief of other people in such a Being as the reason for my restlessness.

I am cheerful.

I don't hate.

I know that when Christ comes back in His glory, He'll take me to Heaven where there'll be no more atheists.

I am Christian.

Bye.

Ignore him and give thanks and praise! We approach end times now and this athiest people will be cast headlong into the lake of fire with Satan and his demons. The Bible tells us this. For this we should rejoice!

naijadeyhia:
OP on another thread you created I adviced all Christians to desist from responding to you or your comments and I will do same here.

when a confused individual decides to open a thread about ones beliefs and begins by comparing it with all sorts of nonsense like he is all wise and all knowing it reeks of absurdity.

I WISH TO ENCOURAGE MY BRETHREN TO KINDLY IGNORE THIS GUY AND HIS THREADS FROM NOW HENCEFORTH. HE DOES NOT WISH TO KNOW THE TRUTH NEITHER DOES HE WISH TO LISTEN. ALL HE WANTS IS AN OBJECT OF RIDICULE.

YOU MAY BE ITCHING TO RESPOND TO HIS COMMENTS BUT LISTEN TO THE WORD OF GOD. HE SAYS ANYONE WHO CAN BRING HIS TONGUE UNDER CONTROL HAS TAKEN CONTROL OF THE WHOLE BODY...

REFRAIN FROM HONOURING HIM WITH ANY FORM OF RESPONSE.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL AS YOU ADHERE.

Isn't this against the NL rules? Isn't this bullying, character defamation and inciting other Nairalanders against a particular Nairalander?

It's quite funny how low you can resort to, just to evade staring the flaws of your belief in the face.

You are afraid of confronting the truth and you are trying to sow that seed of fear into the hearts of other Christians.
I think NL christians are mature enough to make decisions for themselves.

Aaronsrod:

Ignore him and give thanks and praise! We approach end times now and this athiest people will be cast headlong into the lake of fire with Satan and his demons. The Bible tells us this. For this we should rejoice!

Lol. The fact that you can just say that a fellow human would be cast headlong into a lake of fire, without any form of empathy whatsoever, and even rejoicing over it, just proves the premise of this thread.

GrizzlyBear:


Isn't this against the NL rules? Isn't this bullying, character defamation and inciting other Nairalanders against a particular Nairalander?

It's quite funny how low you can resort to, just to evade staring the flaws of your belief in the face.

You scared of confronting the truth and you are trying to sow that seed of fear into the hearts of other Christians.
I think NL christians are mature enough to make decisions for themselves.

I REPEAT! ALL BELIEVERS SHOULD IGNORE THIS GUY. WISDOM IS PROFITABLE TO DIRECT. GOD BLESS YOU ALL MY BRETHREN.

GrizzlyBear, may the LORD give you peace. God bless you my brother.

GrizzlyBear:


Christianity isn't a personality, it's a belief system, and that's what I am "attacking."

I am appraising your christian beliefs and instead of you to respond to my appraisal, you went ahead to insult me.

And you still haven't addressed the subject of the thread.

Stockholm Syndrome is Real na.
Don't you think so?
Well, I am enjoying the debate and really learning.

Just like corruption in Naija ,when you fight it, its fights back.

virginboy1:

Stockholm Syndrome is Real na.
Don't you think so?
Well, I am enjoying the debate and really learning.

Just like corruption in Naija ,when you fight it, its fights back.

Abi. I would have really enjoyed this thread to be a platform for honest discussion, but it seems some people have developed a new strategy to avoid critical examination of their precious beliefs.

GrizzlyBear:


Abi. I would have really enjoyed this thread to be a platform for honest discussion, but it seems some people have developed a new strategy to avoid critical examination of their precious beliefs.

its their subconscious, its developed a survival instinct

this thread hits home

its a pity I couldn't login since yesterday

Pastafarian:


its their subconscious, its developed a survival instinct

this thread hits home

its a pity I couldn't login since yesterday

People like them actually make me pity for how low humans have devolved into and how resistant they are to change.

There was a time the subscription of humans to religious belief was justifiable, and that was thousands of years ago, when people were still ignorant of their world. But thousands of years into the future, even with all the knowledge and accumulated data, it's still surprising that people are still holding on to these beliefs, even more tenaciously. Creeps me out.

GrizzlyBear:


1. I think NL atheists have been doing this since you registered. If you aren't convinced by the critical examination of the doctrines of your belief, and the flaws and contradictions that have been pointed out that has proven your belief to be wrong, inaccurate, and mere construction of humans less knowledgeable than yourself, then there is nothing I can say now that would actually persuade you.

2. I think this is where most christians make a very huge mistake. The benefits you get for believing in something doesn't authenticate the validity of that belief. I can wake up tomorrow with a belief that I am the heir to the british throne. This belief comes with benefits. I would become a more confident person, because I would begin to see myself as more noble, more rich and of a higher social class than every other person. I would become happier and I would perceive myself as having a unique and important purpose in life. My beliefs would bring me these benefits, but do these benefits make my beliefs true? No. I am just being delusional and stupid.

This question just shows why you are even a christian in the first place, and it's a mirror into why people find it hard to drop religion, despite it's obvious flaws.

But to answer your question, I think you'd be better off because when you acknowledge that your religion is no different from every other religion, and that their claims are all false, you would become suffused with a feeling of freedom and inner joy, the kind you'd get when you are unshackled from physical bondage, but in this case, it's intellectual bondage. To say it in the most basic way; You'd feel like a space in your brain has been unlocked.

You'd start to perceive the world differently. You'd realize that it's only us humans in this world, and the power to change our world, and make it better, rests with us and us alone. This would make you appreciate humans as a specie, and other animals as well. You'd realize that humans are all one, and the only thing that has atomized us, is dogma and belief systems, and being free from these belief systems, allows you to care more about others on a deeper level, and also to understand people better.

You'd develop genuine love for people, not because you want to go to heaven or avoid hell, but because you understand the history of humanity, and you understand that we are just biological species that are trying to survive in our world, and our job is to aid the survival and progress of our species, in anyway we can.

You would begin to consider animals and care for them. Religion doesn't allow us to value animals. Religion has a heliocentric perception of reality, that tends to portray humans as the centre of their world. The bible views animals as unclean beasts to be eaten or sacrificed. But when you understand that they are just biological species, as we are, and are able to experience pain and suffering , like we do, you'd begin to care more sufficiently for them, and this would encourage a better relationship with nature and everything within.

Having a new understanding about your world and about yourself, would kindle a new form of curiosity, that would push you to want to study more about yourself, about the history of society, and about how best to improve our species and make our world more favorable for us to thrive.

You'd have a better understanding of morality. You'd realize that our morality shouldn't come from religion, because every religion claims for itself the autonomy of objective morality, and they all present a skewed framework of morality that doesn't dig into the heart of what morality even means, and most are founded on age old cultural norms, created by people who knew nothing about their world. This new understanding of morality would make you realize that questions about morality are questions about maximizing human and animal flourishing, and promoting factors that would lead to proper physical, mental and psychological growth for humans. Acknowledging this fact, would allow you become a more generous, more loving, and more empathic person.

You'd become a more hard-working person because you'd have a new understanding that hard work is the only thing that would help you reach your goals, and not wishful thinking. You'd approach life's hurdles head on, and with a more optimistic mindset, because you'd gain a certain new kind of confidence and belief in yourself, that would push you to become better than yourself.

You'd raise your children to think independently and to critically examine ideas before subscribing to them, because that's how you also approach new ideas. And this helps build self confidence and rational thinking.

You'd begin to use your money more wisely. Either by investing it, or using it to better the lives of people who actually are in dire need of it, rather than fill the pockets of men who already have enough.

3. I think the truth is better than lies and fabrications.

this is deep and right in the centre of the bullseye


permission to use part of this post in my future posts?

I enjoyed reading this. It is well articulated and easy to read. I am a christian and I agree with most of what you have here. Religion many times bring out the worst in fundamentalist adherents who somehow become oblivious of any possibility that they could actually become much better people and useful to others and the world without it. However, you have broadly generalised to arrive at your conclusions.
Your narrative for Religion is bias towards christianity, howbeit the annoying, irresponsible and unappealing to good morals or common sense kind of christianity. The type that cultures avarice and apathy in society. The kind that till date has never inspired any sort of ingenuity in thinking or development. The one which is prevalent and the fastest growing in Africa, that is increasingly becoming a license to be stupid and a blessing to remain so. But supernatural isn't stupid, neither is having faith a substitute for lack of education. So, I agree with you on these aspects and I am appalled as much as you are about the farce going on in the name of religion.

But is it what the tenets of the religion is about?
No, Certainly not. Most times these observed anomalies are reflective of human behaviour and individual tendencies rather than the tenets of the said religion. In christianity, for example there are several denominations who do not even have a defined dogma that could even cover a single page and such would naturally breed a lot of confusion and in such environment where no standards are professed nor elaborate knowledge of the religion is known, the desires of men and women become more pronounced only now with religious justification ie. the greedy becomes more greedy, the cheat becomes more cunning etc with biblical justification. I have come to realise that there would always be ignorant and stupid people who remain so because of their choosing and not because of their religious inclination. There are morons who are atheists as well as a good number who adhere to religion. Likewise the reasonable and intelligent ones.

Organised - in the real sense of the word - religion has done much more good than harm to society and has pioneered freedoms and privileges that exists today. Anybody who truly understands and is dedicated to the tenets of their religion - like in my case, christianity - finds God, and salvation through Jesus Christ and peace. True religion is spiritual. It is about doing good, balance, being fair, honest, helping the less privileged, and transformation through faith in God. It is not about accumulation of wealth, cars, promotion, flamboyance and all that financial crap. That isn't christianity, fits more into occult than any major religion. One does not need religion to achieve any of these, they have become almost synonymous with christianity as a result of western consumerist culture. People who believe and are attracted to christianity because of these would likely read your post as an affront to their faith and possibly threaten like their leaders do.

Augustine of Hippo said "I believe, in order to understand; and I understand, the better to believe" You can find and have faith with reason.

There is truth in Jesus Christ for the salvation of your soul, for eternal life.

GrizzlyBear:
Narcissism is defined as an excessive obsession with one's self. Narcissism allows people to view themselves as more important than everyone else. In the mind of a narcissist, the only thing that matters is himself. His needs come first. Narcissists tend to perceive their world as revolving around them.

Apathy is the inability to care about the suffering of other human beings. It's an emotional detachment from the pain of others. An apathetic person, is inclined to callous indifference towards the suffering of fellow humans.

Going by the definition of the above terms, how does it apply to Christianity? I'll explain.

How does Christianity perfect or promote Apathy?
Say for instance, a christian is involved in an accident that claims the life of everyone involved, while he escaped without a scratch. What's the common reaction of any christian to this? What a christian would do, is to kneel down on the floor, raise his hands to the clouds and give God thanks for saving him from the accident. Then the next sunday, he'd go to a church to give a testimony. This scenario doesn't strike as egregious when someone just examines it superficially, but vetting it critically, what you'd realize in such an act, is extreme selfishness and detachment from the suffering and pain of others.

Some christians might recoil and disagree with me at the above paragraph, but let me expatiate further.
Just imagine you and members of your family were having dinner, and the house suddenly collapsed, killing everyone but yourself. If you make it out alive and realize that everyone was dead, what would be your response? Would you glorify God? Or would you feel agony for the life of your family members that has been lost? Would you go to a church the next sunday to give a testimony for escaping death?

You see, everyone would do the former. This is because we have all developed empathy towards our family members. We love and care about them, and we most times put their needs ahead of ours. Imagine if we felt this way towards other people? Wouldn't our world be a better place? But what religions like christianity do is that they preclude the possibility of this. The reason why anyone would express elated gratitude for being alive, despite the gruesome death other people, is simply because he doesn't feel empathy for those people that died. Those who have lost family members that were dear to them would agree with me that when you lose someone, you'd feel so deeply sorrowful that you'd wish they were alive and you were the one that died. That's empathy, but religion prevents us from feeling this way towards others.

Just imagine the level of apathy it would take for someone to walk to the altar of a church, with a ram, or car key in hand, to give a testimony for surviving an accident that claimed the life of 20 other people. I mean, this is an overt example of callousness and selfishness. What is such person actually thanking God for? That he saved his life and allowed 20 other innocent people to die? Like is the life of this person more important than the life of those that died?

The things about religion, christianity and islam in particular, is that it attenuates compassion and discourages empathy.
We have heard stories of natural disasters where people died and one person survived, and we have seen religious people use such scenario to paint God as merciful and loving. Isn't this a cause for serious concern? That someone would leave out the pain and suffering and death of other humans, and accentuate the survival of one? Not only is this delusional, but it is also morally reprehensible.

We all heard about the earthquake in Haiti that caused the death of thousands of people and destruction of houses and property, and we all witnessed christians detach themselves from this immense, unprecedented havoc and death, by celebrating the fact that a statue of Jesus wasn't destroyed. Isn't this behavior a cause for alarm?

Religion erodes compassion. It allows presumably normal, empathic people to develop indifference towards the suffering of other humans by making excuses for their God.
One of the common rubric christians use to exonerate God from death of humans, is by confidently asserting that there was a reason for the occurrence of such calamity. Or some might even take it further by saying that those who died, died as a result of their sins and their death was punishment. I mean, not only are these ideas stupid, they are extraordinarily callous. They are nothing more than the refusal to connect with the suffering of other human beings.

Religion is actually the perfection of Narcissism. It allows people to fixate only on themselves, and celebrate the good in their lives, while ignoring the suffering of other people. Say for instance a christian prays to god for a promotion, gets promoted after few weeks, and begins to thank God for his goodness in his life, and uses that experience to reinforce his believe that God is good. But what this individual fails to realize or acknowledge, is that at the very moment when he was praying for a promotion, someone else was praying for his child to survive from a terminal illness, or for food to eat, and such person's prayer wasn't answered.

I mean, to think that God is good for promoting you to assistant manager, or providing money to buy a new house in banana island, but failing to save a dying child or provide food for a starving person, is to fail to reason honestly, or care sufficiently about the suffering of other humans.

TheSixthSense:
I enjoyed reading this. It is well articulated and easy to read. I am a christian and I agree with most of what you have here. Religion many times bring out the worst in fundamentalist adherents who somehow become oblivious of any possibility that they could actually become much better people and useful to others and the world without it. However, you have broadly generalised to arrive at your conclusions.
Your narrative for Religion is bias towards christianity, howbeit the annoying, irresponsible and unappealing to good morals or common sense kind of christianity. The type that cultures avarice and apathy in society. The kind that till date has never inspired any sort of ingenuity in thinking or development. The one which is prevalent and the fastest growing in Africa, that is increasingly becoming a license to be stupid and a blessing to remain so. But supernatural isn't stupid, neither is having faith a substitute for lack of education. So, I agree with you on these aspects and I am appalled as much as you are about the farce going on in the name of religion.

But is it what the tenets of the religion is about?
No, Certainly not. Most times these observed anomalies are reflective of human behaviour and individual tendencies rather than the tenets of the said religion. In christianity, for example there are several denominations who do not even have a defined dogma that could even cover a single page and such would naturally breed a lot of confusion and in such environment where no standards are professed nor elaborate knowledge of the religion is known, the desires of men and women become more pronounced only now with religious justification ie. the greedy becomes more greedy, the cheat becomes more cunning etc with biblical justification. I have come to realise that there would always be ignorant and stupid people who remain so because of their choosing and not because of their religious inclination. There are morons who are atheists as well as a good number who adhere to religion. Likewise the reasonable and intelligent ones.

Organised - in the real sense of the word - religion has done much more good than harm to society and has pioneered freedoms and privileges that exists today. Anybody who truly understands and is dedicated to the tenets of their religion - like in my case, christianity - finds God, and salvation through Jesus Christ and peace. True religion is spiritual. It is about doing good, balance, being fair, honest, helping the less privileged, and transformation through faith in God. It is not about accumulation of wealth, cars, promotion, flamboyance and all that financial crap. That isn't christianity, fits more into occult than any major religion. One does not need religion to achieve any of these, they have become almost synonymous with christianity as a result of western consumerist culture. People who believe and are attracted to christianity because of these would likely read your post as an affront to their faith and possibly threaten like their leaders do.

Augustine of Hippo said "I believe, in order to understand; and I understand, the better to believe" You can find and have faith with reason.

There is truth in Jesus Christ for the salvation of your soul, for eternal life.

Thank you for posting this. Finally someone has addressed the premise of my thread, and has done it with intelligence and maturity.

This is one of the best comments I have read from any Christian on this forum. Comments like this, prove that there is actually hope for Christianity.

I actually believe Jesus Christ existed, and that he went around preaching love and doing good, and if anyone wants to emulate his principles, and tailor their lives according to his teachings and lifestyle, then I will give them my support. But my issue is when they begin to interface this lifestyle with the dogmatic followership of the doctrines of organized religion, like you rightly pointed out. This is where the whole framework of belief begins to turn grotesque.

I believe humans have an innate yearning for the divine, to be in oneness with something that transcends their lives, which most people refer to as God. And there are different ways to reach this transcendent spirit, or force or God, and following Jesus' teaching or Buddah's or Confucius' is just one of the bridges to reach this goal. But allowing such teachings, or the interpolation of teachings of this people into an organized religious body, to interfere with how you perceive your world, and the decisions you make, is where the problem actually lies.

Yes, there are also atheists who are psychopaths and bad people, and I agree with you that the personality of a person is a defining variable in how he chooses to live his life, independent of his beliefs or world views, but the problem with dogmatism, which we see prevalent in Nigeria, and which I noticed in the comments made by some christians above, is that it allows presumably decent people to have a distorted view on life by dint of perceiving the world through the lens of their beliefs.
It allows people to not reason honestly, and it prevents them from being accomodative to opposing views, whether or not those views are accurate. It prevents people from developing a critical approach to examining real issues of great importance that bother along the path of their beliefs.

An atheist who decides to live a life a wickedness and immorality, isn't doing it because of his beliefs. There is no ancient literature pulling the strings of his actions. He is doing it because he consciously and independently decided to. Such a person can easily change, if he is talked to, or if he reaches a certain point in his life where he examines his actions and finds them to be reprehensible and harmful even to himself. You see, this kind of person can easily change, because he isn't motivated by a dogmatic belief. A tenaciously held belief, raises a defensive wall in the mind of a person, that prevents such person from vetting his beliefs or being open to anything that contradicts such belief. It's like a parasite in the brain of an ant controlling it's actions. Unlike an atheist, a person with dogmatic beliefs cannot critically examine his beliefs. He is almost impervious to change or honest evaluation of his own discourse, as long as he has those beliefs. An atheist can kill someone today and acknowledge that he has done bad, and feel remorse, but religious dogmatism can make someone kill a person and feel he is doing the right thing. This is the power of belief.

Religion allows people to develop really harmful and toxic ideas that are deleterious to themselves and their society. It, just like the thesis this thread, causes people to be detached from the horrific realities of life. The problem with beliefs, and ones which are followed dogmatically, isn't really with the content of the beliefs, although, I'd prefer to be sure of the validity of what I choose to believe in before believing in it, but still, the contents of a belief doesn't matter if they are overtly innocuous. If a belief or the expression of a belief isn't harmful to my environment or doesn't undermine it's progress, then I have no issues with it. Janists believe very warped things, but their belief allows them to live lives of the highest degree of pacifism and love. A janist wouldn't kill an ant even if he pulled it out from his nostrils, because he believes all life is sacred. These kind of beliefs aren't harmful to society. But a lot of Christian and muslim beliefs are harmful to society, and hobble it's progress, and the adherents of these beliefs subscribe to it with the highest degree of certainty, and this prevents them from having honest discussions about the true nature of reality, and looking for ways to actually better the world they live in.

My thought in this is that the Apple doesn't fall very far from the tree.
In biology, the pattern a tree or animal grows in is dependent on the design in the seed.

In institutions whether religious, educational etc, they will always grow after the motive of the beginners. They hardly deviate from that purpose.

Lets look at Christianity which I m well versed in its history.
The primary purpose of Christianity is to bring personal salvation. The sad thing about it is that there most likely was a Yahshua who was a rabbi and gave deep moral messages that influenced some of his followers. It is likely that his teachings were more of a judaic reformation not judaic destruction that the later followed ascribed too.

But like most of this movements, the original purpose can be easily swept aside by a greater force that would like to hijack it for more sinister purposes[ think of boko haram]. The real shapers and beginners of Christianity weren't the immediate disciples of Jesus but Paul and his disciples.

When Christianity was hijacked for Pauline purposes, the game changed. It started as a judaic messianic and reformation movement but it was hijacked by hellenized and romanized jews. It was now rebranded and presented as a global salvation solution not judaic.

The issue comes when one is to look at how that transformation occured and how it was accepted. The only way it could be accepted in the midst of so many competing mystery religions in the Roman empire was by marketing.

That's what Paul and his disciples did.
They first had to remove the stumbling blocks and difficulties in Judaism.

They had to lower the bar for prospective Yahweh worshippers. They made do with circumcision, the book of Galatians covered that. They had to make do with nutritional restrictions. They made do with all the mundane mosaic laws by talking of justification by faith. Please read the gospels and see whether at any point Jesus talked of making do with the law. That was never on the cards for Jesus and his followers.

But Paul had to appeal to mans laziness and abhorrence to difficulty.

The second thing they had to do was to offer moral absolvence from sin, they also preached eternal glory, eternal wealth and most importantly they completed the carrot and stick approach by bringing the doctrine of eternal torment. All this was being preached while half the Roman empire was enslaved. Its almost impossible for the poor incredulous slaves to have resisted such a sweet gospel.

Christianity is not about repairing the earth, growing humanity or doing good on a large scale.

The core message of Christianity is that the world is messed up beyond repair and their lazy petty god isn't interested in repairing it but wants to destroy it and rebuild a perfect one with every possible thing man has ever desired - glory, good health, wealth, long life.
The very nature or dna of Christianity is selfish. It is about leaving every thing behind to achieve a hundred fold in the after life even though modern day Pentecostal preachers are now bringing those benefits and promises in this life.

Christianity is like the appeal a fraudster makes to a greedy person who wants to make a million overnight, with such an appeal the victim sees his 50k as meaningless compared to what he will get in return.

That's why there is no mutation or evolution of Christianity that won't breed selfishness.

Religion is really the opiate of the masses. It is the pillar of the intellectually and emotionally weak.

Pastafarian:


this is deep and right in the centre of the bullseye


permission to use part of this post in my future posts?

Yes, of course.

LiberaDeus:
My thought in this is that the Apple doesn't fall very far from the tree.
In biology, the pattern a tree or animal grows in is dependent on the design in the seed.

In institutions whether religious, educational etc, they will always grow after the motive of the beginners. They hardly deviate from that purpose.

Lets look at Christianity which I m well versed in its history.
The primary purpose of Christianity is to bring personal salvation. The sad thing about it is that there most likely was a Yahshua who was a rabbi and gave deep moral messages that influenced some of his followers. It is likely that his teachings were more of a judaic reformation not judaic destruction that the later followed ascribed too.

But like most of this movements, the original purpose can be easily swept aside by a greater force that would like to hijack it for more sinister purposes[ think of boko haram]. The real shapers and beginners of Christianity weren't the immediate disciples of Jesus but Paul and his disciples.

When Christianity was hijacked for Pauline purposes, the game changed. It started as a judaic messianic and reformation movement but it was hijacked by hellenized and romanized jews. It was now rebranded and presented as a global salvation solution not judaic.

The issue comes when one is to look at how that transformation occured and how it was accepted. The only way it could be accepted in the midst of so many competing mystery religions in the Roman empire was by marketing.

That's what Paul and his disciples did.
They first had to remove the stumbling blocks and difficulties in Judaism.

They had to lower the bar for prospective Yahweh worshippers. They made do with circumcision, the book of Galatians covered that. They had to make do with nutritional restrictions. They made do with all the mundane mosaic laws by talking of justification by faith. Please read the gospels and see whether at any point Jesus talked of making do with the law. That was never on the cards for Jesus and his followers.

But Paul had to appeal to mans laziness and abhorrence to difficulty.

The second thing they had to do was to offer moral absolvence from sin, they also preached eternal glory, eternal wealth and most importantly they completed the carrot and stick approach by bringing the doctrine of eternal torment. All this was being preached while half the Roman empire was enslaved. Its almost impossible for the poor incredulous slaves to have resisted such a sweet gospel.

Christianity is not about repairing the earth, growing humanity or doing good on a large scale.

The core message of Christianity is that the world is messed up beyond repair and their lazy petty god isn't interested in repairing it but wants to destroy it and rebuild a perfect one with every possible thing man has ever desired - glory, good health, wealth, long life.
The very nature or dna of Christianity is selfish. It is about leaving every thing behind to achieve a hundred fold in the after life even though modern day Pentecostal preachers are now bringing those benefits and promises in this life.

Christianity is like the appeal a fraudster makes to a greedy person who wants to make a million overnight, with such an appeal the victim sees his 50k as meaningless compared to what he will get in return.

That's why there is no mutation or evolution of Christianity that won't breed selfishness.

Religion is really the opiate of the masses. It is the pillar of the intellectually and emotionally weak.

This is an amazing post. I agree with everything you said, especially the bolded. It's quite sad that Christians don't even know about the true origin of Christianity.

This is a classic example of 1 corinthians 2:14-15. The worldly person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolish to him and he is not able to understand them because they are to be spiritually discerned. The Spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by No One. So true Christians ignore the o. p. He is carnal minded and can never, I repeat never understand anything. O. P quit wasting your time, God is and will always be higher than you. You can never understand his ways until the hour you are called into light. Only His true children do, cause He is their Father. Clearly He is not your father, so till your waking moment every move and act of a true Christian will be stupid to you. Some of us understand your dilemma. High blood pressure is real. Just go about your life.

beautyoftheLord:
This is a classic example of 1 corinthians 2:14-15. The worldly person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolish to him and he is not able to understand them because they are to be spiritually discerned. The Spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by No One. So true Christians ignore the o. p. He is carnal minded and can never, I repeat never understand anything. O. P quit wasting your time, God is and will always be higher than you. You can never understand his ways until the hour you are called into light, every move and act of a true Christian will be stupid to you. Some of us understand your dilemma. High blood pressure is real. Just go about your life.

its better to ignore the OP and quote verses unrelated to the discussion to make yourself feel better than facing the op