People don't like to be told they are wrong, sinful. To see it written that the things you are doing are morally wrong, are against the will of God really shakes them up. It's the Sin in each of us fighting to be God ourselves that fights back so hard. We are not God. We have a spark of God available to us, but we must submit ourselves to Him to fan that small flame into something worthwhile.
Pride is one of the biggest sins for a reason. You are not showing "love" to someone by tolerating their sin and pride. You are showing LOVE when you offer correction and showing the correct way to get closer to God.
The major professing Christian denominations didn't do themselves any favors with Covid. They followed the gubmint lead and closed their doors. Kinda brings having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof, [2timoty 3:5.]
Then they backed the jab. One famous teevee evangelist said that if vaccines were around in Jesus' time he would have talked about 'em and taken them. They have been handcuffed after accepting the 501c3 bribe, excuse me, tax exempt status.
Great article, thank you. Let me add further evidence. We don't support going to Vegas but our elderly parents like to play slots at the local casino, and it allows us to enjoy time with them. Slot themes include dragon, asian, pig, Americana, fairy tale, fantasy, etc.
The director of Zeitgeist himself, Peter Joseph, later put out a statement apologising for the errors he made about Christianity in his movie. This is because some of the texts he used for his research were cheesy new age conspiracy books filled with factual inaccuracies. Unfortunately, the damage had already been done by then.
"God himself became human, died, and rose from the dead to defeat sin and death".
No wonder Christianity gets so much pushback!
If you read that statement about Allah or Buddah, you'd think to yourself, "That's insane. 'Reality' as humans perceive it exists only because God wills it to exist. God constantly recreates every living thing and the entire universe every day, every second. He was here before the universe was created and He will continue to exist for all eternity."
A Supreme Being like that doesn't "die", turn Himself into a human or resurrect Himself. Christianity simply makes no sense.
As you said, “there is a coordinated spiritual opposition to Christianity specifically.” Because it’s the only one that’s real. Why bother attacking something that can’t save anyone? Jesus is very real, and He wants a close relationship with us. Prayer is a two-way street, conversation, sharing. I’ll never forget the hyenas from “The View” mocking Mike Pence saying, “God told me…” Joy Behar said, “Okay, if someone talks to God, fine, but if God talks back, that’s just crazy.” I pity people like her who just don’t know the truth. Only believers can understand. Praise the Lord!
I’m a member of the Disciples of Christ denomination. Christians have no idea what being attacked is like. Ask any Jew. In America, so-called Christian MAGA is doing the attacking of every other religion.
In Canada there is currently a concerted effort to destroy Christianity. Let's begin with the over 100 Christian churches burned since 2019 when it started. Canada's Liberal party banned prayers on Remembrance Day and are doing their best to politicize and eliminate the poppy. They have done their utmost to remove Christ from Christmas and telling us to say Happy Holidays instead. There is so much more. Its been going on for years.
Christians take it because Christians are generally good people. Turn the other cheek. Love thy neighbor and all that. Meanwhile Islam will remove your head for speaking against their religion or call a fatwa or jihadi on your ass.
Our province is even suggesting people remove soup kitchens and homeless shelters from Christian churches because some don't feel safe because Christians are evil colonizers that hater everyone but Christians.
First, atheists generally present arguments against theism in any form. These arguments reject deism, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Sikhism all at once.
Second, the Pentateuch (he first five books of the Old Testament) are accepted as holy by both Jews and Muslims; Jews call it the Torah and Muslims the Tawrat). Arguments against the veracity of the Pentateuch are arguments against Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all at one.
Third, plenty of well-known atheists, e.g. Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris, go out of their way to attack Islam in addition to Christianity.
But the primary reason Christianity gets attacked so often in the West is obvious: it's by far the most popular religion in the West. Here are some stats for the six major Anglophone nations, listing the percentage of Christians and the percentages belonging to the second most popular religion.
US: 68.0% Christian, 1.2% Jewish
Canada: 53.3% Christian, 4.5% Muslim
UK: 46.2% Christian, 6.5% Muslim
Ireland: 76.1% Christian, 1.6% Muslim
Australia: 43.9% Christian, 3.2% Muslim
New Zealand: 36.5% Christian, 2.6% Hindu
One conclusion we plausibly can draw from these stats is that most of the unbelievers in these nations are ex-Christians rather than ex-Muslims, etc.
If you're going to wrote a book attacking a specific religion, your likely audience is members of the religion, ex-members of that religion, and people surrounded by members and ex-members of that religion. In the West, an anti-Christianity book has a much bigger built-in audience than an anti-Islam or anti-Hinduism book.
That said, NYT best-selling author Richard Spencer has written multiple critiques of Muhammad (The Truth About Muhammad, Muhammad: A Critical Biography), including a book doubting his historical existence: Did Muhammad Exist?
Buddhism doesn't get a lot of flack from atheists because Buddhism is agnostic about gods, and Western Buddhism often rejects the more supernatural tenets of Eastern Buddhism (reincarnation, karma). It is entirely possible to be a Buddhist atheist. See Confession of a Buddhist Atheist by Stephen Batchelor or read atheist Sam Harris's various positive accounts of studying with Buddhist teachers. That said, there is a book titled Why I Am Not a Buddhist by Evan Thompson, but it's far less negative about BUddhism than Bertrand Russell's Why I am Not a Christian is negative about Christianity,.
You also didn't do yourself any favors by listing some of the least plausible arguments against Christianity.
But you are correct on insisting that claims about historicity of the Incarnation and the Resurrection make Christianity uniquely vulnerable to historical research in a way that is less true of other religions (Mormonism excepted). In Hindu mythology the Hindu gods take on human form all the time, but few educated HIndus take accounts of avatars as being historically true or even capable of being verified or discredited by historians.
Can't stand the images of “Jesus” which it is reportedly Micheal Angelo's sodomite buddy that was the model for his depiction. Jesus certainly is not a fair faced European with long flowing hair like a woman
Yes. That's it exactly.
People don't like to be told they are wrong, sinful. To see it written that the things you are doing are morally wrong, are against the will of God really shakes them up. It's the Sin in each of us fighting to be God ourselves that fights back so hard. We are not God. We have a spark of God available to us, but we must submit ourselves to Him to fan that small flame into something worthwhile.
Pride is one of the biggest sins for a reason. You are not showing "love" to someone by tolerating their sin and pride. You are showing LOVE when you offer correction and showing the correct way to get closer to God.
The major professing Christian denominations didn't do themselves any favors with Covid. They followed the gubmint lead and closed their doors. Kinda brings having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof, [2timoty 3:5.]
Then they backed the jab. One famous teevee evangelist said that if vaccines were around in Jesus' time he would have talked about 'em and taken them. They have been handcuffed after accepting the 501c3 bribe, excuse me, tax exempt status.
ugh, typo alert!!!!, 2Timothy3:5
Great article, thank you. Let me add further evidence. We don't support going to Vegas but our elderly parents like to play slots at the local casino, and it allows us to enjoy time with them. Slot themes include dragon, asian, pig, Americana, fairy tale, fantasy, etc.
But no Jesus. Think about that.
Love the way you write. Simple to the point and unapologetic. Like Sargent Jo Friday used to say on Dragnet “just the facts ma’am”.
The director of Zeitgeist himself, Peter Joseph, later put out a statement apologising for the errors he made about Christianity in his movie. This is because some of the texts he used for his research were cheesy new age conspiracy books filled with factual inaccuracies. Unfortunately, the damage had already been done by then.
Great I agree Christianity is attacked constantly but it doesn’t matter the truth still and will prevail.
Truth is the darkness can’t hide from the light so it wants the light extinguished.
The book “Mere Christianity” by C.S. Lewis is worth reading.
Amen! (in the name of Jesus)
Great thoughts Lily!!
"God himself became human, died, and rose from the dead to defeat sin and death".
No wonder Christianity gets so much pushback!
If you read that statement about Allah or Buddah, you'd think to yourself, "That's insane. 'Reality' as humans perceive it exists only because God wills it to exist. God constantly recreates every living thing and the entire universe every day, every second. He was here before the universe was created and He will continue to exist for all eternity."
A Supreme Being like that doesn't "die", turn Himself into a human or resurrect Himself. Christianity simply makes no sense.
As you said, “there is a coordinated spiritual opposition to Christianity specifically.” Because it’s the only one that’s real. Why bother attacking something that can’t save anyone? Jesus is very real, and He wants a close relationship with us. Prayer is a two-way street, conversation, sharing. I’ll never forget the hyenas from “The View” mocking Mike Pence saying, “God told me…” Joy Behar said, “Okay, if someone talks to God, fine, but if God talks back, that’s just crazy.” I pity people like her who just don’t know the truth. Only believers can understand. Praise the Lord!
I’m a member of the Disciples of Christ denomination. Christians have no idea what being attacked is like. Ask any Jew. In America, so-called Christian MAGA is doing the attacking of every other religion.
In Canada there is currently a concerted effort to destroy Christianity. Let's begin with the over 100 Christian churches burned since 2019 when it started. Canada's Liberal party banned prayers on Remembrance Day and are doing their best to politicize and eliminate the poppy. They have done their utmost to remove Christ from Christmas and telling us to say Happy Holidays instead. There is so much more. Its been going on for years.
Christians take it because Christians are generally good people. Turn the other cheek. Love thy neighbor and all that. Meanwhile Islam will remove your head for speaking against their religion or call a fatwa or jihadi on your ass.
Our province is even suggesting people remove soup kitchens and homeless shelters from Christian churches because some don't feel safe because Christians are evil colonizers that hater everyone but Christians.
First, atheists generally present arguments against theism in any form. These arguments reject deism, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Sikhism all at once.
Second, the Pentateuch (he first five books of the Old Testament) are accepted as holy by both Jews and Muslims; Jews call it the Torah and Muslims the Tawrat). Arguments against the veracity of the Pentateuch are arguments against Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all at one.
Third, plenty of well-known atheists, e.g. Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris, go out of their way to attack Islam in addition to Christianity.
But the primary reason Christianity gets attacked so often in the West is obvious: it's by far the most popular religion in the West. Here are some stats for the six major Anglophone nations, listing the percentage of Christians and the percentages belonging to the second most popular religion.
US: 68.0% Christian, 1.2% Jewish
Canada: 53.3% Christian, 4.5% Muslim
UK: 46.2% Christian, 6.5% Muslim
Ireland: 76.1% Christian, 1.6% Muslim
Australia: 43.9% Christian, 3.2% Muslim
New Zealand: 36.5% Christian, 2.6% Hindu
One conclusion we plausibly can draw from these stats is that most of the unbelievers in these nations are ex-Christians rather than ex-Muslims, etc.
If you're going to wrote a book attacking a specific religion, your likely audience is members of the religion, ex-members of that religion, and people surrounded by members and ex-members of that religion. In the West, an anti-Christianity book has a much bigger built-in audience than an anti-Islam or anti-Hinduism book.
That said, NYT best-selling author Richard Spencer has written multiple critiques of Muhammad (The Truth About Muhammad, Muhammad: A Critical Biography), including a book doubting his historical existence: Did Muhammad Exist?
Buddhism doesn't get a lot of flack from atheists because Buddhism is agnostic about gods, and Western Buddhism often rejects the more supernatural tenets of Eastern Buddhism (reincarnation, karma). It is entirely possible to be a Buddhist atheist. See Confession of a Buddhist Atheist by Stephen Batchelor or read atheist Sam Harris's various positive accounts of studying with Buddhist teachers. That said, there is a book titled Why I Am Not a Buddhist by Evan Thompson, but it's far less negative about BUddhism than Bertrand Russell's Why I am Not a Christian is negative about Christianity,.
You also didn't do yourself any favors by listing some of the least plausible arguments against Christianity.
But you are correct on insisting that claims about historicity of the Incarnation and the Resurrection make Christianity uniquely vulnerable to historical research in a way that is less true of other religions (Mormonism excepted). In Hindu mythology the Hindu gods take on human form all the time, but few educated HIndus take accounts of avatars as being historically true or even capable of being verified or discredited by historians.
FYI, historically Jews have been persecuted much more than Christians. In fact, Christians were often our worst persecutors.
Can't stand the images of “Jesus” which it is reportedly Micheal Angelo's sodomite buddy that was the model for his depiction. Jesus certainly is not a fair faced European with long flowing hair like a woman