One of the things I have seen recently is as obtuse as you can get. In my computer class, we have been using this touch-typing website disguised as a game site. If you get a good score on one of the games on the site, they offer to put your score on the leaderboard. It prompts you to create a username to identify you with. One of the usernames I saw on the leaderboard of my favorite game was "IAmNotASlaveToAGodThatDoesntExist".
Yeah, I have some problems with that. I have a theory about who this was, because I have overheard the conversation between a girl in my class, and a boy who argues with her over all her claims of her faith. I can't be sure though, since it's on a public website.
My first argument: God does exist. If God didn't exist, then how are we here? You might come back with the "Big Bang Theory", but something had to have caused that explosion, too. Plus, how could all of the beauty of this world occur by chance? For this point, I'll use a illustration from a devotion book I read: try writing each letter of the alphabet on its own slip of paper. Put the slips of paper into a bucket, shake it up, and then dump the contents onto the floor. Do the slips of paper come out in the exact order of the alphabet? No.
If what we know as the alphabet, in its exact order, can't be created again by complete chance, then how can what we know as the world and the way it works be created by chance?
Another point: go outside on a fall day. You feel something on your cheek. It also seems to be moving through the trees. You know this to be wind. How? You can't see wind. How do you know it exists? If you know that wind exists without seeing it, then why can't you believe that God exists even though He is invisible?
My last point: Christianity is not slavery. Slavery implies being forced to do physical labor or something for one person, without getting anything in return. This was believed as unfair and was abolished in our country. But Christianity isn't forced lifestyle. People often see Christianity as having a list of do's and don't's to follow, and that's why they're often turned off, but that's not what Christianity is about at all! Christianity is coming to realize that a man, Jesus, gave up His life to save your own, loving Him for it, and you give up certain things and take on others because you feel you need to repay Him, or make Him pleased with you.
On another hand, Christianity isn't without reward. If we follow Christ, believe in Him and love Him with all our hearts, one day when we die, we get to go to a beautiful kingdom where God has built a mansion for you to live in for eternity, and he lives in a castle, where He is King on the throne, with Jesus at His right hand. There is no sadness, sickness, or worry.
When you take all of this into account, what do you think of Christianity now?
Edited to add: Check the comments section for further discussion.
Edited to add: Check the comments section for further discussion.
God Bless
ReplyDeleteSee you There!
Christianity is very much like slavery.
ReplyDelete1. In both slavery and Christianity, a person must do what someone else tells them to do ("Pick this cotton" or "Accept Jesus as Lord over you and believe the Bible is true"), whether the person likes it or not, or else they are subject to physical punishment (whipping or Hell). The person is, in fact, still subject to physical punishment even if they decide to obey (whipping or painful 'life lessons' from God).
2. Slavery could be defined as the act of completely submitting to someones commands in order to earn something already rightfully owned or to avoid something not rightfully deserved. If you don't see how this applied, respond and I'll explain it.
3. You say,"Christianity isn't without reward." But in Heaven, everyone will be praising God, right? So then, God made Heaven for Himself, not to reward humans. If a human enjoys eternally worshiping God, that's good for them, but it is like a slave master who tells his slave to work land for a reward. The slave obeys, and when his time comes, the master has the slave polish his boots. The slave enjoys doing this task a lot, perhaps out of devotion for the master. In this story, the master is God, the slave is Human, working the land is being a Christian, and the slave's time is Death.
It's true that we have to serve Him, but like I said, it's not like slavery. Slaves are forced to do what they do. Christians do what they do because they choose to believe, love, and serve a God who gave His life so that we could live with Him forever in Heaven. Yes, we will praise Him forever in Heaven, but that's not all: it is a beautiful, perfect world, where no one gets sick, or hurt, and we have our own home. God isn't a slave master: He is a Father. Do/did you consider it slavery when your earthly father would have you do chores? No. Well, you might have when you were little, but that's not what it's considered. It's lessons that prepare us for life later on. We need to learn to take care of ourselves for when we grow up and live by ourselves, and we need to follow certain Godly guidelines so we can show other people God, so that they can find hope in Him, too, and be accepted and seen as God's child and brought into Heaven.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if that will change your opinion or not, but I hope this further explains some points I obviously neglected to elaborate on in my original post.
Hmm. I guess you're right. Christianity isn't like slavery as much as I thought.
ReplyDeleteOne thing, though. You say "Christians do what they do because they choose to believe, love, and serve a God who gave His life...". But I know a Christian who admits to being a Christian only in order to avoid hell. Slaves aren't forced to do what they do; they can always just disobey and get punished. Isn't it the same with Christianity?
If they are a Christian just to avoid hell, then they are no Christian at all. "He who tries to save his life will lose it, but those who lose their life will save it."- you don't get saved by word or deed: you get saved because you believe in and love Jesus, and admit that He is your Savior, and that God, His Father, OUR Father, is the one and only god. You also have to openly confess that you are a sinner and ask for forgiveness. That's the whole point of Christianity, not deeds. The deeds are just what should be the effect of that love and confession
ReplyDeleteVery well, but my point was that people have to become Christians or else they'll go to hell, and slaves have to obey their masters or else they'll be punished. Yes, that may not be the point of Christianity, but it's still true. Does it not sound similar to slavery?
ReplyDeleteEver heard the story of Adam and Eve? God created a beautiful world, put them in it, and gave them only one rule: don't eat of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. God told them not to eat of that tree, because He didn't want His people to know of evil, and know how to perform it. He didn't want that because He hates evil, and because He hates evil, the Order He established was that anyone who sinned would go to Hell, and He loved Adam and Eve so much, that He didn't want that for them. After Jesus died, and all sins were forgiven if He was believed in, Christians were saved if the believed in Him, no matter if they followed His rules to the letter. If they slip, God just does something in our lives to make it obvious to us what we are doing so we can get back on track, but never changes our after-life destination. If God sent you to Hell because of every bad thing you did, it would be like your dad shunning you because you didn't make your bed, or stayed out after curfew. Masters only punish their slaves so that they fear them and do what they can't, or won't to do themselves. But God punishes because He loves us, and He hates sin, and doesn't want us to commit it so we don't end up in eternal misery. Does that make sense?
ReplyDelete