Why Christianity Still Exists…

             I often ask myself, “How can people buy this crap!?” when I think about any religion.  Take Christianity for example; people worship a man who was supposedly the son of himself who sacrificed himself to himself.  Sounds crazy, right? I’ve just read “Mere Christianity” by C.S. Lewis and towards the end of the book he does his best to describe the “Holy Trinity”.  As hard as he tried to make it sound sensible I couldn’t help but feel as though he was only trying to find logic in an illogical idea.  So you could try to argue how Jesus was both God and the Son of God all you want but it’s just plain ludicrous.  The fact remains that it takes some real ignorance to actually believe in a religion.

               I’m going to focus on Christianity for this topic because, as stated in previous posts, I’m most familiar with it.  I’ve been trying to gain a better understanding of Christianity lately.  I know all about the crazy, immoral parts of the Bible but for some reason Christians still have faith regardless of the facts.  My personal quest is to try to understand why this is.  Why is it that people can’t look at this religion the way that I do and see how crazy it all is?  I’ve come to some interesting conclusions on this very subject from the little research I’ve done so far.

               How has Christianity endured through centuries?  Here’s what I think: Christianity has survived for so long because one of its main principles is to not doubt God.  To not question God or his actions/inactions.  To have blind faith that the world is the way it is for some unknown reason.  So even those who might see how illogical it really is are forced (if they want to get to heaven) to just except things for what they are and let it be.  It has survived because it takes a tremendous amount of courage to “defy God” and really search for the truth.  If every Christian had that courage I would bet that Christianity would die out sooner rather than later.  Of course it requires less courage, though, if you haven’t had religious doctrine shoved down your throat since before you could walk or talk.  Christians indoctrinate their children before they reach the age of reason.  Once those children do reach the age of reason they have already been taught that “God works in mysterious ways” and doubting him is a sure way to end up in Hell.  Amazing what that creates, isn’t it?  A steadfast doctrine that is immune to rational thought.  Even if you can’t help but to question God it all comes back to having enough faith to trust that God has a plan and everything is all a part of that plan.  Which brings me to my next subject.

               The default position of all the horrible things that exist in our reality is that we could never understand God’s intentions.  And to try and do so would be impossible because God is beyond our comprehension.  That is the most frustrating thing I hear Christians say and I hear it all the time.  The amount of ignorance it takes to except a concept such as that is insurmountable.  If I told you that I was going to drink motor oil you would think I was crazy ask question me as to why I would do such a thing, right?  You wouldn’t just think that maybe I knew better than you and trust my judgment on such a thing.  So why do so with God?  I’ll bet if you’re a Christian you just caught yourself saying something along the lines of “Well, you’re not an all knowing, all powerful god” or something along those lines, right?   There’s no metaphor that I could use to get you to see the point because you’ve been brainwashed into thinking that your God is above and beyond anything and everything.  There’s a saying that the “fastest way to become an Atheist is to read the Bible”.  That book is full of contradictions, immorality, and fanciful ideas.  However, a Christian is indoctrinated to somehow ignore such things.  It’s unfathomable from where I stand on the outside looking in but such is the case.

               One other thing I would just like to lightly touch on is the story of Jesus itself.  From what I have seen one of the key points of this story preys upon one the greatest weaknesses of the Human race; emotions.  More specifically our empathy.  The very symbol of Christianity is the cross.  The object used to crucify Jesus.  We are bombarded with images of Jesus on the cross, bloody and broken.  We are told that all he the pain he endured he did so for us.  How ungrateful would we be if we rejected him and his teachings?  Instead we try so hard to feel his pain to remind us of what he did to a point that we can’t help but feel guilt for not believing in him. 

               It’s my opinion that either Jesus was a con man who undoubtedly duped the first Christians or he never even existed at all.  Maybe those who wrote the New Testament saw a chance to reform an already existing religion into something more to their liking.  And throughout the years it was edited numerous times to conform to others’ school of thought.  The most expertly crafted part being that to doubt the word of the Bible would mean eternal damnation.  And it is this very book (or rather the ideas within) that people having been both killing for and dying for centuries.

               Now let’s talk about one more aspect about Christianity.  The community that is so incorporated into this religion.  The sense of belonging to something greater than yourself.  It’s yet another fact that we Human Beings just can’t seem to avoid.  When you become part of a religious community it’s very hard to question doctrine when you are surrounded by it.  Outnumbered would be how I describe it.  It’s difficult to doubt when you’re constantly being reassured that your faith is all you need.  It’s hard to break out of something like that.  So, those who are forced into it when they are young know of no other way and see it as being the only way.  It becomes an “Us” against “Them” and joining “them” seems like an outlandish act. 

               While Christianity might die out eventually or maybe just evolve into some new religion it’s not going to go without a fight.  It will endure until everyone finally has the courage to question everything.  To except doubt as a possibility.  Then and only then will our race be free from the shackles of such oppressive doctrine.