Shouldn't Christians hope they are wrong?

There are a bunch of things that Christians believe that I find hard to swallow. Yes, I was once a Christian so I can understand how they HAVE to believe these things in order to maintain their doctrines, but I wish they would consider, as I have, that they may be wrong. Some of these things they believe are so terrible that it should compel them to hope that they may be wrong. For example, if I believed that an ancient people prophesied that in three years the world would be impacted by an alien missile that would send the earth on a collision course with the sun and that subsequently every living thing on the planet would become fried - Shouldn't I spend all my time trying to prove myself wrong? Christians also believe that one day billions of people will fry in the flames of hell, but they take it another step further and make it last forever. What an awful thought. Shouldn't this compel them to hope that they are wrong? Shouldn't they be reading all of the critical books that have been written against their religion? Shouldn't they be researching all of the scientific discoveries that may contradict what is written in their holy book? It may dash their hopes of one day reaching their eternal paradise, but in my opinion that is a small price to pay.

A man may spend his life inventing medical cures that save the lives of millions and prevents much suffering, but in the Christian worldview, if he did not believe and dedicate his life to the god/man Jesus then he will spend an infinite number of years wailing and gnashing his teeth in unquenchable flames. 

According to Christian beliefs, I would have been infinitely better off if I had died in a car accident while I was still a Christian than later abandoning my faith in the religion and one day reaping the consequences. 

I'm sure if you asked most Christians they would say that aborted babies all end up in heaven along with miscarriages and other infants who die young. If this is true then, according to Christian beliefs, all of these babies are better off dead and in heaven then having to live here on earth and possibly not becoming a "real" Christian.

Christians look forward to the day that they can leave this earth for a better home where they can eternally be at the feet of Yahweh, worshiping him forever. Unfortunately they have to do this in spite of being aware of his deeds in the Old Testament. Yahweh was at one time fed up with people so much that he drowned a world full of them including plants, animals, children, elderly and everything that breathed. Yahweh also commanded his chosen people to annihilate the people who lived in Canaan and would not allow them to spare anything that breathed (except a group of virgins once). I'm not sure which was worse: being killed with a blunt sword or having to be the one doing the killing. Why do they want to believe this with all their heart? Because Jesus fixed all of this? 

Jesus had some good ideas, but he was not perfect. He supposedly said things like: "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword", "For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother", and "All these things are done in parables: That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them." If you think that's not so bad, read about what happens in the book of Revelation and I doubt you'll think the New Testament is a nice book anymore.

In a last attempt modern Christians will re-interpret every passage in the Bible that they have a problem with, they will focus on the social aspects of Jesus' words and Paul's writings, and they will try as much as possible to become relevant for the culture of today. Even this modern version of Christianity should raise some eyebrows. Most modern Christians still believe that the majority of the world is going to hell. Most of them still believe that human sacrifice is a medium for appeasing their god (thankfully it was a one time deal). Most of them still focus on the brutal act of a Roman crucifixion and focus on a broken body and spilled blood. Most of them still believe that any day now the world and everything left in it is going to be destroyed and remade. And most of them still become self-righteous and tend to look down on anyone who does not believe what they believe. All I ask is that they open up about their doubts and become honest with one another. They should be open to other points of view. 

If humanity is going to thrive in the future, things like bigotry and intolerance need to be set aside. Superstitions should be cast off. Apocalyptic and doomsday thinking should be kept in check with reality. Attempts at finding the truth of a matter should begin with evidence and probability and should not be based on dogma and presuppositions. The value of life must be upheld. Suffering should always be avoided. People should be kind and thoughtful to others because they want to, not because they want to gain an eternal reward. I'm not saying anything new. This has all been hashed out many times before. The question is, do Christians deep down really hope they are right about these things? Shouldn't they hope to be wrong?

Thoughts on values, morality

In this post I'd like to comment on the controversial topic of absolute morality vs. moral relativism. From my point of view it seems that all we have available to us is moral relativism. In other words, all we have is everyone's different opinions on what's good for us and what's bad. Christians claim that God sets the standard for us to live by, but if that's the case then he has not made that clear to us. How can we be expected to trust in something written down by ancient people (the Bible)? Especially when it has many things that seem morally wrong, such as stoning disobedient children, killing witches, eternal torment, genocide, human sacrifice, etc. Also, this collection of ancient writings (the Bible) has been interpreted in many, many different ways.

Does everyone have the same set of values implanted within them by God? If that were true then we would all agree on what's right and wrong. In some cultures women are not given the same rights as men (even driving a car), they think that's right, but I think it's wrong. A few centuries ago there were people in America  who thought slavery was not wrong, but I think it is. Lying, in my opinion, is not always wrong. If you had lived in Nazi Germany and you were hiding Jews in your basement, it would have been good to lie when asked if you knew where any Jews were. If you are a spy that works for the CIA, you may have to lie all the time, and I think that is okay because it is a necessity for that type of job. The most clear example of different  moral standards is the stark contrast between modern people and ancient.

So, where do we get our values from? I think we get them from our parents and our culture. I think down through the years different cultures have been improving values little by little. Judaism and Christianity have given us the value of helping the poor and needy. The enlightenment period gave us the value of science and reason which helped dispose of superstitions. Modern thinking has given us the values of freedom and equality. Modern medicine has instructed us in good values for eating and exercising. And modern science has established the values of recycling and sustainability (to name a few). Having values gives us the ability to make this world a better place to live. Some day we may be able to do away with war and famine and we can try to minimize suffering as much as possible.

What about guilt, where does that come from? I think this uncomfortable feeling comes whenever we do something that other people do not agree with or perhaps we ourselves do not approve of. Since we worry about what other people think about us, we are constantly aware of their possible judgments. Also, if you've been raised in a Christian environment as I have, you will think that God is keeping tabs on you and expects you to do things a certain way. I think all of these things have been the ideas and creations of men, however.

Values help us everyday to make good decisions. Good decisions will result in a happier life and will make those around us happy as well. There may not be a clear standard for everyone to follow, but we try our best and learn from the past.

My challenge to someone who claims absolute morals exist is simple. If they exist, then tell us what they are. Once you've been able to decide on what those are tell us on what authority they are based. No matter what, you will have to rely on your own opinions and biases to make this list. Since they are based on your own opinions and biases they are, by definition, relative to you and not absolute.

The gap of the gods

I've recently been reading some materials by Christian apologists and I'd like to comment on what I see as a gap in their arguments. The standard Christian arguments for the God of the Bible usually begin with the natural world. They usually involve cause and effect, fine tuning and complex design. In my opinion, these are all reasonable arguments that have been put forward. Most Christian apologists realize that these are not absolute proofs, but they can be called "clues" that there may be an intelligent designer. At this point they reach a major gap. First, they avoid giving any explanation for how this designer exists, then, they jump directly from an intelligent designer to the Christian God of the Bible.

Some apologists will seemingly cover all their bases by arguing against the God's of some other religions, but overall they give no good reasons for leaping past the gap. I think they fail to see that there are so many possibilities surrounding the concept of an intelligent designer. I would like to grant for a moment that the intelligent design concept is true (although I do think naturalism has a strong case, but that's for a different post). Here are some possible "what if" scenarios I thought of in just a few minutes. There are probably many other "what ifs" that could be dreamed up as well.

• Naturally, we think that God is much like us in ways of consciousness and the ability to effect changes on things, but what if this is not the case. What if the intelligent designer is something like a network of different minds and is not really a single conscious being? That might sound strange, but it's actually similar to the idea of a three in one God.
• What if the creator of our universe is a grand scientist of sorts and he has created many millions of different universes trying out different settings and parameters with each one?
• What if every galaxy has a different deity in charge of it and each galaxy has several inhabited planets for each deity to watch over?
• What if the intelligent designer died at the moment it created life on planet earth, giving it's last breath to create new life for us?
• What if there is an infinity of deities in existence and they have all lived for eternity past in infinite space creating infinite numbers of universes? 
• What if there is a grand hierarchy of deities, with a father and mother type at the top of the chain? The deity that created our world could be several notches down in this hierarchy.
• The intelligent designer could be more or less like a male or could be more or less like a female or could even be similar to a robot or something.
• Perhaps the big bang was caused by two deities smashing into each other in some other dimension in a  sort of galactic jousting match.
• Or perhaps the world was created by small fairies who watch us all the time, but are invisible to us.
• If I take any of these scenarios and add more and more specifics to them, they will gradually sound more and more bogus.

"Why this is madness!" says the apologist, "You are just speculating all of this." Indeed. But think about how much time you have spent speculating about your deity. Don't think you're special because you have piggy-backed on other's theories passed down for a few millennium. The Israelite's concept of Yahweh is not much different than the concept of Ahura Mazda as conceived by the ancient Iranians. Is Christianity special because it has lasted so long and has so many followers? No, for this can also be claimed by other religions.

So we are left with this gap in their argument. Yes, we could be designed. But I think you should stop there. Everything else you can imagine about this designer or designers is speculation. It may be fun to speculate, but things can get ugly if you start assuming too much. If you're not careful, you may end up using your concepts to control other people and even worse begin speaking on the designer's behalf or writing in his name.