Top Ten Reasons For Not Being A Christian

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From http://www.hallindseyoracle.com/article ... leID=12773

Top Ten Reasons For Not Being a Christian

Over the course of my ministry, I've pretty much heard all the objections to Christianity the world has to offer. Here are what I would consider the "Top 10 Objections" to becoming a Christian.



1. "Seeing is believing. I've never seen God, so how do I know He exists?"

Nobody has ever seen the wind, but there is no doubt of its power. Nobody has seen history, but there is no doubt of its legacy. Nobody has seen a person's mind, but that doesn't make us mindless. TV and radio waves are invisible, but with the proper receiver, we can see their results.

Having never seen God is not much of a reason for rejecting Him, if you get right down to it. Let's see if we can do better.

2. "I may have broken the Ten Commandments, but I do good things for people. If God is fair, the scales will balance."

One look at "Hollywood morality" should dispel this one. They commit adultery in their youth, and then become involved in giving to AIDS research, etc., as they grow older. In their minds, they think that they are balancing the scales. They have done bad, and now they are doing good.

It doesn't work that way, even before an imperfect judge in a secular courtroom – if the judge is honest. An effort to bribe the judge with good works is still a bribe.

If you compare yourself with other human beings, you might be better than some, but worse than others.

But God has to judge us on the basis of His righteous character, which we have violated. This is why He gave us the "Big Ten." They show us how good we would have to be to earn God's acceptance by our own good deeds. This is why God cannot judge on the "curve." God says, "Whoever keeps the whole law, yet offends in one point is guilty of all of it." (James 2:10)

Since none of us could ever be good enough to measure up to His perfect character, God elected to come to Earth in the person of Jesus Christ and die in our place under His offended righteous character. In so doing, God purchased a pardon for every person. We only have to admit we have broken His laws, turn to God and accept His free pardon.

3. "Christianity is oppressive to women."

This objection comes up in confusing the context of the Christian model for marriage. Ephesians 5:22 says, "Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as unto the Lord." But the skeptic's objection collapses when the passage is taken in its full context.

Ephesians 5:25 commands husbands, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it."

It is hardly "oppression" to submit to someone who loves you with a sacrificial love. Instead, it is a textbook definition of love – a key ingredient to a successful marriage.

4. "The Bible was written by men."

As an objection, this is by far the silliest. When you write a letter, are you writing it, or is the pen? As I type this column, am I writing it, or is my computer? Clearly, the pen, or the computer, is the instrument, not the writer. The same principle applies to the writers of Scripture. They were instruments, but God's Spirit is the author.

The Bible declares of itself that "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God." (2 Timothy 3:16) and the proof is in the pudding. The writers of Scripture ranged from shepherds to kings to fishermen, but the 66 books that make up the Bible read as a single, harmonious narrative emanating from a Single Author.

God threw down the gauntlet concerning how to know whether His Word is true or not. God said to Moses, "You may say to yourselves, 'How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD?' If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken." (Deut. 18:21-22 NIV)

Every prophecy made in the Bible about specific events, places and times have come true to the letter. Some are not yet fulfilled because it is not yet the time. But the record in history is 100 percent accuracy. This is why we have only the books in the Bible that have been authenticated by fulfilled prophecy. More than 300 prophecies were fulfilled in the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah.

5. "Churches are full of hypocrites."

The word "hypocrite" comes from the Greek word for "actor" or "pretender." Hypocrisy is "the practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold."

The Body of Christ consists of true believers – "churches" are buildings where people congregate. Sitting in a church no more makes one a Christian than sitting in a garage makes one a car.

Jesus will sort out the true believers from the pretenders in His time. The question is not what church you go to, but rather, whom do you trust for your salvation? A church? Or Jesus Christ?

6. "Christians think they are better than non-Christians."

This is another objection borne out of ignorance of both the teaching of Scripture and the nature of salvation. Nowhere do the Scriptures say that a Christian is a better person than a non-Christian. A believer in Jesus is a forgiven sinner. The unbeliever is not forgiven. But a true Christian knows that he is forgiven by the unmerited grace of God.

Peter betrayed Jesus by denying Him three times. Judas betrayed Him only once. But Peter is infinitely better off. Peter believed and was forgiven. Judas did not.

Two murderers were crucified alongside Jesus. One repented and expressed his faith by saying, "Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Jesus immediately replied, "Truly I say to you, Today you will be with me in Paradise."

By way of analogy, consider two skydivers. One has a working parachute; the other does not. That doesn't make the skydiver with a working parachute a better skydiver. But he is certainly wiser than the other guy.

7. "There is too much suffering in the world for there to be a loving God."

The Bible tells us that God cursed the Earth because of Adam's transgression. Weeds are a curse. So is disease. Sin and suffering cannot be separated. The Scriptures inform us that we live in a fallen creation. Those who understand the message of Holy Scripture eagerly await a new Heaven and a new Earth "wherein dwells righteousness."

In that coming Kingdom there will be no more pain, suffering, disease or death. If it didn't exist here, then its abolition then would be meaningless. The sacrifice of Christ would be unnecessary.

A loving God? John 15:13 says, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

8. "Christianity isn't fair. What about all those people who have never heard the Gospel? Will they all go to Hell because they haven't heard about Jesus Christ?"

No one will be lost because he hasn't heard of Jesus. God says, "The wrath of God is being revealed from Heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." (Romans 1:18-20) He also promises, "You will seek Me and find me when you search for Me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13)

You see, God brings everyone to "God-consciousness" through the witness of creation. When a person anywhere, in any culture comes to God-consciousness – and then desires to know this God, He will move Heaven and Earth to get the true message to him. If he dies without hearing about Jesus Christ, it's because he did not want to know the true God.

9. I've tried to read the Bible. I can't understand it.

The Scriptures tells us that the "natural man" cannot understand the things of the Spirit of God. Most Americans would find it difficult to understand the Chinese language. However, a child who is born into a Chinese family can understand every word.

Every person is born physically alive, but spiritually dead. God is a "Spirit" and we must have the same kind of life to perceive Him. This is why Jesus said to a very religious man, "Unless a man is born from above, he cannot perceive the things of God."

When even an uneducated person believes in Jesus and is born spiritually, he can immediately begin to understand the Bible.

10. Christians are sinners, according to their own teaching. So what is the difference between a Christian who sins and a non-believer?

This objection misses the point. A Christian receives a new nature and the Spirit of God comes to dwell in him it at the point of the "new spiritual birth." He still has an old nature that wants to sin. When the Christian fails to say no to temptation and depend upon God's Spirit, he sins.

The difference, however, is that a Christian cannot be happy anymore living in sin. He becomes miserable and wants to return to fellowship with God. As soon as he confesses his sin to God, he is forgiven and brought back into fellowship. But though the Christian can get out of fellowship, he cannot lose his relationship with God. That has been secured forever by the death of Jesus Christ in his place. God will not disown a child that He purchased with His own blood.

The 10 reasons for not being a Christian, therefore, are really 10 reasons why, if you haven't already, you should be on your knees – right now – receive the gift of pardon that Jesus purchased by dying in your place.

You won't become perfect in this life, but you will have new desires and power that will make you progressively better. And at the end, you will go to be with God forever.

Awesome.

I'm going to respond to these.

The answer to this mistakes literal seeing for observing. Radio waves, wind etc. can't be seen, but they can still be observed. God cannot be observed. If we believed in everything that we couldn't observe simply on the promise of eternal happiness, we would be a messed-up species indeed.


So God had to create a miniture version of himself, to kill himself, to come back to life, in order to symbollically take the punishment for us, in order to convince himself not to punish us, for breaking a standard impossible for us to live up to in the first place. Okay.

Basically God made a mistake and had to correct it through his own pain. That's what humans do everyday when they mess up, yet they don't have a religion based around them.


Religion cannot oppress people because religion does not physically exist. Christians can be oppressive, but not Christianity.


I don't know... when I go into a bookstore, I don't look for something labelled 'By Steven King's Typewriter'.

In the New Testament, all of the gospels say pretty much the same thing. One would think that God could say what he wanted right the first time.


Now that's just a lie. Jesus did not:

A. Build the Third Temple (Ezekiel 37:26-28).

B. Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel (Isaiah 43:5-6).

C. Usher in an era of world peace, and end all hatred, oppression, suffering and disease. As it says: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall man learn war anymore." (Isaiah 2:4)

D. Spread universal knowledge of the God of Israel, which will unite humanity as one. As it says: "God will be King over all the world -- on that day, God will be One and His Name will be One" (Zechariah 14:9).


That's nice.


I will never take credit for what another in my clique has done, and I expect the same of them. Their actions do not reflect on me.


A loving God would realize that humans do not have a collective mind, and punishing us all for the 'sins' of two is... stupid.


Then why is it that there are no Christians anywhere Christians have not already gone before? Why don't we see Christianity popping up spontaneously throughout history in areas that haven't been reached by missionaries?

It's official... God hates Japanese.


Why should I believe something I can't understand? That's putting the cart before the horse.


AA teaches its members that they are helpless to alcoholism. That's why they have a 10 out of 11 failure rate.

I won't was

I won't waste my time correcting all your errors in logic. You are brain-washed and want everyone else to be brain washed too. That's wht I quit believing in christ.

top ten reasons for not being a christian:


1. i didn't swing "that way" when i was younger and i still don't swing "that way" now.
2. there is no god
3. there is no god
4. there is no god
5. alcohol and marijuana are a better waste of money
6. there is no god
7. there is no god
8. jesus was one of many people claiming to be the messiah around that time period...messiahs were as common as elvis impersonators
9. there is no god
10. i'd rather die a permenant death than contribute to the hate that is institutionalized religion.

Grievious you rock!! !! !!1 Thanks..........

If I purchase my house from myself, will I get taxed on the sale? Who did God purchase the pardon from?

Why go through hoops when you can just snap your fingers? Why drive to the north pole, just to get to the grocery store?

I believe in god, sir, I just dont believe YOU, or any religeous institutions. Stop making s**t up. Stop regurgitating s**t made up by other people.

A Top Reason For Not Being a Christian:

The fictional Jesus character described in the christian bible is immoral. In the bible (which is a work of fiction) he is described as doing various things that are unethical, such as encouraging people to abandon their families and hate their parents, saying that all rich people will go to hell, wanting to burn the people of entire cities to death, and other immoral activities. Jesus is immoral.

Christianity is all about manipulating the gullible masses for political power.

You want to be spiritual? You want spirituality? Good and fine. But you will find NO genuine spirituality in Christianity.

I'm hopefull for a more balanced point of view.

When believing in God is a good thing

There are the delusional, the crazy and the psychopathic murderers that believe god told them to destroy.

Then there is a belief in God in others that is for good and only good. Those are the people whom are not manipulative and put shame to the belief reality of God. It does not always seem to be complex but simple, such as a simple belief in God excluding the complexities of interpretations found in a bible.

It is difficult to fathom however, this God belief.

Also not believing in God is not a bad thing.

In my opinion, a person who believes in a god but without being part of any religious institution/organization is a person who is seeking spirituality. Such a person uses their own mind, and is quite different to the gullible mindless zombies that participate in religions.

In other words, religion and spirituality are 2 very different things. Spirituality is NOT found in any religion. Where is it found? Your spirituality can only be found in yourself -- no religion can provide it. Why is this true? Because every person is a different and unique individual, whereas religions enforce conformity and tell you what you must believe regardless of the uniqueness of each individual. Spirituality is different for each individual. Therefore if a person rejects religion but believes in a god, I understand this, even though I do not believe in any god myself.

Last edited by emp on 02 May 2006, 2:07 am, edited 1 time in total.

Well, I'm not sure I can get quickly to ten, but I can do much better than the ones given.
If they are the best Hal Lindsey has ever encountered, He's been moving in odd circles.


1) "From http://www.hallindseyoracle.com/article ... leID=12773"

So few Christians appear to be able to think from themselves, and accept statements from Christian authorities without critically examining them. That various church authorities cannot agree on what Christianity involves is a separate but related reason.

Read your Church history from the second century on.



2) " The Bible declares of itself that..."
But self-referential remarks are not much in the way of evidence. The Koran so speaks of itself too. The idea that the bible consists of " a single, harmonious narrative emanating from a Single Author." [capitals in original] requires pre-assumption of its truth, because it is not easily found in the text alone.

"This is why we have only the books in the Bible that have been authenticated by fulfilled prophecy."

Care to explain what Ecclesiastes is doing there, then? I know of no reference to it in those terms.


3) The easy dismissal of the argument of suffering aganst the existence of God.
"Sin and suffering cannot be separated. The Scriptures inform us that we live in a fallen creation."

The fall has to be inferred, to cover the massive gap between a loving creator God and the world as we see it. But there's a simpler hypothesis which requires neither a creator God nor a fall.


4) "I've tried to read the Bible. I can't understand it."
I've read the bible and studied it. I can understand it. At least half-a dozen different ways.
That Christian denominations and sects cannot agree on its reading and understanding is telling. I have a worn book on my shelf entitled "approaches to Old Testament Interpretation". It lists and considers the many and varied schemes that have been and continue to be employed.


There's plenty else. but that will do for now,

Last edited by Emettman on 02 May 2006, 12:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Some comments against religion are simply wrong, making insults when subjectively it is incorrect.

So for this reason it is intellectually of a bias that is not reasonably processed.

Religion doesn't bother me really. Some of them (both theist and atheist religions) have some good ideas.

It's organised religion that I dislike. They tend to be nothing more than political organisations, and yes, they love a good war now and then.

I'm not religious.

Organized religion does contain politics, yet relgious groups individually do not always.

Many things can seem political, religion itself can be made out to be political if what is believed of it regardless of its role specifically within the group or individual is not agreed upon by the non-religious. Anyone whom is religious and has an opinion and mind of his own that does reflect on teachings is not a negative, nor is he or she mindlessly of victim to an imaginary enforcement of vote this way or goto hell.