Yep. It became clear to me through difficult times and turmoil that my parents switch to Christianity during my childhood was their way to find excuses to never have to change or answer to others.

It’s a convenient way to remain narcissist and pretend you’re improving as a person.

My dad made it very clear he only needs to answer to “god” and nobody else.

Cool. Drop dead, dad.

After they created confessions (meaning somehow the priest can ‘cleanse’ you of your sins, God won’t take you touching your niece into consideration for your judgment because you told some old dude about it and you recited 5 prayers to virgin Mary, lol) and purgatory (it used to be a binary destination, either Heaven and Hell, but the Church needed money lenders and usury to get coin for wars and whatnot and made it up to legitimise what had been seen as inmoral for ages) Christian dogma was fully cooked.

The problem starts with Paul (well, actually, with Rome and the creation of a new religion, and then the Council of Nicea. People in the West would’ve been some kind of Jewish if not, like Jesus was) and his idea of “faith without works” and “belief that God exists and Jesus submitted to Him is enough to be saved!”, which was vehemently opposed by Jesus’ actual followers that understood that faith without works is dead at best, hypocritical if not, and that even “demons believe in God, and they shudder” (sure, God exists and is always watching, but do you act like it?!). But Rome preferred/established this as canon and you can see the repercussions everywhere today, particularly in the Godless, amoral West. How could they act right, when their ideological base is so flimsy and tolerant of sin?

Er, wut?

Have you read anything about Christianity? Not just criticism, but actual dispassionate, objective learning, like a 300 level Religions of the World course?

I have (I’m not Christian, not religious at all), and what you’re espousing is completely antithetical to Christian thinking, and sounds more like projection of your own ethics.

Ifnyoure a Christian, you don’t have a choice about Judgement - it’s a fact for them. What you’re espousing has even been addressed (by the Catholic Church anyway), and even part of why Martin Luther protested, and why Protestant religions even exist.

You should educate yourself before condemning what you think other people believe. Because everything you’ve described is from your own head, not Christianity. And don’t tell me “Christian so-and-so said so”, then they’re wrong, and it’s very well documented and clear. Again, this specific idea is even part of the creation of Protestantism.

I highly recommend any of the courses on religion from The Teaching Company, available in your public library. Each one is roughly 30 lectures, each 45 min to 1 hour. It’s a recording of the college-level courses presented at places like Harvard. I know for sure there are close to a dozen courses in religion from TTC, maybe more.

At risk of taking some bait…

I profess a faith as a Christian, but am not a theologian. Grain of salt and all that, but we do exist lol

Unfortunately sorting “real” Christians from posers is difficult, and that’s how people can get away with using the “Christian” label, because who can judge but God?

That being said, when you think about whether someone is a “real” Christian who’s just not doing a good job, vs a poser who’s just using the name, consider whether they exhibit some of the very clearly articulated attributes of being a Christian, such as the Seven Virtues. If someone consistently calls themselves Christian, but makes no effort to improve in these ways, that might be a good sign they’re not genuine.

So to your point, using Christianity for social gain is antithetical to actually being a Christian.

I’m terms of Organized Christianity, and cases in which it has shielded those who do evil, that’s a big, messy topic. Sufficient to say, the church is wholely responsible for not taking it seriously for so long. It breaks my heart that it happens at all, and brings great shame that there are people who supposedly profess the same faith and yet allow these things to happen. The church can and should do better to hold one another accountable and to protect the vulnerable.

Do you not believe that Christians exist?

This is looking like a boys only club, so I’ll go with Tilda Swinton.

Yeah, fuck organized religion, i agree.
But Christians do exist and do attempt to pay for their sins. Many of them are even good people.

This makes Christians sound like magical fairy creatures XD

If only they were real…

I mostly agree with your points, I’m just trying to fully understand them. What do you mean by social climbing?

And how do you feel about people who don’t practice organized religion but still have enlightenment, spirituality, or faith?

It’s church people I tend to disagree with, and my experiences with them have mostly been as you described. That’s the main reason I don’t go to church, even though I still consider myself spiritual and have faith.

From what I understand, we’re already supposed to be forgiven and exempt from judgment. Hell doesn’t exist yet, and it was apparently created to punish an angel, so it wasn’t even made for humans in the first place.

Honor every religion as if it were true to itself and you’ll be happier.