Religion/Religious has grown into a word that carries heavy negative connotations. Its sad really. I know one thing people think about it is "fire, brimstone, judgemental, illogical, dumb, dreamer(with negative connotation), ignorant, stick in the mud..etc." I am a Christian myself and have come across this a lot. Most of the time it is Christianity which is spotlighted when this word comes up despite the vast amounts of religion.
Judgemental-If people say it enough then it must be true right. It is now a running gag that Christians are very judgemental people. Well yes and no..and I'd even go with no all the way, but I'm a bit biased. Our religion actually asks us to share our faith. Sharing our faith is actually the highest form of love you can receive from a Christian because that only means they are trying to save you because they think you can be saved or are worth saving. Again view it from the Christian perspective. It is similar to if you saw someone about to commit suicide and then you jump in and stop them from committing said suicide. Now would you just stand by and watch someone commit suicide simply because "that's what they wanted to do" or would you "intrude" on their lives and try to save them. Yeah, before you say its not the same thing..it is...you just have to think in the Christians/insert religion perspective.
To reiterate If a Christian tries to convert you they
1. Are fulfilling their duty as a Christian because we are actually supposed to share the faith
2. Acting out of love rather than what you think is mere judging.
Again, half the time its actually not judging. We're just sharing our faith. (So you don't want us to intrude on your beliefs) Well according to our religion we should. Say we are annoying but its not really a judging thing. We speak according to our religion so if we say don't do A because of B its because we're speaking from what our religious views are and not about you as a person. I often tell my friends they shouldn't get drunk, but I never think I'm better than them or that they are horrible heathens.
As with anything there are a few nuts in the group. If you make a practice of judging many out of few then I'm certain you sympathize with racists right? Plus many of the people calling Christians judgemental are equally or even more rude/judgemental then the Christians/religios folks they prosecute.
Illogical
This one actually makes me laugh. Think about it. Scientists really don't know as much as we give them credit for. We accept them as logical views thus they must be right...wrong. Just think about this. After a big explosion a perfect sized and aged sun with a spherical "design" is just a perfect distance from another spherically "designed" sphere that jus happens to have the proponents for life. Life just so happens to form on this planet along with various complex systems like photosynthesis, carbon cycle, water cycle (to replenish our resources), humans are even more complex.. I mean we can go on forever about the brain and dna. I could look at something as simple as a sandal and everyone would agree it had some sort of design thus a designer, but something as complex as life and the universe is an accident? Okay. Moreover, even if you believe in the Big Bang theory how did all of this matter suddenly give us personality and the ability to think. I can mash up matter all day in a lab but its suddenly not going to start having a personalilty on its own. Hell we even have to "design" robots to emulate human speech let alone emotion. Never can we just get all the parts for a robot and hope it suddenly starts to feel on its own. This is because we aren't an accident. We have a soul.
Second from a statistical standpoint in a win/lose scenario religion is the most logical choice. If I am wrong about Christianity and I die then guess what...nothing happens. If I'm right and I believe in Christianity I get the ultimate reward of heaven, but if I choose to not believe and its real then I get the ultimate loss. SO you see logically you have everything to gain and nothing to lose. Oh but I know what you're thinking. If I have to follow Christian rules then I'll be missing out.
Missing out on what?
Okay don't get drunk...alright name all the bad things that happen while under the influence
*** before marriage. First a sin does not guarantee hell and second sleeping around can result in problems
(these are the two main things I hear about when people talk about missing out. There are other rules that are mainly for your own good but these are the two I am often confronted with by friends.)
Long post that nobody will read but maybe one person will read and see something they never thought of before.
