Nihilism Among Christians

It seems interesting that christians say that atheism is nihilism, yet they ignore the nihilism that exists in their own dogma. Take predestination for example: Calvinists (which every christian should be, because predestination is talked about many, many times in the bible) believe that god chooses who will go to heaven, and consequently, who will go to hell.

There's no point for a Calvinist to do anything. No point in "witnessing," trying to save souls. No point in worrying about losing their own faith, because they can't choose to *not* be a christian. There's no point in doing or not doing anything while they're alive: Regardless of what they do they can't "unchoose" what god has chosen, therefore nothing they do will change the outcome of the their soul's destination.

And there are many christians who are not Calvinists that also believe "once saved, forever saved" so the same concept about living life applies for them. Sure, they will tell you you're supposed to live a "moral" life, and that if you do "evil" things then you weren't saved to begin with, but they're also ignoring the point of being saved through Jesus, that he washed away our sins so that when we do die we don't have to worry about confessing, cause he knows and took care of it already, and they accepted.

Christians have no reason to "behave" in what they feel are the boundaries of morality accept to conform to some public appearance, and it appears to me that their religion is absolutely nihilistic, even more so than atheism has the potential be because at the very least, atheists, who don't believe they get an infinite second life, will be more prone to ensuring they live as long and happily as possible in this one.

What do you think?

 

:2thumbsup:

 

To each their own. Beliefs never contend with the truth, only with other beliefs.

The metaphysical principles purportedly espoused by jesus, can with practice, not belief, be demonstrated as consistent with observable phenomena.

 

I disagree. For example, flat-earth believers contend with the truth.

 

I mean a belief has no chance of surmounting or changing the truth. The earth's globe does not argue against the belief that it is flat. Truth does not need argument or belief to be what it is. While the attempt may be made, it never succeeds in altering the truth, however the truth may be made to seem obscure.

 

The earth isn't flat?

 

Good name :2thumbsup:

I tried to address the OP but, to me, the christians seem like caricatures.

 

One reason for the "common dialogue", that Evangelical Atheist wonders how to transcend.

 

but what's the truth?

 

Unconditional

 

Then why be christian?

 

Your last paragraph is what bothers me.

They can speak of godliness, and they can try, but when they do things (like, say, run for elected office on the platform of hating gays, all the while hiring rent boys so often they have a tab) that don't jibe with this morality which they use to condemn others, jeebus just forgives them.

But, they are morally obligated to expose YOUR moral failings, or things that you do that have no bearing on their lives, like be homosexual, that jeebus allegedly wouldn't like.

Don't get me wrong, yeshua was a pretty cool guy. He would also be directly at odds with most of his alleged followers, and would weep if he was alive to see what people do and believe in his name.

About jesus, he said to pay your taxes, for starters ("give unto caeser what is caesers", or whatever)

 

First and foremost you would be dissatisfied with your conditions, then the teaching and learning of forgiveness unravels the conditions we bring upon ourselves and restores our vision of how things are as opposed to seeing what we have been taught we ought to see. The truth then, sets us free.

 

Reality is truth

 

then what if one is fortunate enough to not need to be a christian?

 

They are synonyms. That which is so.
And reality is conditional on what?

 

Do you mean the OP has created caricatures of Christians as straw men for his arguments? I agree.

 

I think you're overgeneralizing about Christians. As you note, not all Christians are Calvinists. I'm a Christian, and like many others I think that predestination is preposterous. I feel the same about the "once saved, forever saved" theory. Am I unusual? No. Most Catholics would agree with me, and they are the largest Christian denomination in the United States and the world. Most Eastern Orthodox Christians would also agree with me, as would many "mainline" Protestants like Episcopalians, Methodists, and UCC adherents. Even Calvinists, while believing in predestination also believe that leading a moral life is a sign that they are of the elect, so there's a lot of psychological pressure for them to do so. Same goes for the "once saved, forever saved' crowd.

 

Fortune is.

The invitation is to those who are weary and heavy laden, or those who are not well, the well having no need of a physician. Further among those, with the, "ears to hear".

 

a free athiest can certainly believe in eternal life , and most christians are not required to even think about it . ya , preachers
traditionally speak life-everlasting at funerals unto the weeping .
peace and love .

a non-believing writer may want to write well enough to be
alive a few hundred years and as well honor ancestors with
passionate spiritual imagination .

life goes on - bats and girls and everysense . otherwise ,
let us die now .