What is the least favorable characteristic of Christians?

[yeshaberto]

At this risk of this turning into a bashing thread (and please don't), I am genuinely interested in your perspective as to what you see in Christians (not necessarily Christianity) that turns you off.
Over the years of reading thru P/R many things have been brought up, so I am interested in hearing your personal thoughts.

Mine would be the passion to be right, even if you are wrong.

[eric42434224]

Mine is when one attributes everything that happens in their life to god.  Not just the good things, like thanking god for assisting them in getting a no-hitter, or justifying natural disasters or deaths as god having a plan.
The ones that bug me the most are when people make really bad decisions, and that go against all common sense, and say that god will help them and see them through.
In essense I dont like it when people are so quick to excuse their own personal responsibility or control, and hand it over to god.

[chrisbDTM]

when they pick and choose which parts of the bible to follow.
ex. gay marriage is wrong, but getting a tattoo isn't

[ResultsMayVary]

when they pick and choose which parts of the bible to follow.
ex. gay marriage is wrong, but getting a tattoo isn't

Couldn't agree more.

Mine is when people decide who God hates and loves based on their personal beliefs (see the westboro fucks and other people, in general).

[Adami]

Paul.

[Ħ]

Ones that use Christianity to judge others. The greatest commands are to love God and love your neighbor (even your enemies). Churches that focus on helping end the world's problems (like Saddleback Church) are great. Churches that just teach you truth concepts but don't encourage application of love tend to create the characteristic "holier-than-though" types.

That's just what I can say from my experience.

[yeshaberto]

btw, I will be using these to help formulate an outline for a series I am teaching, so thanks in advance

[kirksnosehair]

Man, this is a dangerous topic, ain't it? 

I guess the main thing that comes to mind is:

 I don't understand why the people who follow a religion that claims to be based on love and things like "live and let live" and "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" find a need to try to (and unfortunately succeed in many cases) legislate their specific morality into the law of the land, thus imposing their religious views upon fellow citizens who do not share those views.  To me, that is the exact opposite of "do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

[AcidLameLTE]

I was going to write some big post how the very Christian island that I'm from (e.g. shops and public transport were all shut down on a Sunday so you couldn't even get off the island if you wanted to) used to push Christianity in my face a lot but it basically, the story boils down to the fact that I don't like people pushing their religion or world views on me. I won't do that to anyone else and I don't expect them to do that to me.

[Jaffa]

Probably my biggest pet peeve about Christians is when they try to use the Bible to prove the Bible.  Like, if you're having a debate and you question the veracity of one section of the Bible, they respond by going to a different section of the Bible and finding a passage that 'proves' the first section.  As if we're just supposed to accept the truth of the Bible, even though the truth of the Bible is the whole thing we're questioning. 

Oh, and 'the Bible warns against fruitless speculation.'  I ask a theoretical question to demonstrate a point, and they just sidestep it on the grounds of 'God says I can't answer questions like that.' 

But these are really just pet peeves.  I would say that the thing that truly bothers me about some Christians - this goes beyond personal annoyance and into the realm of moral outrage - is when they are judgmental.  They spend so much time quoting Jesus, but they always seem to forget a big one: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."  I completely understand that according to the Bible, some people are inherently sinful (such as gays).  But the Bible teaches tolerance of sinners, because we are all sinners, and it's God's job to judge us, not our job to judge each other.  So I really can't stand it when Christians start hating homosexuals or judging people with tattoos or whatever else, because they are forgetting an important teaching of their own beliefs. 

And just as a disclaimer, I'm not trying to imply that all Christians do these things. 

[theseoafs]

A few things I can't stand (which, of course, apply only to a subset of Christian folk, many of whom are fine people):

1) Being unable to separate their personal morality from universal morality. It's one thing to think that homosexuality is immoral, for instance, but to legislate according to that belief which doesn't have any concrete support besides "my god said it wasn't good" seems awful to me.

2) Judgment. Although The Bible tells its followers not to judge because God takes care of that for them, it also paints a very clear picture of what is right and wrong, so many Christians usually end up judging anyway.

3) Failing to act Christlike. That's the whole point, isn't it? It's called Christianity because the goal is to be like Christ. Many Christians don't really care about acting like Christ, and instead focus on knowing the rules and going to church services, which is the thing that I find most objectionable. The awful Westboro folk fall into this group, but there are plenty of normal, non-hateful folk who fit in here too. Too many Christians are content to go about their days acting like everybody else, which I can't stand, especially if you also fit into groups 1 or 2. Either make life better for people or get out of the church.

[El Barto]

Much like George Carlin narrowing down the ten commandments to just two, all of the posts here can be summed up with one word:  arrogance.  People either think their God is personally concerned about their performance and/or their well being, or that they have such a keen understanding of his will that theirs is the only correct interpretation of his word, or who are convinced that they're the perfect Christians so everybody else is plainly fucked. 

I think people who dislike Christians in general would find them to be wonderful people if they could just admit that they're merely doing what they think works best for them and that it might not be the answer for everybody.

[GuineaPig]

Most of the Christians I know (of my own age, they are few and far between) are nice people.

Some of them are somewhat bigoted (especially towards homosexuals) though.

[Nick]

My biggest problem with Christianity is the lack of faith in the mainstream religion, especially Catholicism. People show up to church on Sunday's, profess to believe in a faith that they neither follow nor truly believe. It's simply a social convention, but I'd rather that people gather for socializing elsewhere and leave church for the true believers. You look at any major church tenant and chances are some or most of the flock isn't following it. I'm not saying anyone has to be near perfect, but few even make the attempt. Churches don't want to crack down because they need the money and people, and the people lack the actual belief and faith to make the right changes themselves.

Christianity is based off of the old testament, and even though many things were changed it remains the foundation. And the entire package is built around the son of god coming to earth for our salvation. If that's the case and you truly believe then that should be the foundation of everything you do, but for many it's a book of stories to be cherry picked from and taught with false faith. I believe either it should be taken seriously, as the actual word of god, or disregarded as a reflection of the times people were living in to be learned from. The middle ground continuously frustrates me, as I don't believe there is a good middle ground when dealing with something of this magnitude. I believe that you either believe in the gospel or you don't and that picking and choosing inside of an organized religion is false faith.

I know I might not have explained myself well, but I'm at work now and can't type much longer, will try and clarify myself later, and I'm sorry it this came off as ranty.

[eric42434224]

Nick;
A priest I know very well said that your personal relationship with god was far more important than following the "rules".
Was he not correct?

[El JoNNo]

My least favourable would be those Christians that actually follow the bible. I'm glad the majority of Christians do not follow it to the letter.

[Nick]

@eric: I agree, which is why I'm more angry or confused at the idea that we have people going to a priest or a church to ask that question in the first place. Once you organize a church and say here are the laws and rules they should be followed. If you wish to be a Christian that doesn't follow half the teachings of the Catholic church (or whatever the case may be) that's fine, but my issue arises when they proclaim to be Catholic's and go to church every Sunday. I'd rather they simply follow their own beliefs, honor god in their own way, and go to the local coffee house or whatever to socialize.

And I realize what I'm asking isn't exactly just going to happen, just venting a frustration.

[tofee35]

I don't like when Christians use their beliefs as a tool for a marketing or political campaign (whether positively or negatively). I hate the "I'm Christian, so I'm morally superior" stuff.  Personally, I'm Christian, and it has a very positive place in my life. That doesn't mean I'm morally superior to anybody else.

So my least favorable characteristic would be: Superiority Complex

[snapple]

Buying into this notion that Christians are somehow better than others.

[The Dark Master]

Theological exclusivity and their persecution complex.  It is rather fascinating that adherents to the largest belief system on the planet would feel persecuted, but when combined with their claim of being the "one true faith", a Christian's persecution paranoia makes any attempt at meaningful spiritual dialogue null and void.  Their capacity to dish out criticism of the "flaws" of other faiths is directly proportional to their inability to accept criticism of their own, and they seem incapable of defending their own faith by any argument other then "The Bible is inerrant, therefore it is True and all other religions are false".  And yet they invite such criticism by vocalizing their religion at every possible opportunity, thus making conflict unavoidable.

Basically any attempt I have ever had at discussing religion with a Christian comes down to this"

Christian: "The Bible is the one true faith.  Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Pagans, Agnostics and Atheists are all going to hell because they do not accept Jesus Christ"

Me:  "But wait a minute, what makes your religion anymore legitimate then those other faiths?  If you take biblical inerrantcy out of the picture, since the Bible cannot be used to validate itself, there is no objective evidence that validates Christianity above all other faiths"

Christian : "I..... I don't know..... Stop persecuting me for my beliefs!"

Me:  "You are the one who brought up religion, and how yours is 'right' and mine is 'wrong', in the first place"

Christian :  Well.....I was just.....ummm...(trails off incoherently)




I would just like to add that 1) I never bring up religion in the first place in these conversations, and 2) I do have many friends and family members who are Christan and we get along just fine; we just try to leave our religion out of the picture when we are together.

[comment]

Well I could look at myself and say the big two pride and hypocrisy.  Apathy comes to mind as well.

[Ħ]

My biggest problem with Christianity is the lack of faith in the mainstream religion, especially Catholicism. People show up to church on Sunday's, profess to believe in a faith that they neither follow nor truly believe. It's simply a social convention, but I'd rather that people gather for socializing elsewhere and leave church for the true believers. You look at any major church tenant and chances are some or most of the flock isn't following it. I'm not saying anyone has to be near perfect, but few even make the attempt. Churches don't want to crack down because they need the money and people, and the people lack the actual belief and faith to make the right changes themselves.

Christianity is based off of the old testament, and even though many things were changed it remains the foundation. And the entire package is built around the son of god coming to earth for our salvation. If that's the case and you truly believe then that should be the foundation of everything you do, but for many it's a book of stories to be cherry picked from and taught with false faith. I believe either it should be taken seriously, as the actual word of god, or disregarded as a reflection of the times people were living in to be learned from. The middle ground continuously frustrates me, as I don't believe there is a good middle ground when dealing with something of this magnitude. I believe that you either believe in the gospel or you don't and that picking and choosing inside of an organized religion is false faith.

I know I might not have explained myself well, but I'm at work now and can't type much longer, will try and clarify myself later, and I'm sorry it this came off as ranty.

Terrific post!

This too.
Buying into this notion that Christians are somehow better than others.

[rumborak]

I'm not sure Christianity in its current interpretation can be really called "based on the OT". It's more like The Hobbit is to LOTR, in that LOTR makes various back references, but ultimately is its own thing.

rumborak

[Ħ]

bait of the year

[El JoNNo]

How is that a bait? It's an analogy of two books that reference each other not to there place in reality.

[Ħ]

Cause it has nothing to do with "What is the least favorable characteristic of Christians?"

[rumborak]

Yeah, how was that a bait?

rumborak

[rumborak]

I've never understood why people are so reluctant to evolve a topic in a thread. Everybody has had their rant about Christians already, I don't see the thread moving much farther.

rumborak

[Adami]

Oh oh oh I got one, trying for almost 2000 years to eradicate my people! yay

[El JoNNo]

I've never understood why people are so reluctant to evolve a topic in a thread. Everybody has had their rant about Christians already, I don't see the thread moving much farther.

rumborak

Hey! No voicing a vanilla opinion.

Oh oh oh I got one, trying for almost 2000 years to eradicate my people! yay

 

[Nick]

I've never understood why people are so reluctant to evolve a topic in a thread. Everybody has had their rant about Christians already, I don't see the thread moving much farther.

rumborak

You expect a thread about Christians to evolve? For shame.

[snapple]

Oh oh oh I got one, trying for almost 2000 years to eradicate my people! yay

33 AD, NEVER FORGET!!

[skydivingninja]

Man, this is a dangerous topic, ain't it? 

I guess the main thing that comes to mind is:

 I don't understand why the people who follow a religion that claims to be based on love and things like "live and let live" and "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" find a need to try to (and unfortunately succeed in many cases) legislate their specific morality into the law of the land, thus imposing their religious views upon fellow citizens who do not share those views.  To me, that is the exact opposite of "do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

Ones that use Christianity to judge others. The greatest commands are to love God and love your neighbor (even your enemies). Churches that focus on helping end the world's problems (like Saddleback Church) are great. Churches that just teach you truth concepts but don't encourage application of love tend to create the characteristic "holier-than-though" types.

That's just what I can say from my experience.

These two things have left the most sour tastes in my mouth regarding Christianity and religion in general.  I used to have a very positive opinion of it, especially Catholicism.  My church, at least, ALWAYS focused on the message of love, peace, helping the poor and downtrodden, etc.  Just learning more about it and seeing the kind of people who use it as a weapon against others (whether intentionally or unintentionally) rather than a tool to help better themselves has made me more and more jaded towards religion in general, especially Christianity.  I realize of course that not all Christians are like this, and not all churches teach this sort of behavior to their congregations, but even as a kid/preteen I was questioning some of the church's rules and dogma and it didn't make sense to me (confession was a big one, I remember). 

The Amendment One thing in NC sums up my main problems with many Christians: "Treat everyone with love, let he who is without sin cast the first stone, except those damn homosexuals and people who don't want to be married but still want to share some kind of state-recognized bond between the two of them because God said so."  Yes, how Christian of you to punish people who don't live your lifestyle.

[Adami]

Oh oh oh I got one, trying for almost 2000 years to eradicate my people! yay

33 AD, NEVER FORGET!!

Believe me, I won't.

[SystematicThought]

Least favorite characteristic: In my Astronomy class in my Lutheran High School, I got docked 10 points for saying the moon was 4.5 billion years old.

So their grading on something like that