Christians Underestimate the Power of Human Intellect


No matter which fantasy they are chasing, anti gay, anti abortion, sin, an afterlife or an ultimately "correct" reading of the Bible, Christians assume other humans cannot see the holes in Christian logic. This inability is helping the decline in Christianity. Of course, its happening to all religions.

Christian pundits are forever saying, "Those lost in their youth will return," "there will be a revival," "people have had a bad experience in their church" and "the faith fills a longing that is always there." A common one is "life has become so busy church is crowded out." Study after study, and my own experience, show that none of these is the main reason for the decline in Christianity. The main cause is a growing use of intellect. People think and reason their way out of the faith. Unless Christians can see they are behind the eight ball in their explanation of their faith they will forever be unable to understand its decline. The most common explanation I have heard at atheist gatherings and that which appears in the media as to why atheists are not Christians is, "It just doesn't make sense."

Let's start with what is attributed to Jesus. It goes something like this, "If you believe in me and ask forgiveness for your sins you will have an eternal life in heaven." How do we know Jesus had the power in ensure us an eternity of bliss? How do we know Jesus ever said such a thing? There has never been a person who claimed to have heard Jesus say this or anything else. There may, or may not, have been a god/man known as Jesus. If there ever was such a god/man we do not know for certain what he said. No one in the Bible claims to have been present to hear anything attributed to Jesus. These being the facts, it is logical thinking people would doubt the far-reaching claims of the faith.  

All branches of Christianity, Catholic and Protestant, would appeal to more people if they stopped making absurd claims. It is probably correct to say every denomination claims to have interpreted the Bible better than all other denominations. Catholics, Baptists, Presbyterians, some Lutherans and a host of others will tell you they, and they alone, are correct about the Christian faith. From watching hours of discussions by clergy on You Tube I've concluded most clergy under 50 are at least a bit more circumspect about their certainty than are the old white men in the same denomination. Younger clergy are more concerned about the fall of the faith than are older clergy. 

If believers approach the tenets of their faith as a set of ideas most of the public will not buy a different approach emerges than when that of the old white men version. With the latter, there is no question people will believe it if the hear it. The faith just needs to be marketed. 

There is an anti-war folk song with the line, "When will they ever learn?" That could be applied to those old Christians who try to sell the old version of their faith. 

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