The Pathology of a True Believer

Disclaimer: This article is a spin-off of an article mentioned on a Christian blog I recently linked to, and the article is entitled, "The Pathology of False Disciples". I won't provide a link because, unless you are a believer it will likely only infuriate you, and this is especially if you are a former believer. Nonetheless, for anyone curious to see the entire article, you can paste the title into your browser, and the article in question will likely pop up.

 For now, the Christian blog I mentioned happened to provide the tell-tale signs of a "spiritual defector", which are the following....

...are attracted by the crowd. The bigger the crowd, the greater their interest.

...are fascinated by the supernatural.

...are interested in earthly or physical benefits.

...are indifferent to worship, (true worship)

...seek prosperity; money, bread, health, satisfaction

...makes demands on God. They want a mechanism to manipulate God to get what they want.

...do not find their desires fulfilled in Christ because they have no appetite for the bread of life.

...don't understand divine revelation because they can't. They prefer lies.

...have no interest in embracing the cross and no tolerance for a crucified savior

Seriously, I don't know whether to laugh or cry half the time, but there you have it.

I'll deal with them one by one in red...

1)  attracted by the crowd. The bigger the crowd, the greater their interest.

Um, what "crowd"? Theists currently out number non-theists in my country. As for my "interest", I am interested in what it most likely true about the world I live in. 

2) fascinated by the supernatural.

'Sorry, I don't believe in the "supernatural" no matter how much the good Pastor and his brethren in Christ jump up 'n down and insist that I do believe in it. If anything at all, I'm fascinated by the people who believe in the "supernatural", and in particular, those who claim that an invisible, conscious creator-being exists and cares about what I believe, what I eat, what I wear, and what positions I use in the bedroom. That sort of claim fascinates me, yes.

 3) interested in earthly or physical benefits.

Yup. Just like you, if you are a Christian reading this right now. I'm doing whatever it takes to survive, just like everyone else. For example, I'm interested in physically returning home to my family every day, so I wear a seat belt when I drive to increase the odds that this will happen. Now, do Christians not wear seat belts, or something? I also get frequent physicals as "preventative" medicine, because I want to stay here as long as I can to be with the people I love. Sooo? what?....only Atheists get check-ups, then?  

4) indifferent to worship, (true worship) 

:raises hand::  I'm actually indifferent to both "true worship" and "false worship". That's right, I don't think it's reasonable to "worship" that which I don't believe exists. Now, if you want to talk about the time that I used to believe in a "God", okay, I worshiped as much as the average worshiper.

5)  seek prosperity; money, bread, health, satisfaction

Like the astute among us know, to have even the very basics in life requires money. And if our health doesn't matter, then good grief, I guess nothing matters, does it? This again raises the question of why Christians get physicals and go to doctors if they aren't seeking "health". And about "satisfaction", are not Christians seeking satisfaction by worshiping "God"? Methinks my hypocrisy meter would be pegging right now if I had such a thing.

6) makes demands on God. They want a mechanism to manipulate God to get what they want.

What I "want" from any "God" out there is one thing, and one thing, only, which is this: The evidence that would convince me of his/her/its existence, and BTW, he/she/it would know exactly what that evidence would be if he/she/it is "omniscient". Once I'm convinced of such a thing?..fine, then people can talk about pretend to know the ways in which I want to "manipulate God".

7)  do not find their desires fulfilled in Christ because they have no appetite for the bread of life.

I have an appetite for acquiring true beliefs, and by extension, discarding false beliefs. If "Christ" is the "bread of life" and it can be demonstrated in some meaningful, objective way, fine. At that point I will have to reconsider my position. Until then?.. I do not now, nor will I ever, accept "because I say so" or "because the Bible says so" as "demonstrable evidence". Please-oh-please let it penetrate.

8) don't understand divine revelation because they can't. They prefer lies.

Actually, what I prefer is consistency over double-standards. For instance, I contend that I understand enough about "divine revelation" that I can dismiss, out of hand, the proposition that Muhammad sat in cave and took dictation from the Almighty Allah, and I'll wager that Christians won't have a problem with me doing this. I reject the "divine revelation" that Moroni buried some magical, golden tablets in the side of a hill, and again, this is because I understand enough about "divine revelation" to reject "Mormonism". IOW, "divine revelation" isn't necessarily evidence, and any Christian who is consistent must concede this.

9) have no interest in embracing the cross and no tolerance for a crucified savior.

Guilty! I no longer have an interest in "embracing the cross", whereas, I once did; and I no longer believe that there was any "savior" or anything to be "saved" from, whereas I once did. It would logically follow that since I no longer believe those things, that I wouldn't embrace those things. But that's not what the "True Believer" is contending. No, they are contending that I never believed or had tolerance in the first place, which is their way of dismissing my experiences out of hand without giving it a nano-second of consideration, which will be the inspiration for my response/spin-off, beginning right now:

The Pathology of a True Believer:

..."True Believers" frequently attach the word "True" onto "Christian"..i.e.."True Christian", erroneously  thinking that when/if someone counters what they believe to be the universal ideal of what "Christian" means to them, that they, the "True Believer" are uniquely legitimate, while the person they've dismissed is not legitimate. It should be noted that the type of Christians who do this would never, ever, ever allow anyone to tell them that they aren't a "True Christian". Funny, that.

..."True Believers" frequently tell former believers that they never "truly" believed in the first place(or were never "truly saved"), which, if you think about it, produces a pretty damning dilemma, which is, it implies that "True Believers" cannot change their minds. Yes, once a "True Believer", always a "True Believer". Once a "True Christian", always a "True Christian". So much for that whole "free will" rigmarole, I guess.

..."True Believers" believe that since they view themselves as rotten to the core, that, oh, then everyone else is rotten to the core, by default. Moreover, if the "True Believer" believes that "Jesus" has been good to them, then they will not accept that "Jesus" hasn't been equally "good" to every believer. IOW, "True Believers" contend that if a former believer contends that "Jesus" was not "good" to them, never mind being completely AWOL, then they never knew "Jesus" is the first place. Again, it's a case of the "True Believer" taking his or her magic "be gone" wand, and waving it in the face of former believers.

..."True Believers" contend that everything...EVERTHING is in "God's hands". If that's actually true, then my apostasy, being a "thing", would mean that this, too, is (presumably) in "God's hands". Yet, curiously, you will frequently find the "True Believer" bloviating on the matter of my apostasy, usually in the form of ministering, which, at best, would be to second-guess the mind of God.

Conclusion: In my experience with "True Believers" who are vocal about their version of "Christianity", they are consistently hypocritical, condescending, and most of all, they are mistaken about their beliefs. The central tenets of the "Christian Faith" are covered and debunked throughout this blog.

Shalom!

ADDENDUM: I have been informed by the owner/operator of the Christian blog that I linked to that the context of the above-mentioned 9 characteristics are attempting to describe "the crowd" from the biblical passage "John 6". In other words, it's for the people who (supposedly) witnessed Jesus' miracles, but "defected" anyway. This is equivocation. As if we are to believe that the good Pastor's sermon is merely a "history lesson" and that there isn't an underlying "moral" that's applicable to today. 'Not buying it. Today's "True Believers" say the exact same things about today's former believers, AKA, "false disciples", including, those who become atheist.