Christianity is rejected because of dislike rather than rational reasons

reallifeapologetics , , ,
photo courtesy of Au Kirk via flickr.com
photo courtesy of Au Kirk via flickr.com

A few years ago I was running as a regular part of an exercise routine,  despite having injured both knees playing intramural sports in college.   After many instances in which I had severe, sharp knee pain, I went to the doctor to find the cause.  His examination showed that I had very little cartilage in my knees.  His solution to reduce my knee pains – stop running.

I wish to reject that diagnosis.  Running is an exercise I really enjoy.  I mean enjoyed.  I don’t like the fact that running will cause more knee damage.  However, I cannot allow myself to reject the facts because of an emotional response.  Unless I want knee surgery in the near future.

There are other truths I don’t like either.  But rejection of those truths may have serious consequences.  For example, I love eating ice cream.  But eating ice cream for every meal will cause disease and early death.  Though I would get great emotional satisfaction from eating ice cream for dinner, I must make wiser decisions if I want to live to see my future grandkids grow up.

The majority of religious skeptics and critics I have spoken with say that they reject Christianity for rational reasons.  When I ask them to explain further, they often reveal that their reasons are actually emotional roadblocks.  There are certain things that they don’t like about Christianity, and therefore they reject the faith.  Some common emotional reasons for rejecting Christianity include:

1.  denial of authority of the church, which often is a dislike of “organized religion”

2.  the behavior of Christians, i.e. Christians are hypocrites

3.  a particular behavior or lifestyle in described in the Bible as sin – fornication, adultery, homosexuality

4.  a loving God wouldn’t send people to hell

5.  the amount of suffering in the world

When we read the news headlines or watch a news broadcast, we see story after story describing events that we don’t like – child abuse, rioting, civil wars and natural disasters.  Do we deny that these things happen because we don’t like them?  Of course not.

There are some things I don’t like about Christianity.

  • I don’t like that sin has consequences.
  • I don’t like that hell is real.
  • I don’t like that I won’t be married to my wife Michelle in heaven.

But these dislikes do not stop me from believing.  There is too much evidence for the existence of God (see my prior post) and truth of Christianity to reject the faith based on my emotional objections.

If it is foolish for someone to believe in a faith just because of some emotional response, then isn’t it equally foolish to reject a faith just because of some emotional response?

What emotional roadblocks cause you to reject Christianity?  Have you searched for ways to remove that roadblock?

What emotional roadblocks did you have to overcome in order to accept the truth of Christianity?

Feel free to respond – I’d love to hear from you on this topic.

15 thoughts on “Christianity is rejected because of dislike rather than rational reasons”

  1. Mainstream, well known apologists have made very compelling arguments as to why there is a reasoned, logical, consistent, truthful basis for Christianity and belief in God. I have heard debates where atheists attempt to circumvent or deny these truths, but in the end, most of the argument becomes one that exposes their underlying desire to have an emotional rejection of Christianity. And when the debate fails, it typically falls back to mockery and derision.

    I do know, there will be a very emotional response to God on that day when every knee bows before Him.

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  2. I like this post (and also your choice of ice cream flavors shown in the picture, though I would personally lose the sprinkles).
    Very thought provoking! Thanks!

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  5. One of the things I have wondered about is whether proofs of God’s existence are stupid. Science tells us that anything that we cannot observe with our five senses is outside of the realm of scientific truth. Therefore God must not exist. Well, who said we only have five senses? And who said that our senses do not give us evidence of God? People with an emotional bias against believing in him.

    So, by submitting to their logic and attempting to prove that God exists, we establish the proposition that he might not exist. My theory is that we are all aware of God. We all “hear his voice,” so to speak, and we all observe the evidence for him that the world is permeated with. It is only because of our will to not believe, to push him out of our “Golden Path,” that we don’t see or hear him any more.

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  6. I just found your blog and noticed you haven’t published anything in a while.

    I don’t know if you are still active in blogging or not but I would like to share this post along with a link on my blog.

    Please let me know if this is OK.

    James

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      • Thanks Robert. I put a post up this morning. You’ve got some great stuff there people should read.

        God bless,

        James

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  9. Good read, thank you. I’d like to read something on further detail about your mention of not being married to your wife in heaven. Interesting topic…

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