Aren’t we right to think Christianity to be intellectually poor…?
… since so much of its content depends on the way that content is framed around emotion?
As an example:
In Christianity people are subject to coercion via the threat of eternal torture in saying they should believe in God– or at least that is how one would plainly put it.
But the way the Christians frame that idea is to say God loves you and wants to believe, but, for those who don’t accept his gift, there is the consequence of damnation.
The factual content of both are the same, but the framing of the second around the emotion of God’s (supposed) love and how one should emotionally respond to it makes it much more palatable, and, indeed, I don’t think many Christians will accept that the proposition is being related correctly absent the emotional framing of the second.
As another example:
As regards the sacrifice of Jesus, the issue is framed around the emotions of guilt over his dying for us, our unworthiness, his blamelessness etc. One almost never hears talk from Christians about how much sense it does or doesn’t make that God would sacrifice himself to himself for a debt owed himself and how this, while it makes great theater, makes less sense than just forgiving the debt (if someone owed you $20, would you make a demonstration of taking a $20 out of your wallet and handing it to yourself to “repay” the debt for them? Or would you consider this a silly and pompous affectation?).
So how much of the message of Christianity depends on its framing and emotional content and not its logical content?
“I find atheism to be even more emotionally based and less logical and practical than Christianity.”
You didn’t give any examples to back your assertion, so I have nothing to respond to.
“Catholic Christianity, for example, has a long and rigorous intellectual tradition that secular Western science draws from”
I would argue that this is mainly incidental. Christianity borrowed the intellectual legacy of the Greeks and then reworked it to suit their own ends. Theology is the artificial grafting on of Greek thought to Semitic myth.
@Joel C – I see nothing untrue in what I’ve stated, but I’m interesting to hear more of what you’re saying.
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9 comments
Andymcj78 (Atheist) on March 1, 2010 at 6:14 am
I would say a lot of them are intellectually dishonest. Their ideology is everything and they’re quite willing to manipulate evidence and twist facts to bolster their beliefs.
Johnny on March 1, 2010 at 6:58 am
It’s diluted to think that emotion has no logic or that logic contains no emotion. I think your missing the complete picture of Christianity.
Új világ ember on March 1, 2010 at 7:51 am
Stellar observations and question!
This is precisely why I place no value or weight to the comments I receive from Christians. They aren’t willing to admit they’ve been emotionally duped, and they’re just as happy to go about the world attempting to dupe others.
Case in point: a college professor I recently had the “pleasure” of listening to in a lecture on faith and reason described his conversion from agnostic to devout believer. His wife took their children to a church and said he could come if he wanted to remain a father to his son and daughter. After a year of this, he received a letter that “woke [him] up to the truth that Jesus’ love was the only path to take.” Uh-huh. Emotional blackmail, plain and freakin’ simple.
Brad B on March 1, 2010 at 8:51 am
It’s all about emotion. Emotion isn’t an argument, though. The 9-11 terrorists had the same logic in knowing their ‘God’.
I don’t get how someone’s ‘emotions’ can allow them to believe in a religion that says Hitler goes to heaven and is forgived, but his Jewish victims go to hell for not accepting ‘Jesus’.
I think it’s the same thing as political correctness from the left personally. Letting emotional thinking and letting others think for you cloud your own ability to use an objective thought process.
Herodotus on March 1, 2010 at 9:47 am
Ah, the second answer says it all. I do believe that most simply fail to understand the nature of logic, and reasoned debate. Christianity is, at its heart, irrational.
James O on March 1, 2010 at 10:34 am
I find atheism to be even more emotionally based and less logical and practical than Christianity.
Catholic Christianity, for example, has a long and rigorous intellectual tradition that secular Western science draws from
Joel C on March 1, 2010 at 11:21 am
I appreciate your desire for logical content, but I’m afraid that your assessment of Christian doctrine omits not just the emotional dressings but the structural framework of the beliefs. An elaboration of who man is, who God is, and what the nature of morality is, is necessary to discuss the topics you have addressed.
It is not that Christianity is intellectually poor or fideistic, but that you disagree with Christian definitions of the foundational terms.
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EDIT: Just saw that you responded to me. I’ll be away from Y!A for a little bit, but I’ll try to elaborate some time tomorrow.
DougLawrence on March 1, 2010 at 12:02 pm
Authentic Catholic theology suffers from none of the deficiencies you mention.
Freedom … not guilt … is the whole point of authentic Christianity.
The right result of that freedom is eternal peace, along with appropriate gratitude to the loving God who makes it all possible for us.
To help resolve your misconceptions about the actual “mechanism” of the atonement, I suggest you try these links:
http://douglawrence.wordpress.com/a-short-course-on-the-peculiar-theology-of-redemption/
http://douglawrence.wordpress.com/the-passion-e-book/
The theology behind our redemption in Christ is necessarily peculiar, and it’s often hard to understand, but once you know all the factors involved, you soon realize that it was indeed necessary, and that it works … on every level.
The Freys on March 1, 2010 at 12:28 pm
イエス・キリストはあなたの苦痛および愛を知っている。 彼の愛は無条件である。