[LargeWu]

Because on the main point, they're all pretty much aligned: Salvation is achieved through Jesus's death on the cross. And fundamentally, it's the only thing that really matters in Christianity.

In that respect, shopping for churches is mostly irrelevant. What you see as fundamental differences are really more social than theological, in which case the shopping around makes a lot of sense.

"the bible specifically and religious texts generally aren't reliable systems to learn about the world."

I think most mainline Christians would reject the notion that the Old Testament is a factual historical record. (Less so for Evangelical and Pentecostal, however). Religion teaches us "why", not "what".

[wonderwonder]

This is not an attack, just something I have wondered and your comment "Salvation is achieved through Jesus's death on the cross." reminded me of it. Jesus dying essentially allowed God to forgive humanity and allow for salvation. Why worship a God that was willing to destroy humanity and required a blood sacrifice of his own son instead of just saying, you know what, I forgive you. Why is an entity like that worthy of worship for any reason other than fear? Please note, not trying to attack your faith here, just wondering on your opinion.

Edit: Thought about it a little more and I guess fear is a pretty legitimate reason to do so. If one truly believes that if one does not worship then an eternity in hell is on the plate then worshipping does make sense but it cant be anything except a Stockholm syndrome style of worship.

[jimbokun]

This is one of the most widely asked questions about Christianity, so I have some skepticism that you are asking in good faith, but I will assume so nonetheless.

The arguments generally revolve around the tension between justice and forgiveness.

Jumping to forgiveness elides the question of sins and crimes and injustices that demand punishment, atonement, reparation, consequences.

How can God welcome everyone into Paradise, oppressor alongside oppressed, murderer alongside murderer, rapist alongside their victims, and every other kind of perpetrator of evil and those they have trespassed against?

The Cross is meant as a way of reconciling this tension, and a great many sermons have been devoted to trying to explain the mystery of it.

[tenacious_tuna]

> This is one of the most widely asked questions about Christianity...

Perhaps because existing answers are unconvincing to those asking :)

To that end:

> How can God welcome everyone into Paradise, oppressor alongside oppressed ... ?

Your god supposedly made this universe, and dictated the laws that govern it--metaphysical and otherwise. I have a difficult time making excuses for oddities in those laws alongside that.

From the outside, it all looks like a bit of a cup game [1]: We have sinned against god, and have been stained eternally by that. God demands punitive justice for our transgressions, yet we cannot redeem ourselves independently, by god's laws. The only way to wash the sin from ourselves is for god to send himself (which is also his son?) to die for our transgressions, satisfying this punishment (though he'll be raised 3 days later), such that we can then pass into his kingdom.

(1) Apologies for irreverence, this just sounds like when a bunch of 3 year olds are playing war in the yard:

  "I shoot you with my laser!"
  "Well my atomic armor blocks your laser!"
  "But my laser is hooked up to my fusion backpack, and cuts through your atomic armor!"

etc.

(2) I don't understand how in any way this reforms us sinners that we may pass into heaven and exist alongside each other--we haven't undergone any transformation on our own such that we understand the terrible crimes we're supposedly guilty of; we're certainly (in the church's view) not any less likely to commit sin if we know about these crimes we've committed and the supposed significance that god himself had to die (but only kind of?) for them.

In either reformative or punitive justice, it makes no sense: we're no less likely to commit these sins by threat of punishment, because we can be forgiven simply by believing in Jesus. We also aren't any less likely to commit sin by being reformed because... we haven't reformed at all, we simply believe in this story.

I'd kindly request you to consider looking at this from a secular view, as if someone were proposing this as a system of justice in a secular context: Does this seem a reasonable way to structure a society, where those who break the laws of the society can send someone in their stead for reformation or punishment? I strongly doubt the efficacy of such a system, and I find it so strange that folks accept it in a religious context.

> The Cross is meant as a way of reconciling this tension, and a great many sermons have been devoted to trying to explain the mystery of it.

Perhaps god could have explained it more clearly and saved us all a lot of confusion :)

As it stands, I see no reason to believe this tension exists in the first place. In order for this explanation to make sense I first must subscribe to your premises--that god exists, that we're guilty of eternal sin which we're unable to address ourselves, etc--which I see no reason to do.

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bto_3Z1dqc

[wolfhumble]

Until parent poster chimes in . . . :-) The reason God is not "just saying, you know what, I forgive you", has to do with His system of justice and righteousness. As the final Judge and Creator of the law, sin must be judged. You are either committing a sin or you are not. Jesus dying on the cross for our sins does not change the fact we will be judged. But Jesus that had no sin, took our sin upon Him and paid the price of death that we really were to pay. By believing in Jesus Christ we take part in His death and resurrection, and as a result: An everlasting life with God.

About 800 years before the birth of Christ the prophet Isaiah wrote the following prophecy (Isaiah 53:5-6):

"But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all."

I encourage you to read the the whole chapter of Isaiah 53 here:

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah+53&versi...

As Christians this is our salvation and what we believe when Jesus died and rose from the cross.

Happy Easter! :-)

[tenacious_tuna]

My experience in life with self-identified Christians has largely been in the context of those people disagreeing, on moral grounds, with actions I take or people I support--almost always citing religion in their reasoning. It's possible the people I've dealt with just aren't components of this "mainline christianity" you're familiar with, but they use the same tools to believe these things. To me, those tools are egregiously flawed, and I have a vested interest in making sure those tools don't get used to believe false things that bring harm to myself or my neighbors.

> Because on the main point, they're all pretty much aligned...

Historically, wars have been fought over these disagreements--both within only Christianity, and in the wider religious space.

I think it's worth considering other religions personally because it's what led to my de-conversion: I couldn't answer the question of why, other than being raised in it, I should believe Christianity over, say, Buddhism or Islam. As I regarded other religions with skepticism, when I was a Christian, I should also regard Christianity.

While the specific point I've made previously deals with selecting a denomination and a church within that denomination it's also true that people choose religions for similar (flawed?) reasoning.

Further:

> What you see as fundamental differences are really more social than theological...

I'm not sure I'm convinced on this. Take gay marriage, for example: I vividly recall being 12 in our church, sitting in on a conversation between my (single) mother and our pastor, on how to deal with people who chose to sin in our lives, specifically referring to my father who was openly gay at the time. The church we went to was firmly against homosexuality, but was of the love-the-sinner-hate-the-sin cloth. On the upshot, they were relatively kind to those of the LGBT community, but they did still make it clear they did not support their "choices" and largely ostracized them--with reasoning that, in their view, was ensconced in theology.

While LGBT rights have certainly been a social issue throughout the world, I think dismissing this "difference" between my church and the one on my college campus who made a point of welcoming LGBT members is to minimize these actual theological differences. There's part of me that wonders if this is a bad-faith maneuvering (not on your part, but organized religion as a whole) to downplay socially repulsive beliefs without having to sacrifice their supposed moral authority.

> I think most mainline Christians would reject the notion that the Old testament is a factual historical record.

This certainly hasn't been true across history, and even now I harbor doubt. Perhaps I've only dealt with more fundamentalist types than you, but the opposite has been true in my experience, and is definitely not true of the more loudmouthed Creationist/Ken Ham style evangelicals. While they may not be representative of the majority, *they are affecting policy* in many regions of the country. My mother, an elementary teacher, frequently voices her frustrations that she's not allowed to pose creationism as an "alternative" to evolution in her classes science units--something that is allowed in several other states[1, though from 2014].

You see similar flaws in other arenas, too: my grandparents view climate change as an issue outside of human concern, squarely in God's hands, in part because they believe in life-after-death and the eventual rapture, so while they should do reasonably well to steward the planet, they don't think we're going to be here forever so it doesn't matter if Earth becomes an unlivable rock; while some may suffer the effects of an adverse climate, it won't matter when everyone's in heaven.

I also wonder about what motivates these changes in how doctrine is viewed. Supposing your right, what drove the digression that the Old Testament is not factual? I doubt it was the Church deciding on its own, outside of societal pressure. I'm sure it's because of pressure from those who found fault in the Old Testament teachings--those who were condemned by it, or ostracized by the churches of their time, and the Churches granted this concession without wholly usurping their power. But what about the next issue? Maybe folks are believing less in Noah's Ark, but how will they contend with folks who're trans, or polyamourus, or take issue with abstract (i.e., not historical) teachings of the bible like not rebelling against kings, for they have been ordained by God [2]?

[1]: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/201... [2]: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%2013&ver...

[ceilingcorner]

The Bible was not treated as literal true by the many of the early church fathers. Origen for example.