Why I Am Not a Christian

¶ … man is born with a sinful nature? Why or Why not? If you do believe this, what is the solution to man's sinful nature? If you do not believe it, what do you believe and why?

What constitutes a 'sin,' versus a character flaw or a violation of human law, is defined as the absence of good, and what is absent of good is absent of God. When a human being sins, he or she turns away from his or her true nature. To sin is to resist God, which is why the first sin is said to be eating from the Tree of Knowledge. It is not that eating fruit is 'bad.' What was sinful about Adam and Eve's action was that it resisted what they knew was God's will. However, if we are to accept that God's punishment was just, we must also believe that the first humans had the power to choose to either obey or resist. To suggest that man is born with a sinful nature seems to suggest that we are powerless. Defenders of the concept of Original Sin would say we cannot resist evil, unless we accept our need for the guidance of God. We have two parts to our nature, one which tends to self-will, the other which tends to want to obey God's will.

In terms of my own beliefs I believe that human beings are endowed with certain tendencies, based upon their biological orientation, that vary from individual to individual. Some of those tendencies may be positive, such as altruism, while others may be negative, like a tendency towards addiction. What is considered wrong varies from society to society. In times when warfare was common, having a violent nature may have been regarded as positive, if aggression was directed towards a righteous cause. Now, aggression in daily civilian life is considered to be a negative aspect of the human character.

If the question is: is humanity born imperfect, I suppose the answer is 'yes.' However, standards of what constitutes spiritual perfection have changed greatly over the course of history. If by perfection, the question is if human beings ever perfectly live up to any standard they set for themselves, the answer is 'no' since even the most moral people often fall short of their own spiritual standards. But fundamentally, although humans are imperfect, I believe that most human characters strive naturally to do 'good' rather than towards 'evil,' and the concept of Original Sin suggests a fatalistic tendency to resist, rather than accept God's plan.

PART TWO: Do you agree that Jesus is the one and only way to eternal life? Why or Why not? If you do believe this, why do you think a person would not choose to follow Christ? If you do not believe this, what do you think is the way to eternal life?

According to Bertram Russell's Why I am not a Christian, the essential component of Christianity is believing that Christ was the best of men and that Christ is the root of salvation. He does not believe in either idea. Simply being a good person is not the same thing as being a Christian, given that people of many different religions and philosophies strive to lead a good life. Russell rejects the notion of God because it cannot be logically substantiated with the arguments currently offered by Christians. Russell also believes that there is no eternal life because the existence of life after death cannot be 'proven.'

The reason that people choose religion of any kind, Russell believes, is fear of this kind of unknown. However, I believe other emotions may also be at work, such as a desire to lead a meaningful life. I do not believe that there is only one way to spiritual fulfillment, and the decision to follow Christ or any other religious figure has a great deal to do with the acculturation of the person, and what spiritual images and concepts resonate with him or her, rather than an idea that there is only one truth.