u/Jackvinner

Every time I see someone give reasoning behind a Bible contradiction like genesis, not adding up. Christians always come up with a solid answer to explain it like it’s “not literal”, “metaphor”, or “its a story to explain a deeper meaning to something” it feels like there just adding things onto the faith and they don’t even know where to start. Idk how much times there gonna claim it’s word of god but contradict so much. Like it’s the literally the basis of the faith.

I originally commented on somebody’s post, but I feel the need to make my comment a post.

The doubt of being Christian came from hearing opinions of different people. Some people tell you, “You must attend church every Sunday to be Christian,” “No, Christianity is a relationship not a religion,” “The Eucharist is necessary for salvation,” “Calvinism is biblical,” “This is a metaphor in the Bible, not serious!”

Just hearing all these different opinions made me go into a psychosis-like state where I felt sick and looked at the world as material, secular, and harmful. I had no idea what was the truth or a lie.

I spent some time reading up on church denominations to attend, but this only made the dread worse. I realized: why would God make this so difficult to understand? Why are there 50,000 different church denominations that all think their church is the true way to salvation? Why are there so many different biblical interpretations that don’t make sense yet are backed up by scholars? Why can’t Jesus just speak to us normally and not through parables? Why is this God so confusing?

I prayed hoping He would answer me and change my way of thought. I realized that I became Christian not because of loving God, but because of the fear of hell being real.

I researched and found different opinions such as annihilationism, Calvinism, and universalism. But the real thing that confused me was: if God was truly real and Jesus spoke that message, why would He allow all these different versions of Christianity? Why can’t we just be united under peace as Christians?

Why can no one agree on what gives us salvation or what makes us Christian?

This is when I realized that religion itself felt like it was used to control populations or divide people. If you look at early Christianity with the Roman Empire and why it became so mainstream, you have to look at Constantine the Great.

Constantine was a pagan-worshipping Roman emperor who legalized Christianity, and basically if he didn’t, it most likely would have died off as a Jewish sect.

But what doesn’t make sense is that Constantine supposedly became “Christian” because he saw a vision of a cross before a huge battle, and because of that he thanked the Christian God for winning the battle. This makes no sense from what Jesus taught in the Bible. Jesus taught love, forgiveness, and peace. But Constantine thought seeing a cross justified the killing of a whole battalion of men?

This all feels confusing compared to what Christianity teaches.

There’s also biblical contradictions, church corruption (especially involving the Roman church historically), and harm done in religion that made me fall out of touch with once fully believing.

If you really look into history and what was happening when the Romans legalized Christianity, while Constantine still worshipped the sun despite identifying as Christian, it just doesn’t seem to fit Christianity’s message.

There’s also the issue with the Bible itself. Biblical scholars say anonymous authors wrote the books. I don’t understand why the scriptures wouldn’t be written directly by the original apostles. They say the writings couldn’t be corrupted because the authors were guided by the Holy Spirit.

But then why can’t the Holy Spirit guide me to peace, or to certainty, or give me a clear sign that the biblical God is true? Why could these men supposedly receive divine truth while also contradicting each other in parts of their writings?

Then there’s Paul the Apostle. Paul believed the end times were near and that his generation might see the end of the world, so his mission became spreading the gospel everywhere.

But Paul never actually met Jesus during Jesus’ life — he followed Him because of a vision. It also doesn’t make sense that he was both Roman and Jewish. Why would the Romans eventually adopt the teachings of a Jewish man claiming divinity after they literally executed Him?

Then there’s later doctrines like the Trinity, but I don’t even want to get into that because of how complex it gets.

I just don’t understand why religion creates so much separation instead of unity. As Christians we should unite, not divide. I don’t think this is what Christ would have wanted.

There’s so much more I could talk about. You should research more about Bart D. Ehrman and his view of Jesus as an apocalyptic Jew, the church fathers’ views on annihilationism, how hell was originally connected to Sheol and Hades, papal infallibility, the history behind Judaism, monotheistic religions, and pagan traditions that were later replaced or absorbed into Christianity.

Sorry needed AI to space things out that I typed, I don’t use Reddit like this. It was a lot to write.