butswana

I recieved a "welcome to our community" letter from a local church. I just moved into a new house, but I have lived in this area for thirty years. But that is beside the point.
The form letter was signed in ink by the pastor/preacher/whatever.
I was thinking of asking him all sorts of questions about the beliefs of his brand of christianity. Got any questions you want the good reverend to answer?

mike_decock

What makes you right and other denominations/religions wrong?

-Mike...

Rhea

Maybe you can get more satisfactory answers to this than I did. What I mean by satisfactory is an answer that actually and truly results in Christianity being the only choice.


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So many Christians so often say, "Lookie here. This is Good News. You should drop what you believe and believe this. "

In fact, I would venture to say that a Vast Majority of Christians would say this. Drop your belief and embrace this one. It's better. They further imply that it is honest and reasonable for you to drop other religions.

So, Christian, give me an example of how you honestly and reasonably dropped a religion. Hinduism can be an example. How did you decide to NOT be a Hindu. What criteria did you use to honestly and reasonably reject Hinuism.
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I am wholly dissatisfied by the answers I have gotten to this so far. I was hoping the answers would lead to an understanding which would result in some respect for their claims that I should drop my beliefs in favor of theirs. That would result in my being able to respect them for proselytizing. But it has not been the result so far.

Celsus

That strikes me as a question that will just invite preaching. Most "brands" of Christianity don't really vary all that much. Begging the question helps a little, as long as you beg the right questions that are the results of consensus in Biblical scholarship (or just plain common sense). How about:

Why does the Bible borrow from Sumerian, Babylonian, and Persian myths?

Wouldn't the ark have sunk with two of every kind of animal aboard?

Why did David and Solomon appear to have no knowledge of the Torah, especially taking as many wives as they did?

Why doesn't Paul know more about Jesus' life, or use stories from his life to prove his points?

etc.

Joel

ImGod

Tell him you don't agree with the concept of tithing. Instead you would like to pay for only the benefits you receive directly. Therefore, you need a breakdown of the yearly operating budget into detailed subcategories to determine how much you should contribute.

Then tell him you will determine which church you are going to attend based on a comparison of cost to benefit ratios.

It would be interesting to see if they had any further contact with you.

BioBeing

I like this! However, I would imagine the answer would be that you won't see ANY benefits until the next life...

...so then, ask him to prove that his brand of Xianity will get you to heaven, while the Church one block closer/with a bigger parking lot/that has better picnics [delete as appropriate] wont?

Yellum Notnef

This is not meant to be a wisecrack,but I think the best thing to do would be to throw that letter in trash and forget about it.

ImGod

That's what I did with the 8 easter service invitations we got this year. We just moved and I don't know how we got on the church "welcoming committee" lists.

ImGod

If that's the case my wife can bury me with a check for the amount I owe.

Eudaimonist

I like that "throw the letter in the trash" idea. That sounds like the best response.

If I were to give any response at all -- out of politeness, perhaps -- I would simply write a letter back saying that I already have a way of life that is satisfying, and am simply not in the market for a new belief system... thanks anyway.