Christian "belief" is sometimes due to the Stockholm Syndrome

[cardw]

I think this Definition of the Stockholm Syndrome will fit into the spirit of Original Thoughts by providing a launch point. [Read specifically the section under the subheading Development.] It is striking how many points are similar to Christianity.

What is interesting is that hostages who develop this syndrome will often defend the criminals at the trial. I find it interesting that Christians continue to defend their god's violent and threatening actions in the OT and at the destruction of the earth by focusing only on god's "good" actions as if these good actions somehow justify all the violence.

This occurs in different manners by appealing to cultural differences or that people were so evil they left an all powerful, all knowing god no other option than to order them to commit genocide, stone people, rape their women, enslave, burn, and be mauled by bears etc. etc.

It struck me that all of these behaviors could emerge from a form of the Stockholm syndrome.

In reality the Christian believes that god is the source of their life and as long as god doesn't take their lives he is being "good." And this happens even though they know that if one doesn't choose god's way they will die in the lake of fire. This seems so similar to a hostage situation that it is hard to ignore the parallel.

[Tom Wetmore]

I don't think I have seen that comparison before.

What strikes me is the psychological parallels to the Christian virtue of forgiveness. At its core it is a positive change of attitude toward the perpetrator of harm.

[cardw]

I don't know if the forgiveness parallel works in this case since the being that would need forgiveness is god.

[Overaged]

God would be the one who needs forgiveness, only to someone who does not know and love Him. You are quite critical of believers, but believers do not see God the way you do just because of all those negative things you point to in the Bible or in Christian beliefs.

[cardw]

I'm not being critical of believers themselves, it's their beliefs. That is quite different.

And of course believers wouldn't see themselves that way. And not all believers would be in this category either.

I have found that many believers simply ignore the violent contradictions of god's actions in the OT unofficially and simply generalize the idea that they follow the Bible.

This is a case where the devil IS in the details.

[Overaged]

Christians do not ignore what you call violent contradictions at all. That's why God gave us His Word, with all the gory details so that we wouldn't ignore certain realities. God loves us too much to just let us be in error. And the reality is that people who want to live without God will reap the rewards of doing so.

The feigned pietism of the enemies of Christianity will never be able to mask the horrible realities that the Bible unfolds for our admonition.

[cardw]

The problem is god is the source of these horrible realities in the Bible. That's what you are ignoring.

[Overaged]

You'd make a good insurance salesman. They are in the habit of calling tragedy "an act of God." I say to such: "Prove it."

[cardw]

It's true that I am looking at it in black and white terms, but that is the terms used by most Christians.

You may not believe that way, but by your own admission you don't approach it as a black and white proposition. You see a god outside the literal understanding of the Bible. I see that as encouraging and it's certainly an upgrade on a societal level because your contribution is based on real results and life observations. You take the myth and adapt it to what you observe to be true rather than let the myth define your reality.

And you are right that if the Old Testament is true then Jesus is a lie as far as being descended from the OT god. The earliest Christians that documented were the gnostics and they believed the god of the OT was evil. That is how they solved the disconnect.

[cardw]

It seems that you are willing to assign nature or naturalism the blame when it's convenient. Plus the atrocities I was referring to was the god ordered killing done to the innocent in a religious form of genocide.

The Stockholm syndrome that I'm talking about is the tendency of Christians like yourself that defend the actions of this horrible god. You don't seem to recognize the evil effects of violence on this type of scale when applied to god.

God will kill you if you gather wood on the Sabbath, mock a bald prophet, wear garment made of two different threads, don't kill enough heathens, etc. etc, , but he loves you.

[doug yowell]

Aside from the inconsistencies that you glean from the Bible stories,Rich,why wouldn't you want to become a follower of the God of the Bible?If those hypocrisies were overlooked why not accept them for the rewards promised?Why couldn't you be happy in a culture where everybody else loved you and only wanted to work for your best?No one stealing your stuff, lying to you, being unthoughtful in any way,ect...

[cardw]

It's because the inconsistencies are deal killers. They create a mental conflict that creates a fear based culture on a subconscious level.

Any reward that circumnavigates my humanity is a lie and ultimately causes terrible behavior.

This is reflected in the statement...

Good people do good things and evil people do evil things, but it takes religion for good people to do evil things.

[Overaged]

Jesus did not descend from the OT God He was/is the OT God.

[Overaged]

I did not assign anything to "nature." I simply said that tragedies were not an act of God.

[doug yowell]

So you're unsatisfied with being afraid of...?What? What if the God who "threatened you" offered to work without rest in order to make sure you didn't mess up and offered to overlook your failures as long as you were sincere in committing to His ability to help you?What reason would you have to remain fearful of that God?

[cardw]

OK, then what do you assign these tragedies to if not nature?

[cardw]

Evidently you are satisfied being afraid. That's crazy. And that is why Christianity is such a burden to rational being.

You can offer all kinds of what ifs and that has nothing to do with what is actually stated in the Bible. All you give is evidence that you are making this stuff up as you go.

[cardw]

If Jesus was the OT god then that proves the whole enterprise is nuts.

[Dr. Rich]

Overaged is correct and you no not need EGW to show this to anyone--use the OT and words of Jesus to do this.\

The same being that was before Moses in the burning bush was the "I AM". This same being came to this earth as human and also said His identity was the "I AM". Check it out!

[Overaged]

Christianity is not a burden, it is a blessing to me. And I am a "rational" human being. At least, so says my wife on one of her good days.

[cardw]

When Christianity tries to reconcile the OT god with Jesus as the OT god we have the multiple personality crazy god problem.

[Overaged]

What do you mean by nature?

[Overaged]

There is no attempt at reconciling anything here. Just stating the Bible facts. Your crazy God problem is just that - it is YOUR's

[cardw]

That's the problem, there is no reconciling these two different gods. That's why there is no attempt.

You are asking people to accept these Bible facts as real facts with no questioning or rational process.

This is why Christianity produces crazy people because there is no attempt to make sense of much of this violent revengeful god/loving forgiving god. They just accept it. That is part of the Stockholm syndrome.

[cardw]

You don't need my definition of nature to answer the question...

What do you attribute these tragedies to?