Why does it seem that most Christians know less about the religion than Atheists?

Some of you might re-read Matthew 5 and see if "blessed are the smug" is really in there, cause you seem to be betting your salvation on it.

Do any of the know-it-alls actually personally know an atheist? Has it ever occurred to you that most of us deconverted precisely because we know the scriptures better than most of you? That because unlike you we studied to show ourselves approved and the study revealed fatal flaws in the doctrine and dogma we had simply overlooked, never noticed, which had always been avoided and glazed over as "difficulties?" Could it be we stopped being satisfied about our election and actually considered what kind of being would really eternally burn someone esle for a temporal act of imperfection? Could it be we asked ourselves if it made any sense that a god would be more brutal and murderous than any man because his ego had been slighted? Could it be we looked about us and saw a group of folks like you and said, "If the Holy Spirit is really indwelling all these folks, how come no one is being improved by the experience?"

Christians are mostly Christians by the accident of where they were born, and because people are intellectually lazy and comforming is the easiest thing to do. It's the same reason most Moslems are Moslems, i.e. geographic and cultural location. Many of the believers that come here don't have even a passing familiarity with Jesus's teachings, or any of the rest of the Bible, except for a handful of proof texts and gotcha phrases to toss around like daggers, and they think it passes for evangelism.

These kiddies think all atheists just don't want to believe so we can go have sex with barnyard animals, because it's easier on their feeble faith to demonize us than understand we might have legitimate reasons to reject what they accepted without critical examination. But for myself and many atheists I know,we wanted to believe more than anything, but we also wanted to know what we were reading and saying and believing was true, and we subjected the claims to critical examination and mostly to our horror discovered we'd been too easily convinced.

If a thing is true, it should be demonstrably and provably true. Where else in life do we make it a virture to believe without proof and simply on someone's say so? All religions make it a virtue to just have faith because none can prove their claims. We call that a con game boys and girls. It's a rigged table, and no one has a good reason for any god to be so cagey about his or her existence that he only reveals himself to one guy on a mountaintop or another in a cave and the rest of us have to just believe one out of all the competing claims or burn.

It was the compassion of Jesus of the synoptics that attracted me in the first place. But some of the believers here clearly just signed up to watch the bonfire of the infidels and gloat. Those people would like like to think atheists are immoral and unethical, and we refuse their religion because we want to do evil. My morality, ethics, humanity and charity stands up just fine, not because a god says it's right, but because I know as a human being what hurts and helps and our species survives through compassion as well as competition. And I'm far from unique. I don't find a greater number of adulterers, fornicators, thieves among the faithless than the faithful, although I find a lot less hypocrisy.

It's not as simple as you might need to believe.

Maybe it's because most Christians don't spend their time scouring the Bible and atheist web sites trying to find ways to disprove God's Word so that they can remain in their sins without worrying about having to face a Holy and Righteous Creator when their life here on earth comes to an end.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. John 3:16-20

Either that or you just have a skewed impression because there is a disproportionate amount of knowledgeable Atheists here on Y/A as compared to knowledgeable Christians who are doing something else besides killing time here on the Internet.

I don't think that saying most Christians know less about religion than Athieists, I think the ones who argue about "Who's Right and Who's Wrong" both equally (Christians as well as Atheists) have not taken the time to actually understand their own beliefs strong enough to have an intelligent conversation about it without assuming the other is wrong.

You have to admit that Both Christians and Atheists who resort to bashing the others religion are just admitting to the rest of us here that they themselves are not well researched enough to even claim to know what they are talking about, thus making Both Atheists and Christians look bad in the process.

Just my opinion, but to ask is to learn, to learn is to grow.

This is what I believe as your beliefs may differ.

I believe it is because most Christians take our religion for granted.We sometimes feel we have a "safe harbor" and that is that. A lot of religions teach good works will get you to Haven so it is easy to go to church listen and go home. Feeling this is a "good work". Soooooo as I say we get lazy when it gets to religion.On the other hand, atheist feel they have a cause. Hatred as you might know is a driving force so they get into this atheist ism stuff. Little do they , they have an eternity of Hell to look forward to.

Because Atheists were the people who actuall read the bible, did some research, found out all the flaws and lies and decided to live their own lives. Where the Christians let someone else tell them the bible stories they wanted them to hear and they took that word as gospel. Christians don't want to see the truth, they just assume they haven't been told lies for their wntire lives....it's a scarey thought basing you whole life on a false idol.

I'm indifferent.

It's because Christians or people who don't question the BIble are satisfied with the answers they receive.

Atheists who are unconvinced of the Bible question it. So they study it, which is really what people should do with just about anything.

You should always check the facts rather than just accept was is given to you on blind faith. That's the whole purpose of discovery.

What's the point of even thinking or having brains if you just have people tell you what to do and how things are?

Polls in Great Britain have shown that on average atheists have a twelve percent higher IQ than Christians. But to my Christian friends defence they have (on average) a sixteen percent advantage on EQ. Interesting fact ladies and gentlemen.

Atheists Spend most of there time fighting the so Called fact s of Christianity. and another plus Christians don't know either.... So i guess there both lost lambs

because its easier to follow blindly than to actually study and KNOW what you're talking about.

And affilliating is like wearing a badge of sorts. Hiding behind the church's skirts, if you will. this gives you license to bash anyone who doesn't agree with you on the self-righteous tip

And if you really are into your faith, one should pick their Holy Book apart scripture by scripture...

Because Atheiests have to pick the bible apart scripture by scripture to find faults so they can continue to feel they don't need Jesus...Christians just give their own faults to Jesus...the one the bible is about...and get to know Him instead.