What makes Christians unique?

[bitus]

I don't want to turn this topic into a new debate, but thought i'd make some things clear.
I've been raised in a very high-theological enviroment, and I know what both christians and non-christians believe, and i can support my arguments.
What's the unique thing about Christianity? Take a look at any other religion, and tell me which one states that God himself became completly human and came and lived with us? You want evidence? First believe!
If there was evidence for all your questions, then faith would have no purpose.
The Bitus.

[Noah]

What's the unique thing about Christianity?

Nothing, it's just a religion as stupid as all the others. Something unique to christianity is the level of annoyance it causes though. Especially people who try to convert me or people who 'threaten' me that I'll go to hell if I don't join christianity soon, and then tell me I don't have an open mind because I tell them what I think of their religion.

[bitus]

I fully understand your reply There is something called excentric christianity, or narrow minded-christianity... e're not talking about that... and unfortunately, this is what kind of christianity we're dealing with most of the times.
I would say 80% of the christians in the states don't know what they're talking about when they claim they're christians... but that's just me...
The Bitus

[Hmoll]

I fully understand your reply There is something called excentric christianity, or narrow minded-christianity... e're not talking about that... and unfortunately, this is what kind of christianity we're dealing with most of the times.
I would say 80% of the christians in the states don't know what they're talking about when they claim they're christians... but that's just me...
The Bitus

How can you make a statement against narrow mindedness in one sentence, and in the next make an ignorant, prejudiced,  and narrow minded statement indicting the knowledge of the vast majority of christians in the US regarding their own religion?

To what do you attribute your knowledge of this supposed 80%?

[bitus]

Hmoll, i might've over-generalized my statement... thank you for pointing it out.
I will tell you why i am dissapointed in us christians: compromise! I am in a christian school, but wherever i go, i see nothing but compromise and a christianity lived out of routine... Students here live in a gray world, not having the power to call things black and white, and live upon their decision. It might be the fact that i came from a country that was under religious persecution for many years (therefore only the true ones lasted... )
Take a look at tv, go and have a walk in the mall, and then try to convince me that i am wrong. From music, attitude, even clothing, there is nothing that would make them different than the others. If you want specific examples, i will write them to you in private, since there are many who might understand and interpret me wrong.
I appreciate your criticism,
The Bitus.

[Hmoll]

Bitus,

Thank you for your considerate answer. Yes, looking around, I find it hard to disagree with you. Also, your personal experience is compelling - one appreciates more that which has been taken away.
However, I think a lot of your observations are also true in western Europe, and other regions as well.

[liszmaninopin]

I am around extreme fundamentalists just about every day; and they definitely don't speak well for Christianity.  In fact, they're about the only Christians I know, so I've met very few who really were tolerant, understanding, and non-hypocritical.

[chopiabin]

Black and White? There is no such thing. For someone to decide whether to lump something in the absolutely good category and other things in the absolutely bad category is absurd and pretentious. Anyone who thinks that they can define morality for others is ridiculous. I think it is funny that you wish for people to be able to distinguish between black and white in terms of morality - this is the human mind wishing for order and simplicity where it simply does not exist.

Grey areas are what make life diverse.

[Hannah Joy]

Bitus, why don't you come to Bob Jones University?  It's not perfect, but I think you would find less compromise than you seem to see around you now.  You'd also like the music program better

Chopiabin, black and white are more diverse than any two shades of gray.

[chopiabin]

OK, will you address what I said or provide me with silly little maxims? I hope you understand what I meant with that last post.

[DAwud7]

I agree with chopiabin. The Gray Areas are what make life diverse and interesting. Bob jones huh i know people who went there and am still friends with them.

[chopiabin]

I think the argument that one is raised in "high-theological" environment as the reason one is a Christian is stupid. I was also raised in a very Christian environment, but I realized that it was stupid, intolerant and untrue. The argument about being raised that way is essentially saying that you had no choice in the matter and that if you weren't raised that way you would not be Christian.

[chopiabin]

I also assume that when you ask about other religions that have god sacrificing for us, you are implying that Christianity is such "ggood news" then we would be crazy not to believe. This is very stupid. Just because something is pleasant to believe does not mean it's true. If someone came up to you and told you you'd won 150000000$, would you just believe it blindly because it was pleasant?

People talk about the power of prayer, but it does not exist. When people pray to god to heal someone who was sick and that person dies anyway, people say "Well, god needed them in heaven," but when a person recovers occasionally, it is because of the power of prayer. How hippocritical and naive.

[bitus]

Chopiabin my friend ,
what i will write will not make sense for you, because you don't believe. But i'm going to make some things clear anyway (that's why i didn't want to turn this topic into a religious debate...) Without faith we cannot understand each other... it's another world.
when i was talking about black and white i was refering to a certain morality that true christians have... where everything that glorifies God is white, and everything else is black... there's not such thing as grey.
You understood my argument with the high-theological enviroment wrong. And I had more choices than you would think to choose between christian and non-christian (left home at 18 just by myself). By that argument i was saying that i know very detailed what christians and all denominations (orthodoxy, catholics, baptists) believe about most of the things (my father has a phd in theology & phylosophy from oxford and i was his best disciple ).
The bitus

[chopiabin]

What is it that I believe exactly?
I think it is closed - minded to say that we simply can not understand each other because we believe different things. I am simply appalled at your statement that morality is black and white. Who decides what is black and what is white? If two Christians disagree about what is black and what is white, then how does one know who is right? I can't imagine not believing in moral grey areas. You're telling me that you never have moral dilemmas? Apparently, since your morality is black and white.

Was your father a philosophy professor who specialized in Chritianity? I would assume so.

[bitus]

No, he is a baptist theologian who specialized in orthodoxy so that he can understand the majority denomination in romania. He is still a baptist... but you have to understand that baptists are only 0.5% of romania
Anyway... let me give you an example: you are made out of flesh and spirit, right? Then the spirit is part of you, and basicaly your spirit is the one who "lives". Your body is just a tool for the spirit to live. Now, we, as christians, have God's spirit in us (not like penticostals or charismatics, in a excentric way) or even more precise, we have God's mind in us... Now if that mind is the same in every christian, just as your spirit would be present in two bodies, the only thing that is different is the bodies. All this is realized with an amazing wisdom that allows each of us to be special and unique. Even more, God's spirit is present in us in different way in each of us, but having the same principles and sensitivity towards what is honoring Him and what is not. That is our morality... And when two christians argue over what is moral and what is not, one of them, or many times both of them are acting to support their own thinking, that is many times driven by personal interes. Remember again... not all christians are true followers of Christ.
Do you understand my point? (my english is quite limited, therefore i might've said something that i didn't really mean).
The Bitus

[chopiabin]

I don't believe in a spirit. Who decides who is right? If a priest says one thing and you say another and are totally convinced that you are right, then who is correct?

[bitus]

well then... if you don't believe in spirit... then what do you believe in? Do you only believe in what you see or what you have evidence for?
Do you know that an atom was never seen even with the best microscope ever? The scientists never even got close to see an atom... And everything that you learned in school in biology... even the evolution theory was based on things that they assumed about atoms.
I think you don't believe because you are afraid to believe... lazy to start thinking... lazy to ask questions, and seek for the answers. Afraid to accept the answer whatever that would be. You say you don't believe not because you researched, but because that's the level that satisfies your imediate needs... Mediocrity is enough for you.
Do some research on the biggest things and the smallest things that exist, and see that nobody ever saw them. Has anybody seen the universe? or the atoms?
Untill you searched everything there is to search, see everything there is to see, don't come to tell me you don't believe in this and that... because that's a fool's answer in such a great subject.
The wise seeks... I can tell you i believe in a spirit, but i cannot tell you everything about it... because i'm in a continous discovery.
Pardon my tone... and I insist that you don't take this reply strictly in relation to christianity, or God. Think twice before saying such a big thing. Open your eyes, my friend, and wonder!
The Bitus

[nad]

Do you know that an atom was never seen even with the best microscope ever? The scientists never even got close to see an atom...
The Bitus

Actually, yes, an atom has been seen. How; by using an electronmicroscope (don't know if thats the correct english word). I have seen it myself   Atoms of zinc to be precise. Of course, this is quite recently when looking at the whole line of science about this.

[bitus]

I just did a big research, and what they did was to shoot a beam of light at an atom, and then take a photo of the process. But they didn't see the atom, just the effect that the light had on the atom. Once light hit the atom, it changed it... it's quite complicated, but if you want to open another topic on this matter, i would be more than happy to post
Actualy, it's impossible to take the photo of an atom wthout changing it! For them to take its photo they have to shoot light at it, which would completly change it. It will never be possible to see how an atom without light looks like...
It's very hard for me to put in such simple words this very complex process. But does it make sense to you?
The Bitus.

[nad]

It makes sense, and i know it's a beam of electrons they shoot at the atoms, but i really thought i had seen it, or a couple of them!! Hmm i'll take another look at it. But of course without this beam of electrons you can't see sh*t, its sooo small! The theory behind the atom is quite waterproof though. And in order to understand all this, you'll need to understand algebra. An electron isn't a happy little convex than, it is a wave-equation. Which one i can't tell but i can look it up.
Lol, i left that chemistry education anyway. You can see other cool stuff with that microscope though.
Did you know that maths can (almost) explain anything (except for of course religious events)? But i'll leave it that  

[bitus]

quite a general affirmation, the one with math... but i understand your point ;]
The Bitus

[chopiabin]

I think it it is very ridiculous and pretentious to assume what I have and have not researched. I used to be a Christian when I was realetively young, but began questioning it when I realized that followers of other religions believe in their religions just as srtongly as do Christians do in theirs. As I grew older I continued to question it and then actually stood back and looked at Christianity from as unbiased view as I could get. When I realized that Christianity arose from the combination of two previous religions - Judaism and Zoroastrianism - I became even more sure of the non-divinity of anything the bible had to say. I began to realize how wish-fulfilling Christianity is. People (including yourself apparently) like order; they like to separate everything into black and white, although this is never how the universe works. How convenient is it that if someone believes that some guy died for them, then they have to take no responsibility for their actions and are free from death (our most instinctual and basic fear)? Seems funny that the universe would be so favorable toward human beings. I believe that what we call "morality" is actually just a highly evolved and detailed combination of early social interactions based on the will to survive. This expalins why different cultures have different moralities.
When one looks at the universe down to the last atom, one realizes that everything around us is based of chaos (the Hiesenberg Uncertainty Principle). There is no black and white. Everything is based off of grey areas. It seems stupid that the universe exists the way we observe it, but that there is some invisible being that lives in the sky and tries to help human beings. How naive.
What do I believe in if I don't believe in spirit? I believe in self-awareness. Many animals also have self-awareness, but ours is just more highly evolved.

Apparently I'm too lazy to ask questions, but you are the one who has always accepted what you were taught as a child. Social conditioning - you are living proof.

[chopiabin]

I know I sound ridiculously aggressive in my attack on Christianity, but I hate ignorance and people who try to look for the easy way out. It also upset me the way you assumed to know what I did or did not believe. If you want to find any more detaliled descriptions of my beliefs, look at the religious debate rooms, the evolutionary theory room, or the controversial issue room.

[DAwud7]

Im sorry but the atom thing is just plain stupid. Atleast u can shoot a beam of electrons at a atom, Can u shoot a beam of electrons at GOD? THe atom thing is fact this is not some thoery mythological bull it is fact. Look at the universe around us all is similar too the Atom WE have planets that revolve around stars, The universe in essence is similar too the human family, DId u know stars birth other stars? When a star dies a nebula cloud is created and this in turn is the nutrients and elements used in creation of a new star. In similar a human family revolves around the HEad of the house and the heads of the house hold produce more heads of new household which are children and in a similar way these children revolve around us THier parents, THink about it without the sun we would not be able too provide it provides us with energy, now a good Father or mother would provide essential knowledge for a child too survive properly without this they self destruct. The atom in a similar way has the Electron revolving around the Nucleus. ANd I do not believe in a spirit i cannot point a electron beam at that either. ANd dontn come up with u cant cee air and all this other stuff, look bottom line i cee and breath the results of air it keeps me alive, God on the other hand i cee nothing of, i feel nothing of, produces no results in my life, And honestly u know what with the life i have had and many others if This is what a perfect being thinks that i was deserved too be born into, Then i would have a few words of disgust towards him if he was real, mostly four letter words.

[bitus]

Chopiabin, we have the same attitude and the same view on the subject... but with a different way out
I appreciate your replies, and i understand your point, and it makes perfect sense if i look at it from your view.
You are mistaking about saying that i didn't question what i learned. No, my friend... i had my time of questioning too... otherwise i would be just a regular "christian" that doesn't have any doubts. I don't know any Christian who never doubted the existence of God... even for the smallest amount of time. What you do when that happens... that's what makes the difference.
If you say you don't believe in God... man, you better be absolutely sure... I am curious from time to time if you could write me your "spiritual" evolution on IM.
I will not continue this debate, since from the begining i said i'm not a big fan of debates like this over the internet. You see, words don't mean a thing without the actual example. I can tell you i am a good Christians, but it doesn't hurt my fingers to write you that
Regards,
The Bitus.

[bitus]

DAwud7...
interesting reply.
Let's say you are sad... It would be foolish of me to tell you that you are not sad, and that you are lying to me. Therefore, if I tell you God's Spirit is in me, it would be equaly foolish for you to tell me it is not, because you are not me, nor you can feel what i feel. My certainty cannot be expressed in words. Have you ever tried to see how I feel?
The Bitus.

[liszmaninopin]

Bitus, you have a point in that we can't tell you how you feel.  But, is it possible that your feeling is a creation of the mind?  Sadness, anger, happiness, and calm are all creations of the mind; could not the feeling of a god be the same?

[chopiabin]

The reason why we can tell you that there exists no god within you is beacuse we do not believe that any god exists. I'm sure that there is no god. Think about all the other religions in the world - they have believers who are just as ardent as you. Who is right? You will say you are, and they will say they are, and neither of you can qualify your statement. I don't understand quite a bit about your reply. What do you mean about IMs? Hurting your fingers? When you questioned god, it was probably when you were pissed about something - you never stopped believing, you were just angry at god. I did not start doubting because I was pissed at god - it was a purely intellectual realization. The reason why I despise Christianity is because it is constantly imposed upon the citizens of this country and it breeds hate, intolerance, and mediocrity. Most Christians do not question their beliefs, so they just sit there and absorb whatever they are told. I have read the bible, as well as many philosophers - Nietzsche, Skinner, Sartre, Freud, Camus, Lewis, Russell - and I wonder, have you read any of these (especially Nietzsche and Freud)?

[liszmaninopin]

You also bring up some interesting points, Chop.

I am not sure that there is no god.  I am sure that the Christian, literal, fundamentalist god does not exist.

What you say about Christianity being forced on everybody in this country is definitely true, in my experience.  People with Biblical beliefs are respected and listened to, whereas atheists are viewed with suspicion, Muslims with anger, Buddhists and Hindus with contempt.  The commercial world's image of the perfect, happy household fits right along with the traditional, Biblical model; the influence is pervasive and can't be escaped.  Sometimes I think it would be nice to live in Africa; there you don't have any oppressive religions to confront, only oppressive religious solicitors; better known as missionaries.  I like Freud alot, but have actually never read Nietzsche. (I'm only 15, I've only had so much time!)  Have you read the whole Bible?  I couldn't do that; I would get bored reading something that seems largely pointless to me.  When I read the Bible seriously, I enjoy Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, as well as Job.  When I want a laugh, I read Genesis.  When I want to feel smart, I read Revelation.

[bitus]

Yes, chopiabin, i read them all...
I was never angry on God... i was upset because i didn't understand His way... and i've been through a lot of pain (my context is very different than the regular american one, remember). THe moments when i doubted God were pure intelectualy, as well as yours... I told you before... the difference lies in what you do when you have doubts. I have faith, you don't - that's the difference.
Other religions? That's why i started this topic... we are the only ones who claim God became fully man and fully God and lived with us. Now think about that scenario for just a minute, and understand how important that statement is for christians.
The Bitus.

[bitus]

Christianity being spread in america? Well... if you believed in something as much as christians do, wouldn't you want to tell it around?
The Bitus.
It's 9pm here... i'm thinking maybe tomorrow morning there will be 20 more replies... It's interesting how many replies come on topics that have to do with religion... and most of them from non-believers.

[liszmaninopin]

Bitus, why do you have this faith?  It's admirable that you stand up for what you believe in, but that can be taken too far.  How literally do you read the first few chapters of Genesis?

[liszmaninopin]

Yes, these religious topics can be entertaining; the replies come so fast that overnight one can get behind on them.

[chopiabin]

However, take Hinduism for instance - do you think that they are looking at Christianity saying, "Oh, I wish our gods would become human!"? The answer is no. The fact that their gods are not human is just as important as the fact that yours did. If you are trying to use that to convince me or something, you fail to see my point. I do not believe in god in any form. An argument for Christianity that I have often heard is that the news is so good, how can we possibly not believe. This thought fails to see the nature of truth. Truth does not base itself on what is pleasant or not pleasant, and more often than not, it is unpleasant.

[liszmaninopin]

I think that the way most Christians feel about non-believers is exactly the way most non-believers feel about Christians.  They both think that the others are wrong, and misguided.  The difference is, the Christians appeal to faith when challenged, non-believers appeal to reason and observation.

I know Christians who interpret nearly anything as proof of the Bible.  The fact that remote jungle people consider theft wrong, to them, proves that god wrote the ten commandments on the hearts of all men.  To me, that just sounds ridiculous.  It's human nature to recognize that one shouldn't take things of others; and that in return they won't take your things.  That's why the ancient Hebrews put that in their holy book.  That doesn't prove their holy book, however, any more than it proves the Koran.  The Christians I know like going off about how they have the "only truth," and it gets rather annoying that their arguments are all so shallow, and could apply just as easily to any other belief system in the world.

[chopiabin]

Right. I think the fact that most cultures find stealing wrong goes back to very, very early societies and the will to survive which is innate in every animal. As people began to form societies, their individual survival insticts would have reacted in very intersting ways. If one person from the group took meat from someone else, he would be ostracized because food was hard to come by, and taking it form someone meant that he was depriving that individual the right to survive. The others in the group participated in ostacizing the thief because they realized that if he could steal from one of them and get away with it, he could steal from all of them. I believe that this was the beginning of morality. We are all conditioned by social interaction.

[bitus]

Chopiabin,
How do you explain the fact that every person in this world, more or less has questions about a supranatural existence? How do you explain that every society from the begining until now, and from now on until forever, has the concept of God? Should they all be fools?
You are not ready to give up, nor am I. The difference is that i believe in something that for myself i know is true... but you don't believe in anything.
Until you are ready to give up something, I would recomend you stay away from religious debates... since religion is not part of you.
As I said it before... if there was proof for everybody to believe, then faith itself would have no purpose, no reason.
Liszmaninopin... you say it's all in my head... sometimes I think the same... but then I look at my past and it's impossible to be in my head.
People abandon faith because they didn't try enough... and you are a proof for yourself, that once you are on the other side, there's no natural way back... everything makes sense from this new light that you see things.
I said it before... i don't believe in legalistic or excentric christianity. I believe the presence of God in one's life will affect everything, and everything that happens in one's life has to do with God's purpose.
But again... this topic has no end... we are saying the same things over and over again... I wish it stoped now... In the end, not even you, who say are so open-minded... can see things gray. In your own view, this topic is filled with black and white.
The Bitus.

[chopiabin]

I suppose you have never thought about why religion seems to fulfill so many human desires. Could it be that humans, just like animals, have an instinct to survive and an innate fear of death? I believe that humans started religions originally because they feared death and saw nature as a powerful force. Humans at the time were unable to comprehen that weather and earthquakes are caused by natural processes on earth. As religion continued to progress, it came to be more and more convenient to humans and began to fit the morality of the time period. This would explain why there are no (to my knowledge) religions in the modernized world that practice human sacrifice. Parents teach their children to believe in their religion from an early age ( by the way, do you think you would be christian if you were raised in Islam?) and the traditions become sanctified. No one really questions why so many different religions exist (it seems to me that if christianity were divine truth, then the stories would have been revealed to every nation on earth instead of a tiny middle eastern one). Did you know that the original Jewish word for god was "we"? Doesn't it seem that maybe "god" evolved from "gods". That maybe one god took on the properties of many and became omnipotent? It is funny. Humans are very self-concerned. Look how we've stopped sacrificing to god and now he sacrifices to us. He is the one whom we have prostrated before us.

[chopiabin]

In addition to what I said there, I would like to add why I think the older religions (the ones with  human sacrifice) disappeared. I believe that no one wants to believe in something that is hard. No one wants to believe that you must kill your children to appease a god. Christianity does not require anyone to sacrifice anything material to god. All one has to do is believe in order to be "saved". I think compared to scarifice, that is relatively easy. That is why christianity has stayed around so long. It is some thing that people want to believe in; it's comforting. All one has to do is have faith, and all one's "sins" are erased, and there is no problem getting the reward of heaven. Essentially it removes all responsiblity from humans.

[bitus]

You talk about religion and Christianity with such an indiference... so easy. You haven't been to a country where people long for religion, but it's persecuted... Go there, and you will meet real christians, and then come back and tell me what they believe in it's just in their minds. Your view of religion is what you read in books, what you were told by your parents, and what you see day by day. Go see the world, as i said before, and after you have seen everything, come back and we will discuss more. Untill then, and i feel like repeating over and over again the same thing, this debate has no purpose, no meaning, no reason.
The Bitus.

[chopiabin]

I guess it's too hard for you to confront my arguments then.

First of all: Please don't assume things about what I have been taught. My parents are both Christians and I was raised to believe in god and Jesus. I came to the conclusion that Christianity was a lie when I was around 11 or 12 - since then I have built upon this and I thoroughly believe it with every fiber of my being.

Don't you understand that war-torn countries where people do not have control over their own lives are almost exactly the same as the early civilizations in which people had no control over the weather or other natural things? Places where people are not free are exactly the places where I would expect there to be religious sentiments. People can not control their lives, so they turn to god, whose existence has been ingrained into their minds since childhood. The concept of god originated in early societies, and was passed down over generations. The same basic concept with much more elaboration exists today.

[liszmaninopin]

One thing that Christians are definitely unique about is their determination to convert masses of others at any cost, social, cultural, or environmental.

[Hannah Joy]

That's because they believe human souls to be more valuable - and in more danger - than society, culture, and the environment.

[bitus]

Chopiabin... there's no sense in me confronting your replies anymore... If one of us was ready to give up their thinking, it would be worth it... like this is just a waste of interesting ideas and arguments.
The Bitus.

[DAwud7]

Well JOy they obviously dont believe human souls are more valuable then money u wont cee the catholics giving up thier billions any time soon too the poor starving countries they invade with thier mythology and lies. Anyways The remark about not being able too cee how u feel, Right i cannot cee this, but i can cacth your feelings if your sad u have a different attitude, if your happy another attitude, if your deppressed yet another attitude, These things can be ceen but not ceen do u understand this concept. Now a spirit i dont cee no proof or efect of the spirit, ok example pray for a million dollars, pray too heal someone , wont happen y because thier is no spirit, emotions on the other hand are shown threw u, A certain state of mind reflects a different U, a spirit of god in u only puts the thought in your mind that it reflects a different U. And yes when people are SAd they can tell u they are not,Yet u still know they are sad because again emotions are reflection of whats going on and they show on your physical. Ok Bitus The concept of god has always been around and in different vantage points, The few oldest known not religions but thought systems from acient china taught that man him self was indeed related too the essence of life and his presence was the highest presence on earth, in essence man was a god of himself. Now these are the oldest known philosiphical writings in Acient china, Writings from Amer another civilization from Souther Saudia Arabia also date far back and state similar bieliefs of man being his own god his own Sun where his family revolves around him. Ponder a few thoughts The human body contains many elements in the universe within our own body Iron Nickel all that, Y. Science proves u can not make something from nothing, therefore a logical thought would be scince u can make something from nothing the atoms our body is made of have always been here because they could have not been made from nothing. Another thought one prevailing thing in the bible and the word used for Image, goes along with these older thoughts of a essence and mans presence on earth, God creates us in his Image A image of your self is a copy. Just a thought, these older philosophies of china and pre egypt make much more sense then your bible or any newer religions and they predate christianity and Even hinduism by thousands of years.

[chopiabin]

Hanny J. J. (my nickname for you ), I don't believe in a soul, so it's hard for me to value it. I believe that each of us has value to ourselves and to others who care about us. Chritianity does not REALLY value the human "soul" - it damns it if it does not believe in its tenets. It also damns "souls" from other parts of the world who have been raised (through no fault of their own) to believe in different things. I find Christianity very elitist and I don't see any evidence that it values the human "soul".

[Hannah Joy]

I've heard worse nicknames
I realize you don't believe in human souls - neither do you claim to be a Christian, so obviously my statement wasn't referring to you.
Words like "damn" are only "bad words" when they're used flippantly - there is a proper use.
If someone's house was on fire, which would be valuing that person's life more: warning them, or denying that their house was really burning?  I know you don't believe in hell.  I do, not because I want anyone to go there, and believing that, the way to show that I value souls is to warn people.  
The Bible tells me that there is enough evidence in the world around that no one has an excuse.  The more one knows, the more he is responsible for - you have been given more light than many people, and you are responsible for how you use that.
DAwud7, not everyone who claims to be a Christian is in reality, and all Christians are growing more Christ-like.  We should care more for souls than money, but we don't yet as we should.  That's the ideal.

[chopiabin]

Hanny, what evidence for god is there outside of the bible that can not be explained by science?

[Hannah Joy]

You seem to think I don't believe in science.  I do.  God created everything, and He designed things to work in certain ways.  Science can explain how things work - it can't explain why they work the way they do.  It's because God designed them to do so, and no scientist was there when He did it.