Is Christian persecution imagined, or is it the one distinct truth and a true reality?

This has been a question that has been on my mind for a very long time now. I have been on ATS for a bit now, and I have recognized an emerging trend. Those who don't believe in Jesus Christ, in a twist of Irony are in an intense search to refute his claims that he was, " the way , truth and life" and the only way to salvation . This is not just an observation, it has also been an EXPERIENCE with me when I was wrestling with God, and not really believing in Christ, or taking of this seriously enough. There was a constant restlessness in my heart and soul that always thought, "what if Jesus really was right, and really is coming back? and I don't even pray one single prayer, or dive into any research to find out his claims of truth for myself?

If we were all to be honest, and this is not an opinion but an observation if you truly follow these forums. There seems to be an endless stream of theories regarding Christianity, Jesus Christ and the authenticity of the gospel. YET this same intense information war does not apply to other religions or schools of thoughts like Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Wicca etc...
It always boils down to Jesus Christ. And I'm coming to believe that this is because the holy spirit is at work within us all, and has convicted us that there is something of true substance and life here in his deity, in his words.
It is not cultural, just because the majority of us on ATS have grown up in a culture based on Judeo- Christian values. ( though this can play a role), it transcends cultural teachings, because it's a matter of the heart. We all know here that there is something wrong with the world, we all know that humanity is in a very dangerous situation as a whole , the majority of us just want peace, just want happiness and ultimately we want freedom.
But that freedom comes at a cost, we can't have it without knowing the TRUTH. Jesus knew this, and that is why he said, " Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. ( John 8:32)
I have seen more theories on Christianity, more heresies, more half truths, and more distortion of scripture this past year then I have ever experienced in my life. I have seen ISIS go rampage through Iraq and Syria and behead and crucify Christians ( even children) for not renouncing their faith in Christ. I've seen a brave NFL player Ben Watson go on live TV on CNN and proclaim that salvation only comes through Christ- only to have CNN have a coincidental technological difficulty at that EXACT moment he says it, cutting him off on air...
I've personally gone through periods of my life where I've completely turned my back on God, and the devil left me alone. during a lot of these periods I endured the high life, and it just seemed like the money would just flow in, everyone liked me, everything I did would just work out. ONLY when I would re surrender my life to God, and get back on the right path with walking with Jesus, would I experience the persecution.
This is why it's such a struggle for so many of us. Somewhere deep down whether we believe or not, we all KNOW Jesus Christ was without blemish. We all know he took love, courage, passion, truth etc.. to a "whole different level". But so many of us reach stumbling blocks because even the very modern day churches messages are watered down or utterly corrupted. So many so called " Christians" behaviours are even more despicable then those they preach against.
We develop a theory that there's nothing of substance there, even against our hearts pull. In our minds we try to create a system that justifies our behaviours and keeps us " good people" , because somewhere deep down we know our souls feel convicted, so we have to give ourselves the "Illusion" via the mind that we're good people, and that we have enough answers.
God says in the book of Jeremiah, " you shall find me when you seek me with ALL your heart". See finding Christ, is not about pick the right door and you go to heaven, pick the wrong door and guess wrong you go to Hell.. It's the furthest thing from it.
God looks at the heart, not at the mind. When you truly follow through with ACTION- ( faith is an ACTION) on finding the whole truth with all your heart. You have to be willing to sacrifice "everything" and lose it all. But what you will find is a treasure unlike anything ever before.

Even if it all doesn't make sense now. It's not about having good or bad theology. It boils down to the heart. To truly be reborn, you have to want to know and walk with God and truth personally and experience his holy spirit coming inside to live in you, and to live as he did.
It's our fallen nature that is attached to sin, and yearns for all the pleasures of this world that is keeping us plugged into this prison/matrix. and it is at WAR with the spirit.

Wherever you are at today. Just be honest with yourself, and ask whether your so on the fence with Jesus Christ because you just truly don't understand, or can't trust the claims of someone made thousands of years ago?
Or is it because deep down, you know it's a harder life to steer clear of sin, take up your cross and be selfless? and our carnal nature is fighting that.
I encourage you all to surrender it, let it go... and realize what this world can promise you is nothing, and is fading away at lightspeed with the state of the world. What Jesus Christ promises is Eternal life in paradise with God himself. He promises it will be tough, but it will be worth it, because you will be alive, you will be healed, you will walk in love and experience love. You will be free.
He's knocking at the door of our hearts, it's time we truly open that door fully ( myself included)

apologies for the double post

a reply to: freedom7

Dude! Quadruple post! I believe a new ATS record.

Its all a full on imagination!

The whole universe is an imagination of the divine.

Im sure the Mods, will erase 2 or 3 of the other posts, or is there a button I can push?

Nevermind I'm now a ...jackass....or christian. (a difference?)

depends on what you define as " Christian".

There are those who go to church and scream loud "hallelujahs" but wouldn't give you the crums from their table if you were starving.

Then there are those who would fight for you, and show true love, compassion, courage etc...

depends on what you define as " Christian".

There are those who go to church and scream loud "hallelujahs" but wouldn't give you the crums from their table if you were starving.

Then there are those who would fight for you, and show true love, compassion, courage etc...

man, my computer is the champ of double posts today

originally posted by: freedom7
Im sure the Mods, will erase 2 or 3 of the other posts, or is there a button I can push?

No, there is a server fault, and it looks apparent that the post button hasn't worked. See Sceptic Overlord's explanation on boards and questions. In the meantime, don't hit the post button again, open a new page on your browser and go into ATS to see if your post has come up. If it has all's well.

My theory is that there are two types of atheist.

The first type is the sort that really does believe there is nothing out there, no deity, nothing divine. They are the ones who are civil. The ones you can have good discourse with about differing beliefs.

Then there are the other ones. I think there is something to what you say. I think they're internally more like this:

www.youtube.com...

I'm not going to embed the clip because it's got some language to it. But I think whether they admit it or not, they still aren't sure if they really do believe there is no God, or maybe they do believe and they are like Riddick in this clip - angry at Him. So they choose to turn their back on Him. It's not quite the same as true disbelief.

Don't worry, your persecution is nothing special and the only thing that is misunderstood about it is YOUR small minded concept that Christians are the only ones persecuted. It is overly focused views such as this that lead to false statements.

I am in the right, and you are in the wrong. When you are the stronger, you ought to tolerate me; for it is your duty to tolerate truth. But when I am the stronger, I shall persecute you; for it is my duty to persecute error.

—Thomas Babington Macaulay, Critical and Historical Essays, 1870

More of the same closed-minded rants about how they are the only real gods and only they are persecuted….

I myself do not put Jesus above other blessed ones. To me the blessed ones are a brother/sister hood where there is no need to be above or below since they all know and understand the nature of objective truth and if there is an argument they solve it by looking at the facts instead of who among them are telling the facts.

But that do not mean I do not think Jesus knows exactly what he is talking about so he is a good teacher. For me Buddha confirms Jesus teachings as Jesus confirms Buddhas teaching. The only difference is how they teach and how they hide in parables what they teach.

Paul is the one that creates duality and makes Jesus name into an idol that you need from Paul:s point of view say died for your sins. Blessed ones like Jesus and Buddha would from my point of view be above small minded judgement based on someone saying their name and look instead on the fruits.

Just read Matthew 25:31-46. The sheep and goats. It makes exactly the point I am talking about above on how many Christians will not be happy when they meet the blessed ones in person either here in life or when they have died.

a reply to: notmyrealname

Well then eagerly waiting for your threads debunking Buddhism, Hinduism, Wicca and Shintoism among others.

You may or may not have authored one debunking Islam. I have seen those from time to time.

originally posted by: freedom7
depends on what you define as " Christian".

There are those who go to church and scream loud "hallelujahs" but wouldn't give you the crums from their table if you were starving.

Then there are those who would fight for you, and show true love, compassion, courage etc...

The Christians that behaves like soul brothers and sisters are very beautiful in spirit. A blessing to be around. They are like a light in the darkness where their souls shine thru.

appreciate all the points all around.

In reply to Notmyrealname, Please don't think I am so naïve as to believe that ONLY Christians are persecuted. I never said that. I know we're all in this together, and pain and suffering nor the devil discriminates and the human condition is one right now of suffering through tough times. Whether you're the Christian in Syria, or the displaced orphan in China growing up an atheist etc..


My point if you truly look carefully into what I wrote is that Christianity seems to be the one and only religion that is unique in its claims and truths. And once someone comes into this truth and walks with God, he becomes the target of a unique kind of persecution.
It doesn't mean others aren't persecuted as well, all it means is that it's unique. If you were the devil, and the beings you hated more then anything in this world had the truth and were truly trying to connect with God and bring light into this world it would only stand to reason that you would put a special emphasis on targeting them.

If you think this is all condescending , and stems from a " holier then thou" attitude, Im sorry you feel that way. I'm just a broken guy , whos struggling just like the next guy in line. It's grace that has saved me. The same grace that's there for you.

a reply to: LittleByLittle

Thanks for the post man. I've seen Paul takes a lot of flack around here. and there are many who warn of "Pauline Christianity"

many believe he had a certain agenda. I don't know enough about him, or his history to attest to that. I will explore further

a reply to: smurfy

Thanks man, going to go check that post out now

Persecution is a strong word. Ridicule fits better.

Religious folk as far as I'm concerned display a mix of childish superstition and ignorance coupled with an inherent laziness in that they expect some omnipotent supernatural entity to sort out and solve all their problems for them in return for some idiotic form of 'worship' or 'prayer'

It is a crutch for the weak and the fearful and a refusal to face scientific facts and the complete lack of any evidence whatsoever of the existence of their stupid gods.

I find any religious people I meet in real life to be flaky, unreliable and on the most part dishonest and will lie at the drop of a hat.

Christians deserve ridicule. In this day and age they are an embarrassment to the rest of us, as are all religions.

Atheist is a stupid word coined by stupid people. It's laughable that bible bashing muppets label common sense like that. That stands by itself as a display of the kind of ignorance Christians have.

originally posted by: notmyrealname
Don't worry, your persecution is nothing special and the only thing that is misunderstood about it is YOUR small minded concept that Christians are the only ones persecuted. It is overly focused views such as this that lead to false statements.

I agree to some extent. In the here and now, if it's advisible to use the word persecution, it has to be used with PC, which IHMO has gone bonkers, especially in the media who now have to talk things through in the background, and decide what they can and cannot say, even if is is their honest opinion, and either in ignorance or knowledge, with the big bad word 'Bias' as the killer. There are also all sorts of other subtleties in play, like in the UK where the Queen, the head of state, is also 'Defender of the Faith' which is Christian in it's form, however British Airways forbid, or forbad their cabin staff at some stage, to wear a crucifix on duty..I don't know if that is still the case, but there you go, it happened and QE2 said nothing, defended nothing about the faith..WHICH HAS TO BE HER FAITH and has to be of the faith, and there is no way round it, and that singularity is perpetuated with the understanding that even British Christians..Christians mind you, who happen to see the Pope of Rome as the LEADER of the Catholic Church, as in the word Catholic meaning Universal, cannot hold the highest office in the UK by convention. So it goes on.