well, YOU'RE simply..................wrong wrOng WRONG

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   gmwilliamsposted 10 years ago

   
   What makes so many traditionalistic, dogmatic religionists and pietists strongly insist that their religious/spiritual methodology is the only correct and legitimate one.  Why do so many such religionists and pietists believe in trying to convert and sway people to believe in their particular ethos?  Are they either so self-assured that their methodology is THE ONE or are they so threatened by different methodologies that they, in their minds, wish to DEMONIZE it for some unconscious reason?   Why is the MAIN goal for such religionists to maniacally attempt to CONVERT others?
   
   

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      Chris Nealposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      It depends. There will always be people in this world who are either directly threatened by the encroachment of ideologies and methodologies contrary or even contradictory to their own. This, by the way, is not in any way shape or form restricted to 'religion.' We've all known someone who insists that their way is the only way, even when that insistence causes more harm than good. And it might be religion (either pro- or anti-) it might be politics (another area where people become very passionate) or it might be the best way to fold underwear.
      
      Or, as Kathryn so helpfully pointed out, this could be termed 'self-righteousness.'
      
      However, when it comes to religion (or anything else for that matter) there are other reasons for thinking that yours is the only way and everyone else see it the same way. The chief one is experiences. If you believe you've met God (and this is a generic statement) and that God has shown you the true way, it's very very difficult to even get most people to show flexibility in smaller matters, let alone whether God actually exists or not.
      
      In my experience, boiling down the answer to what seems the most basic reason simply serves to prove the famous H.L. Mencken quote, "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong."

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         A Troubled Manposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Actually, the chief one is honesty, which shows those who claim to have met God are the dishonest ones.

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            Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            - maybe they just have good imaginations.

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            Chris Nealposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Thank you. I don't know why you feel so driven to prove my point for me so often, but backup, even hostile, is always nice.

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               Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               I am not being hostile at all!   I believe that God's actuality can be perceived directly through meditation and the third eye of intuition. Most people do not bother to perceive reality directly. No, they imagine and conjure and then expect others to believe what they believe. I do not do this... anymore... thanks to the very astute atheists in our midsts. I suspect they they are waiting for direct proof!!!

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                  Chris Nealposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  I was actually talking to ATM. No offense.

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                     Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     oh,
                     yeah...
                     pardon me
                     and never mind.

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                        Chris Nealposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                        No worries!

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               A Troubled Manposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               I have no problem pointing out your dishonesty, anytime. My pleasure.

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                  Chris Nealposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  I have understood for a long time that you think that's what you're doing. And the harder you try to show me as whatever it is you think that I am (because you rarely deal with me as I actually am) the more you simply prove my points for me.
                  
                  Not really a satisfying arrangement but I guess it is what it is.

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                     A Troubled Manposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     On the contrary, many others are pointing out your dishonesty, too, constantly.

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                        Chris Nealposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                        Um, care to name two?

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      Brenda Durhamposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I dunno why some other religions try to "convert" people really.
      I can only speak for Christianity, basic Christianity, not any particular denomination.   Just simple Christianity.
      And of course that reason is to see them avoid the fires of "hell" and get to be in heaven with the Lord.   That desire is two-fold-----we Love them because we Love the Lord, and He loves them just like He Loves us;  and He commands us to do so.     There is no sly ulterior motive.   It's straightforward and clear and we are set on it,  as indeed we should be.

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   Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years ago

   - because they are self-righteous.

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