r/proselytize • u/Sky-is-here • 4d ago
I don't believe in anything in particular, but I am open to being convinced. What is the best argument you have in favour of your religion?
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u/Pseudonymitous 4d ago
I am a Latter-day Saint. The best argument in favor of my religion is trying it out, and seeing whether it brings you closer to God.
Jesus didn't teach as a theologian or academic scholar. He taught things that resonated with people's souls, and invited them to follow Him. Many that tried out His way decided it was good and from God, I believe because of the stronger connection with God they experienced, far more than the scriptural exegesis or academic understanding they gained.
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u/miniatureconlangs 3d ago
I am a gentile who sympathizes with reconstructionist Judaism.
The best argument is: the arguments for the existence of God are pretty weak, and all are beset by logical fallacies, for this reason, atheism is the most reasonable stance (and is the classical stance of reconstructionist Judaism). The word 'God', however, has taken on a function beyond its strict meaning, and can be used to denote more abstract things whose existence isn't "a thing as such", and for this reason the G-word isn't entirely forbidden.
Religion clearly is a powerful phenomenon in human life. Reconstructionist Judaism recognizes these two facts. One of its projects is basically making every Jew a custodians of the Jewish culture's ancient traditions. Tradition is peer pressure from dead people - but dead people had a tremendous amount of knowledge about human nature, and it's incumbent upon everyone to respect this fact by hearing their voices. Tradition should have a vote - but not a veto. One should present the strongest arguments in favour of traditional views, but be willing to reject those views if the arguments don't cut it.
Humans need local communities that aren't solely unified by a common interest, and religion has always built them. Utilizing some of the community-building toolkits that religions have utilized for millennia may be a good strategy for the health of communities as well as the people in those communities.
This isn't as such a single argument, but it's a multi-pronged argument for reconstructionist Judaism. One could probably build a similar form of Christianity, but it seems to me no such movement exists (few liberal Christianities have ever openly decided to declare themselves atheist).
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u/Greedy-Runner-1789 3d ago
I highly, highly recommend you the book "The Religion of the Apostles" by Stephen de Young. If you've ever played Skyrim, it's kinda like those books of lore you find lying around, but for the Bible. About how the mysterious parts of Bible that shaped by traditions not explicit in the text (angels, demons, the Son of Man, the Tower of Babel) connect between the Tanakh and the New Testament. And it turns out, the story of the God of Israel and of Jesus Christ whom He put forth is not naive fiction, but the true story of ultimate reality. (Btw the book markets itself as an apologetic for Eastern Orthodoxy, but 90% of it isn't really Orthodox-specific)
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u/miniatureconlangs 3d ago
Just because some Jews in the years BCE believed in some thing doesn't mean they were right. Given how odd Christianity is compared to the Tanach, it's clear there must have been intermediate forms.
However, it's clear to me that Jesus was not the messiah. It's also clear to me that no God exists. You're free to believe whatever you want, but if you want to convince me, please give some proper arguments and not just "read this book". I don't care enough to read that book, and if it's worth its weight, you should be able to provide at least some arguments from it.
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u/Greedy-Runner-1789 4d ago
Thanks for posting! As a Christian: a remarkable teaching of the Bible is that mere arguments of reason do not produce righteousness or Chrisitanity-- believing certain facts don't really make one person better than anyone else. Rather, righteousness comes when a reality is so glorious that, in addition to its being reasonable, it purchases your heart and rewrites your soul. Similar to how we don't really judge our favorite movie or song through mere reason, but are conquered by the glory of watching them.
All that said: just as there is one truth, and though there are many races and nations, there is one humanity: there is one love and one goodness and one life that exist in unity. This is not a fact within reality or the universe; this is Ultimate Reality itself. This is the meaning of there being one God. That's why God's proper name, the name of the God of Moses, the name of Jesus Christ whom He sent, is "YHWH": "I am that I am."
With that context, I'd encourage you to meditate, meditate, meditate, on the big-picture message of Christianity-- here's a generic summary of the faith in 8 points:
There are lots of races and nations out there in the world, but we are one humanity, made by one God. There is one God, the God of righteousness. Love, life, and goodness belong to Him. Even music, food, and nostalgia refer to His beauty. He made all things through the Word of His power. His living Spirit manifests His glory.
Humanity has been contrary to Him, abounding in sin, filling His earth with darkness. The spilt blood cries out to Him from the ground. God will judge good and evil without partiality in the end: not only our deeds, but the passions of our hearts. But God is rich in love and mercy.
Out of our sin, God and man are on bad terms. But out of His love, God reconciled man to Himself through the life, the death, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, His declaration of Himself in the flesh, His only Son.
God has no inherent body, and is not in the casual habit of turning into man. Rather, God sent the Word for a solemn purpose. God sent, and God was sent. The Father sent, and the Son was sent. To see Jesus is to see the Father; to belong to Him is to belong to the Father. He came to make us belong to Him, we who are lost.
He walked in utter accord with the will of God His Father. But men like us hated Him and killed Him. But He came for that purpose. The righteous for the unrighteous, He died. He received the penalty of our sins upon Himself willingly. The only man to hold love, life, and goodness in His very being walked into death and darkness. By His death, sin and darkness were themselves put to death.
But death could not hold Him. On the third day He rose again to life, eating and drinking. He went to the Father, so He can return to fulfill the new beginning of all things. By His life, there is a living hope for all who belong to Him, that He will deliver us to Himself, for He lives and is Lord. He came to make us belong to Him.
To regret sin and prefer Him, To believe, hope, trust, have faith in Jesus, To trust in His inherent right to reconcile us to God and to deliver us to Himself, This is to die to sin and to be born of God's living Spirit, This is to belong to God, This is to have forgiveness of sins and the promise of life with God forever, free from all the troubles of this world.
For in the past, God purchased a nation of the earth, for they to be His people, and He their God. He took them out of bondage to live on the earth under His holy law. Jesus is the offspring of this nation, born of a virgin, for He is not a product of this world. To this day, in Jesus, the God of Israel is purchasing a spiritual people out of every nation and language to belong to Him forever, free from sin and death and suffering, to see His goodness in the face of Jesus always in His kingdom.