Do you feel differently about Jesus than you do Christianity?
I'll answer this part first. I think most people enjoy the Jesus character if you step back and look at the general idea. He's like the cosmic Dudley Do-Right. Love thy enemy, turn the other cheek, help the poor, don't horde possessions and put too much emphasis on material things. Good messages that, if taken in proper measure and without a lot of the associated baggage, can be decent moral guidelines.
As Gandhi famously said "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ" I think that's about the best way to sum up what a lot of people feel. Jesus is a cool comic book character.
Honestly, what is it that turns you away from embracing Christianity?
Lots of really good lists here already. I'll try not to repeat and put some that are personally relevant to me:
1.
It's lies presented as truth. To some degree this might be true of all religion, but I was raised Catholic so the lies told to me were of the Christian variety. Only a Catholic or former Catholic in his mid-40s or older might understand how hard the Church, parents and other Catholics drilled in the "truth" about certain supernatural elements of the faith. The wine actually, really, physically transformed into blood during the consecration. Come on. I'm 7 years old and I know that's not true, and yet I have to sit there through CCD (Catholic religious training) and nod my head and pretend I believe it?
Right off that bat at a very young age because of things like this, I know you're lying to me. How can I trust the rest of what you say when you're insisting I believe that cracker is human flesh? The Pope actually talks to God directly? Please. Ditto the Zoo-Boat, global flood, talking bush, talking snake, giants, 800 year old men, etc. I understand not all Christians portray these things as factually true, but many do, and when I was raised in the 70's by my Catholic parents, it was all presented as TRUTH. Even the lesser lies...like hell. How the heck do you know there's a hell??? You don't! If it was presented as a possibility, that's one thing. But it's presented as truth when no one really knows, so to me that's a lie. Speaking of which:
2.
Hell. Everything about Christian hell is awful. The fact that any loving God would sentence anyone to eternal agony. The fact that parents teach their very young children about hell, and often use threats of hell as a lazy parenting technique. ("You'll go to hell if you use that kind of language!") The fact that many denominations say even good, kind people go to Hell if they don't follow Jesus. A lot of Christians go through their life in constant fear of hell...or if convinced they are avoiding it due to accepting Jesus... they at least spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about hell and who is going there. It's no way to live.
When I was growing up I was taught 1) All Jews were all going to hell regardless of how good they were unless they converted. 2) Divorced people were all going to hell...and I witnessed a priest at my parish actually tell a grade school girl her parents were going to hell because they were divorced, which sent her off screaming and crying. 3) All homosexuals were going to hell. 4) Anyone who died...even the most pious of Christians...with an unconfessed mortal sin on their record would go to hell. (drive carefully on the way to confession!
What kind of way is that to live? God is going to burn everyone he can in hell, unless they are in constant worship and live perfectly...and even then some believe you can get sent to Hell on a technicality. It's so down-with-people. It's incredibly depressing.
3.
Views on sexuality. Everything sexual is sin, dirty, not to be spoken of. Nudity is shameful, sex out of wedlock is a sin, homosexuality is a sin, masturbation is a sin, sex other than for procreation is a sin, oral sex is a sin, anal sex is a sin, boobs on TV is a sin, that skirt is too short she's a tramp, that make up is trashy she's a tramp. Everything is about shame, a woman should be ashamed if she's showing her body, you should feel shame if you masturbate, shame if you feel lust, shame if you watch pornography, shame if you have sex before you're married. The most sexually dysfunctional people I know are deeply religious people. Sex is supposed to be, IMO, one of the most wonderful, fun, fulfilling parts of life, and Christianity makes it next to impossible to feel free enough to enjoy it.
Islam probably trumps Christianity here, but Christianity is a close second when it comes to teaching it's faithful that sex is mostly a dirty, sinful business, to be enjoyed only in the most narrow and specific of circumstances.
