Freedom had been hunted round the globe; reason was considered as rebellion; and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think. But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing.
~ Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791 ~

Sunday, August 16, 2015

20 terrible reasons to be a Christadelphian

Below is a list of 20 terrible reasons to be a Christadelphian.

How many of these apply to you?


Terrible reasons to be a Christadelphian


  1. Your parents brought you up as a Christadelphian, and you believe yourself incredibly lucky to have been born into the "one true religion", despite the ridiculously unfavourable odds.
  2. You believe you are special, and that a magical super-being created the entire universe and then chose you out of the 7+ billion people on a small rocky planet near an ordinary star on the outskirts of an ordinary galaxy.
  3. You have not spent much time considering why God didn't choose the other 7+ billion people.
  4. You believe that all other religions are wrong, despite not having read any of their holy books.
  5. You laugh at absurd beliefs in other religions, but believe in a talking snake and a talking donkey.
  6. You believe that all other gods ever worshipped by people in the past and present were all man-made, but yours just happens to be totally real.
  7. You are incredibly skeptical of anything that contradicts your beliefs but will readily accept almost any evidence that favours them.
  8. You believe scientists are wrong about something (e.g. evolution, big bang), but you are not sufficiently educated to even understand the thing you believe they are wrong about. Further, you have not submitted any of your reasons or evidence to any peer-reviewed scientific journal, and instead preach to other people who are similarly insufficiently educated to properly critique your claims.
  9. You think your lack of understanding of something means that the only explanation is God.
  10. You think claiming that God is the explanation for something, actually explains it.
  11. You think the Christadelphian view is the only valid way to interpret the Bible, but never seek to understand why so many other people hold a different view.
  12. You believe God creates (or is responsible for) natural disasters and even though those disasters kill millions of people each year, you still think he is all-loving.
  13. You believe that for God to prevent the deaths of millions of children each year would violate people's free will, yet you still pray for God to keep you safe and bless your food every day.
  14. You believe the Bible is the word of God because it says so.
  15. You believe Jesus rose from the dead because the Bible says so.
  16. You have already invested too much of your time and energy in pursuing this path and consider it too late to investigate alternative views now.
  17. You are afraid of missing out on "the kingdom" or eternal life.
  18. You are afraid of being punished by a vengeful God.
  19. You are afraid of being disfellowshipped.
  20. You are afraid of "losing your faith" and becoming an atheist.
Good reasons to be a Christadelphian
So the above list is a bit one-sided. What about good reasons to be a Christadelphian?

Well, if you're not already a Christadelphian, there are no good reasons to become one. Simple.

If you are a Christadelphian, here is a short list of potentially good reasons to consider remaining so:
  1. To avoid hurting loved ones.
  2. To avoid threats of violence.
  3. To avoid being socially shunned and isolated.
  4. To avoid being publicly shamed in front of your peers and family.
  5. To avoid being kicked out of home (if you're still living with your fundamentalist parents).
  6. To avoid the trauma of having to rebuild your identity and your life from scratch.
  7. To continue to get cheap labour from Christadelphian tradies, or other in-group perks.
  8. You actually really enjoy the lifestyle, regardless of the beliefs, and believe it to be worth lying for.
Did I miss any?
So obviously this is just a bit of an amusing aside from my usual articles, but I thought I'd put the question out to readers to see if you think there are any other good reasons to be a Christadelphian. I'm sure many of you could come up with more bad reasons, that's easy. Let's not try to fill the comments section with these.

But in case some of you are Christadelphians who sincerely believe I have missed some compelling reason to be a Christadelphian, please feel free to let me know - either in the comments or directly via email. You can find my email address on the "About this blog" page.