The Christian Dilemma, or is it just the World?

Every race has a dilemma.
Every nation has a dilemma.
Every religion has a dilemma.
Every person has a dilemma.

Well, I see a dilemma in Christianity which is rotting it from the core. Perhaps it's just a few of us, or it was started among the leaders itself. But whoever you are, you very well know of it. I'm not pointing fingers, you should be knowledgeable enough to identify yourselves and righteous enough to admit it.

Premise 1: Religion or business venture?

It's amazing how human beings can manipulate and contort anything that comes into their grasp for their own benefits. First and foremost, I'll apply a principle that religion aims to bring salvation to those which are its believers. However, those who are non-believers are not condemned to their fate of "burning in hell", but are given a second chance to be "reborn" and "saved". These principles can be derived from Christian beliefs and texts from the bible.

Within this first premise, I'll only go as far to say that there are some Christians who are turning religion into a sort of business venture. Of course, it would be utterly wrong to sentence any religion to this type of paradoxical practice, so firstly, the fault is not with the belief, but the people who act in its stead.

From what is preserved within the word of the bible, there is such an accusation as choice towards a person. This is an accusation because people are given the choice to choose which "path" they follow: "good" or "evil". The deterministic fashion of paths is contradicting to reality itself, but that is not the issue at hand. The issue: is how believers are pushing other people to convert.

How? You ask? See for yourselves. Okay, I'm not referring to all the believers. There are some which are carrying out their private sermons in a preferred fashion. However, the problem is with those who are not. Most of the steps taken to "save" a person, is perhaps becoming a game of results and numbers. Why? It seems, the important factors are being adopted from places like the Harvard Business School. Great, so now, from prudence and divine intervention, things are turning into results and advertising.

Pastors are counting numbers. Why? So that they can maintain the church and provide more powerful sermons (strength in numbers). The sickening thing is, many churches are moving from a more "pure" cause, to one that promotes the more urgent goal of increasing in numbers.

Which is better? I believe the answer is that there is no one which is to be upheld higher than the other. In my perspective, there's much more emphasis towards the evangelistic side compared to the actual growth in the image of the Lord. Where's the latter part gone?

Premise 2: We deal with others by first providing counter arguments to their beliefs, and then understanding them.

There are many things, many, many things in life, which test a Christian's faith and strength in their conviction to Christianity. Where do these things come from? From our daily lives. It's very obvious that things are identified, whether by coincidence or through public prejudice, that promote so-called "devilish" things.

The way I see it, Christian leaders are providing counter arguments to the actions of the public, and through that way are emphasizing that believers should follow more Christian actions. Is the banning of "devilish" actions really going to solve the problem of deteriorating faith? What is the good of providing counter arguments towards the general public, when the problem lies with the believers themselves?

Is it such a crime or sin to accept others, who are different, as your brothers and sisters?

What happened to, love your neighbours and your enemies? What have we learned from that commandment?

Last words:

Is this a Christian dilemma? Or is it the World? The human race, a mindful, manipulative, imaginative, creative entity, is able to function and destroy, create anything within its grasp. There is no problem with "idols" and "items" that promote the devil, but it is the inside beliefs and faith of a person that allows that to happen.

To me, it's only further discrimination towards other people, when you act so quickly to judge them on the face value, while you don't know what's actually going on inside. Isn't it a little naive to point fingers at other people when the problem is with you? Why do you insist on changing other people, when you cannot change yourself to help others in a more likely way?

Things that we make, create and think about, are lifeless and harmless; but the people that use them are the one with the power to make it so.