Why do people reject God's gift of salvation? Why would they not want to give their life to God in repentance and faith, EDIT: (even when they think Christianity made sense and that they understood it)? I have a theory of 3 reasons.

1. They believe that they are soooooo bad, that they don't think even God can forgive them for what they have done. And they just reject it because they think they will go to hell anyways.

2. They love their sin so much, that they are rather live in their sin than to leave it and surrender to God. They know that if they become a Christian, they would change and would not do what they love.

3. They reject it because of their pride. They are soo prideful of their own goodness, that they do not think that they need God or His forgiveness. They do not want to rely on God for their salvation and though shown to them that they are not good enough to get to heaven, they still would want to do it on their own.

Thoughts?

play4fun : I completely agree with you. I especially agree on point 2 because people don't want to be held accountable for they're actions and want to keep on sinning so they just tell themselves that God is a fairytale to make themselves feel better. I also believe they reject God because he gives them the truth straight and they would rather hear what they wanna hear, but I guess that would fit under point 2. My own theories are that the idea of God is both too simple and too hard to understand. People cannot grasp the attributes or the methods of God with they're finite brain so they render them both contradictory and impossible and ultimately they reject him in the process. It is also too simple for them because the idea of an omnipotent deity who created the universe to give us such a simple message of love or for him to even have any concern for us to begin with is thought of as absurd and so God is rejected. Stephen Hawkings himself said that the human race and earth are too small and consequential for God to be concerned with Note: That is not an exact quote just a summarized version of it. Good thread.

A lot of people don't believe in God because they don't want to. I don't want to believe in Obama because I don't want to but you got media shoving it down our throats saying how perfect he is and how everyone should worship him.

I would never give my body to an entity I don't know even exists it shows you are weak and easily controlled. Just like I would never give my credit card to someone I don't know.

Theres always a general public perspective on things. THAT alone that is the poison to society it is why the world is in such a great mess. People deceive to get from point A to point B, in the end the only thing that matters is your own self not what other people think or what other people tell you. If you follow the lead of the general public population then you are probably well deceived and will believe anything that the source tells you.

Media is deceptive and have their own agendas. One person might watch Fox not knowing it has a republican agenda and they will then believe in who to vote for, what to eat, what to do to avoid cancer and people will do it. This is why I don't follow religion, media is the devils tool truth can only be found when you dig it up for yourself.

JigSaw : Not to sound offensive, but your reasons fit perfectly under number 3. You're holding onto pride and believe that by becoming a Christian, you wouldn't be able to look at yourself and see someone as good as you think you are now... or at least that's what I'm reading from it.
I've also seen a fourth one:
4. People are afraid to trust something they don't understand.

JigSaw : Actually, it sounded more like you were dissing the media more than talking about religion.
Yeah, I think all of the 3 and plus bigNATE's fourth reason pretty much sums it up.

I wouldn't mind adding a 5th to the list.... although I'm not sure if it applies totally.

5. The Gospel is not properly explained to the person and they reject it because they don't understand it's importance.

Like I said. Not sure if this really qualifies as another example... but I personally see this as a problem on the Christian side of things. There are many Christians who aren't well versed in their own religion and when they attempt to explain it they do a terrible job.

or how about option 6?
6. people don't believe in it because they don't think it makes sense or because they see faults in the religion. i mean just because u don't believe in it doesn't mean u think u r bad, or that you like doing bad, or that you have too much pride. it just means u think differently about something.

Well the theory here is from a Christian perspective, so if you don't believe it that's fine. But the perspective of #2 is that if your not turning from your sin and turning to God, then you do like doing bad.

For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God. -John 3:20, 21.

Having a theory is all well and good, but there are plenty of people that dont even think of those three things at all.
In fact I would think that those three starter "options" are pretty much bottom of the barrel reasons that no one really uses.
There are alot of options, as others have listed, as well as many more like only beleiving in things they can see, or being turned off a particular religion because of the way it's members act for example.
Things are not as black and white as people make them out to be.

Now to some people this thread might seem more like christians bashing non christians as it looks like individuals are saying that the only reason people dont accept god is that they are ashamed of themselvs, are bad people or they have too much pride and think they are the greatest thing that ever was rather then this being a full discussion about why people dont want to believe.

If the attitude of this thread doesnt change or I get any more complaints (because I have) I will have to close it for flaming others.

tRIUNE : that's not correct, that theory is from a small group of Christians' perspectives. There are a lot of Christians who don't think that of others who don't believe in god, and wouldn't even imagine to think that.

Well the intent of this thread was never to bash anyone, it was meant as an evangelical outreach. The majority of Christians including myself don't think of themselves as being on a higher plain than others. We all sin no matter who you are. Perhaps this thread can be taken with a grain of salt. Salt is a preservative, but it also stings when applied to an open wound.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. -Romans 3:23, 24

metal572 : yours would fit with the 4th one that I presented. It doesn't make sense to them, and they aren't willing to accept it because they don't understand.
DarkHyren : The bottom of the barrel? Not liking it due to the members is a part of misunderstanding as geeo said, as that typically stems from not realizing we're not gonna be perfect. Although I guess we could call it a sixth. Not believing in things they can't see is like not believing because they don't understand.

Also, what kind of complaints are you getting? I see nothing wrong with the attitude of the thread... it's a simple discussion about reasons people don't want to believe, and if someone would pick up on it, could easily transform into a healthy conversation of how to present the gospel to those people.

DarkHyren : See, I think the reason people don't think of those three reasons is because this is from a Christian perspective, so even if they don't think they're something, it doesn't mean they're not. Like say, option 2. Some people might say they aren't doing anything wrong, and so they're not loving sin or something like that. But see, they don't even consider what they do as sin. They think it's absolutely fine. But to us Christians, some of the things they can be doing is sin. So, it's not like we're bashing them. We as Christians can also make mistakes. It's only if you enjoy it that makes it different.
If they're complaining to you, then I think they should be a little more open-minded. You don't seem to have that much of a problem with this thread though... am I right?

bigNATE : I said the first three are bottom of the barrel generalisations, meaning that I think hardly anyone thinks the first three things about themselves.
Others may think that of other people, but I think hardly anyone thinks those things of themselves.
And not liking a religion due to the members in it isnt always about "misunderstanding" the members, sometimes the members of a religion are just up themeselves jackasses, which is sometimes enough to put someone off.
And not believing in things you cant see doesnt mean you cant understand, it just means you are logical minded and need solid proof rather then just hearsay.
The same with things that dont make sense.

On the other matter, I already said the type of complaint, if you cant see the issue then I dont know if any amount of explaining will help.
Theorise as much as you want, but if people actually want to know "Why do people reject God's gift of salvation?" then they should ask those people instead instead of making general asumptions that casts them in the worst posible light.

DarkHyren : Have you considered the fact that these reasons could have been obtained through talking to non-Christians?
...your comment about not believing in the unseen being logical minded makes no sense, seeing as without God, beliefs held about the universe's origins are rather illogical themselves.

As mdynasty says, these aren't bottom-of-the-barrel reasons, non-Christians just don't realize that those actually are their reasons until they give the reasons up.

I just don't understand what these people are complaining about. Nobody is being rude, no one's flaming or bashing anyone. You're always telling us to be more open-minded, why not tell these people the same?

Hey everyone, I'm actually focusing the assumption that they do understand the gospel, makes sense to them, and yet still reject it.

bigNATE : says "Have you considered the fact that these reasons could have been obtained through talking to non-Christians?"
Well that's the thing, it's your take on things vs what the person actually thinks.
Just saying "after talking to you, this is what you think" is judging and putting words in their mouths, it isnt actually asking them what their reasons are.

"your comment about not believing in the unseen being logical minded makes no sense, seeing as without God, beliefs held about the universe's origins are rather illogical themselves"
That's one opinion, but to someone that doesnt believe in what you do it is not an absolute fact.
You do not know for certain what the truth is, you wont likely know what the truth is until you die.
And even then that's only assuming that there is an afterlife.
But that is for another thread.

"these aren't bottom-of-the-barrel reasons, non-Christians just don't realize that those actually are their reasons until they give the reasons up"
As I said, that is an opinion and is putting words in peoples mouths, telling them what they do and dont think, what they are and are not allowed to think.
So much for free will then. Just because it looks like that to you doesnt mean it's a fact.

play4fun : lol, thanks for clearing that up.

play4fun : in other words none of this applies to anyone other then christians that have lost their faith, it doesnt apply to athiests or any other religion, is that what you are saying?
That's what it looks like you are saying now, in which case you should have been more clear to begin with
Please be absolutely clear in these things from now on.

DarkHyren : Well, no. It applies to those who have heard the gospel, understand it, thinks it makes sense and still reject it. It does not have to be a specific group, for there are people who are in different religions who actually understand it, but they just won't give up what they have already.

Sorry, as I was looking at what other people were adding on to the list, I realized I did not put in that qualification.

But now that I think of it, I myself might add one more to the list. They might reject it because, for those who are already in a different religion, won't give it up even though Christianity made sense to them because they see religion as a culture thing, and that if they leave, they view it as leaving their family culture