Aspies and Christianity? *Christians answers only please*

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My question concerns Christianity and how aspies react to Christianity.

I am a Christian by religious belief, and I believe that Jesus died on the Cross to pay for the sins of mankind, because God loved us so much that He wanted to create a way for us to be with Him. Sin separates us from God, however through Jesus's sacrifice, everyone has a chance to be be with God in Heaven if they repent of their sins and live according to God.

However, I find it extremely hard to understand the emotional aspect of Christianity, and I often wonder if my fellow Christian aspies feel the same way. Christians have heard and read about the Holy Ghost, which is God's love that comforts people through tough times and gives them strength/faith, and confidence in God.
However, can the aspie mind comprehend such a thing? [b]I see that a lot of Christianity is based in emotions[/b].

If you think about it, almost all of Christianity is based on emotion:

The idea of repentance, feeling regret and sorrow for one's sins and turning away from them in order to honor and please God.

The idea of faith, having an emotional trust in God that everything will be alright in the end and trusting His judgment.

The idea of forgiveness, overlooking the faults and mistakes of others who directly hurt you or indirectly annoyed you.

The idea of hope, that Jesus died so that all men might be free from sin and join God.

I see my neurotypical Christian brethren, and I see they are very emotionally and upbeat about learning about God, knowing God, and trusting in God. I often see that beforehand (when they did not know God and were not "born again"), they lead selfish lives and did sinful or mean things, but they turned around, and now they have such a strong faith and trust in God. They are so emotionally attached to God that they seek Him out constantly for support and understanding. They have been "born again", Jesus said "A man cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven unless he is born again in spirit".

I, on the other hand, have always felt emotionally dead and distant. I was raised a Christian, I believe the Christian doctrine, but the emotions that I see my fellow Christian brethren confound me. I have lived my life with honor for the most part, I did not go out and do reckless and wild things. I am kind and friendly, and I believe people should be treated with honor and respect, in the same manner I'd like to be treated with respect (Golden Rule). I am not devoid of sin, but I don't feel the emotional understanding and repulsion of sin that other Christians feel (meaning I know that sin is bad logically, but emotionally it has no repulsion or effect on me). My neurotypical Christian brethren see God in the sense of their personal and loving father, emotionally, I never felt or understood that kind of connection that they feel. It is like that they emotionally need to feel comforted and loved, whereas I have always never felt that strong of a need. I pray to God, but you know, I never feel the "Holy Spirit" or the emotional feeling that Christians often talk about. I've lived most of my life without knowing or understanding my emotions, let alone other people's emotions, and thus emotions are beyond my scope of understanding, particularly religiously. Although I am a Christian, I don't feel the emotions that other Christians do. Does this sound anything like you guys?

If you can't understand abstract language and if you are not able to feel the emotional connection to God, then you are better off following logic or whatever other tool you have that best serves you. If you are a good well behaved person, fundamentalism isn't even so bad. Find out who you are or what works the best for your highest self and follow that path.

Yes, I am very similar to what you described.

Behind the feelings lies a concrete action: You have repented, you do trust in God, and you know that Jesus died for all men. You are still loved by God and you are a Christian whether you feel like it at the moment or not.

You guys should check up on Gnosis then.
http://gnosticteachings.org/what-is-gno ... gnosticism
It is all about the core meanings.

you are christian by definition as you believe in christ and god but the rest is philosiphy.. for example I believe that there is one god but infinate of woshiping that god.

I know what you mean and there is a really good book about it called Battle Field of The Mind by Joyce Meyer. That might help and it is a really good resource.

I will look into this book. Thanks a lot

Repentance is the act of turning away from sin, faith is the act of trusting God, forgiveness is the act of not counting others' faults against them, and hope is the act of rejecting despair.

Sure, there's an emotional component that helps people do these things, but absent the emotion, you can still love, hope, forgive, etc. Given the emotion, but absent any action, it's really quite worthless.

It doesn't make sense for a reason.

?

I'm glad I'm not the only one who sometimes feels like this. I identify quite closely with AutisticMalcontent. His words reassure me that my emotional detachment from the rest of the world is not just me being weird. I have the same awareness of spirituality that I believe all Christians do, but most people I know seem to connect it with emotion more than I do. I think I use my head so much, I've forgotten how to use my heart. Or maybe my AS means that I've never known how to use my heart in the first place, in which case it's not my fault because that's just the way I am. It's like I know everything I need to, but I don't feel anything. But I'm not just talking about faith here, it's everything in my life. When I see other people's words and actions being so affected by their emotional states, it makes me feel like a robot, because I don't tend to express my emotions anywhere near as much as others.

It hadn't really occurred to me how emotional Christianity is. Repentance, faith, forgiveness, hope - I agree with Ancalagon that these are acts, rather than emotions. Thinking about it like that makes it easier for me to be repentant, to trust in God, to forgive people, etc. God's perfect love is not simply an emotion or a "feeling" as we would understand it, and it is beyond human imagination anyway, so nobody can ever fully comprehend it. Don't worry about what an aspie mind cannot comprehend, what's really important is that your soul is Christian.

Sorry to bump this thread, but I am also a "saved" ND (Non-Demoninational) Christian Aspie. I know that Jesus loves me and that we must follow his ways (So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God - 1 Corinthians 10:31) and I agree with you! There is no way I can feel the emotions of another peson (I cannot be in their own shoes). My Church Group is talking about persecution when spreading gospel to non-believers and during "prayer time", I do not pray for the other people because I am too focused on my own emotions. I am very self-focused and self-centered, but I do not believe that I am selfish; I do care for others. Glad to see there are other Aspies who love Jesus and I am looking towards this chat/prayer project.

I think that all motivations are ultimately intrinsically selfish. The desire for salvation and reconciliation with the Father, for instance, is itself a concern for self. It's a desire that arises from within us and perfectly natural.

It's only a problem if that's the ONLY motivation we have. There's a fine line between self-preservation and self-inspiration. If our motivations are Spirit-inspired, there shouldn't be any problem.

You don't sound "self-centered" to me at all. Self-concerned, maybe. Perhaps you are at a point in your spiritual life where you NEED to focus on self before you can improve or grow in other areas. Remember, you can't remove the speck from your brother's eye if there's a beam obstructing your view.

That is very true. I think that is what I struggled with the most when I did go to church. It made no sense to me.

Emotions are a poor platform on which to base a religion. The difficulty, I believe, for Aspies is that Christianity is full of abstractions. If you begin applying logical thought to Christianity, it is a distinct possibility that you will be led away from it.