I suppose many objections to Christianity and the existence of God are more fear-of-what-it-might-be, rather than fear-of-what-it-is. One of those is the common objection that religion becomes a kind of straightjacket, confining and restricting you.
This is particularly so because today many believe that truth is mostly a personal belief. Truth is the world as I see it and as I experience it. I live my truth. Any religion which tells me I am wrong, or condemns my actions as sinful is trying to control or restrict my freedom to live my truth.
More than that, Christianity claims to be the only way to God, and regards other religions as wrong. What some people call their “lifestyle” or “orientation”, Christianity calls sin.
To make matters worse, many of those who call themselves Christians live by double-standards, practising the things they condemn and failing to do the things they preach. Many non-Christians seem to live better lives than some Christians.
But what if the world is not a blank slate upon which I write my own life story? What if reality not only has physical laws like gravity, but moral laws, like “honour your Creator” or “don’t harm your neighbour”? If that is the case, then we should drop the term “my truth”. After all, no one speaks about “my truth” when jumping out of an aeroplane. Everyone believes the law of gravity is true for everyone on the plane, and everyone consequently has a parachute. If that’s true, we shouldn’t speak about “my truth” when it comes to sexuality, or religion, or ethics. We should instead try to discover the moral laws of the universe, and try to conform to them (if possible).
Christianity makes the claim that it knows those moral laws. Therefore Christians who teach them and preach them are not seeking to be tyrannical and restrictive, anymore than the skydiving instructor who insists you put a parachute on. The parachute is restrictive only in the sense that it prevents you from skydiving all the way to the ground. But its restrictiveness is precisely what gives you the true freedom to skydive without fear for several minutes. This is what Christianity believes its commands and practices provide: necessary restrictions that give you true freedom in God’s world.
What about the Christians who appear to be hypocrites? Fakes, phoneys and inconsistent people are not unique to Christianity, nor does it have the monopoly on them. Double-standards are a human thing, not a Christian thing. The real question is whether Christianity does sometimes produce unusually loving, merciful, wise, and virtuous people. If so, perhaps there is something to the idea that God has given the world moral laws which, if obeyed, produce a beautiful life.
Christianity believes its truths are as real and universally binding as the law of gravity. That’s why it calls on others to embrace Christ, and live by His Word.
You may believe Christians are mistaken in their beliefs. But you should not assume that Christians evangelise and preach out of arrogance, superiority, or a desire to control you. It is quite the opposite. It is the religious version of wanting you to survive a plane crash, and giving you the parachute.