I know, I know....religion and type is a topic that has already been done to death and talked about time and time again.
I also know that there's no clear, direct connection between type and religion. Religion is a personal choice, type is inborn. There are Christian NT's and atheist ISFJ's. Anyone of any type can choose any religion, and people even change religions throughout the course of their lives. There are so many other factors that affect someone's religion other than type, and so much depends on culture, environment and background.
All of that being said, however, I disagree with the notion that there is absolutely no correlation between someone's type and what religion they choose. I haven't seen any formal study, but I'm honestly willing to bet that a greater percentage of ISFJ's are Christian than at least some other types, particularly NT's, or even just N's or P's in general (at least in Western cultures). I have noticed a number of the ISFJ's on PerC are Christians, though we often don't bring it up or speak about it much.
And I think that's because a lot of the teachings of Christianity fit in line with the natural preferences of ISFJ's. I'm not saying that ISFJ's aren't any less prone to sin than any other type, or that ISFJ's don't have desires of the flesh, or that ISFJ's are in any way special. But what I am saying is that the idea of Christianity is probably appealing to ISFJ's in a number of ways.
The first is that in general ISFJ's enjoy pleasing others, particularly those in authority. We in general don't like to stray too much from the path. The idea of serving a God, particularly one who loves us and appreciates everything we do, is an idea that is very fulfilling to us.
The second is the idea of service in general. Christianity is a religion that has a large focus on not only serving God, but also serving others. Many teachings of Jesus support this idea, as do many of Paul. Even if this is hard for us to do a lot of times, it's something we honestly feel obligated to do, and we get a natural fulfillment out of it.
Finally, I think the structure of religion in general, particularly Christianity, gives us comfort. It's very nice to be able to go to a book like the Bible and be able to use it for guidance in our lives. It's nice to have one place to look to
I'm not trying to use type as an excuse for any kind of behavior. But I think that many other people, often of other types, detest this kind of behavior in us. They have a problem with us relying on a source other than ourselves. They view it as mindless, sheeplike and weak.
Of course, as ISFJ's (and Christians) need to learn not to care too much about what others think. It's a balance that we have to strive to find...to listen to others to get input from them, but not to let them control our decisions and choices. The other thing that I think is really nice about Christianity is that really, most of the time when people outside of it have a problem with it, they have a problem with God much more than they do us. There are a few Bible verses that point to this but I don't have the time to look them up now. Sometimes I think we take others' criticisms of God personally, and we forget that God has already said that some people will hate Him.
At the same time, I've also felt that it's important for us to be confident in our own abilities and thoughts...I don't think there's anything in Christianity that teaches against that. There is a big difference between pride and confidence. I think one can still be dependent upon God and still use their own mind to think and solve problems.
Anyway....I'm not meaning to say all ISFJ's are the same and I'm not trying to single out any ISFJ's that are not Christians...for all I know, maybe Christian ISFJ's are in the minority of the ISFJ's on PerC. As I've said, type doesn't dictate anything and is no excuse for anyone to be one way or another about anything.
But I honestly don't think it's purely coincidence. So I just felt like getting these thoughts out, particularly because since religion and type has already been done to death, it's almost felt like an "elephant in the room" that no one on our forum has brought up yet.
I also know that there's no clear, direct connection between type and religion. Religion is a personal choice, type is inborn. There are Christian NT's and atheist ISFJ's. Anyone of any type can choose any religion, and people even change religions throughout the course of their lives. There are so many other factors that affect someone's religion other than type, and so much depends on culture, environment and background.
All of that being said, however, I disagree with the notion that there is absolutely no correlation between someone's type and what religion they choose. I haven't seen any formal study, but I'm honestly willing to bet that a greater percentage of ISFJ's are Christian than at least some other types, particularly NT's, or even just N's or P's in general (at least in Western cultures). I have noticed a number of the ISFJ's on PerC are Christians, though we often don't bring it up or speak about it much.
And I think that's because a lot of the teachings of Christianity fit in line with the natural preferences of ISFJ's. I'm not saying that ISFJ's aren't any less prone to sin than any other type, or that ISFJ's don't have desires of the flesh, or that ISFJ's are in any way special. But what I am saying is that the idea of Christianity is probably appealing to ISFJ's in a number of ways.
The first is that in general ISFJ's enjoy pleasing others, particularly those in authority. We in general don't like to stray too much from the path. The idea of serving a God, particularly one who loves us and appreciates everything we do, is an idea that is very fulfilling to us.
The second is the idea of service in general. Christianity is a religion that has a large focus on not only serving God, but also serving others. Many teachings of Jesus support this idea, as do many of Paul. Even if this is hard for us to do a lot of times, it's something we honestly feel obligated to do, and we get a natural fulfillment out of it.
Finally, I think the structure of religion in general, particularly Christianity, gives us comfort. It's very nice to be able to go to a book like the Bible and be able to use it for guidance in our lives. It's nice to have one place to look to
I'm not trying to use type as an excuse for any kind of behavior. But I think that many other people, often of other types, detest this kind of behavior in us. They have a problem with us relying on a source other than ourselves. They view it as mindless, sheeplike and weak.
Of course, as ISFJ's (and Christians) need to learn not to care too much about what others think. It's a balance that we have to strive to find...to listen to others to get input from them, but not to let them control our decisions and choices. The other thing that I think is really nice about Christianity is that really, most of the time when people outside of it have a problem with it, they have a problem with God much more than they do us. There are a few Bible verses that point to this but I don't have the time to look them up now. Sometimes I think we take others' criticisms of God personally, and we forget that God has already said that some people will hate Him.
At the same time, I've also felt that it's important for us to be confident in our own abilities and thoughts...I don't think there's anything in Christianity that teaches against that. There is a big difference between pride and confidence. I think one can still be dependent upon God and still use their own mind to think and solve problems.
Anyway....I'm not meaning to say all ISFJ's are the same and I'm not trying to single out any ISFJ's that are not Christians...for all I know, maybe Christian ISFJ's are in the minority of the ISFJ's on PerC. As I've said, type doesn't dictate anything and is no excuse for anyone to be one way or another about anything.
But I honestly don't think it's purely coincidence. So I just felt like getting these thoughts out, particularly because since religion and type has already been done to death, it's almost felt like an "elephant in the room" that no one on our forum has brought up yet.