Holy Crap! :eek:
I think they’re wrong and God has no trouble with my being fat and lazy. 
I don’t get it.
I don’t understand the whole separate yourself from the rest of the world deal.
Fine. You are a Christian. Fine. You want to work out. Fine. You want to listen to Christian music…ever heard of head phones?
Why this need to separate from the rest of the world?
I am a Christian. I work out at a gym. If the opportunity ever arose at my gym and I thought someone was interested in hearing what I believe I would be happy to share it with them or have a discussion about it.
But I don’t think I need to go to a “Christians Only” kind of gym.
Color me confused.
“Christian-only” gym? Well, I guess you can do anything to the glory of the Lord, but I never thought that working out was particularly holy…
Very odd.
Jesus didn’t hang out with Jesus Worshipers. Jesus hung out with thieves and gum chewing prostitutes. That was the point. Save the sinners, not the saved. I am sure these people think they are doing the right thing by hanging out with their own kind, but that’s what the Jews were doing when Jesus was born and look at the ruckus that caused. However, I don’t begrudge them wanting to form their own little groups, that is perfectly normal.
'cause, ya know, I just don’t feel bad enough about myself when I’m at the gym…let’s throw religion in there, too.
Sorry, reformed Catholic here.
I can only think of pluses. If they want to buy an island and move there, I say more power to them. Kool-Aide anyone?
EXACTLY. This is slightly OT but I taught this very lesson yesterday to the class of 4th, 5th and 6th graders I have each Sunday.
We have been big lately on lessons about tolerance for ALL people and I have been driving home the point that Jesus hung out with people who were considered awful by society’s standards and if you only surround yourself with people you consider “worthy” you not only are shortchanging yourself on missing out on meeting some wonderful people but you aren’t doing what Jesus called you to do in the first place.
This whole gym thing makes it look as if these “Christians” are setting themselves on a higher plane than everybody else.
So that’s where the shirts come from…
All in all, it seems a bit too commercial to me. I was always a fan of subtlety and grace (i.e. “He is everywhere, love your neighbor”, etc.) in these matters, and I’m not finding too much of that in the article’s cited examples.
(On a lighter note, this reminds me of a WWN article I once saw that described the findings of three lost Commandments; one of them was along the lines of “keep your body fit, etc.”.)
Uh-oh. I exercise at home on my Nordic Trak. That doesn’t mean I’m unintentionally worshipping Odin and thus heading for Valhalla, does it? The Ragnarok doesn’t sound like my idea of a great way to spend my afterlife.
Are 46% of Americans really born again or evangelical Christians? Seems really high to me.
I have a friend who works out a Christian gym. It’s the place her employers negotiated a company discount from. She said there are those fish symbol things done in patterns on the tile of the entrance. She happens to be Christian, but not born again or evangelical. She doesn’t feel closer to Jesus after working out. She just feels sweaty.
All I have to say about stuff like this is that Job: A Comedy of Justice by Robert A. Heinlein should be taught in grade schools worldwide as a warning against extremes.
Drink all night, fight all day? I can think of worse ways to spend it. In a heavenly gym, for one…
featherlou, I amen your suggestion. Job, and while we are about it, Waiting for the Galactic Bus and The Snake Oil Wars (or: Scheherezade Ginsberg Strikes Again!).
I am not fat yet, just kinda pudgy, I am lazy though, and, most importantly, I chew gum. Am I going to hell?
Yeah, what’s up with banning gum-chewing? While this type of thing isn’t particularly my bag, I can understand that some people feel more comfortable around people with similar values, beliefs, etc. I’m a Christian and all, but I haven’t heard of gum-chewing being sacreligious. Weird.
I didn’t expect that of you, Homebrew. Really didn’t see that one coming.
The no gum chewing rule isn’t a Christian thing. Gum can really muck up a machine, you know.
And if anyone’s curious, those books are by Parke Godwin.
Maureen, I’m psyched! I’ve never talked to anyone who has also read those books before, and I love 'em!
I’m a Recovering Fundie. I grew up in the Pentecostal Church of God - we thought Southern Baptists and the Assemblies of God were too liberal. One of the damaging beliefs of those cults is the “separation from worldly things” idea - no movies, no skating, no baseball games. All the things that kids normally do were forbidden to us within the church. Try being a 13 year-old boy and explaining the logic of why you have to wear sweat pants instead of shorts in gym class or why you can’t go see Return of the Jedi with everyone else. How about the first-grader telling people he can’t come to their birthday party because it’s at the skating rink? I covertly watched my cousins play little league baseball from the other side of the pond in the park because “organized sports” were somehow “of the Devil”.
I lived my whole childhood afraid of demons and devils lurking around every corner waiting to entrap my tender soul. I was terrified that I’d think a wrong thought and drop straight to Hell. Led to believe that the End Times were upon us, I was burdened with guilt if I didn’t witness and try to save everyone I met everyday because tomorrow could be too late. Junior High kids don’t really appreciate an uptight moralizing evangelist in their midst. That’s why His4Ever and her ilk grate on me so much. I was one of them and I despise that part of my life.
So if more of these folk want to withdraw from society, I applaud the idea.
Sure, Homebrew, but were youfit?