I’ve been given Christian tracts and literature a few times a year for pretty much as long as I can remember. But I’ve never seen anything like this for Islam. I’ve never had any Muslims try to witness to me either. But I don’t live in a big city. Do they do that in big cities? Are there Muslim equivalents to Chick Tract type stuff?
When it comes right down to it, they consider themselves Christians and they call themselves Christians, so they’re Christians. There’s not much more you can say about it.
I guess I don’t get it. Why can’t one be a non-traditional Christian and still be one?
I don’t consider “aggressive” in this context to imply threat of violence. I see no reason why it should be withdrawn.
It all depends on what you mean by “Christian.” Plenty of “traditional Christians” claim that Mormons aren’t Christians because they don’t worship the same Jesus that they do. I used to think they were just being needlessly cantankerous until I finally figured out that the problem was stemming from the fact that their criteria for what “Christian” meant was different from mine.
It seems to me that there might be a line drawn at the point at which members of the religion consider it part of their lives to try to convert others and hope to convert others.
Mainstream Hinduism, for example, is not proselytizing. Traditionally, Hindus don’t believe it’s actually even possible to “convert” to Hinduism. That movements like the Hare Krishnas do proselytize is the major differentiating characteristic between them and traditional Hinduism.
My freind is Jewish by birth but non-practicing. However his Conservative freinds & Relatives do try to get him back into the fold.
acsenray; the “Jews for Jesus” " consider themselves Jewish and they call themselves Jews", so …?
They’re not Jewish, no matter what they call themselves. They’re Christians who try to convert ethnic Jews to Protestant Christianity.
Cerowyn, I had to google Sōka Gakkai to see if it was the same sect that I was thinking about, Nichirin Shoshu. Sure enough, they have changed their name.
When I was 19 & had just moved in with my boyfriend, the building manager, who lived next door, was a Buddhist of this type. My boyfriend went next door every week & chanted with them. It was a source of much friction with us because I was happily heathen, and the manager didn’t think my boyfriend should be with me. He was very nasty to me.
I was told that they require members to proselytize on the street or whatever and there’s no exceptions.
Apparently yes. I recall reading somewhere that in recent years number of Islamic missions in sub-saharan Africa exceeded number of Christian missions, but can’t find cite at the moment.
Many people in Japan have a very negative view of Sōka Gakkai, although I’ve been told that the SGI chapters abroad are much less fervent. I suspect it’s related to the active role they take in Japanese politics.
Ah but by acsenray’s definition, they are Jewish. “When it comes right down to it, they consider themselves Christians and they call themselves Christians, so they’re Christians. There’s not much more you can say about it.” Jews for Jesus call themselves Jews. Ergo, they are Jewish, and “there’s not much more you can say about it.”. Argue with acsenray, not me.
Actually, there’s more that you can say about the Jews for Jesus. You can say that they are insincere in calling themselves Jews and their actions and doctrines show that their actual motive is to convert Jews to Protestantism. These are data points that don’t exist for Mormons.
Yes, those are the guys. They do not try to convert non-Jews, but rather they are trying to bring Reform Jews back into the fold, so to speak. I think what they usually do after an affirmative answer is invite you to participate in their Shabbos that week, or otherwise encourage you not to forget about Shabbos.
I think the problem some mainstream or traditional denominations have with the LDS church is that some of the teachings do not conform with the most basic teachings of Christianity as these mainstream Christians have always defined it. The Catholic Church, for example, accepts the Baptisms of other denominations as valid, as long as those Baptisms were done in the name of the Trinity…that is, the words “in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” must have been uttered. The LDS church’s definition of the Trinity apparently differs enough from the way it is defined by traditional Christians that the Catholic Church doesn’t consider it the “same” Trinity, hence, the Baptism can’t be considered valid, even if those words are uttered.
Whether or not it’s fair to extrapolate “Mormons aren’t Christians” from that is another issue, though.
There are several Christian denominations that reject the Nicene creed, not just LDS.
There are various evangelical denominations who reject creed, and basically any Christian group who aren’t trinitarians reject the creed. Unitarians, like mormons, don’t believe in the traditional trinity. Quakers outright reject all creeds including the Nicene creed. No one calls these groups “un-christian”
There are groups in just about every religion, and even non-religion that prostlytize. There are even protlytizing atheists. That’s life. My own christian group doesn’t prestlytize, it’s against our basic beliefs… but even we have a VERY small, almost splinter group in south american, who do. Every religion has them in some form.