Exactly … when you rebuke a brother who is sinning then certainly you will be held to that standard … if you don’t want people to see your sins, then don’t call them in your brother …
I’m a Christian and I’ve known a great many Christians who are not full of hate. The hateful ones tend to be louder and get media exposure. The loving ones are among the meek who will inherit the earth. Of course, YMMV.
What? No, they’re not saying that some lives matter, but yours doesn’t; they’re explicitly saying that all lives matter. It’s, like, the opposite of what you’re saying.
This is more of a problem with letting others tell us what to believe … a danger of organized religion …
[giggle] … Facebook doesn’t claim to be a Christian Church …
I’m asking if this isn’t some manner of confirmation bias … someone posts anti-Islamic messages in the name of God, then it’s likely they will also be professing their own brand of Christian belief in their notes …
Someone preaching peace with Muslims may or may not also post their brand of Christianity …
This is the only only place on the internet I make any claim to being a Christian … because there’s a far better quality of people here … otherwise it’s just wasted electrons posting on Yahoo or Facebook, God knows what I go through just down at the local gay bar … so I keeps my mouths shutted …
+1
Members of monotheistic religions believe that there is one source of “right”, and that they have a line into what it is. Further many of them see their allegiance to this one source of “right” as a validation for themselves and their way of life.
This applies regardless of how much they actually pay attention to the teachings of their deity, and also regardless of whether or not the people claiming to speak for the deity are twisting the agenda.
When you believe your beliefs have the force of god behind them, you don’t have to be polite about it or consider the other side. You’re right, which means that people who disagree with you are wrong. Period.
Further, the tribal tendencies of humanity also run counter to the more inclusive message of Christ - sure he saves everyone who deserves it, but you know who is a member of your church and who isn’t, and you know who is on your side and who isn’t. People who aren’t “in” are out, and people who oppose you are opposing god and thus are sinners, evil, perhaps literal demons. And as evil people and demons they can be treated thusly - ever played Wolfenstein or Doom?
Of course it should be noted that it’s not that religion makes people hateful - it makes them confident in their beliefs. If their beliefs are that everybody should be treated nice, then that’s excellent. If their beliefs are that everybody should be treated nice except sinners, that’s not so nice if you happen to be (in their eyes) a sinner. And if their beliefs are that women should be servants, blacks should be slaves, and liberals should be shot, that’s really quite unfun.
anyone who can see that your words and conduct are almost universally contrary to Christ’s teachings. you know, the people who love to preface things with “I’m a good Christian” but when pressed about their knowledge of the Bible, they only remember a few verses from Leviticus.
I am of the opinion that every single person out there is doing something wrong. I’m reasonably certain I can demonstrate so for each specific case if needed.
You’re all fired.
There are no Christians anymore.
If I don’t understand or am mistaken, I’m sorry, but, FloatyGimpy, are you saying that all Christians are hateful?
I just finished reading The River Why again (fantastic read, by the way). In the book, the protagonist transforms from a “meh, whatever” attitude about religion to developing a real spiritual relationship with God. I’m not much of a believer myself, but the process he went through and his ultimate outlook is a pretty good sell on the idea.
I only bring this up because I can totally see someone having a legit religious experience and in their excitement they want to share what they’re feeling and show others how to get there. They write a big ‘How To’ manual, set up weekly meetings etc. And it doesn’t work because that’s not how they got ‘there.’ Meanwhile, less scrupulous people grab hold of the program and use it to get people to parrot their own views on Life, The Universe, and Everything which does not lead anyone down the path to the religious experience, but maybe some of them feel like they are and, ironically, they don’t look much further. All that to say, I don’t know that anyone who truly values Mr. Jesus and groks what he was about would need to call themselves “Christian” because their beliefs and composure would come from someplace that defies labels and description.
As for the OP, I think a lot of people go to church because they think they should go, and say they feel something because they think they should feel something, but in reality they end up just doing what they’re told by the authority figure and their particular mob. Maybe that works out to a bunch of people who behave nicely, or maybe it works out to a bunch of dickheads. Meanwhile, the ones who truly ‘get it’ are at peace and just don’t feel the need to sell it–as a result, you can’t identify them.
It’s really, really simple. These people are not Christians. They have created a made-up cult that is more of a status symbol and political dogma than a religion; they have managed to brand this as Christianity, and in doing so they pulled off one of the most horrible frauds ever perpetrated. There is no population in America that’s more hypocritical and “do as I say, not as I do” when it comes to marital infidelity, alcohol and drug use, homosexuality (which isn’t itself inherently bad, but they condemn it while practicing it on the sly), gambling (not skill-based competitive games but horrible rigged casinos and lotteries that do nothing but suck money out of peoples’ pockets), and all the other things that they’ve all convinced themselves that THEY, as individual people, are forgiven for by God, but everyone ELSE is doomed.
This is total insanity, and it is not Christianity.
I’m not FloatyGimpy, but FWIW I didn’t get the impression that the OP was claiming any such thing.
If you get to declare who’s not a christian, then so do I. And you’re all fired; there’s no christians at all, anywhere. Discussion over.
The sad truth is that in actuality there’s no official authority-derived definition or criteria for who’s a christian, and there’s nobody on earth besides me with the authority to declare what such a definition might be. So, no, you can’t No True Scotsman the problematic people away. Sad fact.
Plenty of heterosexual Christians condemn homosexuality, and aren’t closeted gays.
Well said.
I don’t know why the OP is singling out Christians. Every religion thinks they know the truth, and anyone not of the same belief is an outsider, and as stated, outsiders are not to be interacted-with, trusted, or accepted. It’s not a long shot from mistrust to rounding people up and shipping them off in trains to the death camps.
I would prefer a world ruled by secularism where religion is a personal thing, like what brand of deodorant you use. Instead we have the opposite. However, people want to believe in things. And when people start believing, they stop thinking.
In my opinion, “Christian” is following the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament, and believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and was sacrificed for the sins of mankind as an expression of God’s love and mercy, being a living part of that entity. The nature of the Trinity is interpreted many ways, but “being mean and hateful and judgmental to other people” is in no way a valid interpretation of it, or any of the teachings of Christianity.
It’s also entirely possibly to exemplify these principles without being Christian.
Well, that’s a start.
Nobody’s going to tell you that everyone claiming the label “christian” is a good christian. We’re just going to be unimpressed with the argument “all christians are awesome because all counterexamples will be excluded from the discussion.”
Perhaps a more constructive way to view the discussion would be how people are able to become such bad christians without seeing any conflict with the ‘christian’ label.
No, I do not think all Christians are hateful.
What I’m saying is when I read nasty, hate-filled comments in news stories, or places like facebook, and then take a look at the commenters profile, there is, almost always, the hate-filled stuff sitting along beside lots of god/jesus stuff.
And what I’m wondering is why that is. I mean I can read a comment and pretty much know what that person’s profile will be. Lots of glurgy “god is love” bullshit and then lots of 2nd amendment stuff and how they’re tryna take ma guns! There will be lots of MAGA! and pro Trump stuff and anti-immigration stuff. Things about black crime etc…
I’m singling out Christianity because that’s what I’m wondering about. I’ve never been Muslim or Jewish or Buddhist or Sikh so this thread isn’t about the jerks and haters in those religions.
What impression did the thread title leave you with?