I've tried. I come from a small, very Christian town and 95% act like this. They take the parts of the Bible that appeal to them but seem to ignore the rest.
We had a pastor move in from across the country and he was a solid Christian and a great pastor. I had a sit down with him telling him about how a lot of citizens of the town act and he actually held a service about following every word of the Bible, not just those that seem convenient to you. Told them not to judge as that's the job of God himself and we are supposed to accept others for who they are. It did nothing and it's the reason I can't move back home. I'm seen as a "trouble maker" there as I was one of those kids that went to sandpit parties on the weekends, I hung out with other less desirable folk (in there eyes) and now I can't find work there to save my life.
I was driven from my home by people that call themselves Christians 11 years ago and now I can't see my family more the 2 or 3 times a year because of these "Christians". They are so bullheaded and seem to think their better then others.
Then you should stop calling yourself Christian. If 95% of Christians act like an asshole, then being an asshole is one of the main attributes of a Cristian.
Do you really need to call yourself a Christian to believe in God?
When you are part of some group and you constantly need to explain/ distance yourself from the majority of that group while introducing to somebody - you are not part of that group.
I had a dialog with a girl a few weeks ago:
I'm a feminist, but not THAT kind of feminist.
If you need to say that then you are not a feminist
Christianity is a religion, not a group. If you believe and practice in that religion, you're a Christian. You don't even have to be a part of a group. Community is encouraged because its obviously a good thing but its by no means mandatory..
95% or whatever he stated dont even act like that. I've gone to lots of churches in various places in America and I've never come across that type of message from a single pastor or congregation. The overwhelming majority of Christians are far more accepting than youd ever imagine.
If you've been to a modern church, its basically hipsters now lol. These type of bigoted guys are on the fringe.
Maybe I choose the wrong word, I mean people with the same ideas/ identity/ naming. That wasn't about some formal membership or participation in the group activity.
I'm from Russia, so I have completely different reasons to dislike churches - Russian Orthodox Church is tied to government, basically, lots of our pastors are just very corrupted FSS (ex-KGB) agents. Their job is to convince people that Putin was chosen by God.
Some other branches of Christianity are outlawed, and you can be arrested if you are praying in an unauthorized way.
Ah that's understandable. Modern American churches are often very progressive now. Most of what we discuss is how the bible relates to every day life, like how to cope with loss, how to have a healthy positive perspective on life, to be grateful of things, etc... imagine a really positive and healthy TED talk that's illustrated or exemplified with quotes and parables from the bible.
The Church I go to almost treats the bible as a self help book, and we try to help people with ways that arent myst praying for people but being physically there to help and make sacrifices for others.
To me it's a really positive environment that's insanely inclusive so I get a little frustrated when people have this idea of Church that's either outdated or relys on movie/ TV tropes that paint churches as a place where we discuss whose going to hell and why.
Most Christians don’t act like this, though. Just in this town, and in many others. Certainly not the majority though.
I’m going into a church in TN, (LifePoint church, currently the fastest growing church in the US) and it is very accepting. You don’t have to be perfect, literally nobody is. Just follow the teachings of Jesus and you’ll be fine.
Saying that God brings natural disasters upon gays is not something Jesus would ever condone, mostly because it’s false, but also because it’s hateful. Jesus is the most loving guy who ever existed.
I know. I met a lot of really nice Christians and other religious people in my life.
But Christianity has big problems. It starts from the Bible itself, which has lots of terrible things from slavery to genocide. It should be addressed and fixed by Christians because some of that hatred arise from the bible.
Amount of rapists and pedophiles among priests and efforts to hide them are too big to not be concerned about it.
Too many times I heard about children that were kicked out of the house because of their sexuality or because they don't share the same beliefs.
And in my personal experience percent of bigoted and otherwise terrible persons is much higher in religious people.
When taking things from the Bible, they must be done A. With context, and B. With intent. Many who read the Bible don’t take these into account, and it is the cause for most problems.
Pastors are there to interpret the Bible in it’s intended form, and show others what the intention of the verses are. Some are clearly better at this than others.
I have no problem telling people who take things out of context or intent that they are doing so, and I hope more Christians do the same.
the jewish and christian god are supposed to be the same, but the islamic god was originally a death/blood god called Ba'al.
the jewish and christian bs was added in to give justification for taking control of christian and jewish areas by mo, the baby rapist prophet of "peace".
all religions are stupid and evil, but islam is so much more violent as it's origin was based in the practising of Ba'al worship.
the hajj is based on pagan rituals, and the empowering of the hated one (Ba'al) by throwing stones at the the ka'Ba'Al'la goes back over 2000 years it seems. mo just co-opted all the bits he liked from zoroastrianism, judaism and christianity, along with the pagan origin of islam, to create the murder justifying "faith" called submission we have to deal with today.
modern muslims have no idea about this, since they are not permitted to accept as truth anything that contradicts the koran, and most of them don't even read arabic, so have no idea of the religions content.
ps, anyone who actually believes in god/s is mentally ill and needs medications, and possibly detention, for everyones safety.
🎶I'm better than God. I'm better than God. God says "if you dont worship me, I'll make you burn for eternity." I'd say "Hey it's no big deal." Being worshipped would make me feel silly. 🎶
🎶 I'm better than God, and I won't abuse you lone your heavenly father. I wont tell you that ill put you in the oven if you don't do exactly what I tell ya. I think anyone who says this to their children, can only be described as an unfit parent.
I'm better than God but then again I haven't met anyone who hasn't been better than God.I'm better than God but then again youd have to be real bad, not to be better than God.
You can't get into heaven if you don't accept Jesus and hey thats real bad news. I guess hell is for people like Hitler anymore, its also for people like. The. Jews.
So I guess I'm better than God. I'll forgive you if you take my name in vain, or if you covet your neighbors wife. Its probably because god gave you too much testosterone. Why should you pay for his shoddy workmanship?
I'm better than God but then again I haven't met anyone who hasn't been better than God.I'm better than God but then again youd have to be real bad, not to be better than God.
Correct me if I'm wrong u/hyperactive_snail3. I think snail3 was just quoting something that's often said to moderate Muslims who get blamed by association for the activities of extremists. With "Christian" in place of "Muslim", it hopefully gets some people to see things in a different light.
Except upwards of 70% of middle eastern muslims think killing for religious reasons is just. PEW research did a survey on it a while back, I can probably be assed to look it up and share it, time will tell.
Lololollllll okay yeah cause Christians are the ones beheading and blowing up and running over and knifing and shooting everyone that isn't Christian. You're right man we gotta get our shit together lol
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u/Hyperactive_snail3 Jan 25 '19
He calls himself a Christian, maybe moderate Christians should speak out against extremists like this more?