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Came across article linked below, I happen to believe the author is spot on, as someone that spent much of his lifetime redefining what to believe and how to practice my faith which has been at odds with the Church I was born into I eventually came to the same conclusions as this author, I do like the clarity in which he spells it all out. I usually just say that the older I get I tend to see more in shades of grey than in black and white
I think that his intentions are laudable, but I don't see how simply "introducing people to Jesus" means anything if you don't have any particular opinion or belief about who Jesus is. An historical figure? A Biblical figure? A mere idea or principle? Doing literal or figurative miracles? Saving you from what? Hell? Yourself? Helping you how? Is he or is he not divine? Sinless? Why do those things matter?
You can't "introduce people to Jesus" without taking some sort of position about who / what Jesus is and how that is relevant to real people in the here and now. In the process of doing that you will have a doctrine, a belief-system, and a moral code. While I grant you that being less uptight and inflexible and hung up on minutiae and less fear-based helps, at the end of the day you are still talking about believing some version of an unfalsifiable and therefore unprovable idea. Therefore this guy's idea is as good (or inadequate) as anyone else's.
I only have a couple of issues with these 7 points and they follow below:
Unfortunately, many Christians stop taking risks. They stop telling people about God. They get sidetracked by fame, fortune, power, influence, and success. They get caught up with life and distractions — and excuses.
Christianity isn’t about conformity, or defeating other religions, or squashing differing beliefs, or forcing people to adhere to our spiritual preferences — it’s about introducing others to God.
The issue I have hear is that unless you were born blind, deaf, dumb, and under a rock, you WILL have heard of Jesus and God before you even reach kindergarten. At least, that is true if you were born in America. You can't escape it. By the time people are even old enough to understand the proselytizing, most of them have already made up their minds about God.
And I know I for one am tired of people approaching me with dopey smiles and a fist full of literature and exclaiming, "Have you heard the good news?!?"
"Why, yes I have - 15 minutes can save me 15% or more on my car insurance."
I guess I can thank Geico for that, at any rate.
And then there's this:
Christianity is as diverse as the people that represent it. There are countless denominations, churches, and communities that each practice different traditions, belief different doctrines, hold to various theologies, and live out their faith in numerous ways.
Countless denominations, churches, and communities that practice different traditions? Prove it! Back it up with facts! I want to see a list of every single one of those "countless" denominations. Otherwise, he's just making an assumption unsupported by facts. It's just a big lie and I'm not surprised that this guy fell for it. Where's my list, dammit!?!?
It's in California. Where you can proclaim any bizarre belief as eternal truth, walk the beach handing out leaflets and find someone who says, "My cousin is into that."
Countless denominations, churches, and communities that practice different traditions? Prove it! Back it up with facts! I want to see a list of every single one of those "countless" denominations. Otherwise, he's just making an assumption unsupported by facts. It's just a big lie and I'm not surprised that this guy fell for it. Where's my list, dammit!?!?
Shirina, I have been asked by the Atheist Department of Misinformation to go under deep cover and cause more church splits in order to give birth to more denominations. Also I am tasked with creating a database to keep track of them. A hierarchical database, of course :-)
We will have to kill a couple of forests to print the list out when we are done, but it will be worth it.
1. Be still regularly
2. Fast sometimes
3. Both of the above would be until you know the Father as Jesus did (Because this
is about Christianity, that's why I say that.)
Came across article linked below, I happen to believe the author is spot on, as someone that spent much of his lifetime redefining what to believe and how to practice my faith which has been at odds with the Church I was born into I eventually came to the same conclusions as this author, I do like the clarity in which he spells it all out. I usually just say that the older I get I tend to see more in shades of grey than in black and white
I think it's interesting that none of these can't still be done. As in, they aren't about the dogma, or the actual system Christianity is set up, but something a good church could practice if they were aware of the problem.
Yeah, it would be nice if fundamentalist Christians adopted those suggestions, but sadly, I don't think it's gonna happen.
See? To do so, for them. would mean having to dispense with many of their groundless and superstitious beliefs.
Asking them to "ask more questions" (like: how is it possible for the Earth to be only 6000 yrs. old when many, many different forms of dating techniques repeatedly and universally say otherwise) would mean that much of their dogma would disappear. And for them to admit the bible is not the inerrant word of God but rather a collection of allegory and poetry and symbolism written in a haphazard, piecemeal format by dozens of authors over hundreds of years would transform them into thinking like rational, objective people. Thus not like, well, narrow-minded and obtuse fundies.
So: for Christianity to adhere to the suggested changes in the OP would be a sort of self-denying and self-cancelling exercise in futility. It would be sort of like asking scientists to "not worry so much about rigorous testing and empirical methodology but rather to embrace the paranormal and the possible merits of believing in the supernatural."
1. Be still regularly
2. Fast sometimes
3. Both of the above would be until you know the Father as Jesus did (Because this
is about Christianity, that's why I say that.)
Then with a *
* Everything else will follow naturally.
I actually like that list. Most of my most introspective moments have been alone and not bothered by distractions. I get annoyed when I can't get that time.
And fasting is interesting just because it alters your brain chemistry so much. Food is really more of a mind alterer than people notice.
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