Christians... (Buddhist, Mormon, religious leader, God)
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I did study the bible. And sinful thoughts are considered sinful according to the Calvinistic bible church I used to attend. And I need to make it clear that I in no way thought I was in such a fundamentalist church. I was lead to believe it was a really open-minded church for young minds. It's wasn't. The liars.
I would say it was your church then. You picked a very strict one. Calvinists are very strict. Don't let one sect through you off religion. You have many to choose from.
Are you tired of being maligned, discredited and abused?
Are you tired of seeing our faith trampled on daily and our values constantly called into question?
Are you tired of the constant attacks on the symbols and customs of our faith?
Are you tired if being tied to the Fred Phelps' and Hitler's of this world?
Are you tired of being told that your faith has no scientific basis and that man came from monkeys, swamp scum or whatever?
What do you think?
Unfortunately for you, there is absolutely nothing special about your questions/perceptions.
You can substitute any number of demographic labels for "Christian" (in your title) and have just as valid a point (Of course, the descriptors in your statements would vary).
Try being Muslim these days! I am sure the Jews would have to say a thing or two as well about how their faith is used to attack them. You can also include any race (or racial description) - Latino comes to mind.
In short, you see yourself as a victim when in reality, everybody has a similar experience pertaining to part of his/her identity - even agnostics and atheists. People will always use extremes and extrapolate negative conclusions about a population in general - you aptly named one of these extremes that gives your specific ingroup a bad name - but this experience is certainly not confined to Christians. Extremist Muslims give all Muslims a bad name. Violent Mexican drug cartels give all Mexicans a bad name - and so forth.... Each and every group could ask similar questions and have similar complaints.
I'm a skeptic though. I'm just too socially liberal and independent for any church. And the irritating part is they didn't tell me they were Calvinists until after I left the church. I found out through the grape-vine about the types of people they are. Talk about bait and switch. From casino night to Calvinism.
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Originally Posted by janelle144
I would say it was your church then. You picked a very strict one. Calvinists are very strict. Don't let one sect through you off religion. You have many to choose from.
To my knowledge, the missing link has never been found and it never will because there is no link. Species can evolve based on their environment, accident(mutations), or interference by man. There are humans that are two feet tall and humans that are eight feet tall and come in many colors and varieties. Because we all came from Adam and Eve, we must have evolved, there is no other explanation. Dogs are extremely varied due to man as one example.
The Bible does not say that God is still creating things on this earth. We have lost unknown amounts of species and yet there seems to be more and more all the time. I think God created a basic group of all species and everything has evolved from them. Tell me how that does not square from the bible or science?
Well the quote you took from me was in response to someone who believes we have evolved from something but if the bible says that god created man and woman, that was creationism not evolution. I'm just trying to find out from him what he believes we evolved from if he believes our closest relatives are apes but we didn't evolve from them. Everything you are saying is making sense now, the quote you took from me was just for someone else.
And I just realized he did already answer it, sort of, but this is getting kind of confusing because everything being discussed in this thread is either faith or assumptions.
That is how Christians suck people into their churches. They get people while they're down in the dumps. And then the full-force campaign for collectivism begins.
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Originally Posted by vamos
Unfortunately for you, there is absolutely nothing special about your questions/perceptions.
You can substitute any number of demographic labels for "Christian" (in your title) and have just as valid a point.
Try being Muslim these days! I am sure the Jews would have to say a thing or two as well about how their faith is used to attack them. You can also include any race (or racial description) - Latino comes to mind.
In short, you see yourself as a victim when in reality, everybody has a similar experience pertaining to part of his/her identity. People will always use extremes and extrapolate negative conclusions about a population in general - you aptly named one of these extremes - but this experience is certainly not confined to Christians.
no, not all christians behave in an unchristian like manner. just like not all catholic priest are pedophiles. with that being said there are pedophile priest, just as there are christains, that through the week, cheat on their spouses, beat their kids, take the lord's name in vain and all kinds of things that are not in keeping with being a good christian. they go to church on sunday, ask forgiveness and start all over on monday being a jerk. they don't really change just keep going to chruch.
Wow, this is going to take some time.
I see it like this, Not everyone who calls themselves a Christian is really a Christian, let me try to explain that. There is head knowledge and there is heart knowledge. Head knowledge is knowing about God but not knowing God. Going to church will not save your soul and will not necessarily make you a better person. Do not judge God by mans actions, search out God for yourself and when you find him you will know and it will effect your life and the way you live it. You may need to throw out a lot of chaff before you reach the grain. Just know the one most important anyone can do is accept Jesus as your savior and allow him to guide your life not the Church goers who go to church to be social and put on a front.
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saying people are sinners and no one is perfect is BS unless you really try to be a good person and many people don't. they just go to church for the free pass. you might try to learn from your mistakes but many don't.
It is not BS, it is the truth but please read the prior reply. Let me add this here, think of the person who most represents what a Christian should be to you thinking and then ask them if they are perfect.
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it is also very difficult to handle the superiority of some christian churches who think and say "their" church is the right church. their god is the right one, better than a god of another religion. do you think that one belief in a god is better than another?
God is many things to many people but whatever the religion God is central and the belief in God is most important because without God what else matters. I would never tell someone that they are worshiping or believing in the wrong God. I simply try to tell them about the God I know and allow them to decide for themselves.
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for an atheist it is hard to take seriously a faith in something you can't prove. like the easter bunny or the tooth fairy it is hard to imagine so many people putting so much faith into stories that have been passed down through the years.
It is called Faith for a reason, but I cannot see how people think that everything we see is just an accident.
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very difficult too, for a non believer to listen to someone question their goodness as a human being by a christian simply because they don't believe as the christian does. many times I have seen on this forum, people being question about their morality and ideas of right and wrong because they have no religious base.
I do not believe that I have been one of them. You believe what you want, but know that God wants to know you and what could be so wrong with that?
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I think religion is fine but I also think it is a personal thing and I find it very offensive when people try to round up others by either knocking on the door or people who want to minister to you. do they think they are the only ones that have a belief, they give no one credit for already having a faith? why do they want you to change your belief to theirs?
It is a very personal thing. I try to speak when spoken to about God. I started this thread because I am tired of the things I listed in the OP. I really did not think this would get deep but I should have known it would.
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when churches stop building huge mega churches and start using their millions to feed the poor and help the homeless, do more charity work in the community (to earn their tax exempt state) I will have kinder words for them
Again you are judging God by what man has done, how is that fair?
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I could go on and on but you get the picture. just a lot of inconsistencies with religion in general hence the insults
It is easy to judge man and all his faults. You might try finding a higher, personal place with a perfect God who will never disappoint you.
I'm a skeptic though. I'm just too socially liberal and independent for any church. And the irritating part is they didn't tell me they were Calvinists until after I left the church. I found out through the grape-vine about the types of people they are. Talk about bait and switch. From casino night to Calvinism.
Have you tried the Methodist church? IMO they are liberal.
Yes. We go to Methodist or United Church of Christ if we want to celebrate the Christmas season or Easter Sunday. But there is no way I'd do bible study again or even life-groups.
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Originally Posted by janelle144
Have you tried the Methodist church? IMO they are liberal.
Are you tired, run down, listless? Try VITAMEATAVEGAMIN
Oh, look who showed up just to hate.
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