hey, i am not starting this as a debate in any way... just curious of everyone's experience.

I would like to know what you think of when you hear the word Christian, or how do you describe what a Christian is?

Also, IF you were a "believer"/"christian" but are not anymore ("IF" being the key word), i'm be interested to hear what caused you to "turn away" if you are willing to share. (emails are more than welcome if you dont want to post it on here! )

please try to keep your responses serious... if you want to try to be funny and reply with something like "stupid" or whatever it would be better off just not posting it. (now that i just said that im sure someone will....)
AGAIN... i really dont want this to turn into a debate.
thanks everyone!

I believe a Christian should be someone who is basically a good person who believes in Jesus and other words of the bible.

Basically, I believe this goes for any religion as well. I believe it all comes down to you being a good person and making sure you follow what you believe. I don't think there is much of a difference between each religion in the way you should behave.



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Historically, Hypocrite. take the crusades and the inquisition as examples.
Recently, not so bad. Priests are an issue tho as I don't feel the Vatican should harbor and protect child molesters. Confession or not they need to be turned in.




Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.

i believe a christian is someone who believes that jesus is the son of god who died for our sins. not very complex really.

True but the Vatican and the petty politics of the age always come into play with the church.




Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.

Religion is politics is religion. Christians are FAR from different (look at the inception of the Church of England, and all the various insipient off-shoots of protestantism... all bent on politics or interpretations of the bible).

Both profess to help all, but end up hurting about as many as it helped.

Christianity (in both Catholicism and Protestantism), Buddhism/Hinduism, Islam, Earth worship... most have non-violent tenents. If only those that followed would practise what the religion teaches, and not follow lock-step with what the Preist/Preacher, Cleric, llama or whatnot said when it backtracks on the religious teachings.

Being Christian is your choice, being a thoughtful person is also... they are not mutually exclusive. You can think for yourself.



Transeat In Exemplum: Let this stand as the example.

When I think Christian, I think of someone that follows one of the MANY doctrines that lay claim to Jesus Christ having divinity, as opposed to being a very enlightened man. More specifically, I find it as someone that not only holds that concept true, but adheres to the tenets and teachings of said religion to the best of their abilities, and prays for forgivness and clarity of understanding when they can't/don't.

In other words, when I think "Christian", it covers all religions that claim Christ's divinity (including, but not limited to Catholic, Protestant, Baptist, Mormon...), but it doesn't cover the "Sunday Christians", the priests that rape young boys, the "holier than thou" people, and the terrorists...I think that since you have to take them in context of the dogma they believe, they are all on a one-way ticket to hell.


Goodbye Callisto & Skaði, Hello Ishara:
2022 Kia Stinger GT2 AWD
The only thing every single person from every single walk of life on earth can truly say
they have in common is that their country is run by a bunch of fargin iceholes.

Jesus's life was not about him, it was about us. A good Christian is someone who realizes their life should also be about other people.

When you dedicate your life to service, sins will naturally fall by the wayside.


---

thank you guys! very interesting stuff and also for keeping it civilized!

Keep them coming!

[quote=Keeper of the Light™]When I think Christian, I think of someone that follows one of the MANY doctrines that lay claim to Jesus Christ having divinity, as opposed to being a very enlightened man. More specifically, I find it as someone that not only holds that concept true, but adheres to the tenets and teachings of said religion to the best of their abilities, and prays for forgivness and clarity of understanding when they can't/don't.

In other words, when I think "Christian", it covers all religions that claim Christ's divinity (including, but not limited to Catholic, Protestant, Baptist, Mormon...), but it doesn't cover the "Sunday Christians", the priests that rape young boys, the "holier than thou" people, and the terrorists...I think that since you have to take them in context of the dogma they believe, they are all on a one-way ticket to hell.

agreed completely.




don't like me? tell me what you think of me in chat

lets have a bit of a debate... or discuss:

do you think there is a difference between being religious and being a christian?

..discuss!

absolutely!! there are MANY religions beyond christianity...CHRISTianity has to do with Christ...but there are others(buddhism, etc) that have nothing to do with christ.




don't like me? tell me what you think of me in chat

^^^^Agree completely


Goodbye Callisto & Skaði, Hello Ishara:
2022 Kia Stinger GT2 AWD
The only thing every single person from every single walk of life on earth can truly say
they have in common is that their country is run by a bunch of fargin iceholes.

being a christian and being a good christian are different arguments. if you believe jesus is the son of god then you cannot be jewish, muslim, agnostic, atheist or any religion other than christian. If you don't believe jesus is the son of god then you cannot be christian.

living by the 10 commandments, praying, speaking in tongues, making joyous noise, forsaking alcohol, women wearing long hair and long skirts, confessing your sins....things like this are what makes you a good christian in the eyes of certain denominations, but don't include or exclude anyone from christianity.

This is my view and I'm sticking to it.

Just a question, Labotomi:

Wouldn't part of being a christian mean that if you break something of the doctrine, that you do feel that you sinned and pray for forgiveness?

I mean, Godspeed, Hahaha, etc. on this site i consider christians, but i know they aren't perfect christians...and if they do tresspass, then I'd like to think they would ask forgiveness...

My point: if Jesus died for our sins, then shouldn't part of being a good christian be trying to act like a good christian, and when you faail to do so, you feel remorse for not and ask forgiveness and try to be a better one, rather than saying you aren't a good one unless you do all of these things and never fail?

Granted, i'm not a Christian, don't really care to be one, so i'm just asking here...


Goodbye Callisto & Skaði, Hello Ishara:
2022 Kia Stinger GT2 AWD
The only thing every single person from every single walk of life on earth can truly say
they have in common is that their country is run by a bunch of fargin iceholes.

ok... let me clarify...
sticking to the common denominations (catholic, protostant, lutheran..etc) do you think there is a difference between being catholic (for example) and being a christian?

Now even though I am Christian (well Baptist actually...same difference), I have a problem with people who take it too far. I mean the people who take the bible word for word and compare it to real life and judge people based upon that. For example, if they see someone who is guy, they don't see them for the person they are but for their sexual orientation and automatically in their eyes, they are sinners and going to hell.

Also, the same people who protested when Marilyn Manson was having concerts, those people make me sick. First of all, there is no point in doing such a thing. If the "kids" are going to the shows, their parents are letting them (for the most part). Also, protesting outside of his show won't stop anyone from going to his concerts but it will actually bring more publicity and make MORE people want to go to them.

The reason people like them do stuff like this is because they can't accept reality for what it is. Reality won't always be your happy Christian playland where kids can go to school and have A+s in every class, there is no violence, music is safe & clean and they sing about Jesus all day long. They have to accept that kids go to school and fail, people shoot rob & kill, and music has curse words and can be gorey, disrespectful and outright outrageous because not everyone believes or follows your beliefs.

But one thing I can tell is that these people are EXTREMELY afraid of Jesus instead of loving of Jesus. They are afraid if for 1 second they don't do something Christian like, even to the point that if they threw chewing gum out their car window, that God himself will strike them dead into a 40 car pileup. They are so scared that is changes the way they act and percieve life.

Lots of people want to know the meaning of life for one reason, so they plainly don't go to hell. I bet if the Bible listed nothing about Hell and there was not such a thing of Hell that Christianity (and other religions) would be totally different. People need to face that religion is about worship and fear at the same time. You worship X so you don't go to Hell or Pergatory.

That's just how I believe things are....this is my honest opinion. That is all.



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Catholics are Christian, but not all Christians are Catholic. The only real differences are the adoration of Mary, the absolution of sin (method) and the upholding of Apostlistic succession. Non-catholic Christians (protestant) do not pray through Mary or the Saints, do not recognise the Pope as a supremem authority and do not believe you need absolution through a priest.

Like Keeper said in a way, but I'll give it a twist...

The entire purpose of the rules layed out by God is to humble us. Nobdoy is perfect and by reading and recognising what Christ did shows us how imperfect we are. Then we should ask forgiveness and recognise that not only are we sinners ourselves but that all people stuggle to be good and therefore deserve our understanding. As Peter once said, try to live in the spirit but recognise that you are flesh and will do things of the flesh.


PAX

would you consider to be a Christian if they believed in God/Jesus, but kept it at that? Or do you think that ones actions truly speak for them. i mean, i know TONS of people who claim to be "christians" and believe in God, but they only call on him when they're in trouble, they get drunk every chance they get, they have sex whenever they want...etc.
but they still believe in God, so are they a Christian?

discuss...

Quote:

I believe a Christian should be someone who is basically a good person who believes in Jesus and other words of the bible.

exactly


"Boost tuning"....... have you had your 8 PSI today?

future name of the winter shop!!!

Godspeed wrote:would you consider to be a Christian if they believed in God/Jesus, but kept it at that? Or do you think that ones actions truly speak for them. i mean, i know TONS of people who claim to be "christians" and believe in God, but they only call on him when they're in trouble, they get drunk every chance they get, they have sex whenever they want...etc.
but they still believe in God, so are they a Christian?

discuss...

I'd call them a lapsed Christian and patiently wait for them to grow up a bit a come to their "Christ Conscience" on their own. It won't be long before they are burdened with real life and come to realize thet they're on the wrong path and that moderation is key. Young people are pretty ego-centric and as people age they become more aware of the world around them. As their mind expands so will their realization that they can either strive to be a "good Christian" or reject the teachings outright and stop pretending to be a Christian at all.

PAX

I believe that you are a Christian if you believe in God/Jesus.

I personally do not believe you have to go to church to worship/believe in God. The way I look at it, my house is made of the same materials as that church (more or less), my house has other people who believe in God, so basically I have everything the church has minus a minister/priest/preacher/etc.

The only real problem I have with churches, at least in my area, is that they will annoy the crap out of you in order to get you to join. I had an ex give my name and number to someone at her church and they called me twice a day, every day, despite me telling them otherwise, they found my address and started paying visits. It took a threat of police involvement to make them stop. From what I've heard from other people, this is somewhat common.

Another thing, I don't like how some churches put pressure on you to give them money. I believe the Catholic church requests a certain percentage of your income to be a member of the church (not 100% on this one), and other churches always make such a big deal about the money aspect.

In other words: organized religion=not for me, believing in God = for me

Hahahaha wrote:

Godspeed wrote:would you consider to be a Christian if they believed in God/Jesus, but kept it at that? Or do you think that ones actions truly speak for them. i mean, i know TONS of people who claim to be "christians" and believe in God, but they only call on him when they're in trouble, they get drunk every chance they get, they have sex whenever they want...etc.
but they still believe in God, so are they a Christian?

discuss...

I'd call them a lapsed Christian

A lapsed Christian is still a Christian.



Keeper, everyone falls into some category of religion even if it's agnostic or atheist. So, if someone believes that Jesus is the son of god and died for our sins what else could they be called other than Christian?

Oh, splendid! Another one of these posts. Give me a bit to formulate my answer to the first part.

As for me, I am a baptised Luthern, however I do not believe in the xian god, and no matter what I do, no matter what I say, per the Luthern branch of belief, I have a guaranteed spot in the xian heaven.

What turned me away was, in my opinion, the xian bible not being fully capable of explaining the unexplainable. On top of that, again this is only opinion, I find it to be contradictory and per xian standpoints, not the actual word of the xian god.

Explanations will follow soon enough, for now, be sated with the teaser

Really.

I don't believe in God. I find the idea of God as an absolute a fundamental implausibility.

I believe that Jesus, while dying for people sins, and an enilghtened *man*, was not the son of god. I believe that he existed, but thats the extent.

Hence, in regards to that, and to Godspeed's last question: The answer is "No". You could belive in Jesus, and God, but not be a christian...after all, I believe a lot of Jews do both.

The ney on religion is that there's more than *just* Christianity and all it's flavors, Judaism, Islam, Satanism, Agnosticism, Atheism, etc. There is a whole slew of them...

Anyhow, back to the original qustion...

To me, if you claim a religion, you must in some semblance practice it--try to adhere to it. a lapsed christian might be a christian, yes. But what about those that sin and expect no one else to? Are the ones that knowingly break doctrine, but still claim to be that religion really of that religion?

As existential as hat seems, you have to ask yourself--are the Catholic Terrorists in Northern Ireland really catholic despite how many od the rules of that Dogma they are knowingly breaking?

personally, i don't think so.




Goodbye Callisto & Skaði, Hello Ishara:
2022 Kia Stinger GT2 AWD
The only thing every single person from every single walk of life on earth can truly say
they have in common is that their country is run by a bunch of fargin iceholes.