The Christian Thread

Finnforest wrote: dtguitarfan wrote: thellama73 wrote: I think there are some good points there, but it annoys me the way some Christians are hostile towards the "spiritual but not religious." It annoys me that Jesus' teachings, which are so centered on love, have been so often warped to produce hostility to anyone. I didn't find her hostile to anyone.  She attempted to explain some of her personal views and is opinionated yes, but hostile?

I didn't think she sounded hostile either.

Maybe hostile is a little strong, but I think accusing people who believe in God but not the church of narcissism is a little unfair.

thellama73 wrote: I think there are some good points there, but it annoys me the way some Christians are hostile towards the "spiritual but not religious."

It annoys me that Jesus' teachings, which are so centered on love, have been so often warped to produce hostility to anyone.

I thought this woman made some good points....refreshing to hear someone calling out media for their one sided appraisals of christians and their churches

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/january-25-2013/rev-lillian-daniel-on-spiritual-but-not-religious/14570/

Ambient Hurricanes wrote: At the same time, I'm saddened by some of the divisiveness and hatefulness practiced towards other denominations by many Christians today.  I see this in my church as well as in others.  Sometimes the way people talk about other denominations, you would think they weren't even Christians, which is really sad.

Been on the receiving end of that plenty of times.

Dean wrote: dtguitarfan wrote:  I've often played around with the idea of taking time away from our current church to go on a sort of pilgrimage by visiting a different church every week for a while, just so see what I could learn from the experience.  I haven't done it simply because I really love the church I'm in now, and have some responsibility there right now.  But it's an idea I may, one day, try. I did this - it was enjolyable and enlightning (I am not a christian now, but I was for many years) - all the churches and congregations I visited were welcoming and inviting, none of them tried to convert me to their particular church, of course I could not take communion in a catholic church, but I was not shunned because I couldn't, I could still pray and sing and listen to the sermon. Meeting different people and seeing how they worshipped showed me the commonality and the differences between them, and on balance the commonality out-weighed the differences in most cases.

That's what I'm getting at, too.  I recently had a conversation with a Buddhist about his beliefs, and rather than telling him what I thought was wrong about his beliefs, I tried to take a humble approach and see if I could learn something from him about my own beliefs.  When I did this, I found some really interesting ideas that weren't out of tune with my own.  For example, their word for faith implies a denying of one's own ego - in this idea you cannot achieve faith if you are trusting in your own ego.  I thought this was very interesting, since the Christian faith has a very similar idea when you examine the teachings on humility.  I found this to be a very enriching experience to have this conversation with my friend, rather than feeling like it threatened my own faith.

Another example - a while back I remember visiting a church a good friend of mine was attending at the time.  It was a black baptist church, and we were the only white people there.  I'll never forget how we were basically mobbed by friendly, welcoming people.  I have never felt so welcomed in a new place, and I felt like "man, they put most white Christians I know to shame!"

Jonathan wrote: Who is Apollos?

I Cor. 3:3-9
You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men?  What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

dtguitarfan wrote:  I've often played around with the idea of taking time away from our current church to go on a sort of pilgrimage by visiting a different church every week for a while, just so see what I could learn from the experience.  I haven't done it simply because I really love the church I'm in now, and have some responsibility there right now.  But it's an idea I may, one day, try.

I did this - it was enjolyable and enlightning (I am not a christian now, but I was for many years) - all the churches and congregations I visited were welcoming and inviting, none of them tried to convert me to their particular church, of course I could not take communion in a catholic church, but I was not shunned because I couldn't, I could still pray and sing and listen to the sermon. Meeting different people and seeing how they worshipped showed me the commonality and the differences between them, and on balance the commonality out-weighed the differences in most cases.

dtguitarfan wrote: Jonathan wrote: How do you guys feel about Baptists? I feel they are too loud most of the time and too judgemental. That's why I'm a Quaker, We aren't loud at all. I think one of the major problems with the church in general is that we've instituted such divides.  We sit from behind our stained glass windows and point in judgement at the world and at other denominations.  I think it would rather be a much more profound statement of the kind of love Jesus exemplified for us if churches from multiple denominations reached out in friendship towards each other and tried to learn from each other.  I've often played around with the idea of taking time away from our current church to go on a sort of pilgrimage by visiting a different church every week for a while, just so see what I could learn from the experience.  I haven't done it simply because I really love the church I'm in now, and have some responsibility there right now.  But it's an idea I may, one day, try.

Shoot, I forgot - I really wanted to add to this: the whole idea of fighting about which denomination is better than the other often reminds me of the "I follow Paul"/"I follow Apollos" passage.

Jonathan wrote: How do you guys feel about Baptists? I feel they are too loud most of the time and too judgemental. That's why I'm a Quaker, We aren't loud at all.

I think one of the major problems with the church in general is that we've instituted such divides.  We sit from behind our stained glass windows and point in judgement at the world and at other denominations.  I think it would rather be a much more profound statement of the kind of love Jesus exemplified for us if churches from multiple denominations reached out in friendship towards each other and tried to learn from each other.  I've often played around with the idea of taking time away from our current church to go on a sort of pilgrimage by visiting a different church every week for a while, just so see what I could learn from the experience.  I haven't done it simply because I really love the church I'm in now, and have some responsibility there right now.  But it's an idea I may, one day, try.