Some Confessions of Jatom

LOL, I suppose I was wrong in expecting a bigger uproar. I mean, there does seem to be a whole lot of Christian bashing going on lately.

 

What you started the thread with is nothing new...you just declared the main points of your faith, it's cool.

There's no sense in bashing Christians, nor is there sense in Christians bashing others.

If a person of any faith thinks that he/she's being bashed when someone pointedly and intelligently questions their beliefs, then it's their own paranoia and doubt coming to the surface.

 

Spook, with all due respect. Sometimes it just gets old. The Christian bashing that is. If that makes me paranoid then so be it.

 

I have yet to meet someone who does what Jesus said to do.

I hear a whole lot of people talking. I see a whole lot of people labelling themselves "Christian", but I don't see a whole lot of action in truth.

Mostly, what I see is people who gather together a few days or nights a week, sing songs, do crazy shit, talk to themselves, and act self-righteous.

A few people send money to help "missionaries". And a few less visit jails, feed the poor, and take care of children on holidays.

No full-time "Christians"? No non-judgmental, vagabond, gatherer of the poor, sick and afflicted...

Some people have a hell of a lot of nerve calling themselves "Christ-like"!

Ha ha ha!

Shit, I could call myself "Gandhi-like", but that doesn't make it true.

 

so, we agree then, going by your sarcastic smilie

 

i agree with alot of what you're saying here lib, but that doesnt mean that God is not real. He did say "fear not LITTLE flock"

btw, congrats about your new baby girl, i saw her beautiful little self in your gallery...I didnt even know you guys were expecting. (Hug)

 

I dunno man I can see pretty far.

 

Lib, I was reading the posts and congrats on your little girl. Little girls are handfuls! I have two of my own. Now, am I Christlike? Uh...I'm pretty far from it. I think you make a decision to try to become Christlike. You strive for perfection. In other words try your HARDEST to be a better Christian. You will sin. It will happen. I also believe you should do things in the name of the Lord. I'm not just talking sending in money. I'm talking physically getting your lazy butt up off the couch and helping make a difference. Feeding the needy, marching against oppression, volunteering to help the sick...The list
goes on and on.

 

Maybe you should call yourselves "aspiring Christians". Aspiring to be Christ-like, but is there any truth in that, even.

I mean how many are REALLY aspiring to be like Christ.

 

Key words in this statement: "it's cool."

We may not always agree, but that doesn't mean everything isn't just dandy.

(R)Amen!

Yeah, pretty much. ^_^

Now Lib, you and I see eye to eye a lot, so let me whack you in the knees this once.

Didn't Jesus once say something along the lines of, "Humans are incapable of being as perfect as I am"? I have never heard someone call themselves "Christ-like," only "Christian," and certainly many people who call themselves "Christian" believe that Christ was God and his power is beyond limits.

It seems reasonable to say that one should not aspire to be like Christ, because it is impossible for a human being, but rather one should aspire to be a good, wholesome person (which may be the subject of a different argument which I will not start here -- are most Christians actually trying to be good, wholesome people?).

 

You're definitely right. Sadly, there is a large percentage of people who call themselves "Christian" and attend church, but who do not exemplify the Christian walk. Part of that is because many of the professing Christians aren't Christian at all. They were just raised in a church from birth, or they attend a few church services here and there, and they think that's enough to be called "Christian." But also, I believe the problem is a little more complex than that. You have to understand where someone came from in order to understand where they are at. It's easy to sit back and criticize a Christian who perhaps get's angry too quickly, or who sometimes uses foul language, or who's a bit greedy with his money. But what you may not realize is how much worse he was before becoming Christian. Being a Christian doesn't mean that you're perfect all at once (in fact, you're never even close to being perfect) instead one's entire life is spent achieving the never ending goal of always becoming more Christ-like--and paradoxically, the more Christ-like one becomes, the more he realizes that he is not even close to achieving this goal. There is more to being a Christian than simply being nice, or giving to the poor. Good actions with the wrong intent may produce a "good" outcome, but in the end is still sin. In the end, what separates a believer from a non-believer, I believe, is the believer's submissions to God, and his willingness to glorify Him. And this becomes the focal point of his life, his thinking, and his actions.

 

Lib, you hold Christians up to higher standards than our God does. Lighten up.

 

Hardly.

 

I was worse as a "Christian" than I am as a Humanist. Just ask my wife!

Most of what I do now is out of curiousity or mischief. Then, it was out of my serious "call" to compel people to accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour.

To say that those people were worse BEFORE they became "Christians" is a mass generalization much of what you guys accuse me of doing.

 

I'll take your word for it.

Ahhh... I think that I get the picture.

I am not sure that he is saying that all Christians are better now than they were. I think he is pointing out that before you make an assumption about a Christian based on his behavior, you might want to consider that person's background.

I think he is asking that Christians be regarded as people first when it comes to judging their actions. Instead of looking for hipocrisy in the tiniest slip of the tongue, look at who they are and where they have come from. In short, stop being so darn critical of Christians! Isn't that the same thing that people accuse them of doing? Why is it okay for people to say we should all get along and play nice and then point fingers and bash the Christian when he screws up? If the Christian did the same thing he would be called any number of foul terms (the least of which is "hipocrit").

 

He does have a point in that christianity as a religion is intollerant and judgemental...we all have experienced that ever pervasive fundamental ideology: "everyone without Christ is lost, worse off and bad people, rah rah!" And that is a fact documented through time due to the simple fact that it is a religion run by men--who are inherently corrupt (sinners). It's the Christian superego that has caused so much destruction. If a christian swings the bible (which to them is a sword) how is that not in itself a hostile act. I believe it is.

...but all anyone should ever be able to say about a believer in Jesus Christ and 'God' (with regard to faith in Jesus and who I read Jesus to be) is that he/she is a self-professed weakling who needs help. Someone who accepts Christ as Lord and Savior must lay down ego and id and admit the totality of failure. I fail daily (wife, at work, etc.) but I always hit a wall of "hey I suck" and realize that I need help being a better person while I am on this earth. Christ does that.

 

I don't remember that, maybe it's in there. But I do remember him saying something like "what i have done, ye too can do." He constantly says that he does nothing of himself, that all he does comes from the Father. Well, God is our Father too, right? So what's keeping us from truly being "Christ-like"?

 

No, you do hold us up to higher standards. In Christianity we have a way out of sin. We're not perfect. We make mistakes. You can be forgiven of any Christian sin. It's unfair to compare humans to God.

 

So "sin" can now be classified as "Christian" and "non-Christian" sin?

 

Someone who thinks that sins (misses the point).