Is there such a thing as a Christian?

no i am asking is that what you truly believe even if it makes no sense ???
do you believe in such things

 

Dude, the first part of my post where I stated that I wasn't a Christian and didn't believe that pretty much clears up that question, doesn't it? Why would I believe something if I said it doesn't make sense?

 

i apologize i read it wrong no hard feelings

 

I've been told I look like Jesus by christians, with and without a beard. lol

Is there such a thing as a Dionysian?

 

I don't know what your definition of a 'christian' is because apparently different people have different views of what a good christian is..

..But I usually find that the more christian/catholic a person claims to be, the worse of an actual person they are.

 

heck if i know. but i do know they have their own forums to discus it in.

 

Christianity is not something you put on like a coat and wear for all to see how splendid you look. If that is how somebody is portraying themselves then they have missed the message.
The Bible teaches that a "true believer" will be changed by God's spirit living and manifesting through them. For the person truly converted and filled with God's spirit it requires only a surrendering to that manifestation in their life. The rest of all the outward trappings will come in time. Too often people look to the outward trappings, Christians and non-Christians alike, and if they are not seen either cry foul or try to adopt those characteristics as best they can. But it simply doesn't work that way.

Jesus never gave a rat's ass about the person's outward appearance or conduct and always saw the inner person and true intent. If all you ever look at is what is seen with the eye, you will always be disappointed. Part of the whole message of the Bible is that man is incapable of living up to the level of righteousness that God would desire for us to have and live in. That is the whole point of the old testament sacrifice's and the new testament sacrifice of Jesus as a substitute for us and as our kinsman redeemer.

No where is it claimed that like magic a person is going to become some saint simply by professing themselves to believe and to be a Christian. So why do people keep judging Christians as if that were the case?

I have met thousands of Christians in my life and only a few stand out as true "spirit filled Christians" who really got what it was all about. They each shared the same qualities and have left an indelible mark on me, even against my best efforts.
The main traits I saw were an unbelievable degree of TRUE humility. Not the false Jerry Falwell or Jimmy Swaggert type of fake humility, but an honest and almost palpable humility where you felt deep within you that this person esteemed themselves to be no better than me. Often the opposite, as they felt the other person to of much, much more worth than they themselves were.

Coupled with that was a love that emanated from them, so much so that you became aware of their presence in a room full of people before ever actually seeing them. A love and total acceptance of others regardless of who or what they were. Unconditional love. I never understood that level or depth of love until I became a father, then it all made sense. Actually a lot of the seeming contradictory ideas in the Bible make much more sense when you look at it from the perspective of a parent and their child. Those of you that have children will still love and accept them regardless of their actions and attitudes.
You will also love them enough to know that to hold them back or constrain them to your viewpoints and way of life is a sure fire way to lose them. So you let them go to grow and mature, all the while still loving them. God's dealing with man is much the same as that.
The other main trait I saw was a centered and peaceful life. An unshakable peace that again emanates from them and effects those who are around them. Peace that passes understanding. A peace that was not dependant nor predicated upon their situation or surroundings.

So yes, thier are "real" Christians out there.
Is Christianity the only "true" way? I don't know.
But from what I have seen, experienced and those that I have met, I'm not ready to dismiss Christianity as fake.

 

I am not ready to dismiss anyone on what they call themselves either, and if I ever meet one as you describe above who calls themselves a 'christian' I will hide my surprise in their love! lol

My love is becoming condition alone, and it is lonely!

 

Hey, man. Don't look for perfection in anybody, least of all Christians. I'll spare you the "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven" bumper sticker line (with the implication that non-Christians aren't forgiven, even if perfect). But there's no standard definition of what a Christian is. I personally don't claim to be "Christlike", but to me that's the ideal all Christians should be striving for. Oddly, this isn't the majority view among Christians, and there's a strong difference among self-designated Christians over what that would mean.

Starting with Saint Paul, who wrote the earliest known parts of the New Testament, many Christians have been more concerned with the death and resurrection of Jesus than with his example and teachings, of which Paul seemed to have limited knowledge. Evangelical theologians, when they do focus on the message, tend to emphasize Jesus as apocalyptic prophet. I see Jesus as a radical liberal Jewish hippie who rejected the Establishment and welcomed society's poor and rejects. In other words, I don't think God is a Republican, despite what Dobson and Roberstson have to say.

 

I think people do have their own perfection. Human personality is a whole. I don't look for imperfection. What is lacking is an overall realization of perfection in celebration.

 

I guess I have a concept of perfection as being flawless. Of the people I've met, I haven't met a single one who didn't have flaws, some really major. And then there are the ones who seem to be really screwed up: Hitler, Staling, Bin Laden, Kim jong il, Ahmadinijad, etc. But in all humans, I see reflections of a higher perfection behind the flawed versions. That's the central idea behind my faith. We love our fellow humans because, like them, we are flawed and like them we reflect, however imperfectly, true perfection.

 

Definition of PERFECTION
1: the quality or state of being perfect: as a : freedom from fault or defect : flawlessness b : maturity c : the quality or state of being saintly
2a : an exemplification of supreme excellence b : an unsurpassable degree of accuracy or excellence
3: the act or process of perfecting

------------------------------------------------------------------------
One is free from fault or defect as long as they don't consider their own behaviour wrong or think that there's one perfect way of doing things.

As long as one has their own morals, and as long as they live by them, they are without fault. You can't fail at being yourself.

If you are always yourself then you are always accurate. Perfection is the state of being yourself without external expectations of yourself.

 

qft

 

A human being is perfect regardless, because what we consist of is apart of the natural universe. Everything we think, hear, do, and love is apart of nature.

We fight, live and die because we are humans. Most people mistake that statement with "Humans are prone to violence" and that just isn't true. It is in us to adapt to situations and to evolve. To care about our surroundings and to regard external expectations.

There is no human race without multiple human beings. We're in this together.

I can only hope to improve our relationship by helping people match the universe inside their head with the one outside of it.


like this.


I think a lot of christians want to cling to what they do believe in Christianity because they don't know anything else. Atheism doesn't offer anything but more questions.

I really wish people like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens who are in the public eye a lot would refer to themselves as naturalists instead of atheists.

 

This is an excellent post. I'd like you to have one of these as a gift...plus some rep

 

A Christian, as far as I am aware, is a person who believes

1 in God

2 in Jesus as the son of God

3 that redemption was given to the souls of the faithful by the crucifixion of Jesus and by his resurrection

4 that faith in 1, 2 and 3 above are pre-requisites to the redemption of the soul of the individual since the crucifixion.

Further distinctions, such as that between transubstantiation and consubstantiation, or Papal infallability, become denominational schisms rather than anything else.

Christianity, like all traditional deistic religions, requires faith. Not evidence-based proof, not empirical justifications, but faith.

The difficulty with faith is that it is belief without proof, which some interpret as belief without thought. In other words, as soon as you start to examine your beliefs from an empirical viewpoint, you may reject them as being illogical.

This is the intrinsic tension between faith and knolwedge. It is this tension, IMHO, that causes people to be "bad" Christians (or Muslims or whatever).

Which part of which Bible do we obey? And whose interpretation is correct? Which God is the true God-the pacifistic one? The angry warmongering one (and I'm not slighting Islam here- many denominations have shameful histories of bloodshed, such as the Inquisitions and the Crusades)? The one that says don't eat certain types of seafood at all? The one that says don't eat meat on Fridays? Or don't drink coffee or tea? Or don't eat pork?

I dunno. Part as far as I'm concerned, religious creeds can be reduced to 3 words.

Don't hurt others.

Everything else is just explanation.

 

^^^ There are christians who would greatly disagree with that.

 

With which part of my post would they disagree? I'm not arguing, I'd like to know your views

 

People have different thresholds for what they regard as harm. Your three words are no instruction at all.

 

The main crux of Christianity is their faith in and dedication to Jesus Christ. Jesus said a little more than, "don't harm others." You started off discussing christianity and then ended with a simple summation of religious creeds. You'd really have to study religion before you can sum up so many in three words.