Is there such a thing as a Christian?

I did preface it with "I dunno". And nowhere did I purport to summarise Jesus' teachings. Nor did I suggest it was for everyone.

Peace.

 

My own belief that I live by is that if I question if someone else is a Christian or being Christian like, then I am not.

 

You did here.

I'm not trying to be unfairly critical, you asked so I said.

 

Hey, your only supposed to say one thing a day worthy of earning rep points.
Oh well, know that I give you one in my heart regardless.

 

Tomorrow then I am off the hook!

 

But Jesus did sum up all of his and the Old Testament teachings down to a couple of simple premises;
Mark chapter 12 28-34

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"

29"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' 31The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'There is no commandment greater than these."

32"Well said, teacher," the man replied. "You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."

34When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.

Really it is a lot simpler and more basic then most comprehend.
When you layer complexity on to the teachings it becomes easier to abuse it to selfish ends, as evidenced by history. So if I say anything at all about this whole thing that is of any value whatsoever it is this
READ AND STUDY IT FOR YOURSELF, DON'T LET ANYONE INTERPRET IT FOR YOU AND DON'T LOOK TO THE PRACTITIONERS OF THE FAITH AS AN INDICATION OF IT'S TRUTH AND WORTH OR LACK THEREOF.

 

you have an hour yet!

 

Rabbi Hillel said the same before Jesus.

 

I think that was what Jesus meant by the parable of the beam and the mote in the eye. Don't keep other people's inventory. We have enough to keep us busy dealing with our own shit.

 

I like this. This is otherwise known as the Golden Rule.

 

There is psychological "hurt" caused by parents lying to their children through their development. There is (unfortunately) emotional hurt caused by realizing something contrary to what you believe. There is sociological hurt when people disagree about how someone should function.

I would willingly hurt someone if they attacked me.

 

I like your definitions. The rest of your post seems to render the concept of "perfection" meaningless. You seem to be saying that perfection is entirely subjective, and if a person thinks (s)he is perfect (s)he is. So the roster of perfect specimens would include Hitler, Pol Pot, Stalin, Bin Laden, Dick Cheney, Pat Robertson, Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter, etc. Is that what you're saying? If so, why bother using the term?

 

Ya know, I have been on forums all over the net on various topics. I don't think I have ever encountered a more close-minded bunch of hypocritical wankers who LEAST espouse the hippie lifestyle, than on this mis-named board.

Adios, all. Many of you are not even worthy of my derision, and wouldn't know a hippie if he or she lathered themself in goose fat and joined you in the shower.

 

And nothing of value was lost



There are a great deal of hippies here but the website isn't hippies only.

 

Hmm. I always thought HF was billed as a FREE SPEECH forum and not an exclusive "Hippy" forum.
So I guess by your derision your opposed to freedom of speech and expression unless it conforms to what YOU feel is acceptable.

Real progressive "hippy" thinking there.

 

I ain't no dirty hippie

 

Me either.
I'm just some random old fart who enjoys the occasional psychedelic and found a community of like minded people here.

If I quit HF because somebody disagreed with me, I think I would only have had like 2 maybe 3 posts.

 

Well that's absurd, when does anyone expect a hippy to take a shower?? Unfair example.

 

Perfection has as much meaning to it as life itself does. That is, it only has the meaning which we assign to it. Hitler's idea of perfection may have been a world devoid of any Jewish people. If that was the case then he came closer to perfection every time he killed a Jewish person. He did not find fault with his behaviour, therefore he felt his actions were great, just, perhaps perfect, in which case they were. If I think I'm good looking, does that make it so, even though others might say otherwise? Yes it does, because we are only ever the measure of ourselves. Period.

Perfection is entirely subjective. All human behaviour and morality is completely subjective. Have you ever wondered why some murderers show no remorse, they're pleased with themselves? It is because they genuinely believe that what they did is right, not wrong. Most people call them crazy (that's irrelevant in this case). I'll say it again because it's an important point, they know they're right for what they did. Because they tell themselves they are right. If you tell yourself you're right, then you're right.

People like to judge others with this set of cookie cutter morals they pick up at the proverbial store somewhere throughout life. But the fact of the matter is morality is subjective. When you tell me I'm wrong, that is judged by your standards. I neither live nor will die by your morals but by my own. And in the end I will judge myself by my own morals.

As for all those people you listed; you're confusing "bad behaviour" with imperfection. We only call "bad" what we perceive to be the opposite of "right" in any given situation. The behaviour you see as "bad" is right in that situation by their standards. Those people I'm sure are flawless versions of themselves, how can you ever be anything less? Therefore as long as they act by their own morals they are being themselves, as long as one is acting and being themselves, they cannot be imperfect. You became yourself from the beginning, so as long as you're being yourself, how can you be wrong?

We are so used to judging people with our own morals, but those are external morals. Every person has their own morals, even christians. They can be seen saying and doing things quite often that aren't derived from the christian set of morals. Do you know why? Because they are human. Each human has their own set of morals. It is he who lives and dies by them that is perfect. This person however is often seen as "wrong" or "bad" by others because as a whole people hate chaos, dissidence, and individuality. They see it as a threat to religion, government and state. Look at the life of Socrates, read what the church thought of him and read about how he died. We are always accurate with perfect aim when we are being ourselves. There is no person on earth who is imperfect. Some just have what others might call "bad behaviour".

 

Morality as it is conceived is vain in it's appreciation of things.
Constantly weighing the scales of worthiness instead of understanding.
Evaluating things instead of truly valuing things.