Amber

Let me clarify that I am speaking of true Christians, by the way, before someone points out that there are a lot of fake Christians. There sure are a LOT of fake Christians. It is my firm belief that a lot of people who think they are right with God are going to stand before Him one day, only to hear "Depart from me, I never knew you."

I very much know that there are some false prophets who like to spout out messages of hate against sinners. To be quiet honest, I think there are more false prophets out there than most would think. When I say Christians, I mean true, loving, Christlike Christians, not the embaressing, "God hates you and wants you to die" type of Christians who judge at any given opportunity and feel that because they claim Christ they are better than everyone.

__________________
Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail

Amber

Jehovahs Witness are shown so much disrespect, in my opinion, because they bang on doors and shove their beliefs down people's throats. Also because they feel they are so much better than the rest of the world because they think they are part of an imaginary chosen 144,000. If Baptists, Methodist, Wiccans, whatever banged on my door continually and shoved down my throat that they are part of a chosen elite and I must do this only to find out I might not be part of the 144,000, I'd be slightly upset myself.


The Christian church has not done the damage itself. No, I must retract that sentence. It has, but not how you think. What has done the damage is fake, pious Christians. The Church's only part in the blame is continuing to allow them to act the way they are, and not show them the correct way to act. So many churches these days are more worried about losing members than showing their members the right way to live.

As for the church standing by outdated material...that's how we believe. And we (the church) are actually very modernized. We could be so outdated that we still stone adulterers, murderers, still only eat certain types of food. The church today (without getting into another subject) is very much carnal and modernized. That would explain the different denominations and Bibles.

What atrocities are you talking about? It's still a tad early for me.

__________________
Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail

Kaytee

I so agree!!!!!

__________________

If you can't stand behind our troops, feel free to stand in front of them!
http://www.spcnicholasidalski.com

Ari2

I think what is a "true" believer of any faith is subjective. What may be a true believer to one person is a heretic to another.

I just read an interesting article about one of the founders of Al Queda. He also is cited as providing some of the philosophical and religious bases for the recent rise in Islamic extremism due to two pieces he wrote. In both he spends a lot of time detailing what is a proper Muslim and what is apostasy. To him, a true Muslim is in a near-constant state of jihad and it is apostasy to advocate for peaceful solutions to religious conflict, among many other things. I haven't asked, but I think my 3 good Muslim friends would cringe and making barfing sounds if I asked them what they thought of this.

I'm sure what constitutes a "true" Christian varies significantly among even US Christians. For a while, my sister, who is an evangelical, thought true Christians did not celebrate Halloween by trick or treating, nor did they wear orange, which she saw as "the devil's color". Regardless of the details of her faith, at her core she is a moral person who tries to treat others justly. That's good enough to me without any label. I just don't wear a whole lot of orange or discuss religion when I'm around her.

Trina

Very true!

BTW, peaches and corals (forms of orange) are my favorite colors. I'm over 40 and have never heard of orange referred to as "the devil's color". Wow, you learn something new every day, but that's not going to change my color preferences.

Mindy

Way to prove the OP's point there musicmom. That's why all Christians get a bad name for being judgemental., because of condescending statements like your own.

Ari2

Yeah, my sister went through this period of...um...interesting...religious beliefs. I just tried not to roll my eyes or laugh aloud.

And I just can't believe that peach or coral is the devil's color, Trina. The mental image of a demonic presence dressed entirely in coral or peach...I can't really see it, although it would be a nice change from your standard black or red. Do they even make pitchforks in peach or coral? I don't think so!

Kaytee

very true, we will only know when our time comes.

__________________

If you can't stand behind our troops, feel free to stand in front of them!
http://www.spcnicholasidalski.com

Trina

ROFL!!

What's even funnier is that the only two colors I really dislike are red and black. LMBO! Has absolutely nothing to do with the devil, I just don't find them pleasant to the eye. LOL!

musicmom