This is all my opinion, and has nothing do to with how I was raised, or what Churches I have been too. If not on all, most forums seem to not understand what a Christian is. Maybe my term of Christian may be different from what your term of a Christian would be, but my faith is Christian, and here is my term of a Christian. I go to a Baptist church in the South. Yes, we have the offering that comes around every Sunday. But no, it doesn't go towards the cause to pay the pastor, or pay off the church. Most of the money donated is sent to various charities, and the rest is split between the different sunday school groups or adult groups, to be spent on missionaries. You might say, wow, your a Baptist? Aren't those crazy people that riot funerals Baptist? yes, Westboro Baptist, are not Christians. And as seen in my eyes, they do not have any relationship with God what so ever. They are actually a crazy family, that needs God in their life, and they portray God in a demented way. Another issue that people mis understand is why do Christians force their religion upon us Atheists. Well, I for one would never force anything upon anyone. Actually in fact, I love playing Devil's advocate. I enjoy receiving people's opinions and beliefs. Of course, I will share my faith with you, but if you don't like it, or think I believe in a fairy tale, then that is okay, I'm still glad I got to share our beliefs. If you find my belief to be interesting, and would like to learn more, then great, I have told others about God, and that is what I believe all other Christians should do. Not go door-to-door saying hey, go to our church now, no, a Christian should be an open-minded person, if their not open-minded, then how can they believe in God in the first place? In my church, all are welcome. Atheist, Gay, lesbian, poor, or rich. I believe as a Christian, you shouldn't just ignore a person because of their lifestyle. Isn't God's word to Christians to tell others about him, and glorify his name? Yes, it is a sin in the bible to be gay, but how can you try and conform that person, if he or she is not allowed in the Church? Shouldn't I have the opportunity to express my faith, in a open minded manner, and the same for you? Religion shouldn't be forced upon anyone. And quite frankly, it hurts to see Christians like the Westboro Church, provoke God's name, they are not causing peace, they are causing chaos, and giving non-Christians a wrong depiction of what defines a Christian. I didn't plan on hurting anyone's feelings, or starting a flame war. I just wanted to express how my church and my belief is. This is my depiction of a Christian. One who asks God to come into his life, and knowing that he/she has caused sin, and will forever cause sin until he/she is in Heaven. That he/she knows Jesus Christ died a terrible death, just so we could be saved. So my fellow tokers with an open mind and open heart, this is my belief. Care to share yours? "And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." ~Ephesians 4:32~
Everything was going good until I read that last sentence. "And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Cant we just be acknowledged as friendly for our sake.
Yes, and we are acknowledged as friendly. If you do soemthing nice, does someone come up to you and say, "That was very God approving of you." No, they say that was very friendly of you. Overall, I think you misinterpreted the quote. The quote to me, means to be friendly to everyone, no matter what is happening in their life or yours, and that God enjoys you to be friendly, because that is what he wants in everyone's life, love, and friendship, not hate and disrespecting.
The problem is so many Christians (not limited to, obviously) have come to their belief through brainwashing and leave virtually no room in their lives for open thought and discernment. It's a real bummer, and doesn't help out humanity much. Not many like you who are even willing to sit through a minute of anyone else's belief without just labeling it.
Christians that brainwash their children and indoctrinate their children is very dangerous and makes for a lot of close minded prig "Christians" I dont think those things are right either.
I agree. Check this out. This may be offensive to some, and I apologize. But it has to come out sooner or later: (The graphs aren't showing correctly. Please refer to the link below) http://kspark.kaist.ac.kr/Jesus/Intelligence & religion.htm And: Statistics don't lie now, do they? Especially from credible sources?
You provided a statistic about scientists opinions, not facts. Scientists haven't proved God exists or not. That's like saying, of all the baseball players in the world, 44% believe in only bigfoot, 30% believe in aliens, and 26% believe in aliens and bigfoot. None of those have been dis-proven, neither has God, so trying to compare someones IQ towards what they believe, is irrational.
I would accept a person's opinion (these are statistics, though - I don't see how they're opinions) who use logic instead of someone who uses faith only. And I do believe in a creator/creative force, just FYI. I just think the Abrahamic religions are horse shit - or just seriously convoluted.
Statistics =/= opinion. Are you saying you beleive in Big foot and santa simply ecause they cannot be disproven?
No, I am saying everyone has different opinions. opinions =/= facts. Therefore, asking for someone's opinion about their belief, is invalid. Although, they may have a higher IQ, you can't base opinions as facts.
I'm Christian too and I'm behind you pretty much a hundred percent. There will always be close-minded people, Atheists and Christians alike. I think the problem comes when we are so determined that we are correct in something that we immediately look for a way to refute someone's idea simply because it challenges the way we think and live. Everyone is on their own spiritual journey and everyone has their own ideas. For me, the whole spiritual/philosophical journey that I am on keeps coming back to the point that I know nothing, so the only thing to do is to respect everyone's ideas and to consider everything as a possibility. The thing is, organized religion is pretty much corrupt in every religion so I wouldn't paint anything with a general brush. There are close-minded people everywhere you go...
Would you rather have them open minded with their brains hanging out? All the bullshit in the world, what they believe keeps them in some sort of direction rather than going this way and that way, over things which probably go nowhere. They live happily, and content.