How many of you are Christians?

[Celticguy]

I have accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. This is the bar to clear to consider one's self Christian. I believe he is the Messiah.
I attend the Episcopal Church though I have attended many others as a guest including RCC where my daughter was married and my grand daughter baptized. Her husband is RCC.
Align with the conservative branch which is distancing itself from the American and English communions.

FYI, the "Golden Rule" is not scripture. Its a nice practice though.

 

[Diesel]

So far there are only 3 people who said they were Christians and 5 who say no. Oh, and one "maybe" which should actually count as a NO. 2 to 1. Looks like I am proving to be correct.

No, you're not. I said that there are more Christians than other religions, not that there are more Christians than non-Christians.

 

[Celticguy]

So far there are only 3 people who said they were Christians and 5 who say no. Oh, and one "maybe" which should actually count as a NO. 2 to 1. Looks like I am proving to be correct.

+ 1
I agree you either are or you are not. there is no maybe.

 

[AProudLefty]

FYI, the "Golden Rule" is not scripture.

Yes it is.

 

[ThatOwlWoman]

I love real Christians! I was raised up with them.

Some of my favorite peeps!

I also believe there was some kind of a Jesus character that the Bible speaks of, and how can you not love someone like him?

I know a lot of people like me, that are not quite sure what to think about religion, the afterlife and all that, but we are far from being sacreligious!

In fact, we can be quite reverend and have a lot in common with Christian Folk!

You are not alone. In fact, you are most of humanity when it comes to religion. Plus, you're a good egg. I have it on good authority.

 

[Celticguy]

Yes it is.

• The golden rule is closely associated with Christian ethics though its origins go further back and graces Asian culture as well. Normally we interpret the golden rule as telling us how to act. But in practice its greater role may be psychological, alerting us to everyday self-absorption, and the failure to consider our impacts on others.

 

[ThatOwlWoman]

I've read the Dhammapada, and it is chock full of dieties, spirits, descriptions of hell, and devas.

The Asian Buddhist traditions where built on the foundations of Hindu cosmology and dieties. It's just that Buddhists do not see spirits, devas, and dieties as the highest form of spirituality. The highest form of spirituality is enlightenment and nirvana. So Buddhism is not really atheist in the modern western meaning of the word.

There are Americans who adopt some Buddhist practice for the hipster essence and coolness factor, but desire to cling to an atheist facade.


As for me, I am dubious that Jesus was divine, but his example and his message had a resonance that speaks to some kind of higher truth. I also periodically enjoy the ritual and aesthetics of the Eastern Orthodox liturgy.

I jsut typed a big long thing and then deleted it because it was too long and too dumb. Thank you for putting into succinct words how I too feel about the life and teachings of Jesus, whether He really existed, or we just wish that He had.

And yep -- there is something utterly mystical and pagan about worship services in the Catholic Church, RC or Eastern.

 

[Dutch Uncle]

I put myself down as maybe because I do follow Jesus' teachings. The Golden Rule and such.

It is funny that those Christians who profess to believe in the divinity of Jesus and his teachings rarely ever follow his teachings.

Agreed. The more ardent a person screams about being a Christian, the less likely they are one. Notice that none of the Trumpers claiming to be Christians act like Christians.

 

[Dutch Uncle]

Yes it is.

More proof the Trumpers claiming to be Christians aren't what they claim.

 

[ThatOwlWoman]

All those things are important. To me though the top things would be accepting Jesus as your savior, repenting of your sins DAILY, Praying for forgiveness and more importantly praying for the wisdom to DO BETTER.

I grew up with the same tradition. I much prefer the Jewish Yom Kippur way of life. You not only dig up your sins and transgressions and offenses... but you must atone for them. Not by prayer or so many Our Fathers and Hail Marys, but by actually apologizing to those you have hurt, and making amends to them. I've considerably simplified this, of course.

IRL Jewish folks are just like the rest of us and many don't actually do this stuff as they are supposed to. Most of don't, Christian or whatever.

In my opinion, if you want the world to be better, I'd go with apologizing and making amends to that person you hurt, for whatever your god or your conscience says is a sin, over hoping for some heavenly bonanza thing.

 

[Cypress]

I jsut typed a big long thing and then deleted it because it was too long and too dumb. Thank you for putting into succinct words how I too feel about the life and teachings of Jesus, whether He really existed, or we just wish that He had.

And yep -- there is something utterly mystical and pagan about worship services in the Catholic Church, RC or Eastern.

I am sure that what you wrote was not dumb!

 

[Dutch Uncle]

All those things are important. To me though the top things would be accepting Jesus as your savior, repenting of your sins DAILY, Praying for forgiveness and more importantly praying for the wisdom to DO BETTER.

3 out of 4 ain't bad in business, but it's a failure for a Christian to not truly repent. Repentance isn't "ask for forgiveness on Sunday then sin all week". As the links below point out, it's a sincere modification of one's behavior.

You're the same person now as when I first met you three years ago, Stone. You are not repenting.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/repent
to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one's life

https://www.christianity.com/jesus/...nd-salvation/what-does-it-mean-to-repent.html
What Is Repentance? How Do We Repent?
"Repentance fundamentally means to change your mind about something. It has to do with the way you think about something. You’ve been thinking one way, but now you think the opposite way. That’s repentance — the changing of the mind....

...So, repenting perfectly describes what happens when you come to Christ. You no longer reject Christ, but now you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God. You do a spiritual about-face, which in turn changes everything.

And not only do you change your mind about Christ, but you change your mind about sin and discover what it means to honor God. You realize that it’s no longer about performance. It’s about a heart attitude that confesses Christ and seeks to honor Him in every aspect of life!"

 

[Stone]

3 out of 4 ain't bad in business, but it's a failure for a Christian to not truly repent. Repentance isn't "ask for forgiveness on Sunday then sin all week". As the links below point out, it's a sincere modification of one's behavior.

You're the same person now as when I first met you three years ago, Stone. You are not repenting.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/repent
to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one's life

https://www.christianity.com/jesus/...nd-salvation/what-does-it-mean-to-repent.html
What Is Repentance? How Do We Repent?
"Repentance fundamentally means to change your mind about something. It has to do with the way you think about something. You’ve been thinking one way, but now you think the opposite way. That’s repentance — the changing of the mind....

...So, repenting perfectly describes what happens when you come to Christ. You no longer reject Christ, but now you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God. You do a spiritual about-face, which in turn changes everything.

And not only do you change your mind about Christ, but you change your mind about sin and discover what it means to honor God. You realize that it’s no longer about performance. It’s about a heart attitude that confesses Christ and seeks to honor Him in every aspect of life!"

You are no example of a Christian. Even here, in a thread like this, you use this space to to bring trouble and discord. I honestly believe you to be evil. Good triumphs over evil.

 

[PostmodernProphet]

Very true. Religious people just have the added layer of being hypocrites.

ironic......

 

[Dutch Uncle]

You are no example of a Christian. Even here, in a thread like this, you use this space to to bring trouble and discord. I honestly believe you to be evil. Good triumphs over evil.

Translation: I'm not a Christian but neither are you. Neener, neener.

Thanks for the confession that you're a liar, Fat Boy.

 

[IBDaMann]

I put myself down as maybe because I do follow Jesus' teachings.

... or at least you'd like to, but Jesus preached the commandments which include "though shalt have no other gods" and you have been ordered to worship Global Warming, Climate, the holy ghost of greenhouse effect, etc ... and you are compelled to OBEY.

So, a Christian you are not.

It is funny that those Christians who profess to believe in the divinity of Jesus and his teachings rarely ever follow his teachings.

I know, you're so much better than they are.

 

[IBDaMann]

I am not a Christian because I don't believe in that divinity thing,

... except when it comes to Global Warming, then you'll worship the divinity of Climate all day and all night, and you'll deny all science and math (not that you ever learned any anyway) and you'll be a totally shitty, dishonest fuck to your fellow beings who happen to disagree with something your thought-masters ordered you to regurgitate.

Did Donald Trump rape you or drive over your cat? Why do you HATE so uncontrollably one of your fellow beings who you don't even know? Is it because you're just a dog on a leash who attacks on command? You're the kind of shit whose flushing away would be beneficial to society.

Imagine, you pretending to pontificate on how one should live. Fucking shit hypocrite.

 

[IBDaMann]

And yep -- there is something utterly mystical and pagan about worship services in the Catholic Church, RC or Eastern.

... and climate summits in the Global Warming faiths, and Ground Zero revivals of the different Climate Change denominations, and the greenhouse effect study and prayer sessions that occur on internet fora such as JPP.

Good catch.

 

[Into Тhe Night]

Identify yourself.

First, let's define what it means to be a Christian. The simplest definition is a follower of Jesus Christ or just simply a fan of Jesus Christ and his teachings.

If you believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ, say so and explain why.

Denominations do not matter but you are free to say what denomination you are in.

Thank you for participating.

We don't even know what his teachings were. The Gospel texts are unreliable and were written with various contradictory agendas. For example, the Jesus of Matthew is pro-Jewish and pro-law. The Jesus of John is a Hellenistic philospher. Mark’s Jesus is an itinerant end-times preacher who believed that the world would end within a generation. (Hell, the author of Mark even got his geography wrong to a hilarious degree.) Luke used Matthew and Mark as sources, but edited Jesus’ words a bit to hide the fact that he was an end-times preacher, which is clearly evident when comparing the passages that Luke quotes from both Gospel texts. And then we have Paul's epistles, which further contradict what the Gospel texts purport as Jesus’ teachings.

 

[Dutch Uncle]

We don't even know what his teachings were. The Gospel texts are unreliable and were written with various contradictory agendas. For example, the Jesus of Matthew is pro-Jewish and pro-law. The Jesus of John is a Hellenistic philospher. Mark’s Jesus is an itinerant end-times preacher who believed that the world would end within a generation. (Hell, the author of Mark even got his geography wrong to a hilarious degree.) Luke used Matthew and Mark as sources, but edited Jesus’ words a bit to hide the fact that he was an end-times preacher, which is clearly evident when comparing the passages that Luke quotes from both Gospel texts. And then we have Paul's epistles, which further contradict what the Gospel texts purport as Jesus’ teachings.

Agreed there was a lot of exaggeration and embellishment in the canonized NT formed about 300 years after Jesus....longer time than between 1776 and 2023.

OTOH, even though the books of the Bible were cherry-picked, it's the similarities that interest me, not the differences or unlikely stories such as the nature of his birth.

The words of Jesus ring true. Notice that most Trumpers quote either the OT or Paul's writings. Very rarely do any Trumpers ever quote the actual words of Jesus from the four Gospels.