The Christian Thread

I personally believe denominations to be necessary, albeit unfortunately so.  Just for the sake of preaching/teaching, for one thing; you don't want pastors in the same church teaching the congregation contradicting doctrines.  I think it's better to peacefully acknowledge our doctrinal differences than to sweep them under the rug for the sake of unity that's not really there.

At the same time, I'm saddened by some of the divisiveness and hatefulness practiced towards other denominations by many Christians today.  I see this in my church as well as in others.  Sometimes the way people talk about other denominations, you would think they weren't even Christians, which is really sad.

^Yes, it's very prevalent, unfortunately.  My mom (a Lutheran) once had a Baptist tell her she wasn't a Christian because she hadn't "accepted" Christ!

And, from reading forums centered around my own (Lutheran) denomination's beliefs, I have got a nasty feeling that if I went on one of them and discussed any of the differences (mostly small) I have with official Lutheran doctrine, I'd be attacked from all sides.

Finnforest wrote: I thought this woman made some good points....refreshing to hear someone calling out media for their one sided appraisals of christians and their churches http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/january-25-2013/rev-lillian-daniel-on-spiritual-but-not-religious/14570/

I think there are some good points there, but it annoys me the way some Christians are hostile towards the "spiritual but not religious."

I generally believe in God, but the Bible does not particularly speak to me, despite having read it twice. The doctrines of Christianity don't make sense to me personally, nor do those of Islam or Judaism or Buddhism or Hinduism.

I have no animosity towards those who find truth and meaning in these teachings, but does the fact that I do not make me a narcissist or a flake? I think it is a mistake to attack those who, through the sincere seeking of meaning, have come to different conclusions than you.


Edited by thellama73 - January 27 2013 at 12:43

dtguitarfan wrote: thellama73 wrote: I think there are some good points there, but it annoys me the way some Christians are hostile towards the "spiritual but not religious." It annoys me that Jesus' teachings, which are so centered on love, have been so often warped to produce hostility to anyone.

I didn't find her hostile to anyone.  She attempted to explain some of her personal views and is opinionated yes, but hostile? 

I thought she got a little snippy at times (from her words; I read the transcription and didn't watch the video); overall she made some good points.

Ambient Hurricanes wrote: I thought she got a little snippy at times (from her words; I read the transcription and didn't watch the video); overall she made some good points.

I'll give you snippy....and I think that's the part Logan objected to, where she talks about people finding God in the sun or something like that.....Fair enough, that was condescending, might that be the word?

But I think her point was that these institutions have had hundreds of years of dedicated people writing serious things, deep thinking about issues and such, and they are sometimes completely ignored and ridiculed by as being essentially worthless, which is also unfair if sweeping and dismissive.  There are good things that can come out of an institutional religious community experience....I think she was asking for some balance....well, decide for yourself

How do you guys feel about Christian Science?

I like Gnosticism, but then I've always had a bit of the heretic in me.

Ambient Hurricanes wrote: The main problem with gnosticism (and with most other heresies and false religions, in my opinion) is that it says that humans can save themselves.  That's the exact opposite of the Christian message of salvation by the grace of God, through faith in Christ Jesus (and we receive even our own faith only as a gift of God).

^I'm not sure exactly what you're talking about.  Are you referring to the surpression of the doctrine of grace by the medieval church, or to something else?  Christianity was called "The Way" in it's earliest years, and "The Way" is the most-often used term in the Book of Acts for the Christian faith.  But The Way included many more believers than merely the original Jewish followers; already in the early years of the church, recorded in Acts, Gentiles were being brought into the church from places as far as Rome and even, we think, India. 

The early church emphasized obedience, but emphasized grace and faith more (see Romans and Hebrews for examples of this).  I agree that our fractured and divided church today is far from the unity and peace the early Christians had among themselves, but unfortunately, that's a consequence of sin and also of the vast growth of the church that we just have to deal with.  The best thing we can do is to peacefully and respectively acknowledge and discuss our differences while maintaining brotherly fellowship with Christians from all places and all sects.