Misconceptions of Christianity

Off Topic Politics & World Issues
1121

[quote]dmaddox wrote:

[quote]Cockney Blue wrote:

At the most basic level the message of God is be nice to each other so that you get to sit by my side in heaven after you die.[/quote]

You missed the other part. Love the Lord your God with all your Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength. The two go hand in hand.

And it is not just being nice, but Love your neighbor as yourself.[/quote]

I have been reading a little closer to your post, and I might have missed the second part. Are you really saying that we follow Christ only because we are going to get something in return?

1122

[quote]Chushin wrote:
Random thoughts and questions, having slogged through all 45 pages of this mind-boggling discussion:

  1. What if God / Proper Worship genuinely is perceived differently by each and every believer? A bunch of folks looking at, or touching, a multifaceted divine existence from different “locations” might indeed all “see” or “feel” something either slightly or radically different. Maybe you’re ALL right… (Probably sounds pretty dumb to our resident true beleivers, I suppose.)[/quote]
    In the case of Christians, this is an area where catholics and non agree. Jesus Himself, if He is to be taken seriously, declares this an utter impossibility. I wouldn’t call it dumb, but it is impossible from a Christian worldview. >>><<<

[quote]Chushin wrote:3. Do you guys really call us nonbelievers “pagans?” Ouch.[/quote]I believe this is directed at me since I have used that term the most. You can just ask ME btw, I have no problem addressing anything I say. In the modern protestant vernacular many times the term “pagan” is simply an all purpose tag for anybody who doesn’t claim belief in the gospel of Christ. It’s not meant, at least by me, as carrying any particular weight or significance in that regard. In fact it can even have a sort of affectionate connotation as counterintuitive as that must sound. EX. (“I’m sure the pagans here will delight in all this tension between Christians”)

It is actually derogatory when used to describe someone who does claim the gospel of Christ, but has mortally damaged their Christian credibility either with clearly heretical doctrine in a vital area or flagrantly practiced overt sin. (your pagan lifestyle gives the lie to your Christian claims) This is only an example and not directed at anybody in particular here.

1123

[quote]Sloth wrote:
Who excommunicates heretical atheists by the way? Is that something you and ephrem just up and decided to do? Just curious.[/quote]

Atheism doesn’t work like that, unlike your religion with all its little rules that you have to live by Atheism isn’t a belief system it is just the state of not believing in a God.

1124

[quote]Cockney Blue wrote:

[quote]Sloth wrote:
Who excommunicates heretical atheists by the way? Is that something you and ephrem just up and decided to do? Just curious.[/quote]

Atheism doesn’t work like that, unlike your religion with all its little rules that you have to live by Atheism isn’t a belief system it is just the state of not believing in a God.[/quote]

Sorry CB, but the state of not believeing in a god is still a state of belief or belief system. I would not call atheism a religion by any stretch of the imagination, or would it bind all atheists together. I do not think that Stalin and Hitler had a binding in atheism that caused them to kill millions of people. It was the fact that they wanted to rule the world. You said that Stalin was in seminary. Obviously he did not beleive what he was doing. Hugh Hefner, Playboy fame, was also thinking of going to seminary to be a priest. I guess he decided to sign his soul over to the devil (this is a figure of speech).

1125

[quote]Brother Chris wrote:

[quote]Cockney Blue wrote:

Mother Theressa shunned modern medicine for the people in her care preferring to keep them in a state of suffering that was conducive to the atmosphere she wanted her Nuns to live in. She also supported some pretty horrific regimes and embezzled funds. Not the Saint that the Catholic Church would like to paint her to be.
[/quote]

Haha, I wish I knew where you get this stuff from. I have not followed much of Mother Theressa, mostly because I have not been alive for very long so I have not had a chance. However, I can say that not very many people are perfect, but we try to be perfect. So, she may have done some things that were not considered perfect (I am not sure what), but guess what she did a lot of great things. And she is not a Saint, she is Beatified Mother Theressa.

[quote]
Large scale communism I agree has some pretty big issues but I don’t think any system can devalue the individual more than the Catholic Church which claims that we are all scum, inherently sinners and should writhe on the ground in joy that God cares enough to give us diseases, hardships and pain saying thank you master, give me more master like some sort of Sado Masochist being spanked by his Dominatrix.[/quote]

The Catholic Church does not claim we are scum, the Catholic Church actually says we are all capable of being perfect beings; who were seduced into being enslaved by Lucifer (Angel of light), at the Fall. And, when you repent and believe in the Good News, and are baptized, you become of G-d. Nice try though.[/quote]

I would recommend doing some reading up on Mother Teresa, it is actually very interesting.

A good starting place is The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa In Theory And Practice, by Christopher Hitchens (Verso, London and New York, 1995)

1126

[quote]Cockney Blue wrote:

[quote]Brother Chris wrote:

[quote]Cockney Blue wrote:

Mother Theressa shunned modern medicine for the people in her care preferring to keep them in a state of suffering that was conducive to the atmosphere she wanted her Nuns to live in. She also supported some pretty horrific regimes and embezzled funds. Not the Saint that the Catholic Church would like to paint her to be.
[/quote]

Haha, I wish I knew where you get this stuff from. I have not followed much of Mother Theressa, mostly because I have not been alive for very long so I have not had a chance. However, I can say that not very many people are perfect, but we try to be perfect. So, she may have done some things that were not considered perfect (I am not sure what), but guess what she did a lot of great things. And she is not a Saint, she is Beatified Mother Theressa.

[quote]
Large scale communism I agree has some pretty big issues but I don’t think any system can devalue the individual more than the Catholic Church which claims that we are all scum, inherently sinners and should writhe on the ground in joy that God cares enough to give us diseases, hardships and pain saying thank you master, give me more master like some sort of Sado Masochist being spanked by his Dominatrix.[/quote]

The Catholic Church does not claim we are scum, the Catholic Church actually says we are all capable of being perfect beings; who were seduced into being enslaved by Lucifer (Angel of light), at the Fall. And, when you repent and believe in the Good News, and are baptized, you become of G-d. Nice try though.[/quote]

I would recommend doing some reading up on Mother Teresa, it is actually very interesting.

A good starting place is The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa In Theory And Practice, by Christopher Hitchens (Verso, London and New York, 1995)[/quote]

I was thinking you made up the title of the book as some sort of Nun fantasy, but that is the title of the book.