What Is Right With Christianity

Christianity is,perhaps, the most misunderstood religion. While I certainly detest the fascist attitude that some "christians" exude, the religion itself is based upon principles that cannot be denied.

While I write this as an unorthodox Christian, I am still Christian. I have Christian morals and I do believe in Jesus the Christ. I must attest to the validity of Christ, for he is the one who has brought me unto the truth.

From the very moment Pontius Pilate uttered "Que es veritas," to the very present, man has searched for the truth. Is the truth to be found in the bible? Well, in order to understand that question, which is really outside the scope of this article, one needs to understand a few things.

(1) The bible has been manipulated for political purposes.

(2) The church, while possibly closer now that fifty years ago, does not present the complete teachings of Christ.

(3) The pastor is not the end all to understanding God's plan.

Now, to talk about what is right with Christianity; Lord knows I have pointed out its faults in my previous posts. :shk: Although, I do it because I know that true Christianity is not what is portrayed by most "christians."

I am not going to deluge you with a bunch of verses; I am going to make my case directly from reason.

Firstly, is there any grander principle that "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"? Actually, it is a principle that underlies all religions other than Islam, but Christianity is one that vocalizes it.

Secondly, the true God, not the warring, blood god, gave us the Ten Commandments. I don't intend to get too deep into this here, other than to say that even in the Old Testament there are conflicting images of God. All that being said, if people would by the commandments, many of the problems in the world today would not exist.

Thirdly, it cannot be denied, regardless if some are misled, that Christians are well intentioned . Yeah, they step on some toes, but really and truly, they are only going by the "information" they have. They are just like everyone else. We all make allegations based upon what "information" that we have.

The reason that I am posting this dissertation is because I have noticed here at ATS, even by my own self, a growing anti-Christian sentiment. There are a few reasons for this.

(1) There is both an anti-Islamic and christian sentiment in the world at large.The reason for the backlash is three-fold.
(1) People view Islam and Christianity as war causing religions.
(2) People perceive that even though these two religions are causing many problems, the proponents are demanding to be viewed as righteous.
(3) Most people feel like the religions of Islam and Christianity are just trying to tighten its strangle hold on the world.

These sentiments have increased since 9/11. I know that in the last three years, I have said things about Islam and Christianity that I would have never said 5-10 years ago. It all stems from what is currently taking place in the world.

Well, I think I have sufficiently expressed what is right about Christianity.

Love,Life and Light,
Speaker

What Is Right With Christianity

Speaker--

Darned good Topic--and I heartily agree with you on every point. These are the things that are right with the beliefs, yet, in stating them, you have also stated what it wrong with them--not the Beliefs themselves--but the modernist practices of them.

We need to start looking deeply at "Religion" and the differences between "Religions" and "Systems of Belief". The truest form of Fundamental Spirituality is that which holds and practices the prescepts and dictates of a given Belief System on a personal level such that it is literally Lived by the individual adherent.

"Religion", on the other hand, represents a Decadent Belief System; and decadent because of schism due to conflicting human interpretation and intereferance with the basic fundamentals of the Belief System over time. This is the reason why we have literally thousands of "demnominations" of Belief out of what originally was a single belief. Seeing this, there is no wonder why there is so much confusion in Christian Belief.

Christianity is a simple system made up of a single Belief and 2 Fellowship Rites; Baptism and The Eucharist. It is all simple, and based in the acceptance of Christ as Savior, Repentance from Sin, a Personal Relationship with God, and Faith as a Verb and Active Dynamic in Life--(one does Faith.

My further question on your Thread, then, is; Why and How did such a simple Way become so convoluted, hazy, and rediculously complicated? Is there a Conspiracy against God?

Good work, Speaker !!

(1) The bible has been manipulated for political purposes.

If you mean the interpretation by some individuals to make a political stance, we're in complete agreement. If, instead, you mean the text has been manipulated, we're in stark disagreement. We have more manuscripts of the New Testament than any other ancient work by a long shot, and the sources are far closer to the original date it was written than any other ancient work. That being said, in order to manipulate what is actually written in the Bible, you would have to redefine the Greek language first or make all manuscripts and images of those manuscripts off limits from people being able to view them, neither of which is true.

(2) The church, while possibly closer now that fifty years ago, does not present the complete teachings of Christ.

Which teachings are you talking about, and where are they located?

I am not going to deluge you with a bunch of verses; I am going to make my case directly from reason.

This is where danger enters into your thought process, when you deviate from God's Word and start trying to apply human logic to it. You ask if there is any grander principle than the "golden rule". Christ says that yes, there is, and that is to love the Lord your God with all your heart first and foremost. That's scripture -- your logic is deviating from it. You also assume there are conflicting images of God, which, on the surface is true, but as you delve into the texts, you discover that there is nothing contrary to who God is.

Christianity is not a philosophy. It is a trust in Christ as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, that He is our redeemer; that the sacrifice He made on the Cross is enough to cover and clean all we have done, are doing, and will do. Just as with the snake Moses rose up in Numbers 21, if we but trust in God's cleansing power through the Cross, we are redeemed. The rest will follow for it is written that our sins will be made known to us through the Holy Spirit. It is that trust in Christ that makes a Christian. The rest is doctrine that is important, but will naturally follow if you have truly dedicated your life to loving Christ. As He said, "if you love me you will follow my commandments."

Originally posted by Ed Littlefox

What Is Right With Christianity

Speaker--

"Religion", on the other hand, represents a Decadent Belief System; and decadent because of schism due to conflicting human interpretation and intereferance with the basic fundamentals of the Belief System over time. This is the reason why we have literally thousands of "demnominations" of Belief out of what originally was a single belief. Seeing this, there is no wonder why there is so much confusion in Christian Belief.

Christianity is a simple system made up of a single Belief and 2 Fellowship Rites; Baptism and The Eucharist. It is all simple, and based in the acceptance of Christ as Savior, Repentance from Sin, a Personal Relationship with God, and Faith as a Verb and Active Dynamic in Life--(one does Faith.

My further question on your Thread, then, is; Why and How did such a simple Way become so convoluted, hazy, and rediculously complicated? Is there a Conspiracy against God?

Good work, Speaker !!

Thanks for your very kind words,Ed Littlefox.

I think you hit the nail on the head by stating:

"Religion", on the other hand, represents a Decadent Belief System; and decadent because of schism due to conflicting human interpretation and intereferance with the basic fundamentals of the Belief System over time.

Anyone who is unbiased who has viewed my "criticisms" of Christianity realize that this is precisely my point. Now, a true Christian does not make it a habit of criticising others beliefs, yet, because of the schism of Christianity, judgment of other religions and even of other factions within Christianity is quite the norm.

Why has Christianity become so complicated? Well, much of it is due to the society in which we live. We demand complexity, but in a society where about 60% of the population has testified to never having read a book, how are we to understand the complexity? You see, and because society doesn't truly understand complexity, they make it all that much more complex.

Another thing is that so many are searching and,well, take me for example, I believe so many different things that sometimes it is hard to decipher exactly what it is that I believe. The present day "church" is a victim of the same dilemma.

As I have said repeatedly in my posts, while I am Christian,I am certainly not orthodox Christian. Hell, if I were living during the times of the inquisition, I would have been killed years ago!! :shk:

Originally posted by junglejake

(1) The bible has been manipulated for political purposes.

If you mean the interpretation by some individuals to make a political stance, we're in complete agreement. If, instead, you mean the text has been manipulated, we're in stark disagreement.

Then we are certainly in "stark disagreement".

Originally posted by SpeakerofTruth

Originally posted by junglejake

(1) The bible has been manipulated for political purposes.

If you mean the interpretation by some individuals to make a political stance, we're in complete agreement. If, instead, you mean the text has been manipulated, we're in stark disagreement.

Then we are certainly in "stark disagreement".

How? Why?

You make these obsecure statements as though they are fact and expect us to just believe you with no evidence or reasoning behind it. Please, fill us in, what is your reasoning in believing what you say?

Originally posted by junglejake

How? Why?

You make these obsecure statements as though they are fact and expect us to just believe you with no evidence or reasoning behind it. Please, fill us in, what is your reasoning in believing what you say?

First of all, it is quite obvious to me that you, like most other people in the world, are one who always wants to be right. Not everyone can be right.

However, I will bite at your incessant quip. Are you going to try and make me believe that there are not any deliberate mistranslations in the bible? Is that what you are proposing because if it is, I can assure you that either you are throughly confused or you are just arguing for the sake of argument. Every thread that I post, you seem incessant on questioning, which is fine, but when you become combative I will return combativeness.

How about you truly research the way the Hebrew bible was translated into the vulgate. How about you truly research the Nicean Council of 325 A.D. How about you truly research the KJ version of the bible and its intention. Once you have truly done that, and you still question where I am coming from, then you can get combative with me. I don't think, judging by your posts, that you have truly done any of the things I suggest. I could be wrong, but that is just my take on it.

[edit on 27-10-2006 by SpeakerofTruth]

That's what I figured, no straight answer.

As to intentional mistranslations, which version are you talking about? There are several translations of the Bible, done by many scholars using many manuscripts.

What, pray tell, was the real reason for the KJV?

What, pray tell, is significant about the Vulgate if the Septuigent was used for most modern OT translations?

And yes, I have been questioning many of your posts because you're presenting information I'm not aware of, and won't present any evidence except your own word backing it up. When pressed, you reply with questions in a hostile format as you did here or else you completely ignore it as you've done on other threads. Why on earth should I take your word over that of scripture?

You seem to question why I question translation:

Here is a big reason,Jake

We do not have any of the original manuscripts of the books that have been included in the Bible. All we have is copies of copies.

gbgm-umc.org...

In other words, it's word of mouth, Jake!!

[edit on 27-10-2006 by SpeakerofTruth]

No,I am not saying that all of the bible it faulty because it certainly isn't, but to think that the powers that be have not manipulated the bible to fit their own intentions, is rather naive.

There are more than 24,000 partial and complete manuscript copies of the New Testament.

Bible Translation

Notice the words again, partial and copies. Don't tell me a blue bird is red, when it is obviously blue,Jake. Please.

[edit on 27-10-2006 by SpeakerofTruth]

[edit on 27-10-2006 by SpeakerofTruth]

Here is something else to think about,Jake...

In the many thousands of manuscript copies we possess of the New Testament, scholars have discovered that there are some 150,000 "variants."

I think it's important that all of us keep this prayer in mind:

Prayer: Grant us, O God, to be mindful now of your presence, that what we say and think, and all we do, may learn to arrange itself as before your face, for your love’s sake. Amen