Christianity is a religion based on love and forgiveness NOT hate and intolerance.

Lately as I've been lurking the virtual halls of ATS I've noticed something. I've begun to notice a lack of representation of the true message of Jesus ecspecially here on the Religion Forum. The message of Jesus was a message of love, forgiveness and self-sacrifice. These are the qualities that a Christian (disciple of Christ) should strive to embody. It the call of a Christian to be like Christ but that is not what I see ecspecially here on ATS.

What I have however been noticing are a lot of posts and threads full of hate, bitterness and unforgiveness from Believers and Non-Believers alike. Non-Believers I can understand because Christians (at least here on ATS) haven't exactly set a standard of love, compassion and understanding. Jesus said "Do not judge lest you be judged." As Christians it is not our place to judge because God is the Judge and that right is reserved for Him and because we too have sinned and fallen short of the Grace of God. There is no bigger hypocrite in the world than a Christian who judges his neighbor.

Love is the true message of Christianity and it is not one that we Christians as the collective 'Body' are doing a great job of promoting. Our lives should be our testimony and our message. Our mandate is to love God and love our neighbor as we love ourselves not judge them and tell them if they don't believe they're going to hell. We should show some compassion and understanding when dealing with Non-Believers. It is not our job to 'convert' but rather 'preach' Christs' message. If Christians as a whole would truly adopt Jesus' message as a message of unconditional love then I believe everything would change.

Personally I'm not exactly what you would call a traditional Christian and I'm certainly not a "Religious" one but I do believe in the message of Jesus. I rarely attend church because it's filled with hypocrites, Pharisees and money-changers. I can can certainly see why people have such a bad attitude and dislike for Christians. Many of them are self-righteous and just, well, all around unlikable. This is not what Jesus taught. Being a Christian I follow the teachings of Jesus rather than Paul or John. I find that the teachings of Jesus are simple, straight-forward and easy to understand. We should all strive to be more like Jesus.

In short the message of Jesus and the foundation of all Christianity is love and forgiveness, a message we Christians should strive to exemplify. That is Christianity, not hate and intolerance but rather love, kindness and forgiveness.

you may want to give that message to the majority of followers..

The way I see it is that all religion is full of hate and intolerance-

reply to post by I Want To Believe


Nothing wrong with the "message"...

It is still a religion...

(Religion = Brainwashing tool, designed to control the masses, by sapping their time and energy from relevant information ingestion by instead rehashing psalms, singing halleluja and praying to some mock up deity, with the deceptive "reward" of the feeling to "belong to a group", which unfortunately in this case, is just a group of uninteresting sheep)

reply to post by Neopan100


Anyone with "hate and intolerance" in their heart are not religious.

No matter how much they claim it, no matter how many times they go to church and fellowship dinners.

People who hate are the true atheists.

reply to post by I Want To Believe


Why do you think people get insulted when you call then Christian?

I don't take it as an insult anymore, but i used to... and why? Because i found it personally insulting to be associated with the type of people that call themselves "good Christians" yet do nothing but judge everyone that disagrees with their beliefs...

Ghandi had it right... I love their Christ but dislike Christians, because they are SOOOO not like their Christ..

Originally posted by applesthateatpeople
reply to post by Neopan100

 

Anyone with "hate and intolerance" in their heart are not religious.

No matter how much they claim it, no matter how many times they go to church and fellowship dinners.

People who hate are the true atheists.

I disagree... religionists are the ones that spread hate...

and i've found more atheists are at least accepting of others, and understand "logic" at least...

Religion is backwards... the original intent is screwed up... Religion is supposed to make you a better person, but it actually ends up making most people judgemental and bitter towards people that disagree with them

Here's the catch-22 on Christianity:

You cannot be a Christian and follow the teachings of Christ. Anyone who understands the teachings of "Christ" will understand why.

reply to post by Neopan100


I'd agree, if it were not for Buddhism. I can't see Buddhism as harmful.

Originally posted by NeoVain
reply to post by I Want To Believe

 

Nothing wrong with the "message"...

It is still a religion...

(Religion = Brainwashing tool, designed to control the masses, by sapping their time and energy from relevant information ingestion by instead rehashing psalms, singing halleluja and praying to some mock up deity, with the deceptive "reward" of the feeling to "belong to a group", which unfortunately in this case, is just a group of uninteresting sheep)

I have no leader. I have no group. I am religious.

If it is a "tool, designed to control masses", why isn't it controlling me?

Because I live for God, my children and myself. I really don't care what anyone else believes, unless they ask me to.

I know some of the most recent threads you are speaking of and I am glad to see that there are at least a few Christians on here that I can respect.

I am no longer a religious man. I no longer believe in a god. I did for 25 years of my life and now, without getting into a pointless and unrelated story, I do not. But when people like you, post threads like this, it keeps my faith that people who choose to follow a "religion" (loosely used) can still be human.

Although, I can't envision a time that I would ever believe in anything outside of the natural world, I want to thank you very much for your thoughts.

Philodemus

reply to post by NeoVain


I can certainly appreciate your point of view but it's not about the people being interesting or not. It's about the message and the message is a message of love and forgiveness. Do you have principles or ideals which you hold yourself to? I do. I follow the principles and ideals set forth by Jesus. Is that any more crazy than you following your principles and ideals? (Assuming you have any.) My religion is my concience and all I can be expected to do is follow it.

Originally posted by NeoVain
reply to post by I Want To Believe

 

Nothing wrong with the "message"...

It is still a religion...

(Religion = Brainwashing tool, designed to control the masses, by sapping their time and energy from relevant information ingestion by instead rehashing psalms, singing halleluja and praying to some mock up deity, with the deceptive "reward" of the feeling to "belong to a group", which unfortunately in this case, is just a group of uninteresting sheep)

Sure religion is used to suppress and control. But thats not why people like Budda and Christ and other spiritual leaders started their "movement". I think the bible has been butchered by rome. but the real christ can still be seen. Christ gave the people of that time and location a very simple method of turning inwards. We see love yourself as your neighbor all over. And in practice it will lead to the realization of one's own nature. So I have a deep admiration for the Christ. But his church has defiantly been hijacked, and it didn't take long after his death. And has been used to suppress and kill

reply to post by Akragon


That's because most people who claim to be religious AREN'T religious. Period.

reply to post by I Want To Believe


Don't listen to what a religion and their people SAY. Look at what they DO.

Christianity is credited with the Crusades, the Inquisition, the attempted genocide of the gnostics, the Salem Witch Burnings, MASSIVE pedophilia and cover-up of said pedophilia, hate crimes against gays, and that's just off the top of my head.

All because they have a different *opinion* on God or the Bible. Or, as the superlatively violent past of the church shows, kill you for anything they want as long as they call you an enemy of the church - and therefore God - then burn you at the stake. Basically like being labeled a terrorist in modern America.

All the worlds major organized religions profess love, understanding, acceptance and equality. They all SAY that. But always look at what they DO.

reply to post by Akragon


I agree with you 110%. Christians aren't like Christ. I am a Christian only in that I follow Christs teachings or at least try. Some of the biggest hypocrites in the world are Christians. S and F for the Gandhi quote too. There are very few men besides Jesus that I respect as much as Mahatma Gandhi. I think he was probably the closest thing to 'Christ-like' you could get without being the actual man.

Originally posted by applesthateatpeople
reply to post by Akragon

 

That's because most people who claim to be religious AREN'T religious. Period.

religion is about belief systems. Being deeply attached to beliefs is a dangerous thing. All the problems of the world are really this. Not good vs evil. But rather one man's belief vs another's.

Originally posted by applesthateatpeople
reply to post by Akragon

 

That's because most people who claim to be religious AREN'T religious. Period.

I suppose we have different definitions of "religious"... to me someone that is religious is someone who goes to church, prays to his God, and follows what the church leader tells you to believe...

heres a few more...

1. Having or showing belief in and reverence for God or a deity.
2. Of, concerned with, or teaching religion: a religious text.
3. Extremely scrupulous or conscientious: religious devotion to duty.
n. pl. religious
A member of a monastic order, especially a nun or monk.

A person bound by monastic vows.

basically "adhereing" to a specific "religion"...

This doesn't mean these people actually understand anything about the books of their religion... They preach when they've been taught as opposed to what they've learned by reading themselves...

just my opinion of course...

Perhaps the Christians making these mistakes have not yet fully grown in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ? Heck, Paul in writing to the Corinthians called them "brothers", yet they were suing each other, getting drunk on the communion wine, and having communal sex with one another. Being born again by the Holy Spirit doesn't mean we turn into Christ immediately like some Transformer, it means we learn to be like Christ by the guidance of the indwelling of His Spirit. We still make mistakes, and a mature person in the faith will admit they make mistakes and seek forgiveness when possible.

reply to post by Cataka


I dont disagree with you at all. The Church did do all those things but that's not what Christ commanded. That isn't His message. Jesus didn't say "Make war against your neighbor and burn all those who oppose me and my message." No instead He said "Love your neighbor, Forgive those who hurt you, Bless those who curse you, If a man asks for your coat give him your shirt too." That is His message. That is what He commanded his disciples to do. That is his life. Wouldnt you say that is a good message?

Originally posted by NOTurTypical
Perhaps the Christians making these mistakes have not yet fully grown in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ? Heck, Paul in writing to the Corinthians called them "brothers", yet they were suing each other, getting drunk on the communion wine, and having communal sex with one another. Being born again by the Holy Spirit doesn't mean we turn into Christ immediately like some Transformer, it means we learn to be like Christ by the guidance of the indwelling of His Spirit. We still make mistakes, and a mature person in the faith will admit they make mistakes and seek forgiveness when possible.

and this is why Christianity doesn't produce godly men. It produces men who can quote scripture at most, and unfortunately that's what a godly man is to most. The idea that you can become like Christ by "moulding" yourself to his image. Which could include adding virtues to yourself or overcoming certain "sins" that plague your inner being. Is completely going in the wrong direction. None of that is true and will not bring you to liberation. But to the Christian world ,liberation would be salvation from some eternal inferno you've never experienced and it's existence is only assumption. Finding one's true nature is the only real liberation. One's true nature can only be experienced, not brought down to words and contextualized and made into "knowledge". When one acts from his true nature, and not the nature of the mind, everything he does is virtue. But when you do things out of your morality, your fear of a supreme being, anything done out of unawareness(where there is an I) then everything you do is one big sin.