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Could you be a friend with a christian?

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Fnord
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31 Dec 2014, 8:34 pm

white_as_snow wrote:
Fnord wrote:
white_as_snow wrote:
Fnord wrote:
Skibz888 wrote:
Fnord wrote:
I tell them this, and instead of reasoning with me, they call me "mentally ill", "heretical", and a "damned trouble-maker". So much for the religion of love and forgiveness.
"I merely tell these people that everything they believe is wrong and they have the nerve to get mad at me! I just don't understand it!"
The Bible is an interesting document, including stories about murder, incest, theft, lies, slavery, fraud, perjury, torture ... Yet Christians seem to have some form of selective blindness when it comes to those parts of the Bible. They seem to act as if those parts don't matter, and that anyone who knows about them - especially those of us who speak of them - are blasphemous creatures undeserving of love and mercy. And THAT is why I don't have many Christian friends.
Yes, the bible have some horrible s**t in it, mostly in old testament. What you dont understand however is that we are followers of Jesus Christ, Jesus was/is very kind and a teacher of love.
Then maybe "Christians" should follow their leader a little more closely.

"I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ." -- The Mahatma, Mohandas Gandhi.

Truer words are rarely ever spoken.
True. But we are better now then we were before.
"Not sinning as much" is still sinning.


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white_as_snow
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31 Dec 2014, 8:51 pm

Fnord wrote:
white_as_snow wrote:
Fnord wrote:
Shadow Wolf wrote:
As long as they respect others, don't push their religion, and don't go out of their way to condemn others and make them feel bad ...
We are talking about Christians, aren't we? The only ones I have personally known to fit your description were dead.
thats strange, where do you live? are you lying? christians that I know are not like that.


You don't know many "Real World Christians", do you?


Yes I do, the vast majority of them are good decent people. Many christians are behaving bad aswell, im aware of that, but please dont judge all.

Have I treated you bad?



white_as_snow
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31 Dec 2014, 8:52 pm

Fnord wrote:
white_as_snow wrote:
Fnord wrote:
white_as_snow wrote:
Fnord wrote:
Skibz888 wrote:
Fnord wrote:
I tell them this, and instead of reasoning with me, they call me "mentally ill", "heretical", and a "damned trouble-maker". So much for the religion of love and forgiveness.
"I merely tell these people that everything they believe is wrong and they have the nerve to get mad at me! I just don't understand it!"
The Bible is an interesting document, including stories about murder, incest, theft, lies, slavery, fraud, perjury, torture ... Yet Christians seem to have some form of selective blindness when it comes to those parts of the Bible. They seem to act as if those parts don't matter, and that anyone who knows about them - especially those of us who speak of them - are blasphemous creatures undeserving of love and mercy. And THAT is why I don't have many Christian friends.
Yes, the bible have some horrible s**t in it, mostly in old testament. What you dont understand however is that we are followers of Jesus Christ, Jesus was/is very kind and a teacher of love.
Then maybe "Christians" should follow their leader a little more closely.

"I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ." -- The Mahatma, Mohandas Gandhi.

Truer words are rarely ever spoken.
True. But we are better now then we were before.
"Not sinning as much" is still sinning.


Indeed. We are all sinners actually. Only god is without sin.



Skibz888
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02 Jan 2015, 5:56 am

Fnord wrote:
white_as_snow wrote:
Fnord wrote:
Shadow Wolf wrote:
As long as they respect others, don't push their religion, and don't go out of their way to condemn others and make them feel bad ...
We are talking about Christians, aren't we? The only ones I have personally known to fit your description were dead.
thats strange, where do you live? are you lying? christians that I know are not like that.
California.

No.

You don't know many "Real World Christians", do you?


I live in California - specifically in Orange County, which is one of the most conservative areas in the west - and I've been involved with and witness to plenty of socially liberal and theologically progressive churches and Christian organizations, primarily ones involved with LGBT outreach. Of course, I know there are plenty of deeply conservative churches and organizations in OC too, but I don't happen to be involved with them.

While the vast majority of Christians in my life are precisely those kind of charitable, affirming Christ followers, I definitely don't generalize that ALL Christians are as pleasant. Thinking back to my youth and being repelled by my grandparents' Jehovah's Witnessing, I can forgive someone for initially painting all of Christianity with broadly negative strokes based on their own bad experiences, but that's not a lasting foundation for radical atheism. It's really not a whole lot different than if you had a singularly unpleasant experience with a person of color and used that to justify a racist ideology, though obviously on a much smaller scale (spiritual though I may be, Christians are certainly not a persecuted minority).



Tim_Tex
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02 Jan 2015, 9:13 am

ICollectWatches wrote:
If you're Christian, looking for friends, and limited by your social circumstances mostly to online socializing, you are in for a world of frustration. There is a great deal of anti-Christian sentiment online. There is a great deal of anti-Christian sentiment among people "on the spectrum".

If you are American, of from another mostly-Christian country, Christianity is "the establishment". Those predisposed to hating the establishment are going to hate Christians, even if they rarely are bothered by Christians.

I live in a very liberal, secular city, and still, among the tech-savvy here, you'd think we were living the frickin' Crusades. Christianity has no purchase whatsoever in my workplace (quite the contrary, actually--it's quite Christian-hostile), nor does it have any sway in the local fandom social circles. I haven't had any Jehova's Witnesses knock on my door in the twenty years I've lived here. I've never seen anyone preaching on a street corner. Christian influence--even a frickin' Merry Christmas--isn't tolerated even the slightest in any circles I travel, yet everyone complains how repressed they are for not being Christian.


Agree completely about the establishment part.


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queensamaria
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06 Jan 2015, 8:58 pm

Actually, yes. I am actually friends with fellow Christians. I know because I am a Christian! :D


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