True Christianity

Paul didn't control his own agenda. He was often responding to questions raised by the various congregations that contacted him for advice, or that he thought needed his guidance on particular issues. And he would often begin by restating their question. Since there were no quotation marks in Greek, it's sometimes hard to tell where the somewhat strange or petty issue raised by the questioner ends and Paul's response begins.

 

Yeah, good post.

 

The title of this thread is "True Christianity". If Jesus comes again, I'm wondering if he would measure up in the eyes of the "Christian" religious establishment. After all, he was a Jewish hippie radical liberal pacifist, who liked to hang out with lowlifes and the dregs of society; preached against family values; despised wealth; praised poverty; and insisted on unconditional, nonjudgmental love and acceptance of everyone, including wretched nobodies. He had nothing to say about gays and abortion, but plenty to say about divorce, which might put him at odds with the Republican Party that has a propensity for putting up divorced candidates for President. The only person he guaranteed would get to Heaven was a robber on the cross next to him. To see what the values of Jesus look like in action, I like to attend gatherings of the Rainbow Family, where only a minority of attendees call themselves Christian (more are pagans, Wiccans, Buddhists, Taoists, Sufis, etc.), and few if any are registered Republicans, but most are furthering "True Christianity", if that can be defined in terms of Jesus' values. If Jesus is in charge of Heaven, it will probably be something like an eternal Gathering of the Tribes, where the Christian religious right will get a chance to get up close and personal with toothless homeless people and bathless hippies forever and ever. Endless hugs for everybody. If CEOs, Wall Street Bankers, and Televangelists go there, they may think they're in Hell.

 

Okie, Do you like Rauschenbusch?

Reminds me of the idea of the parable "The Grand Inquisitor" in Fyodor Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov"...

Christ returns and is killed by the Inquisition because the Church no longer needs him.

 

How did he NOT?


Last I checked that thread, you didn't have anything to say when multiple references that the movie made turned out to be based on fabricated info.

 

The blogspot is to S. Archaya, a.k.a. D.M. Murdock, a major source of information for the Zeitgeist film. Archaya is basically an anti-Christian entrepreneur like FedUp. She has no scholarly credentials and gets most of her information from discredited sources, especially Frazer's Golden Bough (1890) and amateur Egyptologist Gerald Massey, who died in 1927. The rest, she mostly makes up. But it makes her lots of money. The flavor of her enterprise can be gleaned from the website FedUp refers us to. Note the credit card information for contributions to her cause. If you still find her convincing, I'd like you to come to Oklahoma for a visit. There's some excellent real estate in the Panhandle I'd like to show you.

 

Agreed if you focus on what he said and trim the fat, and cut out dogma, there is a beautiful elegant truth written there that "Christianity" seems to have missed the boat on. See in my lil ole humble opinion Jesus' teachings only make sense if you approach them with "Eastern" Religion Philsophy, as opposed to Western. In other words, the external world/experience you live doesn't control you. You control the external world/experience you live. Kinda like looking in a mirror... your life is a reflection of what is within you.

If you read gospels with that as the thesis of his teachings then it becomes a much more enlightening read.

Don't mind FedUp, he's actually a nice guy I think he's just hung up on fundy's and feels like you did in that other line i highlithed in bold.

Hugs all around

 

Hey you know speaking of which FedUp, I haven't seen a Fundy come on here in quite a while saying your going to hell... have you lost your touch!?

LOL

 

I think I actually would pay to see that.

 

I think that's very well said, somethingnew, and very true. I think there are people who just don't see the kind, good Christians that exist in the world just because they don't want to, sad as that is. I wish people could see that, not only are Christians supposed to be kind and decent rather than judgmental, but that there are many who are.

 

I have to say, this is probably one of the most insightful things I'll read today. How well put -- Jesus wouldn't shy away from those who are less than He (and that includes all of us), and yet those who profess to believe and follow Him cross the street when they see the poor beggar coming down the street, or yell "Get a Job!" at the folks in the welfare lines, or can't bring themselves to tithe when the opportunity comes. Christians (including myself) have a long way to go, true.

 

In truth, Christians are taught to be humble and to do acts of good without being seen:

Matthew 6:1-4 -- "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

 

Yeah. It's sad that the ones who are seen, like the band of anti-gay picketers at funerals, or the well-monied televangelists, or the loonies who keep medicine from their kids because of some crazy take on the Bible, are the ones who grab the headlines. but that's the way it goes. No news is Good News.

 

One of the strongest messages in the bible IMO.

 

I'm continually amazed by what passes as "True Christianity"!

Simply put, a True Christian believes and follows the whole Bible and does not pick and choose what he wants to believe.

A True Christian believes "All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching and reproving and setting things straight".

 

All scripture? or just that of the bible?

 

Seeing as it's a quote from the Bible, I would say it's talking just about the Bible.

 

Actually there are some "churches" that don't pass a Collection Plate seeing as the Bible does say; You received free, give free!

 

The church that my family goes to doesn't pass around a collection plate. They have boxes off to the side for those who wish to tithe.

 

The comments from you and others about collection or non-collection of donations by Christian churches is interesting, but my initial post that led to this line of discussion was only peripherally concerned about that matter. I was pointing out that S. Archaya, whom FedUp considers to be a topnotch source of information about Christianity and myth, is not a credible source because:
(1) she has no scholarly standing or credentials; (2) she ignores the latest scholarship that most historians regard as convincing refutations of her postion, (3) she relies on discredited sources from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; and (4) most of her allegations of close parallels between Christian scripture and pagan myths are demonstrably false. The up-front display of credit card information, while not entirely different than some Christian churches, suggests a motive. She is a charlatan peddling myths about myths for money.