YondaimeBunshin

I only read the creator's post and then a few on this last page...let me preface my post with these are in fact my own opinions, I respect yours and am not voicing anything against you specifically so if I get a little passionate don't go and get all huffy over it. Just communicate and in any case I will try to keep it off the radar of offensiveness.

But I personally am a Christian, I don't profess or advocate evangelism the way others would, and I don't attend church. It's not about giving money, I think anyone who avoids or dislikes church simply because they like any other organization in this day and age, need a foundation. They need a building, electricity, they are in fact an organization and can be similar to a business. It's just the day and age we live in, a family can't live without a base level of income, and an organization like church wouldn't have many people in america hooked if they didn't have their cushy air conditioned buildings where you get a nice little gift bag with a tract/track (don't know the correct spelling), to somehow entice you to return the following week. The reason I don't attend is because it's fake. I'll be the first to step out on a limb and believe certain hard to accept parts of the Bible as literal truth, but even outside of those cases, the people who attend are fake. The protestant community published a very modest figure a number of years ago that 1/25 that attend church are actual believers. How sad, and I think it's actually much much higher based on what I've observed. And the so called "pastor", whose title used to be an example of their fervency for God a.k.a. a "preacher", is little more than a guy who stands up and talks about things that are so broad as to reach everyone that it's like hitting a baseball bat against a stretched out piece of fabric, that is to say, there is no impact, and subsequently absolutely the opposite of what he might've intended. But I do think that the church's money shouldn't have to go to supporting the pastor anymore, it's a dead practice, the guy probably spends 20 minutes making that bull and we pay for a gigantic single family house for them and their family. Cable if I recall isn't really a necessary expense. They should get a full time job like everyone else or accept that the kindness of others will probably net them a couple old couches and cheap rent.

In addition, America itself is a place where you can't talk about what you believe for fear we might offend another person. But to tell you the truth, the paths that we all walk are so similar, why hate on someone who believes in a version of Hinduism where there are infinite gods, or even someone as close as another division of Christianity who believes differently than I do, that we are saved only at the moment of death, rather than once and forever if it is a true acceptance of JC. So yeah, I might call myself a Christian, but I think Modern Christianity is lame.

Wouldn't a true Modern Christian be more like 50% hippy and 50% martial artist? Someone who dedicates himself to the way and path that he walks in order to shine the light of Mr. JC, but still all about love and peace and acceptance even unto accepting people's hating? I'm gonna say that's a weaker example, but the point should be clear there. Modern Christianity is weak and nearly everyone who claims the name is a faker. I have come to the conclusion that if you are a real Christian you're going to walk a very lonely path, one that calls you to similar principles as Buddhism, or other religions that Christians judge all the time, a very high standard that has its own proof that you reap what you sow, good or bad, even if you forget for a minute that it's God whose making those statements. A principal driven life with a supernatural backdrop is all it is. The world we live in can't ever hope to explain the literal or supernatural references in the Bible, because it's purely subjective, cause and effect, but anything supernatural is for the most part objective and therefore not subject to any reasoning given to us by God as a law of this world, until we're no longer apart of it. And let me say there is only one truth by definition. But just because that is true doesn't mean I have got the right one, or that someone can't live by being close to the truth, if that were so then we'd all be dead. Everyone interprets the world differently, some find the truth, and some come to a conclusion that could be so close to the truth, but ends up being something different. Agnostic Theism is a good example, truth as I understand it is there is one God from whom all creation flows, and the truth to an agnostic is that there is a God or Gods that they can neither confirm nor deny so it's just kind of ethereal. I'd probably end up in this catagory of Agnostic Theism somehow since it is my belief that "the fallibility of human beings means that they cannot obtain absolute certainty except in trivial cases where a statement is true by definition" (taken from wiki while looking for evidence to illustrate my point).

And the only reason anyone should be evangelizing anyone is they've lived their life in such a way that is evident of the beliefs we claim. For every person Christians "lead to being saved" they have another person who will endure a fake church which is essentially perverting the entire point, it's another life the church has to take responsibility in training, and they can't even properly train the base believers who grow up in the church now never mind newly recruited. Jesus definitely didn't want some fatass accountant to drag his family to church every sunday only to be trying to decide what to have for lunch for that hour or two. I've been to churches where it's like fast food, a message that's twenty minutes long and no meaning, sing three songs and you're out in less than an hour. Lame.

And I know for a fact that there are people who live their lives happily, rightly and successfully without any God, all I'm saying is God made you to be that way, am I really gonna care about anything you're doing except what happens after this life is over with. And if you've asked yourself that question and are satisfied with the answer, go on with your bad self. But for me, I am a perfect example of the wide ranging experiences that lead me to believe there is a single God and the existence of sin and my experience with it leads me to believe that I need to establish a relationship with Him. And when I say sin I do in fact mean sin itself is a lifestyle just like the opposite, I don't just mean oops I lied, or holy crap I killed someone, it's not an instance of sin, or even just fire insurance. I accept that we're not perfect and will only be able to moderate the path between the sin lifestyle and the "christian" lifestyle, but it's meant to be a complete way of life and not a philosophy or set of beliefs. *whew!*

Ok, that's my rant sorry.

Minor opinions:

Buddhism - not my flavor, but if I didn't hardcore accept my "Christian" beliefs, then I'd probably side with being a Buddhist.

Atheism - I couldn't be an atheist because stupid sounding or not, emotional, mental, physical and spiritual are all connected, I can't deny the supernatural and have after much consideration, decided my beliefs, which seem to more or less consign with Christianity.

Catholicism - I was a little scared when I tried it, I believe in the supernatural, not the superstitious, and there is a difference, I don't pray a certain way nor do I pray to, what I consider, such powerless figures as OTHER PEOPLE LIKE ME who follow the same God... And lol my catholic friend said within Catholicism you're either a hardcore Cath, or you're not even Catholic you just are forced so often it's like brain washing and you're basically an atheist lol, sorry if that's not a true statement..

Hinduism - meh researched it when I was younger but found it didn't agree with what I had found myself "knowing" was the truth.

Judaism - meh, it's the JC factor, Jesus divides an entire religion. Judaism and Christianity so there's not really a lot to squabble about. They might be almost as dogmatic and at times I've met very superstitious Jews, but overall they practice the lifestyle pretty well, the principles are lived out and according the the Word (reboot! and the word is daemon lol jk jk) the Jews remain His only Chosen people. So go Jews, you're awesome.

Scientology - ...no.

Mormons - I don't consider them Christians, they deviate from essential doctrine with the whole several levels of heaven and you can buy real estate in heaven even owning your own and being God of it...I'm just saying. It's not my thing, it might be yours though so just know I'm silently judging you! lol seriously jk

Jehova's Witnesses - also a no. Jesus as played by patrick swayze in the movie Ghost did not happen in my version. Not saying my truth is the the actual truth again, just saying I don't believe Jesus would go through all the trouble of making a fake ghost body if the point was to illustrate his conquering of death. And that the holes in his hands were actually magic tricks. And that Jesus commands us to not celebrate your birthday or dance because it's sinful. If that's so then dammit someone got me, cuz that day I was born...that'd be my birthday.

Anything else, I'm a student of the world, and would love to learn about, I just don't have as much time as I used to to just randomly study other belief systems.