Not a Christian You're not a Christian. Christian Definition: A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament and interpreted by Christians to have been prophesied in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. You are not a Christian, unless you want to redefine the word. It sounds to me like you are much more open minded than Christians. No, in your scenario god would not be wrong. The religion would be wrong. Specifically, Christianity.
To me, you insulted me. I told you my theory and you completely denied my belief for me? BTW EONS explains it above you, please read. <3 EON Oh and I don't disagree with the bible, I just said that everything is not exactly how it happened(kinda like a based on a true story movie)
I poorly phrased my question, and I apologize for that. Assume the two men have the same upbringing environments, the same physical capabilities and the same mental sanity. When I was younger, I had only been told of Christianity and Judaism, those being the two popular religious traits in my community. Nothing had been forced down my throat, I was never forced to go to Church or anything of the like; hell, I haven't even made my communion yet; yet I still choose to believe in what I do, an why is this? You coined the term "rational"; 1 a: having reason or understanding b: relating to, based on, or agreeable to reason : reasonable <a rational explanation> <rational behavior> What's rational to one person may not be rational to another. Your logic is based upon Science and facts and the like while others are based upon belief in itself. I'm probably not gonna be looking in this topic again, either. I'm not big on these whole religion-related threads, too much work against those who refuse to listen really. :0
If you would like to go by that, then you can say that people are not members of almost every group that exists. I am sure you agree Baptists and Methodists and any other Protestant denominations are still Christians? If you are restricting the term Christian to that definition, then they are not considered Christians because they do not adhere by everything in the Bible and Jesus' teachings. One perfect example is almost every single Protestant denomination does not believe in transubstantiation of the bread and wine at the consecration. This was a teaching of Jesus and if they do not believe it, then they must not be Christians. If this isn't enough for you, Lutherans only accept 2 of the 7 sacraments: Baptism and Eucharist (they're interpretation is different than that of what Jesus said). All 7 sacraments are instituted through Jesus and His teachings.
Chris⋅tian /ˈkrɪstʃən/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [kris-chuhn] Show IPA Pronunciation –adjective 1. of, pertaining to, or derived from Jesus Christ or His teachings: a Christian faith. 2. of, pertaining to, believing in, or belonging to the religion based on the teachings of Jesus Christ: Spain is a Christian country. 3. of or pertaining to Christians: many Christian deaths in the Crusades. 4. exhibiting a spirit proper to a follower of Jesus Christ; Christlike: She displayed true Christian charity. 5. decent; respectable: They gave him a good Christian burial. 6. human; not brutal; humane: Such behavior isn't Christian. –noun 7. a person who believes in Jesus Christ; adherent of Christianity. 8. a person who exemplifies in his or her life the teachings of Christ: He died like a true Christian. 9. a member of any of certain Protestant churches, as the Disciples of Christ and the Plymouth Brethren. 10. the hero of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. 11. a male given name. I AM A CHRISTIAN!!!!
Last Grasp All of the religions that you brought up were created because logical people still wanted to hold on to Christian religion, but could no longer kid themselves about some of the more ridiculous things stated in the bible. So, they picked and chose what they wanted to keep. Christianity will continue to devolve as our understanding of reality grows in the coming centuries. If I only believe one sentence in the bible and think the rest is false am I a Christian, or is it belief in over 50%. Where do you draw the line? I believe in Evolution and The Big Bang. I don't believe there is a Heaven or a Hell. I don't believe that Noah collected 2 of every species on the planet and saved them from a world wide flood. I don't believe that woman was created from the rib of a man. I don't believe that the Red Sea was parted. I don't believe almost everything in the bible, but I do believe that a man named Jesus Christ existed. Do I get to call myself a Christian, too?
Nowhere, makisupa, in your definition, does it state that Christians adhere to everything stated in the Bible. It does not state that they adhere to anything in the Bible. It says that they believe in Jesus' teachings as prophesised in the Old Testament.
It all depends on what else you believe in. If you happen to believe in one sentence of the bible and nothing else, then you are that much Christian. Religion is not about how much you believe in something, it's about what you believe. If you believe something, then you must be 100% about it. If you believe in 90% of the bible, but you are 100% behind that part of it, then that is your religion.
Very good point. People these days attack your beliefs to a group of people. You can still call yourself a Christian if you believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God without being part of a Christian community. Your faith should be 100% based on private revelation, in my opinion.
Then the two men would make the same decision as determined by their environment. I see no reason why one would choose the other. You were indoctrinated. You were told Christianity or Judaism were the only choices and by the time you were old enough to choose you no longer had a choice. A child's psychology is much different from an adult's. It is irresponsible to make a child choose his religion and, if anything, demonstrates your parents utter disregard for the seriousness that religion must impose upon them and also shows the frailty of religion by demonstrating that a child has the ability to choose something as important as god. The Laws of Logic. That is all...
Yeah, I've read Cyanide and Happiness, but not for a while. That particular one was pretty good. Anyway, God- yeah.
Even if you dont believe in God and believe the "Big Bang Theory" or any other theory of the creation of the universe, something had to be created. you dont just get all of these planets out of nothing. something had to have been created in the first place. otherwise it would just be abyss. So the evolutionary theory doesnt hold water.. and people with religion, their theory suits themselves they have explanations of the creation of mankind/ universe
This thread has nothing to do with science or you misrepresentation of it. Given me reasons why god must exist, why he necessitates existence, not why everything else is wrong.
.............Nitrous I was basically told the same thing. Except my father was Jewish so he basically only implied the loose teachings of Judaism. The moment they told me to pray I asked them why. After hearing a breif lecture about god and how he will guide you only with the following of the torah etc etc. I responded with a brief short sweet "Thats a crock o **** and you know it" (Or something to that extent, I remember it ending with **** anyway.) Too which my father did his darn well best to try and hammer it in. (My mother only rolling along with it out of fear and so theres none of their famous "Debate arguments of doom" detailing there now null marriage.) After about a week or two of resistance he left me in peace with a disgruntled growl whenever I saw him. (He thought I was retarded *BUZZER BEEP*) So no I DID technically choose for myself despite the fact that he only offered me one option. Most ironically is that hes basically atheist and doesn't even believe in it himself. So im kinda still peeved that he tryed to force it on me. NOTE: I also gave them the same response when my mom told me about santa the easter bunny etc. Most annoying was when he tryed to force me to play with the dradle. (I HATE those) Id say I had to choose when I was a kid but I technically still am a kid. (13) I chose at about 7 or 8 yet got the exact opposite result of domi... maybe his parents took more of an effort to hammer it into his head i don't know
We are barely smarter than we were at the time of the bible was written, back then almost everything was explained using God/supernatural beings. Now I'll show a common Christian argument: "How did the big bang start? It was obviously something supernatural, aka God." This bugs me, just because modern science can't explain it yet, does not automatically make God/Gods real! Everyone that argues this point annoys me greatly.
To be honest, I agree with you 100% Hotpokkaminny. I'm starting to realise sometimes how ridiculous some of the things of my faith are, such as "This is not yet scientifically explained, so it must be the work of God." That's basically what most miracles are, especially back a long time ago, which is why you don't see nearly as many saints being canonized now as back in the 10th-15th centuries.
I like how after having such a heavy debate in the 'theism and atheism' topic, the theists just ask questions when asked for proof. It is beyond rediculous to beleive in a mystical being that created the world, its like a childrens story or something. Oh, did someone say STORY...
No, I think that many of us who were defending theism before are now realizing that we were sitting in the dark without asking any questions.