Forum Index
»
Private & Independent Schools
Any Practicing Christians?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
Without putting any pressure or guilt on others, if you reveal a bit about your own walk with God"
"your own walk with God"! LOL! Oh, brother! Get over yourself! Read the Bible and stop spouting your preacher's propaganda. |
Anonymous
|
"but when we have put out "feelers" like those the PP mentions, we have not met any other parents with an interest in Bible study, or who view their faith as a "daily walk" or something that informs their parenting or other decisions on a daily basis. "
What is your point? And how is this any of your business? |
Anonymous
| Do "committed Christians" wear signs? How can you possibly know what is in someone's heart? |
Anonymous
| How old is your DC? I find that my Middle Schooler knows a fair amount about his classmates and their families: political views, religious views, ethnicity, etc. The kids are definately more comfortable talking about this than the parents. You may find more connections made as your DC gets older. |
Anonymous
| Interesting point that I hadn't thought about, 17:07 -- thanks. My DC is in the fourth grade and is our oldest, so everything is new territory. But now that you mention it, I already see signs that what you describe about the students being comfortable discussing political, religious, etc. views could be true in our situation also. |
Anonymous
| I don't understand all of the negative postings - the OP is just trying to find a way to connect with others that have fully integrated Christianity into their lives - I think most of us who identify as Christians understand the difference between people who go to church on Sundays (like me) and those who fully integrate the teachings of the Bible into their everyday lives. I don't get why some of these postings are so hostile. |
Anonymous
|
I don't understand the hostility, either. I am a churchgoing Christian (who does not consider herself "born again"), but I don't think there is anything offensive or strange about the OP's question, especially when she has responded to subsequent posts with serious and thoughtful replies. OP clearly isn't proselytizing.
Although I am FAR from evangelical, our church comes up fairly frequently in casual conversation, as in, "We went out with some of our friends from church," or "Yes, we went there last week after church" -- but the funny thing is, OP, that I think that we are enough of a anomaly here that some people (those we don't know particularly well, I guess) tend to look surprised and say, "Oh, you go to church?" A couple of times I could tell that people thought "Ew, church," but it has opened up a couple of conversations about what church we attend and how other families are looking for churches of their own, too. Maybe just keep your ears to the ground for that kind of thing, OP? It's a different place and time from where I grew up, for better or for worse. One of the first things my mother (who is extremely tolerant and not at all hellfire and brimstone) asked me about a new friend (until I was in COLLEGE, it feels like) was, "Where do they go to church?" |
Anonymous
|
19:05 Probably Because OP has posted asking if there are any Christians at her child's school, but she defines "Christians" very narrowly. It appears that one must engage in daily Bible study, etc to meet her strict criteria. Based on her posts, she does not appear to be at all tolerant of different people's ways of pursuing their relationship with God.
There are many of us who consider ourselves Christians who may not meet the OP's strict criteria, which appear to be based on a fundamentalist Christian philosophy. She would likely not consider me to be a Christian, although I am very comfortable with my relationship with God and the way that I try to live my life is consistent with my beliefs about Christ's teachings. Many of us find this "I am a Christian but you are not one because you don't do X, Y, or Z" to be quite offensive. It came across as a very self-righteous style of Christianity which is antithetical to Jesus' teachings. I don't think that OP would be able to understand why her post would be so offensive, and even hurtful, to so many Christians who are not fundamentalist. I have not participated in the unkind posts both because I felt that it was fruitless and because I try not to be unkind. I hope that OP and you might be able to reflect on why so many might find OP's attitude toward who is and who is not a Christian offensive. I preferred the 3rd or 4th poster's description of "like-minded believers" to the OP's black and white Christian/non-Christian divide. |
Anonymous
Then why post on private/independent schools and not off-topic? How many "born agains" attend the Big Three schools? Don't they usually home school or attend very small, private schools that are basically off the map? I would suggest finding a born again forum. I think people are simply confused by this posting under this topic. |
Anonymous
Because she was asking about born-again Christians at those schools -- what is so weird about that? I am not born again and my child doesn't attend a Big Three, but I don't get all the ire. I think the label "born again" rankles people, and people react more strongly than they would if OP had been wondering about another faith. And again, I'm not born again, but I am quite certain that they don't all homeschool their kids or send them to an "off the map" school. However, you may be right that there aren't many at the Big Three... which is probably exactly why OP is asking! |
Anonymous
| But the title of the post is: "Any practicing Christians?" I can't believe that there aren't Christians at their school....but she wants to judge whether or not she considers them "Christian" enough or not. Only later does she specify that she only considers a person "Christian" if they are 'born again.' I sure wouldn't want to engage OP in a conversation only to have her judge whether or not I'm Christian. |
Anonymous
The OP was wondering why she wasn't finding more like-minded folks at her Big 3 school (yes, her DC attends one). So it's perfectly appropriate that she posted here. I agree with the prior poster who said the OP's responses had been thoughtful. Tolerance in our school communities means accepting everyone - even people you, the poster I have quoted, might label right wing nuts - in the community. I find not judging people for their religious views brings many wonderful people into my life. I have a SIL who is a fundamentalist Christian who homeschools her 4 children and 2 other children of her husband's brother's in a small Southern state. I have Catholics in my family. I have Catholics who converted to Baptists. Baptists who converted to Catholic. Lutherans. Presbyterians. Famous Ministers. Infamous back-row baptists. And that's just in my close relatives. We are Protestant and go to church, not as much as we should, but more than Christmas and Easter. My DC has friends in school who are Hindu, Jewish, fundamentalist Christian, Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, etc. If we are going to kick the OP out of our sacred (pun intended) private school community and forum, who else is on your list as not worthy? Not sufficiently X, whatever X is, to be part of our rarified private school world? And how do I explain to DC that little so-and-so isn't really part of our community because of his/her religious beliefs? Frankly, it strikes me that some of you are the intolerant ones, and not the OP. I particularly liked your use of the word "they" to describe born again Christians. It was classic. |
Anonymous
| OP again. I think I knew (or should have known) that using loaded phrases like "practicing Christian," "born again Christian" or "committed Christian" might be too cavalier (not to mention sanctimonious sounding) -- but in the perhaps naive attempt to communicate what I was asking in a "shorthand" way, I plowed ahead anyway! I do appreciate (and will reflect on) all the input and I do not take any of it lightly. |
Anonymous
No sale, here , babe. You knew precisely what you were doing ( ever here of a guy named Freud? Oops, Freud was a Jew,. Oh, no). It's waay too late in the day to pretend to be be naive. Or are all "born again Christians" phony dumb asses? |
Anonymous
|
OK, 21:02. Put down the wine glass and step away from the keyboard. (I'm assuming that is what is behind the typos, and perhaps your ridiculous content.)
The OP is probably good enough to turn the other cheek. But I'm not. So I'll say it for her: Get a life. |