Your Journey to Christianity, Judaism or Islam

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
If the beliefs of the "others" are ok, why does Christianity have so much emphasis on proselytizing and conversion?
Go to Ireland and discuss Protestants vs. Catholics.
Go to any middle eastern country and discuss Sunni vs. Shia.
Go to India/Pakistan and look at Hindus and Muslims.
Look at the other PP who classified Mormonism as a separate religion, when the Mormons consider themselves Christians (not sure what Jehov
Look at the evangelical Christians who make it clear that you're only going to Heaven if you have a personal relationship with God and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
And if you think a lot Christians aren't praying for their football team to win over the other set of Christians on the other side of the field, you haven't spent nearly enough time in the South.

Jesus said GO and Tell the others. Before ascending he said to desciples they must go and tell the world. He would call people from all nations.
I have been to Ireland and it is not about religion, but ethnic groups
I am familiar with sunni vs shia, they can marry each other and it not such a big deal as you would like it to be
India/Pakistan have historical struggles, the English decided to divide them

Evangelicals are not the only ones saying you need a relationship with God and Jesus.
I think praying for the outcome to be in favor of your football team winning is a US thing. Elsewhere it would be considered too vain/irrelevant to even mention in a prayer

Different poster here. I think it's pretty bad. And gotten worse with the spread of Salafism over the past few decades. I don't know anyone personally who would let their children intermarry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And Jehovah's Witnesses consider themselves Christians, too, but the PP considers them a separate religion.

Their doctrine is too different from what the protestants or catholics teach, so none of them recognize them as Christians.

Jehovas Witness is about multiple gods and 140,000 ONLY get to go to heaven
Mormons have already had the 2nd coming of Christ

both are Born In The USA religions, not middle east

I'm protestant, and you aren't correct about what I, or anybody else I know, thinks re Jehovah's Witnesses. Yes, I do think they are Christian.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

But my point re Christianity is that Jesus was very clear that God is the only judge, not man.

I agree. But if the Christian God is the judge, then, by definition, those who are not Christian are judged as lacking. The essence of Christianity as a proselytizing religion is that Christianity is "right" and those who are not Christians are "wrong."

So people who are throwing bombs at each other, over religious differences no less, aren't actually behaving in a Christian way (it happens, a lot, obviously).

I understand your point, but not long after Jesus made it clear that God is the only judge, Christians started splintering into different sects based on the way they interpreted what Jesus said.

They may not be behaving in the way Jesus supposedly wanted them to, but they're behaving in a way that is very consistent for Christians (and other religions, I'm not picking on Christians in particular).

Granted, that may be fallible and inherently sinful humans corrupting Jesus' message, but, at the end of the day, those religious distinctions have been used for persecution and discrimination - both within the various flavors of Christianity and between Christians and non-Christians.

Each of the various flavors of Christianity perpetuates an "us vs. them" mentality of "we're right and they're wrong" because they don't believe as we do - and that's the essence of religion.

Religion provides a binding belief structure that unifies a group, and it makes it easier for that group to consider outsiders as "other" - because they don't share insiders' belief structure. Religion provides a unifying element that divides the believers from the non-believers.

Jesus may want everyone to be Christian, but, implicitly, that means those who aren't are "wrong" according to the Christian religion.

You may love me as your neighbor, but according to Christianity I'm not getting into Heaven unless I believe as you do. Because while you love me, God judges me.

It has never been true that all you have to do is declare (baptized, confirmed, talk about it constantly) yourself a Christian (like nationalism or being a fan of some team) to be assured of salvation. It has always been the case that many Christians won't get into heaven, either.

Even this distinction is only part of the story, though. Through history, and increasingly in the past 100 years, many theologians and churches are now moving away from the idea that you even have to declare yourself a "Christian" to be saved. CS Lewis, for example, argues in Mere Christianity that it's possible for a non-Christian to get into Heaven, because the non-Christian has acted in a Christ-like manner, while someone who calls himself Christian may not get into Heaven. It's true that historically theologians and churches have not seen it that way. But in the past 100 years we've really seen a movement away from the idea that being Christian means declaring your allegiance so some particular church, and more towards the idea that it's about your behavior (love your enemy and the rest). In my view, it's about time, and also this is much more consistent with the New Testament than the fanclub view of religion.

I agree that religion may create groups who see others as "outsiders". I agree this is a bad thing. But the "do not judge" and "love your enemy" stuff, if taken to heart, would preclude that group mentality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And Jehovah's Witnesses consider themselves Christians, too, but the PP considers them a separate religion.

Their doctrine is too different from what the protestants or catholics teach, so none of them recognize them as Christians.

Jehovas Witness is about multiple gods and 140,000 ONLY get to go to heaven
Mormons have already had the 2nd coming of Christ

both are Born In The USA religions, not middle east

I'm protestant, and you aren't correct about what I, or anybody else I know, thinks re Jehovah's Witnesses. Yes, I do think they are Christian.

they have a separate bible, the book they read is not the same

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And Jehovah's Witnesses consider themselves Christians, too, but the PP considers them a separate religion.

Their doctrine is too different from what the protestants or catholics teach, so none of them recognize them as Christians.

Jehovas Witness is about multiple gods and 140,000 ONLY get to go to heaven
Mormons have already had the 2nd coming of Christ

both are Born In The USA religions, not middle east

I'm protestant, and you aren't correct about what I, or anybody else I know, thinks re Jehovah's Witnesses. Yes, I do think they are Christian.

they have a separate bible, the book they read is not the same

Well you asked if I, a protestant, thought they were Christian. I answered "yes". I'd think that would be enough.