Keep in mind, The Bible says God is the head of the church, and this comforts me much.

But also there are people who serve in church, such as staff, pastors, volunteers etc. These people are people. And people are not perfect. There’s drama, there’s disagreements and lots of conflict.

If you “hate” Christians or something in the past has left a hypocritical distate in your mouth, I’d really honestly say it’s time to move on from that…

When I moved to california…an Indian man with a heavy accent tried to rip me off while I was renting a room from him. He accused me of things, and said I’d never make it here and there. But this doesn’t stop me from enganging with my indian friends, their culture, their desires and dislikes and all sorts of things.

When I was in college, these men would come on campus with huge (seriously huge) banners that said “Jeuss Hates:…” and list tons and tons of words like gays, catholics, lazy people, mormons, and on and on. They professed that they were Christians. And they would argue with anyone, ANYONE! They did it protest style; and students clashed constantly. And after those days, people would say “Christians are stupid, ignorant” and whatever else you could think of.

But seriously, do people actually think these guys are the representatives of Christianity and that demonstrations like these are a reason to believe Christians are lame?

If you are bruised by someone who was Christian, or you see something done by Christians on the news that had negative consquences, or you think Christians are ignorant…do research. Go to a church, and you will find that this isn’t always the case. If anything Christians struggle the most. Many have deeper desires to be close to Christ, so when they “mess up” or sin…it really sucks.

Jesus says “love God, and Love your neighbor”…
That is hard to do.

American’s get a bad rep in other countries for being this and that. But are you like that? Do you fit the description? Nah…Next time someone says American’s are all selfish, you can tell them many might be, or the ones that you interacted with showed signs of such, but not all of us are. How annoying it can be when tourists stereotype ALL americans just from a few americans. When my aunt visited LA she thought americans were all about this and that. But really, LA is hard to live in, traffic sucks, everyone’s trying to make a buck (some ethically, others illegally)…Life is hard wherever you go, and probably there will be people struggling with things on their mind other than how to treat a tourist. Well excuses aside, or atleast for myself, I told my aunt that her experience was just an experience. Infact there are many awesome, nice people in lots of communities.

So come on y’all, next time you see your local Christian, or Jesus freaks, let’em know that you understand that they are human, and they will make mistakes, and that just because they do something “bad”, it’s not because they are a hypocritical fool, but instead, they sin.

Spread Love.
In my experience, Christianity is about spreading love, and serving others and getting deeper with people and with Christ. But if you become a Christian, it’s really up to you to do it. No one can force you.

btw, I’m a Christian, and I don’t consider it just some other religion. It’s more real than I can describe. I’ll give a prayer for your daughter, but honestly, I think a parent should lead by honest example. But I’m sure you thought of that!

Peace!

Keep in mind, The Bible says God is the head of the church, and this comforts me much.

But also there are people who serve in church, such as staff, pastors, volunteers etc. These people are people. And people are not perfect. There’s drama, there’s disagreements and lots of conflict.

If you “hate” Christians or something in the past has left a hypocritical distate in your mouth, I’d really honestly say it’s time to move on from that…

When I moved to california…an Indian man with a heavy accent tried to rip me off while I was renting a room from him. He accused me of things, and said I’d never make it here and there. But this doesn’t stop me from enganging with my indian friends, their culture, their desires and dislikes and all sorts of things.

When I was in college, these men would come on campus with huge (seriously huge) banners that said “Jeuss Hates:…” and list tons and tons of words like gays, catholics, lazy people, mormons, and on and on. They professed that they were Christians. And they would argue with anyone, ANYONE! They did it protest style; and students clashed constantly. And after those days, people would say “Christians are stupid, ignorant” and whatever else you could think of.

But seriously, do people actually think these guys are the representatives of Christianity and that demonstrations like these are a reason to believe Christians are lame?

If you are bruised by someone who was Christian, or you see something done by Christians on the news that had negative consquences, or you think Christians are ignorant…do research. Go to a church, and you will find that this isn’t always the case. If anything Christians struggle the most. Many have deeper desires to be close to Christ, so when they “mess up” or sin…it really sucks.

Jesus says “love God, and Love your neighbor”…
That is hard to do.

American’s get a bad rep in other countries for being this and that. But are you like that? Do you fit the description? Nah…Next time someone says American’s are all selfish, you can tell them many might be, or the ones that you interacted with showed signs of such, but not all of us are. How annoying it can be when tourists stereotype ALL americans just from a few americans. When my aunt visited LA she thought americans were all about this and that. But really, LA is hard to live in, traffic sucks, everyone’s trying to make a buck (some ethically, others illegally)…Life is hard wherever you go, and probably there will be people struggling with things on their mind other than how to treat a tourist. Well excuses aside, or atleast for myself, I told my aunt that her experience was just an experience. Infact there are many awesome, nice people in lots of communities.

So come on y’all, next time you see your local Christian, or Jesus freaks, let’em know that you understand that they are human, and they will make mistakes, and that just because they do something “bad”, it’s not because they are a hypocritical fool, but instead, they sin.

Spread Love.
In my experience, Christianity is about spreading love, and serving others and getting deeper with people and with Christ. But if you become a Christian, it’s really up to you to do it. No one can force you.

btw, I’m a Christian, and I don’t consider it just some other religion. It’s more real than I can describe. I’ll give a prayer for your daughter, but honestly, I think a parent should lead by honest example. But I’m sure you thought of that!

Peace!

Catholics and Episcopalians don’t exactly believe that. The basis for salvation is embodied in the belief that individuals make their own choices, and by those choices, determine their own destiny regarding entrance to the kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, the active, even intellectual repentance of sins is required at the individual level.

Communion (taking the wine and wafer) also has significant differences between traditional (Catholic and Episcopalian) —and Protestant churches. The traditional belief is that the wine and the wafer actually transform in the body of the true believer—when given—to the literal body and blood of Christ—transubstantiation—and therefore, for a nonbeliever (or one who is not baptized) to take the sacrament would future compound the sin.

Many Protestant denominations view Communion as symbolic, rather than literal–a personal reaffirmation in the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, and the goodness of God.

Catholics and Episcopalians don’t exactly believe that. The basis for salvation is embodied in the belief that individuals make their own choices, and by those choices, determine their own destiny regarding entrance to the kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, the active, even intellectual repentance of sins is required at the individual level.

Communion (taking the wine and wafer) also has significant differences between traditional (Catholic and Episcopalian) —and Protestant churches. The traditional belief is that the wine and the wafer actually transform in the body of the true believer—when given—to the literal body and blood of Christ—transubstantiation—and therefore, for a nonbeliever (or one who is not baptized) to take the sacrament would future compound the sin.

Many Protestant denominations view Communion as symbolic, rather than literal–a personal reaffirmation in the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, and the goodness of God.

I think I should give a short background of where I’m coming from in terms of religion/spirituality. I consider myself as one of those who believe that we all are constantly learning and that life is a journey. As for now, I can only speak for myself but my ideals draw from many sources in which I should give them all credit.

It’s quite a long story, pretty much ongoing, but some of the reasons why I feel so confident in my ideals is that there were many people I met who felt the same way, also I had formed some conclusions but then discovered that other religions/philosophies had the same views. Sort of like, through my own self-reflection, I became aware of many things, and thought I must be crazy. However, the unexpected people I met, and personal events happen that kept leading me to certain viewpoints.

Again, it’s a very long story but I don’t mind sharing, but the closest religion that coincides with what I believe is Judaism,as understood from a Gentile perspective. I studied that for over 6 years, talked to many people and observe. In several ways it is going to take a very long time to explain but as far as why I made such statements regarding God and religion, it comes from that particular belief. I guess some of the ideals I came to accept that is there is no cosmic battle between good and evil, God is in total control. There’s a whole lot more, and fundamentally they are anti-thetical to Christianity, but on the other hand, I personally have no issue with whatever route people choose to reach the divine.

Why I believe that it’s what you do matters over belief? I speak for myself…The Almighty was, is and will always be there regardless of what I believe. God existed before Jesus, before Muhammad, before Moses…always involved with humanity and the creator of the universe is beyond time and space. For so many other reasons, I can not confined or limit God to ways how many religions have tried to do.

In terms of standards for being good, I draw from many sources. However, as of now, I see many ideals are universal even if they come from non-biblical sources. The golden rule is very much a standard, and from this rule, it branches out to many situations and conditions we all go through. Many different phrases exist, whether it’s from Jesus or Confucius, but I prefer this version: From Hillel the elder ,” That which is despicable to you, do not do to your fellow, this is the whole Torah, and the rest is commentary, go and learn it.” I don’t question why people shouldn’t murder or pursue actions deemed harmful to themselves and others…these things are obviously not good.

I don’t mind sharing more with what I know as of now, and again I only speak for myself, plus I admit I don’t understand everything but I do tried my best to fulfill my purposes, enjoy life, etc. However, God blessed us with intellect to use and we were all made differently yet are just as important…even the idol worshippers and atheists.

Sorry for the long “Still un-finished” reply but regarding this topic, I have too much to say.

I think I should give a short background of where I’m coming from in terms of religion/spirituality. I consider myself as one of those who believe that we all are constantly learning and that life is a journey. As for now, I can only speak for myself but my ideals draw from many sources in which I should give them all credit.

It’s quite a long story, pretty much ongoing, but some of the reasons why I feel so confident in my ideals is that there were many people I met who felt the same way, also I had formed some conclusions but then discovered that other religions/philosophies had the same views. Sort of like, through my own self-reflection, I became aware of many things, and thought I must be crazy. However, the unexpected people I met, and personal events happen that kept leading me to certain viewpoints.

Again, it’s a very long story but I don’t mind sharing, but the closest religion that coincides with what I believe is Judaism,as understood from a Gentile perspective. I studied that for over 6 years, talked to many people and observe. In several ways it is going to take a very long time to explain but as far as why I made such statements regarding God and religion, it comes from that particular belief. I guess some of the ideals I came to accept that is there is no cosmic battle between good and evil, God is in total control. There’s a whole lot more, and fundamentally they are anti-thetical to Christianity, but on the other hand, I personally have no issue with whatever route people choose to reach the divine.

Why I believe that it’s what you do matters over belief? I speak for myself…The Almighty was, is and will always be there regardless of what I believe. God existed before Jesus, before Muhammad, before Moses…always involved with humanity and the creator of the universe is beyond time and space. For so many other reasons, I can not confined or limit God to ways how many religions have tried to do.

In terms of standards for being good, I draw from many sources. However, as of now, I see many ideals are universal even if they come from non-biblical sources. The golden rule is very much a standard, and from this rule, it branches out to many situations and conditions we all go through. Many different phrases exist, whether it’s from Jesus or Confucius, but I prefer this version: From Hillel the elder ,” That which is despicable to you, do not do to your fellow, this is the whole Torah, and the rest is commentary, go and learn it.” I don’t question why people shouldn’t murder or pursue actions deemed harmful to themselves and others…these things are obviously not good.

I don’t mind sharing more with what I know as of now, and again I only speak for myself, plus I admit I don’t understand everything but I do tried my best to fulfill my purposes, enjoy life, etc. However, God blessed us with intellect to use and we were all made differently yet are just as important…even the idol worshippers and atheists.

Sorry for the long “Still un-finished” reply but regarding this topic, I have too much to say.