A Misconception To Clear Up
The people from the East like to believe that all Westerners are Christians. Nothing can be further from the truth.
People often mistake me for being a Christian but that is just as far from the truth. Yes, I try to live a decent life but I lack the main requirement of any religion. I’m not sure if there is a God.
The fact is, I have seen very few Christians in my life. The way I understand Christianity is that it is a way of living and I just don’t see people living that way. Every Sunday the churches are packed with so-called Christians. Christians while the service lasts and afterwards they return to their old ways, trying their best to hide their infidelities from their fellow Christians while condemning others for doing the same things they do in the quiet.
Christians – so I read - bear the fruit of His Spirit but … oh dear me.
When I look around me I cannot help to wonder if I have ever seen a Christian. Unless, of course, if Christianity is a part-time activity. Something like a club that you belong to and visit once or twice a week.
And yet almost half the world’s population claim to be Christians. The truth be told, if Christianity looks like this, I’d rather remain the sinner that I am. Maybe “Christianity” is a term I don’t fully understand but I do not think that being a member of a Christian Church makes you a Christian.
But to come back to the point, to all you people in the East: In my opinion very few Westerners are Christians.
Now have a great day out there.
Comments (58)
I have a question... maybe our Christian friends can help me to answer :
does "going to church" is a must for every person who claim as Christian?
is it sin if someone does not want to go to the church but they claim as christian ?
as in my religion praying not always have to be done at the Mosque. no one will force to go to the Mosque... and we can pray everywhere clean and deserve places.
Yes...a friend from work automatically assumed I was Christian...to her surprise I said I was not...although I have gone to church and maybe I was the part time Christian you speak about...haha...but I never really believed or belonged there...but it is funny that some people assume most westerners are Christian when it is not the case at all...hmmm...
I know a lot of very decent people who don't go to church. I am a member of a Christian Church and support it but only because of the charity work they do amongst the poor. The Church still do a lot of good work in our modern society.
Thank you. I believe that one should state his believes openly for if there is a God then he may just punish the pretender more than the non-believer.
Yeah, I know people here that are buddist/not christians
I was born on catholic home/but like you/I'm not sure/about a real god
According to the Christian doctrine you cannot go to heaven without the church (the holy sacraments). This does not sit right with me. According to the Bible Christ came as mediator between man and God thus cutting out the priest. Yet somehow the early Church elevated the church again as mediator.
Yes it is funny. Westerners may be atheists, Agnostics, Christians, pretenders and many others belong to other religions.
oo really ??
in my religion nothing as mediator for going to heaven or hell... all in our hand where we want to go.. and we knew what we should do when we wish going to destination we want to go...
thank you for answer CF... I understand now...
I wondered about you yesterday when I did not see you anywhere on the blogs. Religious intolerance had been with us since the beginning of time. I think it has to do with the fact that somebody who does not belong to a certain religion are branded as 'sinners' by that religion. Yet we read all the time about the great new tolerance between religions. I cannot imagine what it was like when there was no tolerance.
Yes, that is all that counts. Respect. The religion you belong to is a personal affair between you and your God and it should not bother other people. Nobody knows who is right and who is wrong. If there is a God and we did not follow Him, we will have to account to Him and nobody else.
As a tree is known by it's fruits a religion can be judged by it's results. I don't think mere beliefs, emotional feelings or glorification of our religion is of any importance. It is all in our behaviour. That's what defines us a human or not. In whose image we are created.
When I look at the world today I feel all religions have utterly failed.
And I heartily respect those who don't believe but living a good life...respecting and loving others.
I won't say that it has failed. It is more the so-called believers who are failing (discrediting) their religion by living two separate lives. You cannot worship two Gods.
I personally believe that if there is a God then there is only one God. So what ever the religion or whatever you call Him, it is the same God. If that is so, then would He condemn you for worshiping him according to the way you were taught? I think not.
I'm glad that we agree on this.
That is the problem. They see it as a major defeat if somebody walks over to another religion. I remember the animosity when my mother changed from one protestant faction to another when I was about 6. As you say, it goes about the numbers and the finances that goes with it.
Having said that, it's good to be good to fellow human beings regardless of whether they're Christians or not.
You little sinner you!...
Anywho! Great blog. . . .
I'd definitely go to HELL for my laziness
Sometimes we need to remember that Christians are classified as Roman Catholics and Protestants. Protestants would like to dissociate from Roman Catholics which is like a daughter saying she did not inherit certain traits and characteristic from her mother. Still the two groups need to be looked at in different lights. Maybe the time has come to stop looking for Christians and start looking at the Christian message. Christians believe that the only perfect man that ever walked this earth was Jesus Christ. The people of his day saw him as a fraud and ensured that he was executed. It should not be surprising that throughout the ages those who choose to follow Jesus Christ is seen in the same light.
I personally do not see how we can separate the Church, Christianity and Christians. Combined they have shaped and impacted western civilization for millennia.
I respect your not claiming to be Christians but at the same time you are seeking to live good lives. My question however to you is this, what standards do you use to determine the fact that you live a good life? Christianity has been influencing western civilization for millennia so how do you in the present escape its influence?
Christianity does not teach to kill non-believers so intrinsically it is good in nature.
My problem is with those Christians who believe that all week they can live a life that is totally unacceptable to Christianity and on Sunday all those sins will be forgiven when the bible clearly states that you must truly repent and not do it again (sin no more).
These people firmly believe that they can do whatever they want as often as they want to because God will forgive them in any way. Is this a way for Christians to behave? They are the people who make Christianity look bad to outsiders.
Yes, I guess by certain standards I'm a sinner and will go to hell for it.
It is a chance I'm prepared to take at this stage.
really? that i do not know. there are many possibilities and many options to which westerners can choose or belong to.
Spiritual but not religious?
Now that is a term I could never understand. Maybe you can cast some light on it.
When you go there. Write a blog about, how its really is there. So I want come there. . . .
Quite so. Nobody to date could prove the existence of God (the Bible does not even try) but just the same, nobody so far could prove that He does not exist. So it is a stalemate.
What standards do I apply to living a decent life? You are right, we cannot escape the influence of Christianity. I live my live as taught to my by my parents who were Protestants and it was probably based on the 10 commandments which out dates Christianity by almost 2000 years.
When I say the the 10 commandments - in my case specifically - the last six laws. They prescribe your behavior towards your fellow man. A code of conduct that cannot be faulted and forms the basis of the law in most civilized countries. How the law is implemented is another issue.
Now that is another sore point. Christianity teaches that the vengeance is not ours. We are suppose to turn the other cheek.
So you knew. I was talking more in general. It is very plausible that some enlightened individuals will have different views.
Heck! I don't even know what does it mean!!
Wikipedia : a life stance of spirituality that rejects traditional organized religion as the sole or most valuable means of furthering spiritual growth.
I have done that and I gave a detailed explanation of what is going on there lately.
You can find it here:
/to_h_e_l_l_and_back_again.htm
You will find everything you want to know there.
Thank you very much.
Now I know exactly what it means.
So no. They are not a Christian just because they attend a church service. One must examine their life in entirety before making such a determination and also note there are many Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim and Agnostics who God will probably let into Heaven no matter what Constantines' Bible said about that.
PS; I agree with Ken on that!. . .
Very true, the church (note the lack of capitalization) is a gathering place for the community and I support it. My problem is with the Church that Constantine forged when he forced the church leaders of the time (425 BC) to formulate a new religion to accommodate all the other religions when all religions were united into one religion known as Christianity. The entire Rome was converted almost overnight. The question however is: Who was converted to what?