I can't even recognize the Christianity I see

[xpower]

I have come to the conclusion there are irreconcilable differences between my faith, and the faith of many people calling themselves Christian. I agree with David Gushee that the conservative evangelical approach to the Bible is unworkable for developing sound ethics. But this kind of religious thinking, on the ground level, penetrates even into mainline churches. Even at my own church, it is relatively conservative and biblicist, underneath the veneer of denomination-approved liturgy and rubrics.

Sometimes I just wonder if somebody can be genuinely intellectual, conscientious, and relatively non-authoritarian, and be a Christian in my part of America.

FireDragon, I ask that you do not give up hope. You may not realize it, But your presence here on this forum helps many struggling Christians when it comes to the behavior and views other so-called Christians. And I am sure you are the light in the darkness for someone in your part of america.

People like you, Viacrucis, hedrick, ploverWing and many others here help at lot. Is was you guys that gave me greater hope and calmed my mind and heart. So please keep on fighting for what you believe in and doing what you do. Talk about David Gushee more, I found him to be very helpful, I'm sure many others will as well. I hope you find more allies in your church and God bless you.

 

[FinishedCross]

I really cannot recognize a lot of the Christianity I see on the internet and say "They practice the same faith I do". I really can't anymore.

I honestly feel more kinship with merely spiritual people or the average not particularly religious person, than I do with the average "born-again Christian". Let's be honest, they wouldn't accept me as a Christian anyways.

It's almost like religion is making people worse, how could Jesus be happy with any of this?

Sometimes I wonder if I did the right thing, by joining a church. I wake up nervous and I feel fake sometimes, like a bad dream I'll wake up from.

I sometimes pine away for just being like what the Dalai Lama says, "My religion is compassion". That would be so much more beautiful than the ugly tribalism I see. And I'm losing my sense of inner peace.

Maybe I need to get beyond the theoretical stage, and start living out what I say I believe. Perhaps I am too nice, and I just need to avoid interacting with certain people for my own sanity.

Yes. There is a boiling point about to be reached.

Whats really happening is this; American based Evangelical/Calvinists/Pentecostals/501c3's and various cults have *STOLEN* the name 'Protestant'. That is the main problem and awareness needs to be spread on this.

Upon research, you'll find these churches are membership based, for-profit businesses who reject all the Standard Christian Creeds. Thus they have excluded themselves from the Protest and should not mislead others by claiming they are Protestant when they are not. They also reject the core teachings of the major reformers.

All mainline Protestant Church's accept the creeds. Some Baptist Churches in Europe are longstanding and accept the Creeds.

That is the differentiating factor I've noticed. The line in the sand. The mark of division.

The NT itself contains the Easter Creed that was passed down to Paul. Its the oldest creed in Christianity dated around 30 AD by thenvast majority of Schollars - some not even Christian.

Because they reject the idea of Easter, and reject the Creeds, they then reject Pauls command at 1 Cor 11:1 which means they reject scripture which means they cant use scripture as their Creed which means they are like Muslims who claim to follow the religion of Abraham - Faith Alone.

Christians (Cath/Orth/Prot) follow after Christ and the Apostles. We can only do this by accepting 2 Cor 15:3-7 which is an acceptance of 1 Cor 11:1 which is an acceptance of Creeds. Hence this website to the upper right corner has the Statement of Faith which is the Nicene Creed.

But like Islam, they reject Paul, reject the creed, and technically sit outside of Christianity. Their salvation is whatever their own will wants it to be. Thas why theres a million sects and we cant recognize Christianity any more.

But these are the MINORITY or Christians world wide who reject the creeds. It just seems like they control Christiany because the media/youtube outreach for english speakers is much higher anyone else.

 

[hedrick]

Whats really happening is this; American based Evangelical/Calvinists/Pentecostals/501c3's and various cults have *STOLEN* the name 'Protestant'. That is the main problem and awareness needs to be spread on this.

I'm not an admirer of conservative Protestantism, but it's hard to claim that they don't accept the creeds. Generally evangelicals accept traditional doctrines. Pentecostals at times were weird on doctrine, but today most of them hold standard evanglical theology except for the additional Pentecostal ideas.

 

[FireDragon76]

Last Sunday was the obligatory 4th of July sermon.

Sometimes I think I can't deal with being that particular kind of Lutheran. I don't feel particularly patriotic as a Christian right now- I feel pessimistic about the direction the country has taken and quite angry about the injustices I see. It just didn't resonate with me. Church is supposed to connect with the deepest stuff in your heart ,but for me it's sometimes just bizarre and alienating right now.

 

[hedrick]

Interesting. In my church the sermon was on the lectionary text, which is the binding of Isaac. Not a comfortable topic.

 

[JackRT]

Interesting. In my church the sermon was on the lectionary text, which is the binding of Isaac. Not a comfortable topic.

Certainly not comfortable. I sometimes think that if God was actually testing Abraham then Abraham failed completely. I suspect that there may be something missing in the story. A scribal error that dropped a number of verses maybe?

 

[hedrick]

Certainly not comfortable. I sometimes think that if God was actually testing Abraham then Abraham failed completely. I suspect that there may be something missing in the story. A scribal error that dropped a number of verses maybe?

When I studied OT, it was presented as being based on a story about the end of human sacrifice in Israel. The commentaries I checked weren't so sure. However there is a serious question how much historical content there is in that section of the OT.

The Word commentary notes that there are parallels, verbal and structural, between this story and the expulsion of Ishmael.

I think the only way the story makes sense is if Abraham expected that in the end God would give him a way out. After all, he promised Abraham an inheritance through Isaac. Isaac is unlikely to have realized that, though. It's also unlikely that Isaac didn't realize what was going on by the end. Whether this kind of testing by God makes sense, I leave to you.

There are lots of treatments of this event in literature. Kierkegaard's one of the best. Have you read it? See also, Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, which portrays the kids being sent to die in war as Isaac.

 

[JackRT]

As a side note, the Bible records in further contact between Abraham and either Isaac or Sarah. If this is true then it would be entirely understandable.

 

[majj27]

I've been feeling this way in fits and starts now. Lately, it's been growing, and I find it uncomfortable. More and more I'm starting to think that if the general discussions on CF are an example of what Christianity does to people, I need to stay away.

And I *hate* feeling like that.

 

[ViaCrucis]

I've been feeling this way in fits and starts now. Lately, it's been growing, and I find it uncomfortable. More and more I'm starting to think that if the general discussions on CF are an example of what Christianity does to people, I need to stay away.

And I *hate* feeling like that.

There's a two-way street here, I think. On the one hand people are shaped by what they believe, which is why what we believe is very important; and on the other hand people often shape their faith with themselves. We all, on some level, import some of ourselves into our religion; and often that's not a very good thing because we, being sinners, have a tendency to want to use religion to justify ourselves and this, quite naturally, is in opposition to what Christianity stands for in principle: we are sinners who need grace, and God calls us to lay down our lives, surrender ourselves, and live in love toward others even if it costs us everything.

I try to always keep in mind that regardless of myself, regardless of others who call themselves Christians, the message of the Gospel is chief. I'll fail myself, and others will fail as well, but Christ never fails. Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum, The Word of God endures forever.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Targaryen]

I've been feeling this way in fits and starts now. Lately, it's been growing, and I find it uncomfortable. More and more I'm starting to think that if the general discussions on CF are an example of what Christianity does to people, I need to stay away.

And I *hate* feeling like that.

I fell like that too but then I also have a stubborn streak that likes standing up to a challenge that makes my faith stronger. But this type of challenge isn't for everyone, nor even me at times. So staying away from what you find to be unhealthy for your spiritual life is a good policy but don't let it harm your personal faith in the Risen Lord