Seeker-friendly?

[smaneck]

what dose a Muslim act like if he was a Muslim? what dose a Buddhist act like if he acts like a Buddhist? what do Christians act like if they are Christians? there is no answers to these questions these things are pieces of a person so I guess I disagree with you lol.

Let me see, I think I know. A Muslim is acting like a Muslim when he prays five times a day. A Buddhist acts like a Buddhist when he meditates. A Hindu acts like a Hindu when he refuses to eat beef.
And a Christian acts like a Christian when they won't bake you a cake?

 

[Aidan K]

By diversity, do you mean as in various races (which is awesome, I go to a racially diverse church), or accepting sin as an acceptable lifestyle?

Which church sees sin as an acceptable lifestyle?

 

[talitha]

Which church sees sin as an acceptable lifestyle?

Many mainline denominations have made it clear that homosexual behavior and marriage are acceptable, in contrast to what the Bible says. The truth is that those things are examples of things that Jesus died to give us power over. We repent of sin and allow the Lord to change us; we don't celebrate sin as a lifestyle that God winks at.

But this is not what I came here to talk about. I just wanted to know if non-Christians saw through the marketing stuff and hated it, or if it really made them want to come to church.

 

[smaneck]

Many mainline denominations have made it clear that homosexual behavior and marriage are acceptable, in contrast to what the Bible says.

The Bible says bad things about homosexual behavior. It doesn't comment on gay marriage. Most mainline churches I'm familiar with have decided to leave the decision up to local congregations. And many of them have decided to accept gays as pastors. It seems to me to exclude them on that basis would be Donatism, a position the church has considered heretical since St. Augustine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donatism

But this is not what I came here to talk about. I just wanted to know if non-Christians saw through the marketing stuff and hated it, or if it really made them want to come to church.

Probably not if they won't bake us a cake.

 

[talitha]

The Bible says bad things about homosexual behavior. It doesn't comment on gay marriage.

No, because it doesn't exist. "For this reason a man will leave.... and cling to his wife".

Most mainline churches I'm familiar with have decided to leave the decision up to local congregations. And many of them have decided to accept gays as pastors.

It's one thing to be in ministry while still struggling to overcome a sin; it's quite another to be in ministry while self-identifying with the sin and celebrating it.

It seems to me to exclude them on that basis would be Donatism, a position the church has considered heretical since St. Augustine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donatism

Having read that article, I still do not know what Donatism is.

Probably not if they won't bake us a cake.

haha!

 

[ContraMundum]

I've actually never seen a seeker friendly church.

..you have to be a seeker first.

 

[smaneck]

Having read that article, I still do not know what Donatism is.

Donatism is the heresy that the efficacy of the sacraments depends on the purity of the priest performing them.

Wycliff could rightly be considered a Donatist, but I'm guessing that Pentecostals don't place much emphasis on the sacraments as vehicles of grace in the first place.

 

[talitha]

Donatism is the heresy that the efficacy of the sacraments depends on the purity of the priest performing them.

Wycliff could rightly be considered a Donatist, but I'm guessing that Pentecostals don't place much emphasis on the sacraments as vehicles of grace in the first place.

Well, I don't think they do, and neither do non-denominational Charismatics, but there is something going around in the SF/P/C circles to that effect: be careful who lays hands on you (because something bad could be imparted). I don't know; I think there could be something to that. Also, I don't think anyone who is living a life of sin, choosing it and not struggling against it (sin of any kind) should be on the worship team or in the pulpit.

 

[ViaCrucis]

For example, when a Christian refuses to bake a wedding cake for a couple who Biblically should not be marrying each other, he is sued. When Muslim does the same thing, crickets.

That's not exercising one's Christian faith. That's just engaging in good old fashioned bigotry--discriminating for the sake of discriminating. Trying to paint it over with a veneer of religious piety doesn't change what it is.

Perhaps the problem many people have with "Christians acting like Christians" is that many Christians think acting like a Christian involves acting in ways which are starkly in opposition to basic principles of human kindness--not to mention in opposition to the basic principles of Christian charity.

You know what a Christian baker should do when a same sex couple wants a cake? Make them the best cake they can, because that's what serving Jesus looks like in the context of being a baker.

But if we are willing to completely turn Christianity on its head in order to make it about social power and discriminating against the least of these then we're completely failing in being Whose we say we are.

It's not persecution when people point out our bad deeds done in Christ's name. We should rightly be criticized, and if we care about what Christ and His apostles have taught us, then we should kneel in repentance for our misdeeds done against our neighbor made in the image and likeness of God to whom we have been called to serve in love and compassion.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[talitha]

I knew I would be in disagreement with most people here on those issues, which is why i said that is not what I really came here to talk about.

 

[goshjosh]

I be fairly new here
and thus far

for me
many aspects of how to do things here
seem not as clear as they might be
so for this seeker
an example
i dont seek if one choose to choose the label seeker
that doesnt mean they are not a christian
but that seems to be the conclusion made
coz in some regards a believer in jesus and the bible
remains a seeker i think
1 peter
10Therefore, whoever desires life and loves to see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips that they do not speak deceit.
11Let him move away from wickedness and let him do good; let him seek peace and run after it.
now tho in seeking peace as a christian
one might in brining peace ruffle a few feathers
as paul did with peter say.....