Understanding

[chickenutbread]

I've seen a lot of threads questioning or rather more like stating, why do Protestants or Catholics or whomever hate me just because I'm [whatever your beliefs are] and they try to convert me to their beliefs?

I dislike it as much as you do when others shoot me down because I have certain beliefs or because my beliefs are different from theirs. With all our different beliefs aside, I just want to say that I hope you don't assume all [Christian denomination] are a certain way just because you happened to come across a few people of all the same beliefs who all happened to "look down" upon you because of your different belief (from theirs) or happen to look at you differently because your core beliefs and doctrines are different or if they do something you dislike and a stereotype appears that all people of that [Christian denomination] act in the same way and view things the same way

I hope if you make assumptions or judgments (although it's bad to, it's a real struggle for all of us to strive not to) about others, please base it on their character, not on their beliefs.

i.e. Someone told me he is Catholic & he went to an Evangelical church that said the Catholic church was "dead" and that that's the "norm" for all Evangelical churches, how all Evangelical churches infer negative things about the Catholic church. But that person went on to say how he knows that some Catholics say things about Protestants, but it is not the norm and it is only those few exceptions, inferring that Protestants on a daily basis trash Catholics while it is only some Catholics who happen to misjudge Protestants.

According to my personal experience, the Catholics I've encountered have accused Protestants of being too literal with the Bible and sticklers to everything in it, but not all Protestants are like that. That doesn't mean that I judge all Catholics based on my experience with a group of them who happen to all have the same views and act in the same way. I really dislike it when people start making stereotypes of all kinds of [Christian denomination] because of an experience with a group of people who happen to be that [Christian denomination]. Just because the people you encounter may look differently at your beliefs and try to recruit you to believe in their beliefs, I believe that their actions show their CHARACTER, and that their actions are not a result of their beliefs so please don't judge all people of a certain denomination, that they act all in the same way and are all "____" you fill in the blank, just because you encountered people of that same denomination who act in a certain way.

I just really dislike hearing "Because they're [Christian denomination], then they hate us or they're ..."

Maybe it's not as big of a problem as I perceive it to be, but I'd really like your yay or nay on this and your thoughts. thanks

'Scuse me if I sound confusing.. I'm usually bad at explaining things. And I really don't mean to offend, sorry if I do because I'm bad at wording things correctly sometimes.

 

[JTLauder]

Very passionate disputes and conflicts have always existed between different religions, not just within Christianity. That's why many athesiets say religion should be abolished because of so much fighting and violence that has resulted from it.

Why people feel so threatened by others who believe differently from them, I don't know. And I do believe that all the conflicts have more to do with fear of other beliefs than from a goodwill attempt to convert others. You can tell it's more from being threatened because they argue their points with a hint of anger.

If people are secure enough in their own beliefs, they wouldn't feel so threatened and try to eradicate other beliefs, because if you really believe that God is almighty and will triumph over evil, then you have confidence that the truth of that will be revealed and you won't be driven to desperate actions.

As for within legitimate Christian groups, I separate the religion from the truth of Christianity. As long as you believe the basic foundations of who is Christ and have him as your Lord and Savior in your life, it's then just a matter of personal preferences what religious rituals and traditions you follow. As long as we are all children of God, arguing about traditions is like arguing with your brother whether to wear your baseball cap forwards or backwards.

 

[revanneosl]

I've been disturbed by the contentiousness of this board as well. Having only just arrived, I've sort of been reading around to see if it's ubiquitous, or if I just happened to be reading some particularly flamey threads.

Besides the tendency to pre-judge others based on denomination or on stated beliefs, I also find the attitude of "my denomination is the One True Version Of Christianity" to be pretty widespread and pretty disturbing. The leaders of the various quadrants of the church are, blessedly, more willing to admit of the validity of other quadrants than are the posters to this board.

 

[Robskiwarrior]

yea to be honest its crazy, BUT I think its human nature in a way.

Plus if you love something enough and believe in something enough you want to defend your point. Although that is ok there is alot of sterotyping I would say that is flying around...

I call God by what I would say is His Name - Yahuweh. Now I do call Him Father, and all the other titles, I believe they are very important, but I love to call Him by the Name He gave himself. But if I say this here, I automatically get labled either Messianic or a Sacred Namer - of which I am none. (can I just say I am using this as an example and dont want to get into debat about the proper name of God - thanks )

But then I suppose I am guilty of the same.

But you are right - there needs to be more love and understanding.