Now I can see why you asked this question. You were once of them and your mind is still affected.
You look at appearances. God looks at the heart.
Please do attend church if you're going to keep on believing that Jehovah's Witnesses are Christians. They are not of God.
Only Christians, Catholics, and Jews.
Some Christians are of God. Some Christians are of Satan.
Some Catholics are of God. Some Catholics are of Satan.
Some Jews are of God. Some Jews are of Satan.
All other religions are of the devil.
Thanks!
I didn't see the post that you quoted.
Oh wow, you say that I look at appearances and god reads the heart? Haven't I been the ONLY ONE saying that through this entire thread?
Then you go on to say which people are of god and which ones aren't? So who is really looking at appearances? Not me, but YOU. I do not judge entire groups of people like you and many others here do. That is for God to do, not man. Nobody has the right to say things like that.
Your view of God is so small and narrow. Unfortunately, this is the type of christian attitude that I find so sad. We are not under any law today, Jesus came and washed that all away. The only requirements for being a christian are to accept Jesus as your personal savior, and to love your neighbor.
Notice it doesn't say to "love only your christian neighbor", it says love your neighbor. Does loving your neighbor include judging them? NO. Does loving your neighbor include degrading their style of worship? NO. Does loving your neighbor include telling another christian that their love for god isn't good enough? No.
People need to get a grip. This is the problem that people have with christians.
After I left the JW's, I had no faith at all, I didn't pray, didn't even think about god anymore for many many years. I started to think about it again, and I started to explore other religions, and I basically became a new ager for lack of a better word. They were more loving then the christians, not a little more, alot more! My love and appreciation for God began to grow again, this time on my own without a church telling me what to do and how to do it. For the first time in my life, I love God just because I do, and it's not tainted by any outside influences (churches). It's of my own doing, it comes from my heart, all by myself. It's a pure love as it's not driven by any other motivation then gratitude for being alive. I'm out in the "wilderness" so to speak, having and building my own relationship with the one who created me. I call myself a christian today because I am, and because I want too. Not because I"m supposed to. I talk to God several times a day, everyday, just because I want too, not because I have to. He is my friend, my only real true friend.
To me, this is a pure form of worship because it does not include outside influences, neither good or bad. My style of worship has no adgenda, I"m not showing up a man made church on sunday to impress anyone, I don't pray in public to impress anyone, everything that I do is done in secret between me and God as he teaches me and gives me wisdom and understanding.
So many christians, and other religions for that matter, get so caught up in the "do's and dont's" that they miss the big picture. They get so caught up in the "rights and wrongs" that they end up judging someone else's relationship with God, which is actually a terrible thing to do. They can't see the forrest through the trees and see that God isn't small and petty, He is great and loving. God is everywhere at all times, and He made this very clear.
I'll tell you something else. When I was a new ager, I would hear so much distain for christians, because of the type of attitude that I heard here in this thread. That's why people of other faiths can't deal with christianity. They say that christians are judgemental and petty. Well, I can't deny that, it's true. Don't believe me, just read through this thread again.
Jesus died for ALL PEOPLE. Not just the church. Jesus loves ALL PEOPLE, not just the people who call themselves christians. Jesus created ALL PEOPLE, not just you. Jesus loved people on the outside, people who were different, people who were judged unrighteous by the religious leaders of His day. Let's not forget that.
Jesus is a reader of hearts, not public displays. Jesus is a reader of minds, not religious titles and labels. To say that your brother or your sister in Christ is not a real christian because they don't belong to the same church as you is a hateful thing to say, and I don't believe for one minute that Jesus would appreciate that. That is evavating yourself and putting down another person based on petty differences.
How do you think God feels when He sees that going on? I believe it makes Him very sad. Just like when a muslim straps a bomb on his back and kills people in the name of God. This is no different in theory, you're just doing it without a bomb, but you're still causing damage and division amoung your own brothers and sisters yet.
Look at the bigger picture and just know that God is more concerned with a person's heart condition, how they live their daily lives, and how they treat other people. I believe that's the most important thing, and the bible seems to think so too.