We are on the same ground: some who consider themselves followers indeed need to have the "Christ" put back in them so they can return to being Christian.
Nor does showing up every Sunday and extra days during Lent. The problem is that the teachings "Pastor Bob" are often an anathema to the teachings of Christ.
I was never able to find a decent church and I eventually had to settle for one that didn't even have a pastor. Well they do, a nice husband and wife but they don't preach, the church is simply about fellowship. There are many groups to join where you can Bible study however, with like minded people.
I think you need to understand the Christ/Jesus dynamic. See.......Christ and Jesus are two different things. Jesus was a feisty and fascinating little guy who gathered quite a following and riled up the Romans......who promptly killed him. Christ was a reprise of an old and popular story of a man/god who died to pay for the sins of his followers. This myth had been popular among the Gentiles for centuries so a guy named Saul/Paul successfully attached it to the stories of Jesus and created a brand new religion that the Gentiles LOVED because it allowed you to sin and still go to heaven. Pretty sweet deal. Naturally, these "Christians" are often guilty of grave sins.......but, why not? Their religion allows it. So........putting "Christ" into Christians is not necessary. They've always had this concept as the center of their religion and it is the reason they behave so badly..........they can sin all they want and the "Christ" has paid for their sins. The perfect religion. Thanks, Saul/Paul......you were a genius.
You can't spend your life acting against God thinking you have a get out of jail free card at the end. Do you think God is stupid or something? Are you going to outsmart him? lol
Exactly how it works. Good post Saul/Paul had no clue what Jesus wanted, so he made up his own religion. And many follow that false religion of Saul, the persecutor of Christians.
Nobody is trying to outsmart God. Christians actually have their "Christ" myth as a core belief. This "Christ" paid for all their sins......so they can sin all they want and still go to heaven. Nobody can deny that it's the backbone of Christianity.
Whoa. Saul/Paul persecuted the followers of Jesus......they were Jews, not Christians. Saul/Paul INVENTED Christians.......and advised them to obey the Romans.
LOL! Vox understands it all. Google "Paul the liar" and you'll get thousands of hits. If you read with understanding you'll figure it out. It's not rocket science.
and then you have your bad preachers, even if you do go "Pastor: I punched a kid ‘as hard as I could’ for ‘not taking the Lord serious’" http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/01/...d-as-i-could-for-not-taking-the-lord-serious/
That is what I liked about Church when growing up - the getting together/fellowship. The Pastor was pretty good too- had good sermons. Denomination was Lutheran .. very down to earth. Every second Sunday there was a Pot Luck - those were the best. I do not like Evangelical for the most part and really dislike Pentecostal. What I hate most is when Churches or religious groups get political.
Very good question. Maybe it isn't about the various sects but about your belief in God. Maybe that is what He is after. Does it make sense that God would have one standard that all must comply to or would it make more sense that He appeals Himself to different groups in different ways? Our world is not the same, we have different cultures, histories, and beliefs. Think about that. It might not be whether you call Him Jesus, Allah or Buddha, but that you actually believe in Him.
But you just said it's about reading the new testament, a text very specific to only one of the thousands of madeup nonsense religions. Maybe it's actually about you and your own morality, and you just snap fit the iron age fairy tale that happened to be in your vicinity by genetic accident to your own fetishes, beliefs, neuroses, morals, etc I gotta tell ya, that seems infinitely more likely by any measure.
Plenty of those .. This fellow is one of my favorite clown show puppets parading as a follower of Christ.