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Christian or Pretending to be Christian?

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
I was just curious enough to check out a video that popped up in my feed earlier, thinking I'd spend no more than a minute watching it.

As it turned out, my forecast was about as accurate as that time I first heard about genetic engineering and became so excited I took out a second mortgage to invest with a traveling band of professional toenail painters who had convinced me their plan to engineer designer house cats whose fur would glow in the dark like some jellyfish do was actually feasible. That was 30 years ago. Still waiting for them to pass through town and tell me how my capitalization of our enterprise panned out.

At any rate, I watched the whole video and it struck me in several different ways, but the one way I'd like to discuss here involves the MyPillow guy's claim that he is not only a Christian, but that Jesus guides his actions: "I do what Jesus would have me do".

Please take a look at the video. It's long, but it sure can be fascinating! The specific question is, is the MyPillow guy a Christian? Or is he merely pretending to be a Christian?

The more general, and I think by far the more important questions are: What makes someone a Christian? And is Christianity itself to be defined by how Christians themselves behave? Or is it to be defined by how they ought to behave according to some source or authority such as a tradition, the Bible, their clergy, the majority of self-identifying Christians, etc.?

 

Audie

Veteran Member
I was just curious enough to check out a video that popped up in my feed earlier, thinking I'd spend no more than a minute watching it.

As it turned out, my forecast was about as accurate as that time I first heard about genetic engineering and became so excited I took out a second mortgage to invest with a traveling band of professional toenail painters who had convinced me their plan to engineer designer house cats whose fur would glow in the dark like some jellyfish do was actually feasible. That was 30 years ago. Still waiting for them to pass through town and tell me how my capitalization of our enterprise panned out.

At any rate, I watched the whole video and it struck me in several different ways, but the one way I'd like to discuss here involves the MyPillow guy's claim that he is not only a Christian, but that Jesus guides his actions: "I do what Jesus would have me do".

Please take a look at the video. It's long, but it sure can be fascinating! The specific question is, is the MyPillow guy a Christian? Or is he merely pretending to be a Christian?

The more general, and I think by far the more important questions are: What makes someone a Christian? And is Christianity itself to be defined by how Christians themselves behave? Or is it to be defined by how they ought to behave according to some source or authority such as a tradition, the Bible, their clergy, the majority of self-identifying Christians, etc.?

No mr pillow pillow for me.
 

Salty Booger

Royal Crown Cola (RC)
The more general, and I think by far the more important questions are: What makes someone a Christian? And is Christianity itself to be defined by how Christians themselves behave? Or is it to be defined by how they ought to behave according to some source or authority such as a tradition, the Bible, their clergy, the majority of self-identifying Christians, etc.?
Maybe it is what you take from it and make of it? My view is that Jesus was an enlightened being, which is quite amazing when you consider the time and place of his existence.
 

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
Please take a look at the video. It's long, but it sure can be fascinating! The specific question is, is the MyPillow guy a Christian? Or is he merely pretending to be a Christian?
I'm not sure if it matters. If he's a fake, he's a convincing fake who's accepted by other Christians.

Whether or not he's sincere, what he says and does is enough in line with other Christians' expectations that they agree that he's a Christian.

The more general, and I think by far the more important questions are: What makes someone a Christian? And is Christianity itself to be defined by how Christians themselves behave? Or is it to be defined by how they ought to behave according to some source or authority such as a tradition, the Bible, their clergy, the majority of self-identifying Christians, etc.?
In general, I consider someone to belong to a religion if they:

1. Identify as a member of that religion, and
2. Are accepted as a member by other members of the religion.

That's really it.

Other stuff - e.g. what scripture or teachings they "need" to accept - is only relevant for me in figuring out what the members of the religion generally use as the criteria for #2. I don't really have any any hard-and-fast ideas about what those criteria ought to be.
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
We've learned not to expect much

Funny. Nearly those very same words were the
first words my first wife spoke to me the morning
after our wedding night. I'm pretty sure she was
referring to me cooking breakfast for her, even
though I had not yet suggested the idea of it to
her.
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
Who wants to play a round of No True Scotsman?

If the guy says he is a Christian I guess I have to take him at his word.
I've long thought that a Christian is one who believes
Jesus to be his lord & savior.
It doesn't say anything about their being a good or bad
person.....just a minimal set of beliefs. Of course, they
add other beliefs from church & Bible to suit themselves.
 

Audie

Veteran Member
Funny. Nearly those very same words were the
first words my first wife spoke to me the morning
after our wedding night. I'm pretty sure she was
referring to me cooking breakfast for her, even
though I had not yet suggested the idea of it to
her.

I think that was a Sign
 

PureX

Veteran Member
He's just a con-man. And whether or not he believes his own con is irrelevant, to me. Just as it was irrelevant to me that George W. Bush believed that Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11 and was about to develop nuclear weapons.

What these people believe vs. what they claim to believe is not the pertinent issue. And that's true of any self-proclaimed Christian, or atheist, or whatever else. It's what they do that matters. This guy is lying to us. George W. Bush was lying to us. What they are in this instance, then, are liars. Whether they believe their own lies is of no consequence. Their lies, however, are of consequence.
 

Audie

Veteran Member
He's just a con-man. And whether or not he believes his own con is irrelevant, to me. Just as it was irrelevant to me that George W. Bush believed that Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11 and was about to develop nuclear weapons.

What these people believe vs. what they claim to believe is not the pertinent issue. And that's true of any self-proclaimed Christian, or atheist, or whatever else. It's what they do that matters. This guy is lying to us. George W. Bush was lying to us. What they are in this instance, then, are liars. Whether they believe their own lies is of no consequence. Their lies, however, are of consequence.

An assertion about the definition of a lie,
unsupported by any dictionary, anything
but your chosen belief as to what is true.

So what is this that thou doest?
 
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