Christians...examples of...who?

[hero]

It is not uncommon to hear a Christian judge someone. Christians are called the worst for shooting their wounded. You see "brothers" and "sisters" everyday who say they know Christ, but fight for the enemy. If we are the salt of the earth, where has our flavor gone, and why?

 

[Buttons*]

It is not uncommon to hear a Christian judge someone. Christians are called the worst for shooting their wounded. You see "brothers" and "sisters" everyday who say they know Christ, but fight for the enemy. If we are the salt of the earth, where has our flavor gone, and why?

good question!

 

[Abram]

I agree with you here but I can't stand that you would focus on the ones that do judge. One man cheats on his wife, does this mean all men do? Course not.

Keep in mind the enemy whispers in our ear "it's okay to think and say the things we do" remember just because your Christian does not make you perfect.

 

[hero]

I agree with you here but I can't stand that you would focus on the ones that do judge. One man cheats on his wife, does this mean all men do? Course not.

Keep in mind the enemy whispers in our ear "it's okay to think and say the things we do" remember just because your Christian does not make you perfect.

Yes, I agree, but...
I am choosing to see this from the view the world. The world that Christians are supposed to be a light for. And I have to say, we (christians in general) are the worst example for Christianity.

 

[dawny0826]

I agree with you here but I can't stand that you would focus on the ones that do judge. One man cheats on his wife, does this mean all men do? Course not.

Keep in mind the enemy whispers in our ear "it's okay to think and say the things we do" remember just because your Christian does not make you perfect.

Exactly.

And although, you have a point in that, Christians are just as guilty as anyone else in the judgemental department...individually, we must deal with the consequences of our own actions.

As the hands and feet of Christ, it is our responsibility to confess Christ...but also, we need to be humbled when we're called out on being brash.

Sometimes, it's too easy to forget that it's all about Him and not about me. I'm incredibly passionate about my beliefs and when you come head to head with someone else who is passionate... .

We're human. We make mistakes. It's important to try to keep a humble heart. I try to at least.

 

[Abram]

Yes, I agree, but...
I am choosing to see this from the view the world. The world that Christians are supposed to be a light for. And I have to say, we (christians in general) are the worst example for Christianity.

Only because the world formed that opinon of it that way. I know many Christians that walk the walk and talk the talk. But people will complain before they complement.

 

[hero]

Exactly.

And although, you have a point in that, Christians are just as guilty as anyone else in the judgemental department...individually, we must deal with the consequences of our own actions.

This is the part of the quote I wont to focus on more than anything. If attitude, as I have heard so many times before, is the best way to witness to someone, how many people are we misleading with our pride. And to them who are mislead, is not their blood on our hands?

 

[hero]

Only because the world formed that opinon of it that way. I know many Christians that walk the walk and talk the talk. But people will complain before they complement.

Sad but true. Do not all sins lead back to pride?

 

[Aqualung]

I don't think most christians are bad examples. It's just the loud ones that are.

 

[dawny0826]

Only because the world formed that opinon of it that way. I know many Christians that walk the walk and talk the talk. But people will complain before they complement.

I hear you.

And I'm honest about my own actions...I'm guilty of being judgemental.

 

[dawny0826]

Sad but true. Do not all sins lead back to pride?

Many do...

 

[hero]

I don't think most christians are bad examples. It's just the loud ones that are.

It is not even just that one is bad or good. But their is also dissention among Chritians about petty doctorines. Some believe you should where such and such and other man-made traditions. Their is that because of such a petty thing other denominations may not think is a sin one denomination condemns. This is just a for instance and by no means do judge anyone for this, but I know someone who goes to Church of Christ. And because we in so and so church use musical unstruments it is falsely worshipping God. My so and so friend then has judged, and created bitterness. Their are many other situations such as this, and how can we get across one message of salvation when we as a body choose to be dismembered. Because one sleeve is different then the other we feel the need to cut of the arm. Why? Is it pride? How can we expect the world to hear the truth of Christ Jesus mediator and saviour if we appear so unsure and different in belief? Why can't we all just agree, Christ is Lord. The doctorine is clear. Where has our light gone. What happens to salt that looses its flavor. Do we wont to be likened to the Israelites, not knowing God.

 

[hero]

I hear you.

And I'm honest about my own actions...I'm guilty of being judgemental.

At least you are willing to correct yourself, and admit it.

 

[spookboy0]

I don't think most christians are bad examples. It's just the loud ones that are.

Kinda like the saying, "God wants spiritual fruits, not religious nuts"? (duh da dum chh)

Anyway, I notice a good bit of the teens at school tend to point out the wrong more than they lead to Him. Like once we had to write a persuasive essay. Most of the "Christians" in my class chose to talk about homosexuality. The only thing they argued was that "it's wrong because it's just wrong," * and circular reasoning never got anybody anywhere. Just one instance of this judging-too-quickly.

*I'm actually surprised that they could write a whole essay with that one arguement.

 

[sojourner]

I firmly believe that judgment is the worst thing we Christians can engage in, for it goes against the grain of not only who, but whose we are. We belong to God. God is love. God chooses to withhold judgment for God's self, and to withhold it until the end. Why are we going around judging others now? Do we think God needs our help in judgment?

It's hypocritical. We tout the fact that we are sinners, but that God has forgiven us -- yet we say that others are definitely going to hell for their sin. Love doesn't pass judgment and it doesn't divide; love is accepting and seeks to unite. If we are going to be the salt of the earth, then our "flavor" must come from expansive love, not unmitigagted judgment.

 

[Smoke]

I don't think most christians are bad examples.

I do. To be a Christian is to accept the priority of dogma over right living -- whether that dogma is Evangelical, Calvinist, Roman Catholic, or Orthodox. The Confession of Faith is the important part. Do you accept Jesus as your personal savior? Do you accept the teachings of Holy Mother Church? Do you believe the Bible is inerrant? Do you have an Orthodox confession of faith? Regardless of what kind of Christian one is, those are the kinds of questions that define Christianity. Love of God and your neighbor are entirely optional, and the teachings of Jesus are inconveniences to be explained away.

Christians are always careful to point out that they "are not perfect, just forgiven." Why? Nobody expects anybody to be perfect. Why are such disclaimers necessary for Christians and not for, say, Buddhists or Jains or Wiccans? Isn't it because Christianity attaches so little importance to loving God and your neighbor, and so much to right belief, that loving your neighbor becomes a matter of little or no importance?

When the United Methodists ruled that a lesbian cannot be a minister and that a minister can refuse to allow a gay man to join the church even as a layman, but failed to censure one of their members -- G. W. Bush -- who is directly responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people, what did that tell us about how Methodists love their neighbors?

When a United Methodist minister like Donald Wildmon, a Southern Baptist minister like Jerry Falwell, and prominent Evangelical laymen like Pat Robertson, Tony Perkins and James Dobson are known primarily for excusing violence and spreading bigotry -- without hesitating to lie, if it helps their cause; when Catholic clergy withhold the Sacrament from Catholic politicians who refuse to impose Catholic teaching on the general population, what do those kinds of things tell us about Christians and their love for God and neighbor?

I know, not all Christians are like that. Many Christians are loving, tolerant, even liberal people. But they continue to support denominations and organizations that excuse violence and bigotry.

Christians and Jews steadfastly refuse to acknowledge that Christian fundamentalism and Jewish fundamentalism are just as wrongheaded, just as evil, just as dangerous, as Muslim fundamentalism. They're ready to characterize Muslims as terrorists and tolerant of terrorists, and rightly so, but they refuse to understand that their Christian president, the de facto head of the Christian Right in the U.S., has the blood of more innocents on his hands than does Osama bin Laden.

Even a supposedly "liberal" denomination like the United Methodists cannot see its way clear to expel such a member, though they have plenty of time to expel a lesbian from the ministry. A Christianity like this reeks to high heaven, and many Christians know it -- but they remain a part of it. Yet the United Methodists are no worse than any other Christian denomination, and better than most. To my way of thinking, being a member of any Christian Church is not unlike being a member of the Klan. That's a great part of why I'm no longer a Christian.

 

[Scuba Pete]

We are quick to say that Christians "judge" and yet more often than not, we mistake what judgement really is.

To judge someone is to pass a sentence: to condemn.

Merely using your discretion to identify someone's character (good and bad) is not judging them. The Bible encourages to inspect each other's fruit!

Luke 6:43 "No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. NIV