"Anyways, my brother has started going to a Baptist Church in the last year" There is your answer... what did you expect?
Have you been in numerous Baptist churches? Numerous Evangelical churches? I have attended services at a variety of denominations.... never have heard anything hateful at Lutheran or Catholic services... but have heard some very "interesting" sermons in Baptist, Evangelical and Pentecostal churches.
Perhaps Christianity isn't taught correctly. The way I see it, the 10 commandments are a reminder that you can't follow the law perfectly. As a result, you need a savior that willingly will take responsibility for your wrongdoings. The Bible says Jesus was perfect, and since he was perfect, he wasn't supposed to die. (The wages of sin is death.) Yet he chose to die because of our wrongdoings. He paid everyone's penalty for sinning, past, present, and future. Pretty nice of Him I must say. From what I understand, a true Christian is someone that obeys, to the best of their ability, the teachings of Jesus.
Thread is hilarious... why isnt Islam turning you off, or Budhissm? How about Atheists? The point is you have an issue with some statement and not the actual faith itself right? Its one thing to not want to do it, and another to try to mask it under the guise of it preaches hate messages... this is ridiculous.
At least they are not yet blowing people up on the reg in the name of their God, I'll take being turned off over exploding death tyvm.
I'm not christian by classification, but I like to think that I'm open to most religions and things they say. I pray at temple but I've also been to church, sincerely said my morning "Our father who art in heaven..." prayer during our school assemblies, attended Bible Study in college and so on. I've been to Greek Orthodox Easter ceremonies in Greek, and I've been to regular Sunday morning church events in Houston. However, I'm with the OP! I really dislike when someone holds the view that their religion is the best and that it must be spread to as many people as possible. Is that really necessary? Why does one religion have to address another religion? Deal with your own content. Live and Let Live. Can't you just be happy with your lot and leave others to be happy with their lot in life? It's a less aggressive variation of what some Islamists say: Have as many children as possible so the religion becomes the majority in the world. Why does it matter? I've had many conversations where people try and tell me "Our God made your God". Ok, sure dude. If it makes you happy to think that, then by all means think that. I'm not going to be convinced because there is no way to do it. I can't prove my religion's history actually happened, and neither can you. So it's all cool. If your beliefs help you lead a straight life, that's all that matters. Each person should be able to follow whatever they want to follow without persecution - This should be true in the 21st century.
Never said I did. I was offering my personal anecdote, just as the OP was offering his personal anecdote.
I've never heard a Christian sermon that preaches hate. That goes directly against what Jesus preached. I'd probably walk out of such a sermon if I ever heard that. If feel like many are being turned away from religion (all religions, not just Christianity) due to a few factors 1. The become wealthier and feel like they don't "need religion". The places where religion is struggling are the wealthiest parts of the world (Western Europe, the US) and where it has been systematically stamped out (China, USSR) 2. They are lazy and don't like to go to worship on their precious weekend time 3. They see religion preaching that homosexuality is a sin, yet they have gay friends so they think religious people "hate" homosexuals. (which that hatred is not part of Christian beliefs, btw) 4. They are turned off by what they see in the news of Catholic priests having sex with little kids and blame the whole religion. 5. They are turned off by hypocritical Christians who judge others. This is a major problem. The self-righteous. Barf.
This is a view I don't really understand. Either people believe Christianity and that Jesus came to save them and that the Bible is the inspired word of God or they don't. Either option is fine. But if you believe it, then part of Jesus' message was to spread the word. It seems to require cognitive dissonance to dismiss that. Either you don't believe that's correct, in which case you don't believe the Bible is the word of God and then you don't really believe in Christianity; or you choose to ignore that part, which is weird to me - if you believe that this is what God wants, I don't understand the idea of saying "eh, I disagree with God on this one." It seems to me *if* you do believe in Christianity, spreading that is perfectly logical. Not only does God want it, but when you know something, the natural tendency is to try to share it. Now, some people are horrible at the method they go about doing so, but I don't see a problem with the concept of wanting to spread it. (I use "you" in the generic sense, not you specifically.)
I mostly agree with your list. I would actually put your #5 in the top spot and combine it with #3. So much more hypocrisy than just the same-sex marriage issue within religious organizations. They rail on same-sex marriage as an affront to marriage, yet divorce rates among heterosexual marriages keep climbing. My issue with organized religion is this... I figured out from an early age that I do not need a book, a congregation, or a rabbi/preacher/pastor to teach me how to be a good person. I don't know that it's bad to murder/steal/cheat because of some mythical stone tablet or from reading the Torah. I know it because my moral center tells me so. I firmly believe in the Golden Rule. I treat people how I want to be treated. I help my neighbors, friends, family, and people I don't know when I can with what I can. I don't cheat on my wife or my taxes. I haven't murdered anyone. Not a one of those things happened because of a book or rabbi.
I guess that's all fine and well, but that's really only one aspect of region. What you think happens upon death, whether God can help you throughout life, whether you owe it to God to worship Him for what He's done for you....there are other dimensions in addition to the one you describe.
Christianity is growing in China. Though there are many inherent risks involved and the puzzling state sanctioned variety, there has been inroads on that front. Whether that growth is legitimized with real numbers remains to be seen. Though the government is warming towards using all religions as a stabilizing political force even when left uncontrolled is random and chaotic. I also think culturally the fundamentalist variety isn't something that would take root there. Historically, the Chinese have used and borrowed religion to their liking in a pragmatic fashion. Some of those aspects caused a schism between imperial courts and the Roman Catholic missionaries during the 17th century.
You kinda have to read that part in the Gospels a lot if you want to learn about the rest of what he represented.
The way I reason this is that those ages did not have global connectivity as we do now - certain messages that Jesus wanted to deliver applied to a certain region of people in a certain situation but not all people of the planet. That doesn't mean there aren't also some useful messages for an Indian or Icelander. The religion spreading part was necessary at the time so a certain people could unite and a peaceful society could develop. Now, society has developed and is working reasonably well so there is no need. There are obvious instances where it has helped (aid in dire situations for poor farmers/villagers in certain African countries & India), but not otherwise. I don't understand the whole Jesus died so I can live and sin idea, so I don't believe that part. However, there are other stories of how decent a man Jesus was and those are the parts I like/enjoy/am inspired by. For me, the Bible is a set of guidelines by which we can live. One can chose which aspect of the Bible they want to fixate on. If the Christian is defined by how close to 100% of the Bible's rules he follows, I won't accept that definition and my opinion is that it should catch up to modern times. (The seeming paradox here is that I don't like the religion spreading aspect and by writing my opinion it's like I want to spread my word. But that's not true - I'm not really looking to change anyone's ways, I'm happy to just continue to resist/dodge/ignore that part)
We really should be a lot more concerned about what turns GOD off than what turns people off. What turns God off is sin. And the biggest sin is P-R-I-D-E. God hates it. In whatever form it manifests itself.
