I just graduated from seminary this past Friday, during this time I have been reflecting on some of the main things that I have learned. There were 2 things that stood out, first I learned that The more you learn and the more wisdom you obtain, the more you begin to understand that you don’t know as much as you thought you did. And the main thing about being a Christian is having a relationship, not a religion. I’ve seen so many “Christians” go out and try to force what they believe and judge others. I’ve learned very quickly the concept of loving others as you love yourself. I cannot explain the hurt I feel when I see other “Christians “ bashing people b/c of what they believe or how they live they lived their lives it makes me sick to my stomach. Really the only time that you see Jesus condemn people was when he was talking to the religious leaders of that day. So I guess the main point of this is to urge Christians to understand the concept of love thy neighbor concept. There is no if’s or buts’ about it, you most love people regardless of who they are. Religion can some times be intolerant......, but a relationship cannot be

Sorry for the rant…just a few things running through my mind

Ahh, reminds me of the golden rule: "Treat others how you want to be treated."
We used to be told that in school. I'm not sure I'd be able to "love" mass murderers and child molesters though. Treat them with equality, yeah... But not love them.

I think the mods may come in here eventually and say that this thread's better suited as a blog entry. Though I could be wrong...

LOl...maybe ur right.....

thought id post it here b/c seem like when i drop in eveyonce in a while i always see Christians bashing others, as well as alot of other people bashing others. Thought it may do some good...or more that likly just wasting my time...but it never hurts to try

congradulations on graduating. you sound like you'll make a good 'Preist?' , brother ect ....

if more people of religion firmly believed as you do , not saying they do in one breath then finding their actions or words don't match , the world would be a much nicer place for all.

Thanks ...im finally done...well kinda...lol

yea your right, if alot of people lived what they spoke..the world could possiably be a better place

Indeed. If you practice what you teach, you'll make that difference in living by example, the admonition by the christ to love thy neighbor as thyself, and as such help to heal the impression many of those christians you find fault with, create so as to fault the faith by their actions. Good fortune abide you on your journey forward.

Thank ya

By now, most people, religious and non-religious, have heard of this. Some even practice it better than most Christians I've encountered of late, especially around my neighborhood. So, please give me other reasons why you chose Christ as your savior?

Peace.

Why i choose follow Christ is simple from personal experence. Things that ive been through, seen and faith. But each person has their own reasons. I cannot give you other reasons to beleive as I do. No person should be forced or coerced into believing. I can simply tell you what i know. If you want my testimony of how i came to accept Christ i can email or IM it to you.

Hi, Beastmode:

Yes, please send it to me. I'd be happy to read it.

Peace to you, always.

Just sent it!

Thank you.

This wisdom is something my M-I-L dearly needs to embrace. What do I know? I'm just an ignorant, devil worshipping heretic...at least according to her.

yea..it seems that tolerance is sometimes hard to learn esp when someone beleives that they are 100 percent right. It takes people a while to learn that they are not always right. I know when i get to heaven that i will find out that i was wrong about alot of things ...lol

couldnt of agreed more .if we could grasp it wed all be able to have a greater tolerance for one another. its such a growing process, "if" we will let it be. If we're always right then there leaves no room to learn.

Thats exactly right....good quote..i like it

I know what you said in the OT, however I was wondering if you would elaborate more fully on what you believe, as one that has had the education in religious philosophy. You know, your personal religion or belief, in the matter, as a christian or spiritual/religious person.

I think calling ones self religious communicates how one lives, is the example of what that faith means to them, as they hold faith in it what it communicates to them about living rightly. So, I'm always interested in how interprets for themselves, what they feel is speaking to them, from that spiritual side.

Sounds like you're well on your way to being a good representative for your Christian beliefs.

Here is a portion of my testimony that help how and what I believe. Dont have time to explain fully why and what i believe ..but this is a start

Before I accepted Christ as my savior I looked just like any other Christian. I went to church and I hung out with other Christians. Everything looked like I lived the perfect “Christian” life. But underneath the spiritual mask that I wore, lived a very unhappy and desperate man. You see I went to church and did all the Christian things, but inside I knew that there had to be more to life that what I knew. I was always trying to fill that void in my life with things of the world that I thought would make me happy. In a time when things were falling apart around me, and felt I myself slipping away, I came to the point of desperation. Sin and the darkness of this world had bound me, and I was not able to pull myself out of the desperate situation that I was in. Quite honestly pain and the thoughts of suicide clouded my mind and life. With drugs and other horrible worldly things around me, I had no one that I could turn to. I could no longer do this alone, I needed love, I need hope, I needed God. So I asked God “ If you are real, then show me , because I cant do this anymore”. One January night God spoke to me through a man of God. I then realized that whole point of being a Christian was having a
relationship with Christ, Jesus died on the cross not for religion not for church, but for a relationship with Him. I had been living my life for an empty religion. I had been trying to find salvation through religion, which was getting me no where. I finally realized what God had been trying to tell me, it was about a relationship not a religion. At that point I began to know and see that God is real. Not because some one told me or that I read it somewhere, but because I have personally experienced God and His love. God pulled me out of the miserable state that I was in, and placed me in his grace and salvation. Through Jesus I now know that I have an assurance of salvation and that my life is now changed.

I don’t want to follow religion or Dogma that was created by Man. The reason that I became a Christian is because of personal experience, it wasn’t forced by family or friends..it was totally by choice. I have seen my life change from what it was to what it is now. My faith isn’t based on a church , its based on God. I also know that everyone has a personal opinion that may or may not differ from my person belief, which is fine…that’s their personal choice. But I know as for me..God loves me and has a plan for my life.

Thank you....lol..i try...

Well written. I wish you peace on your journey.

thank you...same for you

What seminar did you graduate from? This is fascinating to me. I've never met someone who went to seminary. What was the experience like? And what denomination were you when you went through? I see that you don't want to follow religion but have a personal relationship with Jesus. But you went to seminary? So what does that mean?

all religion is, is moral dogman nothing more nothing less

Great testimony beast!

Congratulations on graduating from seminary, that is quite an accomplishment. What are you planning to do with your degree? How do you think what you have seen here in UM, like you said, "Christians" bashing others for their beliefs and also something you may have noticed nonChristians trying to hold today's Christians accountable for all of the historical horrors that were made in the name of God? I think this site could be a very educational experience for new Christian leaders.

And he could learn a few things, they neglected to teach him at Seminary. The problem with Seminary is that what is usually taught there is one sided and thus when someone is confronted with some issues whether they are theological or to do with relationships, many times those same teachings aren't enough.

I remember going through a period where much of what I learned just wasn't practical in the real and hard world. Theologically speaking, seminary students aren't taught to how to defend the faith from the attacks we sometimes see on this board.

But I suppose that people are different and some have more capacity in one area than in others.

religion is just something you buy into and believe in. it shouldnt be forced on anyone for any reason.
despite the fact many people find it neccesary to do so.....like going door to door. that train never hit me. and i still wonder why some insist on bothering people.

There is a saying:

"The continuous drip of water on the hardest rock, will eventually wear the rock away".

yes yes. there is also another saying 'the squeeky wheel gets the grease'
however, the squeeky wheel also gets people fed up with it, thrown out and disregarded. so it goes both ways.
still it annoys the hell outa people. so dont bother them with your religion, if they dont care about it. i dont piss people off by going around telling them to beleive in aliens. because i know theyd get annoyed. i have respect for others

Have you ever heard of a religion of one?

The reason they do it is for people to convert. If they don't try they aren't really a religion are they. Who ever heard of a religion whos intent wasn't to convert the world?

plenty - buddhists don't . plenty of christian sects don't . Native Americans don't with thier religion. we could go on for a while. Turn on the TV - how many Pagan religions own air time ? how about Quakers ?

plenty of christians in multi million dollar mega churches -

"Religion easily has the best bulls*it story of all time. Think about it. Religion has convinced people that there's an invisible man...living in the sky. Who watches everything you do every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a list of ten specific things he doesn't want you to do. And if you do any of these things, he will send you to a special place, of burning and fire and smoke and torture and anguish for you to live forever, and suffer, and burn, and scream, until the end of time. But he loves you. He loves you. He loves you and he needs money."

George Carlin

I love Carlin.

I went to JBTS.....grad with a Bach of Theology

It was a great experence..i cant speak for other schools but 1 of the main things that our school encouraged and taught was to be an independant Chistian.....as in do just go with the flow...think for yourself....and know what you believe or think you believe. just dont conform to religion.I am a Baptist...the school is under a baptist label...but isnt affiliated with any church or orginization...and we have students from many different denominations

Thanks.....no sure what i will be doing....i prolly go back to running the ministry that i started a while back....working with youth and college/single adults...but we will see..at this point who knows...lol

Your right,,,can be a great education experence for real world issues...but just sunday school stuff. I think the bashing is two fold, but i htink for Christians we must be able share with people, without bashing or losing our witness.

Correct me if I am wrong but arent you bashing Christians making yourself a hypocrite

Not bashing.........simply stating a point. I am a Christian...im just pointing out a fact...an observation of what i learned. And simpy trying to point out and correct a bad thing. And i wouldnt go around calling people hypocrites.

Just curious because you are the one who mentioned the words "bashing" in the first place. And also why would you start a thread entitled "Some things that tick me off about Christians" if you are trying to spread the word and get people to look at their own behaviors?

Seems odd to me that you'd come out of seminary school and start off antagonizing people right from the get go?

And I'm a bit curious how you managed to graduate with a BA and seem to write pretty sloppy for someone just out of School? Did you take classes online or something?

As you can see I'm a little bit skeptical. If I didn't know better I'd think you were just pretending to be a Christian for the sake of being able to trash them without being called on it?

Maybe you could explain what your intentions are because its just coming across really weird to me.

I call someone a hypocrite when it fits. I believe it fits here.

Hypocracy..lol..anyways i wasnt bashing my own religion......why would i do that..i was meary Reiterating what Jesus taught. No bashing at all...

hmmmm....this coming from the nonbeliever....
but regardless, id kinda have to agree with you. people cant start threads for things that they dont like about certain people, then say there not 'bashing' them, when cleary you just complained about all they do that you dont like, or what annoys you with them.

"Hypocracy..lol..anyways i wasnt bashing my own religion......why would i do that..i was meary Reiterating what Jesus taught. No bashing at all..."

naw, i also think its kinda being a hypocrit to an extent. why you would bash your own religion? check your first post. thats why, you just stated all the things that bug you about it now.

I hate it when Christians ridicule people who believe in Cryptids like Bigfoot. I think that an ape who wanders the woodlands makes better sense than an almighty being who has been around even before existence.

No i dont think its bashing for example.....If i played on a football team. And i saw one of my team mates constantly making very big mistake that was hurting the team. If i stood back and said nothing it could help bring the demise of my time. Any responsible team mate would point out the errors. Bashing has no result...its ussually pointless. But pointing out an error and showing the correct is teaching. Granted it may be a lil ruff, but its still teaching. And if i came off as bashing..im sorry, but i dont beleive that i did. And its hard to call someone a hypocrite id you dont know excatly what they believe, so if you dont know or understand what someone else believes how can someone call them a hypocrite.

I don't really see where he is bashing anyone. I see him simply making a statement that some things that he sees some of his fellow Christians doing ticks him off. How is that bashing?

What if I say that it ticks me off when the people at McDonald's put mustard on my hamburger? Does that mean I'm bashing the people at McDonald's? I don't think so. I'm just stating something that irritates me. Now, if I said that the people at McDonald's are stupid idiots. Then that would be bashing.


As far as hypocrite, Websters states:

Main Entry: hyp·o·crite
Pronunciation: 'hi-p&-"krit
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English ypocrite, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin hypocrita, from Greek hypokritEs actor, hypocrite, from hypokrinesthai
1 : a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion
2 : a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings
- hypocrite adjective

I don't see any of that in his post either. Just my opinion.

My thoughts exactly........thanks1

off topic....pandora did ya have fum waiting out all the rain from tropical storm barry

Non believer refers to all the ghosts,orbs,werewolves, and crap that people post about on here. Nothing to do with God

So......for the one thinking that i am bashing fellow Christians......what do u think about pastors teaching , and pointing out things that are wrong with Certain traits that soem Christians portrey

well theyre pointing out things that they think are wrong with it, or should be changed (with the ones that "some christians portrey" as you put it)
but still, if hes a pastor teaching about chirstianity, then complaining about it, hes almost bashing it too.
also, why the hell would he be a pastor if he complains and points out things that are wrong with it all the time. just go somewhere else and talk.

Hey!! I never even looked at your city! ROFLMAO, now it looks like I'm defending you cuz we're both in Jacksonville!! You know, Barry, did ruin my beach time, but I'm glad we're getting it. Better than a repeat of the fires we had in the late 90's.

Okay, back on topic...

I'm not even sure what I believe at this point in my life. I just felt like you were being picked on just for being a Christian. Like they were intentionally looking for something to show you going against your own beliefs. Unfortunately, we have a lot of people on here who like to do that.

Don't get me wrong. If you had come on here and said, "My God is the only true God and if you don't believe in him you are all idiots.", then I would have been one of the first on here to ask you to prove that you are any MORE right than anyone else on here. Then I would have called you a hypocrite.

But, you did not do that. You came on here and you made a comment on something you have experienced and you stated your personal beliefs. I respect that. Which is why I said, you seem like a GOOD representative for your religion.

If you believed in something so much, but some of the people who we believed the same as you were doing somethings that were wrongand destroying what you believed, would you say or do anything about it?