| >What is the least desirable quality of Christianity?
To me, it is the exclusionary element - the "who's in and who's out"
mentality - that some associate with Christianity that turns a lot of
people off. I know that if I knew all of Christianity to be of this
mindset, I would probably not want to be a Christian myself.
Jesus, too, was criticized for the company he kept.
>How do our lives as Christians reflect something that others might
>want to avoid?
I think very few Christians exemplify (or examplify) the spirit and
teachings of Jesus.
Peace,
Richard
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| Hi!
This is a question which I am continuously asking myself.
As most of you know, I describe myself as non-Christian although
I have been 'looking' for a way into the community for many years.
What has been keeping me outside?
First: I am repelled by what I will call the 'internal conflict'
brought about by differences in attitudes towards the Bible and
its teachings. Wherever one stands, there is an appropriate
label which is *not* usually applied to flatter: Fundamentlist,
Inerrantist, Creationist, Liberal, Revelationist, etc. are all
too frequently used in a decidedly un-Christian context. I am
not sure that I would feel comfortable inside such a community.
Secondly: (and somehow related) is the attitude - even if not
held by all - that Christianity is the 'only true way to God'
and that all other religions have 'got it wrong'. The thought
of even being associated in name (Christian) with such bigotry
is most repellant to me.
Thirdly: There are so many Christians of my experience - and I
have seen signs of it in CP too - who seem to believe that
suffering is a prerequisite to salvation. 'We all have to bear
our cross' is a symptomatic phrase. I regard such an attitude
to be not only wrong and contrary to the will of God, but to be
positively destructive. Unfortunately, I have seen this position
taken by Christians of all shades.
Fourthly: I firmly believe that the earliest forms of life emerged
from inanimate matter and were not human. I also believe in the
evolution of the species through natural selection. Many Christians
reject any of this out of hand - and produce falsified rejection
arguments - instead of seriously searching for a way to reconcile
these facts with their God. This rejection - although most prominent
amongst the fundamentalist groups - also has echoes in the more
liberal communities. I would be uncomfortable with any label which
implied that I had possibly surrendered my intellect.
Fifthly: I believe that certain things in life are not a matter
choice and, therefore, cannot and should not be labelled a sin.
I am thinking, in particular, of homosexuality and (certain
instances of apparent) promiscuity.
Most of you know by now that, as a child, I lived a dual existance:
partly as a male (which is my certified birth gender) and partly as
a female. As a female, I was subjected to what today is called sexual
abuse, at the hands of both men and women. As a male, I was abused by
men only.
I admit to enjoying most of what I did as a girl with women. (I am
reminded of Richard's "honorary lesbian" epithet). I have spoken to
priests, vicars, rabbis and monks about these things (often using
the "just suppose..." form to avoid having to give too much detail.
Only one hindu monk and a rabbi told me that I had not sinned.
Without exception, *every* Christian priest (vicar etc) told me that
I was a sinner. I cannot accept this. Neither can I accept that
(most) homsexuals are sinners, because I *know* that they do not
have a choice. Neither are their acts a sin because they have a
God-given *right* to express their love for others just as
heterosexuals do.
Sixthly: I do not like the paraphenalia of Christianity (or of
most other religions for that matter). I do not like that priest
get dressed up in fancy clothes, splash water about, pump sweet-
smelling smoke into the air and that a church service is like a
workout at the gym (kneel, stand, sit, knee, sit, kneel, stand).
I have never been able to understand why it all has to be so
rituallized.
(I have understood: it should give the whole thing a sort of
'magic' atmosphere, so that the 'poor in spirit' [a deliberate
misinterpretation for effect] will not ask too many questions).
What 'frightens' me is that the priests (well educated men usually)
go along with this hocus pokus.
I was once reprimanded by a local vicar (even though I did not
belong to the church) because I spent a whole sunday morning
pushing a crippled (sorry: physically impaired) lady up and down
the seaside promenade in a wheelchair instead of going to church.
This attitude is (almost) dead now, but until it is completely
flushed out of the system, I am definately on the outside.
Seventhly: (???) I just cannot see Jesus as anyone other than
a very pious Jew who wanted nothing more than to bring his fellow
Jews back onto the paths of righteousness: in a strictly jewish
sense. I cannot understand that this devalues Jesus, God or
Christianity.
Finally: (better than eighthly!) The exclusion of women into the
offices of the church seems to me to be infamous and completely in
opposition to the will of God. In fact, *any* discrimination of
women in the name of Christianity is a sin (or in any other name,
for that matter). We are all creatures of the same God and equal.
This is true whether you accept my own position that we are all, to
a greater or lesser extent, of dual gender. Thankfully, there are
some signs that this discrimination is dissolving.
End! Richard: Are you sorry that you asked?
Greetings, Derek.
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