Despite a long track record of anti-LGBTQ+ comments and advocacy, he has insisted he can’t be a hateful person because he’s a Christian.
I think he’s got it backwards. He can’t be a Christian because he’s a hateful person.
Right, this “not a real Christian” bullshit that Christians use to brush away the hateful people and teachings within your religion.
Own up to these people, they’re your fellow Christians no matter how much you claim they aren’t. Own them and fix them, instead of sweeping them under the rug and claiming they aren’t real
If they have to tell you they are Christian, they are not. If they have to tell you they are honest, they are not. If the have to tell you that they don’t watch porn, they do.
There’s no Christian stamp of approval. Your are the religion you say you are
Calling yourself a Christian is not the same as being a Christian.
It’s the only requirement
Nope.
Ok but also if you think that being a good person is correlated with being a Christian that’s also a problem. I’m a heretical apostate to Christianity but I act more in line with the teachings of Jesus than many Christians. Does that make me more Christian than them despite me having different gods? Or is it just that they’re bad at following the rules of their religion? I think it’s the latter. I think most if not all religious traditions place some weight on and expectations around being halfway decent, and Mike Johnson is a shitty person. He’d be shitty in any religion.
I see a lot of Christians say that they should “show you’re a Christian instead of saying it”, but like how about just be a good person and I won’t infer your religion off of it
Or is it just that they’re bad at following the rules of their religion?
The problem is that this basically can’t be the case, because all the rules are made up pretty much ad hoc and everyone can just justify whatever interpretation cause the holy spirit told them that was the right way, and they’re more in touch with god than you, yadda yadda.
Definitions of who is and isn’t a shitty person is also kind of up in the air. This guy definitely is, but the christian who’s been brainwashed into believing that gay people are sinners as a matter of the rules of the universe by their god? I dunno. Plot twist, though, this guy and the brainwashed guy are the same guy. YMMV depending on whether or not you believe it’s intent, or action, that specifically causes harm, though, cause lots of people can walk around thinking that and never attain positions of power like what this guy has, even if they might end up performing the same given the role.
I’m not given to thinking that all of christianity is bad or whatever, that would be throwing out the baby with the bathwater. But I’ve been raised in the religion, I’ve seen a lot of it, and there’s a much, much higher proportion of what people would call “fake” christians, in proportion to the ones that are nice and accepting and whatever. I dunno if they’re fake, at that point, just by sheer numbers, just by the fact that that’s what exists in the common consciousness as a “christian” way more than some nice dude.
In many cases, they created these monsters
I have mixed feelings about that instinct. Calling out and distancing from the religious hypocrites is a Jesus thing to do. But also when non Christians fear Christians they need to understand why we feel that way and many Christians don’t seem to understand that I’m even scared of Christianity at it’s best.
So in short, do they just disavow or do they adamantly oppose as well? If they do the latter I’m happy they do the former, but I’ve seen far too many think the former is enough before they start shit talking atheists
Right, this “not a real Christian” bullshit that Christians use to brush away the hateful people and teachings within your religion.
You literally are acting against the teachings of Christ if you act like Johnson, which is the entire point of the op-ed you didn’t read.
He isn’t “sweeping them under the rug” but rather calling them out as heretics, and calling out Christians to do the same.
Before writing a big emotional response like this, I’d recommend reading the linked content.
No True Scotsman.
and fix them
Maybe you should set an example and “fix” all the edgelord atheists.
Atheism isn’t a religion, it’s the absence of it. I can’t fix them because they’re not a group or club. Also, they don’t follow a book with a god that tells them to “take the dust out of your own eye first”, Christians do. So maybe follow your own teachings, instead of trying to impose them on others
Atheism isn’t a religion, but it’s a belief system, and edgy atheists who pick fights for no reason are indeed annoying.
I’m not an “edgy atheist” if anything I’m an anti theist, who used to be an evangelical Christian, until I got out of that cult after two decades of sexual abuse, brain washing and hate filled teachings. So now that I’m out, naturally not only do I not believe in a god, but I straight up despise religion and the damage it does to people
I’m not an “edgy atheist” if anything I’m an anti theist,
I straight up despise religion and the damage it does to people
Lol how do you even write this with a straight face.
You sound like a brain washed cultist
And “Christian” isn’t a homogeneous group – it’s also something anyone can claim membership of. By itself the label doesn’t tell you if someone is a good person or an asshole.
Apart from “this person believes Jesus Christ was real” it doesn’t tell you anything.
It doesn’t have to be homogenous. The belief that you mention, though, is based on someone from a book without evidence who is supposedly quoted as giving the rules that those people are to live by. You can’t claim to be part of that group and also claim that you don’t believe the person who is the figurehead of the belief. That idea has to be shared in order to claim membership in that group.
Atheism isn’t a religion,
Good thing you told us - it wouldn’t be obvious otherwise.
not a group or club.
The whiny ones sure do seem like they desperately want their own club.
“take the dust out of your own eye first”
Oh, I don’t know… dust in the eye can be a pretty uncomfortable thing.
your own teachings,
They’re not mine.
You have a selection bias going on, there. You will tend to notice the “whiny ones” more often, because they are whiny. This is the same reason as to why, to you, it’s not obvious that it’s not a religion.
You’re also going line by line on the comment which I should tell you is omega cringe and completely misses the main thesis of the comment in exchange for being kind of smarmy and quippy, which I would say is very unchristlike. Their point is that self-identifying as christian is a positive group, it’s a group you choose to identify as. Being an atheist is something you are because you don’t identify as belonging to any religion, it’s a negative group. Atheists are the non-black non-ravens, they constitute literally everything that isn’t. Which one do you think would be the more coherent, singular group, there? It’s like if you had a classification of all chairs being, things with four legs that you sit on. Atheists, in this metaphor, would be everything that isn’t a chair. Even with that shitty definition of a chair, that includes horses, chairs will still be a more coherent and singular group, than “everything that isn’t a chair”. That’s their point.
Yeah you sound worse than annoying atheists, like, a lot worse. If you can’t understand why they’d feel alienated by a society that loudly declares itself Christian then you need to get out of your bubble.
My beef with annoying atheists is how much many of treat it like a sect of Christianity instead of dechristianizing, but they’re typically new to their belief system, that’s ok, converts and apostates alike tend to be annoying for a while.
If you can’t understand why they’d feel alienated by a society that loudly declares itself Christian
Oh, the poor things… at least they still have white supremacism, nationalism and capitalism to cling onto, eh?
but they’re typically new to their belief system
Nice of you to admit that they haven’t really managed to escape the whole “belief system” thing… in spite of their claims.
Anyway next time you wonder why people don’t associate religion with morality and why many who seek religion write off Christianity check the mirror
Yikes…
No True Christian
I totally get your point, but I think there is validity in calling into question your right to identify as a member of a given religion when you go directly against your religion’s teachings.
Except what are the “real” teachings? How do you know? Who is the authority? Where is the solid evidence. The god of the Bible is silent on the matter of our interpretations over the centuries (if he even exists).
The Bible seems to condemn homosexuality in a few places and condemns “sexual immorality”. But interpretations of these passages and how they relate to many other passages are numerous, each person claiming to have it all figured out. Some think the OT doesn’t count anymore. Some think it still does but Jesus is essentially a get out of jail free card, some think Jesus is all about love, some define love to include various levels punishment, some believe God creates pre-damned people. Some think homosexuality is fine but the passages refer to sexual abuse. So we come back to the question: which interpretation is “correct”?
These books are translated from content written millennia ago. The gospels were written a generation after Jesus and we don’t have the sources. The oldest version of books in the OT dates centuries after the originals. Thus, evidence is weak that the originals said the same thing as the current version. We have insufficient evidence for divine inspiration in the writing, copying or translating of said materials.
When evidence is lacking then the only alternative, belief (faith) provides a very unreliable source of information.
Yes there’s no reliable manual, but generally people who were actually educated in the text mean following what has been written about Jesus: loving everyone independently of identity, forgiving people who offend you, helping the poor and the weak, refusing violence, doing funny rituals with fermented grape juice etc.
I should have mentioned I was a Christian for 40 years and did quite a fair bit of bible study so I’m coming at this as a former “insider”.
Certainly the things you list are among the main tenets that I suppose many Christians follow. Those were the main things I prioritized.
But in those decades I was exposed to a number of different schools of thought and I observed that the messages believers prioritized were not universal.
How is anti lgbt sentiment anti Christian? It’s very Christian.
Jesus talked very little about LGBT and a lot more about not forcing your beliefs onto other and not being a dick to people simply because they do things differently from you.
Not to mention that their stance on God hating gays is literal blasphemy, because again, there isn’t much said about being gay by Jesus
To add on, the parable of The Good Samaritan also highlights his opinions on how Christians should treat people that are of a different, “reviled” culture than their own (Samaria in the story) by defining who a “neighbor” is and emphasis on loving your neighbor as yourself.
People do some wild backflips to try to wriggle out of accepting the good Samaritan story. They’ll say it’s an elaborate metaphorically for blah blah instead of a simple story that shows the point in plain text.
But a lot of alleged christians don’t really follow the texts. Don’t pray in the closet. Don’t treat the least among them well.
Most things Christians believe have absolutely zero to do with Jesus. It’s a big book.
That’s like saying most of the things people like about Lord of the Rings has nothing to do with Frodo, no shit, but he’s still the main character.
Jesus as far as I know didn’t address homosexuality at all in the gospels.
Yet there’s the OT to contend with. You can find passages that, at least in English translations, condemn homosexual acts. Find a concordance and search for homosexuality and Bob’s your uncle. And there are quite a few “sexual morality” statements in the NT. (Does that include homosexuality? No idea).
And there’s also the rest of the NT to deal with. Believers are commanded to proselytize. And not just once or twice. That isn’t forcing your beliefs on others but it is definitely not being quiet and keeping to yourself either.
There are also many passages in OT and NT that condemn those who “do things differently”. Christianity is not necessarily a “live and let live religion” looking at those passages. It is often more of a “my way or the highway (to hell…)” kind of thing per most common denominations (but not all).
You may think you have an accurate interpretation but there are many others who say the same thing about their own unique interpretations that differ from yours in various ways.
From the modern viewpoint of secularists, sure it is. But if we take the values or Christianity on face value, they don’t say that.
The fact that so many Christians are hateful towards LGBT+ does present a difficult bind though: is true Christianity the writ values, or the modern zeitgeist? The pope himself ran into this very question recently when he started firing Catholic priests for not towing the progressive line that he has drawn. Who is right, the pope or his flock?
(Also, see the great answer that someone gave on No True Scotsman in this same comment tree)
In the case of the Catholics, at least, the doctrine of papal infallibility decrees that, at least on paper, the Pope as the successor to Peter and Paul is always correct on matters of doctrine. In practice, if the flock disagrees they can always schism again. shrugs
There is no such thing as a religion having objective “teachings.”
It’s always been subjective.
Normal people are Jews and Muslims, and extremists like the genocidal Israeli colonizers, and the similarly genocidal Wahhabist/Salafi terrorists are still Jews and Muslims.
There is no “true” understanding of these religions.
There is no such thing as a religion having objective “teachings.”
So what is the Bible? Or the Qur’an?
Aggregations of objective teachings which contradict each other (within the same book).
The Bible is an assembled collection of curated religious stories and traditions. I can’t speak to the history of all of it but the first books of the OT were drawn from religious stories and traditions of north and south Judah and adapted to create religious (and thus political) unity by the king at the time in the face of the threat of rival, neighboring countries. Of the many gods worshipped at the time the OT books essentially retcon two of them to be one god, denounce polytheism, and create a mythical historical narrative of the country’s population. Mythical because archaeological evidence contradicts a great deal of the stories.
The NT is a collection of Epistles, gospels, etc., chosen from a large pool of similar sorts of writings and assembled into what we have today. I don’t know a great deal about what drove those selections and only vaguely know that some of the other writings were quite different theologically.
Fiction.
If someone claims to be “a Christian,” they are. There is no other qualification. Whether such a person adheres more or less to common Christian principles is a separate issue, let alone that there are so many splinter groups of “Christians” that the phrase “common Christian principles” barely has any meaning anyway.
I’m a lamp. Fight me.
Yeah, but are you oil based, or electricity based? That matters you know.
See it’s pretty easy to square the “I’m a lamp” circle, though. What do you mean by “I’m a lamp”? You could mean basically anything, even things you don’t mean it to mean, I could just come up with random shit it could mean and I’d be no less wrong. In a vacuum, much like identifying as a christian, it’s a pretty meaningless claim, the only commonality of the claim as it exists is that you decided to use that specific word. You know, much like a christian.
Are you a lamp cos you get turned on when I twist your switch?
“Lamp” is not a religion.
Illuminating comment
and ‘woosh’ is not a noise.
But a double woosh will create a gentle breeze.
IDK, some people are pretty religious about their software stack.
Then why are things like excommunication (where you get kicked out of the religion for going directly against beliefs) a thing?
Excommunicated Catholics can still be Christians. The term means someone who believes in Christ, and everything else is negotiable. No one Christian or sect can decide what Christianity is for everyone else.
The term means someone who “follows the teachings of Christ”, not simply that someone believes in Christ. There are plenty of people/figures that believe in Christ who are not Christians. Satan, for example, is a believer in Christ who is also not a Christian.
That sounds like semantics to me, because everyone gets to interpret the teachings of Christ for themselves.
Satan is a good example, considering that the character is an amalgam of several biblical references to evil forces like the evil spirit tempting Christ, the Snake in Genesis, and the Red Dragon in Revelations. Most of the mythology of Satan is an invention of Catholic writers.
Also, not for nothing, but Satan (presuming he’s real) would not be a “believer” as much as a colleague. Satan would know for sure that Jesus was real, was really God, and was the only path to Heaven. Of course, if we presume Satan is real, and the Bible is the literal word of God, then the only rational conclusion is that Jesus is Satan. But that’s an entirely separate discussion.
Excommunication is a political tool. That’s why victims of priest sexual abuse are excommunicated for speaking out, while priests are rewarded and given a new church/batch of victims
That’s not correct in any way. The word “Christian” has a specific definition. If someone claims they’re a “Christian” but don’t believe in Jesus, then they’re not a Christian. They can’t be. If someone claims to be a “Catholic” but doesn’t “accept” Pope Francis as the legitimate Pope, they’re not a Catholic. I can claim to be a musician but, if I can’t play any instruments, I’m not.
Everyone knows words are stripped of their definitions on social media.
Yeah… if we used the definitions of social media, then the existence of trans people is a religious belief and wokeness is a religion. It’s the single stupidest chain of sentiment to come out since the belief in a flat earth.
If someone claims to be a “Catholic” but doesn’t “accept” Pope Francis as the legitimate Pope, they’re not a Catholic.
That’s not true. There have been quite a number of schisms in the catholic church which resulted in a split on who people thought was the pope. The guy who doesn’t come out on top in that situation is called an antipope. Sometimes it was difficult to decide in history which person was the pope and which was antipope. There have been about 40 of them with the last being in the 15th century.
The Palmarian Church is a catholic splinter group that has an antipope.
Yes it is. Catholic dogma dictates that the Pope is the true representative of God and that he functions as the literal mouthpiece of God. Schisms might be true but, according to Catholicism, there can’t be a mistake when it comes to the Pope and what he says when speaking on doctrine. It’s called Papal Infallibility.
Accordingly, that means any schisms from Catholicism, by definition, aren’t Catholic because they break the promise Jesus made to Peter.
This assumes that Catholic dogma is objectively true, and leans heavily on history being written by the victors.
That doesn’t change the fact that Palmerians consider themselves the one true catholic church and that they consider their members catholic. They would claim their anti-pope is the infallible one, not Pope Francis.
If someone claims they’re a “Christian” but don’t believe in Jesus, then they’re not a Christian.
That’s fair. It still hinges on a belief claim only. Based on a person’s other actions, you can doubt that claim, but the singular authority for what a person actually believes is what that person claims to believe.
That’s only true if that claim is made in good faith. I can claim to be a Christian all I want but, if I don’t believe in god, then my claim isn’t coming from a place of good faith (literally). I can’t make the claim and that claim be true if I’ve twisted the definition of what I’m claiming in order to make that claim. If I claim to be vegan but I have redefined “vegan” to ignore the use of animal products and am only focused on eating animals and animal products, then I’m a liar rather than what you’re inferring which is that my claim is true because I believe it to be true. A “vegan” walking around in leather pants is not a vegan, regardless of what they believe or claim.
Whether someone is a “vegan” depends on behavior in ways that “Christian” doesn’t. Even so, being “vegan” - even when the person does not directly and knowingly consume animal products - completely ignores the fact that they are indirectly making use of animal products, because they depend on a society that currently uses animal products, and where that society got to the technological level it’s at through the use of animal products over many millenia.
And we’re back to No True Scotsman, adjusting the definition to fit the circumstances.
You can if you sing.
The voice is still an instrument. Stop being a pedant.
You can play any instrument you like. Whether you’re “good at it” is a separate issue.
Sure… but if you don’t play at all, you’re not a musician no matter how much you believe it to be true.
As with “vegan”, “musician” depends on behavior in ways that “Christian” does not.
That’s not correct in any way. The word “Christian” has a specific definition.
Webster isn’t any more of a dictator of truth than anyone else. There’s a reason why Socrates spent a lot of time debating definitions with people. They’re hard to actually get right.
If someone claims they’re a “Christian” but don’t believe in Jesus, then they’re not a Christian. They can’t be.
But what if they also claim to believe in Jesus? How do you measure or test belief? How do you know what’s in the mind or soul of a person?
If someone claims to be a “Catholic” but doesn’t “accept” Pope Francis as the legitimate Pope, they’re not a Catholic.
What if they attend Catholic mass? Hell, what if they’re a member of the priesthood?
I can claim to be a musician but, if I can’t play any instruments, I’m not.
Even this is a bad argument. Aren’t singers musicians? How about rappers?
All of this debate is really over whether or not something is no longer a thing if they’re not a high quality version of that thing. I think it’s a fairly shallow debate because a wobbly stool is still a stool. A shitty singer is still a musician. A broken chair is still a chair, and similarly just because someone’s a bad Christian doesn’t mean they’re not a Christian.
Webster isn’t any more of a…
We’re not talking about the definition from Webster. We’re talking about the definition from Jesus that was given to Saint Peter, the very first Pope. The definition here is not in question because the idea was defined by the people who founded the religion.
How do you measure or test belief?
You don’t have to. Being a Christian isn’t only predicated on believing in Jesus. If that was the case, then Satan is also a Christian because he’s personally met Jesus and, therefore, would be forced to “believe” in him. Luckily, Jesus himself supposedly stated and passed down what it means to be a Christian and those people supposedly wrote it down.
What if they attend Catholic mass? Hell, what if they’re a member of the priesthood?
Also irrelevant. A priest who molests children cannot be a Christian whether they were inducted into the priesthood or whether they attend Mass because the very rules of the religion, as instructed by their figurehead, remove them from the group based on their actions. It’s repeated numerous times throughout the Bible that Christians will be known by their actions.
Even this is a bad argument. Aren’t singers musicians? How about rappers?
It’s not a bad argument, you just misunderstood it. The voice is an instrument.
All of this debate is really over whether or not something is no longer a thing if they’re not a high quality version of that thing. I think it’s a fairly shallow debate because a wobbly stool is still a stool. A shitty singer is still a musician. A broken chair is still a chair, and similarly just because someone’s a bad Christian doesn’t mean they’re not a Christian.
No. Again, you’ve misunderstood the argument. If I started a religion today and I said that the only qualification of the religion is that people have to kiss me on the mouth, then it’s not possible for someone who has not kissed me on the mouth to be part of the religion. They can follow everything else I’ve said to the letter but, as long as they haven’t kissed me directly on the mouth, they cannot be a part of this particular religion because they are missing the central qualification. It’s not about whether someone is “good” or “bad” at doing something. It’s whether they’re doing that thing at all.
It’s not a bad argument, you just misunderstood it. The voice is an instrument.
Ok then, so who is this person that can “claim to be a musician” but isn’t?
As for the rest of your load of gish gallop: the bible, like all other texts, is up for interpretation and has been re-interpreted many times with many different takeaways. It’s not even the original text, was translated multiple times, and there is no way we can be assured that the King James Bible (Taylor’s Version) is the real deal. Definitions from it aren’t more authoritative than Webster…they’re even less so.
… if they’re not a high quality version of that thing.
And who is the arbiter of quality, and who draws the line in the sand?
I know this has all kind of devolved into a semantic argument, and a weird discussion about Popery, and I think at this point it’s worth reiterating my initial point: If someone claims to belong to a religion, they do. Whether that claim enables anyone to make predictions or judgments about a person’s other statements or actions is another question entirely.
If someone claims to belong to a religion, they do.
I think this is 100% true for generic things like “Christianity”. When they’re more official organizations…still maybe, but if someone’s been excommunicated from something it makes sense to me from a practical standpoint that they no longer belong to that thing.
I claim to be Welsh, and you can’t tell me I’m not.
You’re not
I understand your point and generally agree, with an aside: The actual Nazis weren’t socialists, just because they added that to their faction’s official title.
It’s weird to me that you agree and yet have provided an excellent example disproving the entire point.
Because it’s an immature understanding of life to vote anything as black and white. Life is full color, and a bazillion shades of gray, besides. Grow up.
No one is “voting” anything as black and white, especially with regard to a question from an objective claim. If the claim is that someone is something simply because they tell you they are and you’ve disproved the claim with your example then the claim is objectively false.
Maybe you should stop telling people to grow up until you’ve done so first. In the words of Jesus, take the log out of your eye first.
It is similar to me calling myself Afro-American (I’m not). No one can stop me, but does it mean anything at that point?
“No True Scotsman” is when you attempt to protect your generalized statement by placing counterexamples outside the bounds of the statement. But in the case of Christianity, people who don’t love are self-selecting out of that group by the words of the founder himself, who said “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
I’m not saying they aren’t a Christian, and the OP isn’t saying that either. The person who is hateful is saying that they aren’t a Christian, as surely as a person who kicks puppies for fun is saying that they aren’t a dog lover. They could swear up and down later that they can’t be a puppy kicker because they’re a dog lover, but the fact that they’re kicking puppies self-selects them out of that group.
Incidentally, the wording of the fallacy here is an important point to observe. The qualifications for being a Scotsman are that someone is geographically or genetically connected to Scotland; and while there are fiddly gray areas at the edges, no one can say that you’re not a Scotsman because of a thing you do because the qualification is a connection to a place.
But the qualifications for being a Christian are explicitly a thing you do. Well, a thing you do and a thing you believe, but those two things are inherently linked by the fact that the object of belief (Jesus) commands the action (love).
Incorrect. Anyone who says they are a Christian is a Christian, at least in Protestantism. You don’t have to do good works or anything of the kind to be a Christian. You just have to admit that you are a sinner, profess to regret those sins, and “accept Jesus into your heart”. That’s it.
In theory, accepting Jesus into your heart is supposed to improve your behavior, but it isn’t a requirement (obviously, with all of those rapey priests!!). As I’m sure you know, you can be the worst kind of sinner all of your life, but as long as you accept Jesus and confess your sins to Him before you die, you’re all good!
Ah Christianity…the ultimate get-out-of-hell-free card, and no one can gain-say you. It is just between you and your Saviour. It is just so darn convenient, like a drive-thru. No wonder it is so popular.
Incorrect. Anyone who says they are a Christian is a Christian, at least in Protestantism.
No. Anyone who believes in and follows Jesus is Christian; we just usually only have someone’s word to go by.
You don’t have to do good works or anything of the kind to be a Christian.
True, but a lack of love and good works proves that the repentance was a sham. “A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit.” Seasons of rebellion and momentary mistakes happen, but if a person’s life is marked by constant, unrestrained evil, they’re showing a lack of fruit that probably means they aren’t repentant.
You just have to admit that you are a sinner, profess to regret those sins, and “accept Jesus into your heart”. That’s it.
Yeah, that’s not Christianity. Not historically speaking, at least. It’s a shockingly new development and almost entirely centered on American individualism, and Christians from longer ago than the 1700s wouldn’t recognize any of that. Scripturally and historically, Christianity requires belief and repentance; which look, superficially and in the moment, like admitting you’re a sinner and accepting Jesus into your heart, but prove themselves to be something different over time.
In theory, accepting Jesus into your heart is supposed to improve your behavior, but it isn’t a requirement
Actually, it is. The writer of Hebrews says (13:12) equates sanctification with salvation. Historically, believing that one can happen without the other is just a bizarre idea because they were considered synonymous.
(obviously, with all of those rapey priests!!).
Indeed, they aren’t repentant, and are thus not Christians.
As I’m sure you know, you can be the worst kind of sinner all of your life, but as long as you accept Jesus and confess your sins to Him before you die, you’re all good!
Again, historically and theologically, this is unrecognizable as Christianity.
Ah Christianity…the ultimate get-out-of-hell-free card, and no one can gain-say you.
In America, at least. But the Church has, throughout the ages, excommunicated people for being horrible and “showing their faith to be a shipwreck.” We hear about unrepentant, non-Christian people (particularly among the puritans) who used excommunication as a weapon against those they didn’t like (particularly women), but it has been used correctly throughout history as well; to get the wolves away from the sheep.
It is just between you and your Saviour. It is just so darn convenient, like a drive-thru. No wonder it is so popular.
Individualism is popular now, to our great shame, but a community of faith urging one another toward sanctification is in the Bible, in the early church, and in the continuing line of Christianity throughout history.
Incidentally, the “drive-thru” analogy is pretty close to what Luther was “protesting” against in the first place. I think there’s another Reformation coming, and this one is going to be about the people who value and respect and love breaking away from the people who don’t.
The qualification for being a Christian is that you believe in Christ. That is literally it. You can be the worst person ever and be a Christian.
In fact, most Christians believe that everyone is a sinner, so being horrible is basically expected and accepted. You just need to repent eventually.
The qualification for being a Christian is that you believe in Christ. That is literally it.
No, the qualification for being a Christian is that you follow Christ. The Biblical writer James actually addresses this very thing ad absurdum by showing that, if the qualification is only to believe in Jesus, even the demons are Christians. Repentance is the first act of selecting into the group of “Christian.”
You can be the worst person ever and be a Christian.
No, you can have been the worst person ever and be a Christian. Repentance begins the journey and remains a constant throughout; as Martin Luther said in the first of his 95 Theses, “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ‘Repent,’ he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.”
In fact, most Christians believe that everyone is a sinner, so being horrible is basically expected and accepted.
I’m so sorry that you’ve been given such a twisted view of this, though I totally understand why (I’ve seen this argument being made, particularly about Trump in 2016). Being horrible is explicitly not expected or accepted; Jesus himself causes people who claim faith but do awful things “vipers” and weaves a whip to use on them to prove he’s serious. The biblical writer Paul asks rhetorically, “shall I continue sinning so that grace may abound? God forbid!” And theologian after theologian for 2,000 years has said the same. If you’re gleefully continuing in being horrible, you’re proving that you aren’t a Christian; and Christians since the first century have affirmed that definition of the faith.
Finally… someone who knows what the fuck they’re talking about around here. It’s so refreshing to see someone who is actually familiar with the texts in question and the historicity of these claims.
It’s people like you that keep me wading through all this sewage and garbage.
I appreciate your kind words.
No, being horrible is not expected or accepted. The Puritans (read: Evangelicals) like to interpret it that way, and in fact they do that because it absolves them of personal responsibility. “Well, I don’t do that one really terrible thing, therefore I can feel secure and not worry about my behavior.”
In reality, sin just means error, imperfection. It’s an acknowledgement that no human can be perfect the way that God is perfect, no matter what. The correct response to this should be ongoing self-evaluation, humility, and caution against slipping into the many easy faults of humanity. We should all be repenting constantly because obviously we make mistakes all the time, and all we can do is keep trying to be better, do better. This is what you find in classical literature like Thomas Kempis’s The Imitation of Christ.
If you see someone (and I know this is common) running around claiming absolute security in their righteousness with God, then you’re seeing a person who is quite literally actively sinning.
The knock on effect of this whole situation is that Christians who don’t believe they know all and speak for God (another sin: taking the Lord’s name in vain) don’t get public attention because we don’t run around shouting at people about our religious beliefs.
It’s an acknowledgement that no human can be perfect the way that God is perfect, no matter what.
Does the scriptures speak towards why God is perfect, and why we’re imperfect?
Specifically, if we’re made in God’s image, then doesn’t that mean God is not perfect either, or that we were purposely made imperfectly?
Does the scriptures speak towards why God is perfect, and why we’re imperfect?
This is a close cousin to the problem of pain. Many smarter people than I have debated both around and around for centuries, and come no nearer an answer than when they started. The Bible gives us a how, and a who, but not a why. Honestly I wish there was more, but alas.
And who created this definition that you’re referencing? You speak as if it’s the authority on what is and isn’t Christian.
I’m not debating. Just sharing what I’ve been taught.
A rare, great explanation of NTS!
Thank you.
Technically, yes. It’s a fallacy to call all of the hateful christians “not real”. Since there’s just so many that identify and are identified as christians that are hateful, it’s mostly an academic distinction.
It IS interesting that so many christains don’t follow their own faith. For it is true that to be an overtly hatefuly or bigoted person is to ignore the core teachings of christianity.
to be an overtly hatefuly or bigoted person is to ignore the core teachings of christianity
And yet the history of Christianity is filled with hatred, and bloodshed. It’s almost like the “core teachings” are a smoke screen for the accumulation and abuse of power.
Also fun is technically, while it is a fallacy in the general sense, in the Christian religion they actually talk about false Christians as part of Christianity. So in a general sense it is a fallacy, but by its own rules they can be called as such and technically isn’t a fallacy. False prophets, pharisees, antichrist and whatnot.
I think the people downvoting you might not be familiar with the “No true Scotsman” fallacy.
No, they are familiar with it. He just used it wrong. The idea of the entire fallacy is that there can’t be qualifications to being a “true” Scotsman because the definition of a Scotsman is simply “someone who was born in Scotland”.
Funny, I don’t see any. But yeah, that’s what I was driving at.
So you’re saying there’s a Nougat of truth there
No True Nougat
Maybe he doesn’t hate and he just loves killin’
Important to understand that there’s also a form of civil war going on within the Church in the US between the more liberal churches, which this pastor represents, and the conservative, evangelical churches, which Mike Johnson represents.
Can confirm.
In my town, a lot of the churches are more about peace and love and helping the community. They fly lgbtq+ flags. Their biggest outdoor events involve feeding homeless, or cleaning the parks.
They absolutely hate these mega church types, and often get lumped into the shit.
That sounds a lot more Christ-like (feed the hungry, give as much as you can to the poor etc) than whatever mutation the evangelicals are worshipping.
The Episcopalians do it right. They allowed gay ministers well over a decade ago.
Jesus also instructed us on how to properly beat our slaves
< nitpick >I could be operating with incomplete information, but I don’t think that was technically Jesus, I’m pretty sure that was in Exodus, which was much earlier.< / nitpick >
Far more than just Exodus
https://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/bible-verses-about-slavery/
And yeah my mistake, it was NT but not Jesus. Southern states used all of these verses to justify chattal slavery in the US.
That being said, Jesus referenced slavery all of the time without condemning it (in fact I think he tells slave masters to treat their slaves well. That’s not ok). He used slaves and slavery as allegories in his parables, etc.
Jesus himself said that he came to fulfill the old law and that not a word of it will change (in so many words). He explicitly supports Old Testament law, and therefore supports slavery and the rules surrounding beating them. If he didn’t, he could have very easily had said so.
He tacitly approved of it. And I couldn’t care less about “the times”. Slavery is bad, period. No matter what/where it’s taking place.
There’s a church near me that flies a pride flag. Now, I’m not Christian (or LGBTQ) so I wouldn’t go to pray there, but I was happy to see it. Too many places of worship make the news for how hateful they are. It’s nice to see one advertising how inclusive they are.
Again, I’m not Christian and thus not an expert on Jesus, but from what I know his message was a pretty good one. Help the poor, the sick, and anyone else who needs assistance. If more churches actually followed Jesus instead of screaming that the Bible says you should buy more guns, assault immigrants, hate people different from you, and worship Trump while giving the pastor as much money as possible, then maybe they would be in better shape.
Viva Christo Rey
Important to note that the sides are in like a 5:1 ratio and Johnson is on the larger side.
Also the liberal churches are far older and are shrinking; denominations and mega-churches who act like Johnson’s are growing.
Young people see it all as a bunch of bs, except the radical ones, which drives religion to greater and greater insanity.
It’s also a simple matter of funding.
The megachurches preaching prosperity gospel, cramming 10,000 people into a building, and hoarding their wealth (most don’t pay apportionments to a larger denomination that is used to fund service projects) find it easier to keep the doors open than the little churches that focus on compassion and community service.
Righteous Gemstones vibes
So if theres a break between the churches… again. How long till we get some christian anarchist type beheading random pastors or some other John Brown type shit.
The divide falls between small churches that help their community, and large churches that help themselves…
It just dawned on me that evangelicals are the evangélicos in South America. Let me tell you, South America being 90% Catholic, we see evangelicals as crazy fanatics. If someone told me that an evangélico was part of the government in the country I grew up with, most people would immediately dismiss whatever they have to say about people going to hell or whatever.
I guess the only difference with this guy is that he’s wielding too much power, which makes him dangerous. But other than that, anything he has to say will be met with “sure, sure, old man, praise the lord whatever, go pray somewhere far away from me.”
You know, watching religion decline in the west largely as a result of the more fanatical like Johnson, I kinda hope their side wins so we can be done with it. There are few things that are more of a cancer on society (globally as well) than religion and the dogmatic approach to the world that it espouses.
It’s worse than that, he’s a Republican
The Devil having found no traction with drug addicts, thieves & prostitutes, and perl programmers has decided to use Christian leaders.
It would be believable if the first groups didn’t entirely compose last one.
I agree that the devil would go after perl programmers, as sloth is a sin.
Something something who doesn’t remember Black Perl?
And that Pontius Pilate wrote only in Lingua::Romana::Perligata
People called Javascriptum they go the house?
then python programmers came and literally made a hash out of everything
same with the drug addicts
| Linux kernel 6.6.6 released
Coincidence?! I think not
Matthew 7:15-20
15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
“I’ll take ‘Metaphor Translations’ for $100, Alex.”
What is made up bullshit?
To define “fruit,” reference Galatians 5:22-23 - “… the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
If I believed in God or the Devil, I’d find claim that he’s controlled by the Devil more believable than Johnson’s claim that he’s working for God.
Though these days I associate “Christianity” more with hate than with love.
Welcome to the club. Hateful is 90% of the Christianity queer people experience.
While I am mightily amused to see the God Squad fighting amongst themselves…
You should read the op-ed. It’s actually very good
Mike Johnson worships himself, like a lot of ignorant people who call themselves Christians right now… calls himself Moses and so on, because he’s full of pride… and yeah, that is the same as worshipping Satan, or “being controlled by the Devil” or however else you want to say it…
His behavior seems consistent with someone who has delusions of grandeur. I’m not sure a religious explanation is necessary or verifiable.
I think when a Christian minister is making a statement about a guy who is VERY vocal about how his every action is influenced by his being a Christian, then a Christian denounciation feels adequate.
I’m not sure
that’s great news… your inability to comprehend descriptions that sound religious to you is uninteresting…
This just in: superstitious con artists engage in slapfight.
Film at 11.
Mike Johnson controlled by the Devil…so the Devil IS the reason we can’t have a nice government to meet our needs.
As an Atheist, I think it is awful that Mike Johnson works with the Devil.
I don’t know if this weird little man is controlled by the xtian devil, but I do know that like so many of today’s cons/GOP, he is one creepy weirdo. A party filled with creepy weirdos.
Imagine thinking your god (note the lack of a capital g the provincial xtians love to use) gives you a right to poke around in others’ lives.
Xtians? Are we serious? Good grief lol
I can’t tell what that means ?
Think of it as how the shorthand version of CHRISTmas is Xmas and it make a tad more sense albeit still a rather unnecessary abbreviation in this situation.
I mean, strictly speaking, are not all abbreviations unnecessary? Sticking-my-tongue-out
ASCIIAmerican Standard Code for Information Interchange symbol face.It serves a purpose to be concise within professional circles but you do have to be more descriptive with the general public sometimes. Nobody gonna know what CYP2D6 means unless you explain it.
(It’s a liver enzyme that metabolizes various things)
deleted by creator
deleted by creator
I’m just going to say yes.
I just want to pause here and say that this kind of thing, much like basically any bumper sticker ever, is stupid as fuck and I hate it. Whether it’s my dumb fucking cousin saying “Killary” or equally annoying mouth breathers talking about “Drumpf.” Like, I’m as atheist as the day is long, and holy shit does it make the parent comment annoying to read. Your super great “hillary lied, people died” bumper sticker, the “honk if Trump should go to jail,” just all of it. It sucks, I hate it, it’s the laziest form of persuasion (spoilers, it’s persuading no one, it’s just pissing off the people you want to convince.) Oh you didn’t capitalize the ‘g’? Well fuck it’s me the pope, let’s peace out and go get tacos this Jesus thing was dumb anyway.
He supports the Antichrist, of course he is evil.
Just in case you are unaware the entire concept of the anti-christ was supposed to be Nero. The last book of the Bible was very controversial partially because of this reason. Other stuff you can argue about but to me at least this is a proven false prophecy and really should not be part of Christianity. However, I am a non-believer so maybe you shouldn’t follow my advice.
This is just an op-ed piece that links to another op-ed piece.
Seriously.
Does anyone know if there are any political communities that don’t consider op-ed pieces to be news? For example, a community that has strict rules that news must be free of journalistic bias and only cite news that factually happened with no agenda?
Because that would be cool.
free of journalistic bias and only cite news that factually happened with no agenda
Does such news even exist anymore?
I mean, Reuters. AP News, BBC, PBS news… there plenty of non biased news sources that don’t tel you have to fee about what they’re shoveling.
Ground News may be what you are looking for. On top of claiming to you the story straight, they show you stats of whether it’s getting more press on the left or right. They have a bunch of stats in their paid tiers, I think.
I don’t know the reputation of the people behind it, and I don’t use it heavily, but I like to hit their site/app from time to TMNT.
“Controlled by the devil” - that’s silly. I think the real debate is whether he’s controlled by Godzilla or Mothra.
But we can be sure he’s not controlled by Gamera because Gamera is a friend to all children. (and he’s really neat)
Mitch is full of turtle meat.
Those old Godzilla documentaries have higher production values than the bible dramatizations I saw as a kid.
The devil has seen better days. You would expect a devil controlled human to be some sorta uber-human ultimate fighter. Zipping around the battlefield, single handedly committing whole outrages. Not some schmuck in a suit who got his job because of political stalemate.
I mean the devil is literally the great deceiver. in all biblical portrayals the only thing devil does is lie essentially. the lies sow doubts and people lose their faith.
what you’re describing is more along the lines of demons. and they’re technically easier to deal with because it’s so obvious.
I’m not religious but the devil really is a clever construct in Christianity, and highlights the best “feature”: salvation is based on faith and faith alone and everyone can be saved.
it is so much more effective at brainwashing than materialistic control
The devil never lies in the Bible. In the garden of Eden story (yes retrocon) he is the only one telling the truth. In Job he got something wrong but didn’t lie.
In any case there is no god so you can move on with your life.
