ChatterBank1 min ago
The Christian Thread.
102 Answers
A thread to discuss Christianity, as it is presented in the New Testament.
Hopefully, exchanges made with Christian love, or your love based on the Higher Power you worship.
And in that Spirit, a warm appreciation of any contributions made by atheists, agnostics, or religionists.
So to begin with a question, is Christianity as it is presented in the New Testament a good blueprint for our lives, and our society?
Hopefully, exchanges made with Christian love, or your love based on the Higher Power you worship.
And in that Spirit, a warm appreciation of any contributions made by atheists, agnostics, or religionists.
So to begin with a question, is Christianity as it is presented in the New Testament a good blueprint for our lives, and our society?
Answers
Theland - // Andy, if you love your neighbour as yourself, and we do take care of ourselves, (don't we?), then the same care is required for our neighbour? // But according to you, our 'neighbour' is only defined by some pre-
21:54 Tue 24th Nov 2020
Theland - // It is beneficial to adult society as it includes us all in service to each other, putting self second in favour of our, ''neighbour.''
Less selfishness ingrained as part of a moral code. //
That is somewhat at odds with your 'charity begins at home' mantra on yesterday's thread.
When challeneged there, you responded with insults and sarcasm - most un-Christian.
Another day, another thread - how do you balance your desire for foreign aid to be stopped with your 'love their neighbour' faith you espouse constantly?
Less selfishness ingrained as part of a moral code. //
That is somewhat at odds with your 'charity begins at home' mantra on yesterday's thread.
When challeneged there, you responded with insults and sarcasm - most un-Christian.
Another day, another thread - how do you balance your desire for foreign aid to be stopped with your 'love their neighbour' faith you espouse constantly?
The promise of Christianity is a more fulfilling life in the here and now, rather than jam tomorrow.
Whatever kind of person I am now, which is not a good one in many respects, I still feel I am better as a result of my faith than I otherwise would have been.
Maybe I am just morally weaker than many of you, I don't know, but my confident relationship with Jesus Christ is something I am constantly aware of, and constantly comforted by, even in the dark times, and there have been many of them.
Whatever kind of person I am now, which is not a good one in many respects, I still feel I am better as a result of my faith than I otherwise would have been.
Maybe I am just morally weaker than many of you, I don't know, but my confident relationship with Jesus Christ is something I am constantly aware of, and constantly comforted by, even in the dark times, and there have been many of them.
Andy @22:49 - Foreign Aid or Charity Begins At Home?
Yes, it really is a dilemma isn't it?
Like many it is a question of balancing infinite demand with finite resources.
Of course that leaves me wide open for criticism, but charity, like politics, is the art of the possible.
When I donate, the charities I support are three UK based and one international, but my main giving is to family members who have real needs.
So, where does that leave me?
There are charities I would never support because of mismanagement and would rather see my money go directly to those for whom it is intended. Food banks tops my list for local charity.
Remember the hungry babies covered in flies, in Ethiopia circa 1984? Band Aid, Bono, Geldof? Well those kids, those who survived, are now killing each other in Tigray Province Northern Ethiopia. Makes you think doesn't it?
African corruption is notorious, so where best to help?
And of course the foreign aid you laud, is squandered.
£62m /year to China, millions more to Pakistan and India.
All nuclear powers with space programmes.
No, I am not a fan of foreign Aid, although I have supported Israeli charities in the past.
Yes, it really is a dilemma isn't it?
Like many it is a question of balancing infinite demand with finite resources.
Of course that leaves me wide open for criticism, but charity, like politics, is the art of the possible.
When I donate, the charities I support are three UK based and one international, but my main giving is to family members who have real needs.
So, where does that leave me?
There are charities I would never support because of mismanagement and would rather see my money go directly to those for whom it is intended. Food banks tops my list for local charity.
Remember the hungry babies covered in flies, in Ethiopia circa 1984? Band Aid, Bono, Geldof? Well those kids, those who survived, are now killing each other in Tigray Province Northern Ethiopia. Makes you think doesn't it?
African corruption is notorious, so where best to help?
And of course the foreign aid you laud, is squandered.
£62m /year to China, millions more to Pakistan and India.
All nuclear powers with space programmes.
No, I am not a fan of foreign Aid, although I have supported Israeli charities in the past.
It's clearly not a 'dilemma' for you Theland. You made your views very clear, and when I called you out on the hypocrisy you displayed, I got rudeness and sarcasm.
Like all fervents, you parade the nasty side of your nature, and then flagelate yourself for being a 'bad' Christian.
You are human like the rest of us, you just make a self-agrandaising production out of it.
Like all fervents, you parade the nasty side of your nature, and then flagelate yourself for being a 'bad' Christian.
You are human like the rest of us, you just make a self-agrandaising production out of it.
I won't try to defend myself if that's how you see me.
Never mind.
You have not addressed the dilemma though have you?
Neither have you defended sending oodles of money to unworthy destinations, China, India, Pakistan, and the corrupt African countries.
All that matters, is that you see an opportunity to criticise, so in that respect you are consistent.
Never mind.
You have not addressed the dilemma though have you?
Neither have you defended sending oodles of money to unworthy destinations, China, India, Pakistan, and the corrupt African countries.
All that matters, is that you see an opportunity to criticise, so in that respect you are consistent.
Theland - // You have not addressed the dilemma though have you?
Neither have you defended sending oodles of money to unworthy destinations, China, India, Pakistan, and the corrupt African countries.
All that matters, is that you see an opportunity to criticise, so in that respect you are consistent. //
That's the difference between us Theland.
I don't worship a 'loving God' who creates a species and then sits back and watches large sections of it starve to death because of 'free will.
I don't have to spend my days agonising over the love my God is supposed to have for Man, when if he loved us like Christians say he does, not one solitary child would know a moment of hunger, so aid - 'foreign' or otherwise, would not need to exist.
I don't spend days reading the opinions of people who put their trousers on one leg at a time just like I do, and no more have the 'answers' than I do.
For me, it's simple, bad things happen, that's the way it is - but you set yourself up on here as the 'bringer of good news' so the burden of explanation is on you.
That's not me criticising you, that's me pointing out the major difference between us - you think you have to explain and justify what you think, I don't.THINK YOU have to explain AND JUSIT
Neither have you defended sending oodles of money to unworthy destinations, China, India, Pakistan, and the corrupt African countries.
All that matters, is that you see an opportunity to criticise, so in that respect you are consistent. //
That's the difference between us Theland.
I don't worship a 'loving God' who creates a species and then sits back and watches large sections of it starve to death because of 'free will.
I don't have to spend my days agonising over the love my God is supposed to have for Man, when if he loved us like Christians say he does, not one solitary child would know a moment of hunger, so aid - 'foreign' or otherwise, would not need to exist.
I don't spend days reading the opinions of people who put their trousers on one leg at a time just like I do, and no more have the 'answers' than I do.
For me, it's simple, bad things happen, that's the way it is - but you set yourself up on here as the 'bringer of good news' so the burden of explanation is on you.
That's not me criticising you, that's me pointing out the major difference between us - you think you have to explain and justify what you think, I don't.THINK YOU have to explain AND JUSIT
Well that's quite clear up to a point.
As a, ''bringer of good news,'' I am not needed as everybody knows the gospel anyway.
What is worth pointing out is the correlation between the lack of belief generally, and the continuation down the slippery slope into moral decline societally.
Or is that just a coincidence?
As a, ''bringer of good news,'' I am not needed as everybody knows the gospel anyway.
What is worth pointing out is the correlation between the lack of belief generally, and the continuation down the slippery slope into moral decline societally.
Or is that just a coincidence?
Theland - // Well that's quite clear up to a point.
As a, ''bringer of good news,'' I am not needed as everybody knows the gospel anyway.
What is worth pointing out is the correlation between the lack of belief generally, and the continuation down the slippery slope into moral decline societally.
Or is that just a coincidence? //
Like all fervents, you swerve a straight question and make it somethng you are more comfortable talking about.
Everything comes from God, so that includes the starvation, and moral decline you would rather take the conversation to.
Your 'free will' really is a gold-plated Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card isn't it?
Mankind can do anything, and suffer anything, and God gets a swerve because it's Mankind's fault, not his.
Don't bother hand-wringing about being a 'bad Christian', it cuts no ice.
You know what you are, and thanks to your lapses in hiding your real opinions on here - so do we.
As a, ''bringer of good news,'' I am not needed as everybody knows the gospel anyway.
What is worth pointing out is the correlation between the lack of belief generally, and the continuation down the slippery slope into moral decline societally.
Or is that just a coincidence? //
Like all fervents, you swerve a straight question and make it somethng you are more comfortable talking about.
Everything comes from God, so that includes the starvation, and moral decline you would rather take the conversation to.
Your 'free will' really is a gold-plated Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card isn't it?
Mankind can do anything, and suffer anything, and God gets a swerve because it's Mankind's fault, not his.
Don't bother hand-wringing about being a 'bad Christian', it cuts no ice.
You know what you are, and thanks to your lapses in hiding your real opinions on here - so do we.
Andy, as regards cutting ice with you or anybody else for that matter is of no consequence to me.
I answer honestly when asked or when appropriate I comment.
If this was a popularity competition or a bid for sainthood, I'd be missing off the starting blocks, as believe me, impressing anybody and certainly you, is definitely not on my agenda.
Holding a Christian faith does not bar me from speaking out as and when I see fit, and I see fit right now, in stating how obvious it is to me, how you look down your nose at others, me this time, in the sure and safe knowledge that you can get away with it.
Yes you really can can't you?
And that, Andy, speaks volumes.
Go on, get posting again, you know you love it.
You're not the first and I'm sure you won't be the last to engage in touching up your ego.
I answer honestly when asked or when appropriate I comment.
If this was a popularity competition or a bid for sainthood, I'd be missing off the starting blocks, as believe me, impressing anybody and certainly you, is definitely not on my agenda.
Holding a Christian faith does not bar me from speaking out as and when I see fit, and I see fit right now, in stating how obvious it is to me, how you look down your nose at others, me this time, in the sure and safe knowledge that you can get away with it.
Yes you really can can't you?
And that, Andy, speaks volumes.
Go on, get posting again, you know you love it.
You're not the first and I'm sure you won't be the last to engage in touching up your ego.
Theland - // Holding a Christian faith does not bar me from speaking out as and when I see fit, and I see fit right now, in stating how obvious it is to me, how you look down your nose at others, me this time, in the sure and safe knowledge that you can get away with it.
Yes you really can can't you?
And that, Andy, speaks volumes. //
First of all, I don't 'get away' with anything - my posts get removed for the same reasons as anyone else's, the myth that I receive special treatment is just that - a myth.
As you once again slide away from responding to difficult questions about your beliefs, and try and make me the villain of the piece -
Never forget Theland, you set yourself up for this, no-one else, just you.
Day in week out, month in year out, you post on here about how fabulous your God is and how we are all sadly lacking because we don;t have the edige of superiority you enjoy as a fervent.
Then when your true beliefs show through, laced with liberal amonts of hypocricy, and you are called out for it, you get, by turns, rude, sarcastic, and then your default - evasive.
I am not 'stroking my ego, I am jumping on hypocrisy, and don't flatter yourself that I have it in for you, and you alone, I would do the same to anyone.
It's just that your fall is greater, because you set your pedestal so much higher than anyone else's, and that is entirely down to you.
Yes you really can can't you?
And that, Andy, speaks volumes. //
First of all, I don't 'get away' with anything - my posts get removed for the same reasons as anyone else's, the myth that I receive special treatment is just that - a myth.
As you once again slide away from responding to difficult questions about your beliefs, and try and make me the villain of the piece -
Never forget Theland, you set yourself up for this, no-one else, just you.
Day in week out, month in year out, you post on here about how fabulous your God is and how we are all sadly lacking because we don;t have the edige of superiority you enjoy as a fervent.
Then when your true beliefs show through, laced with liberal amonts of hypocricy, and you are called out for it, you get, by turns, rude, sarcastic, and then your default - evasive.
I am not 'stroking my ego, I am jumping on hypocrisy, and don't flatter yourself that I have it in for you, and you alone, I would do the same to anyone.
It's just that your fall is greater, because you set your pedestal so much higher than anyone else's, and that is entirely down to you.
