Hypocrisy?

[Reilles]

Where to begin?

First, a disclaimer: All that I present here are my own personal opinion, formulated from experience and the word of others. It may or may not represent the general way of things.

Now...to dive in. I am a Christian, though I do not attend Church. I believe that God is everywhere-in the world, in the eyes of people, everywhere. I do not feel the need to commune with the Lord in a community-I find strength in His presence alone. I am also a scientist at heart, although I see no reason why, for instance, God could not have created the Big Bang which began the Universe, or the process of evolution.

My rant is simple. I have friends who are similar to me, and we have all shared the same experience. Other Christians have told me that I am not Christian if I do not attend Church or regularly read the Bible. Others like me have gone to Church, and when they attempted to participate, were shunned by their Christian friends. This attitude is a hypocritical of what is taught of God and his love for all of his people. As I've delved deeper, I've found more hypocrisy. The idea that Christians who attend Church and regularly read the Bible are somehow more devout, or believe "more" than Christians who don't is rife in many areas, according to those I've spoken to. So why is this? I don't know where I'm going with this, so reply as you wish.

[Forrest]

     Reilles:
    Its not Church, or the Bible that makes us Chrtstian, but Christs death as according to scripture, and our faith, trust in Him, for forgiveness of sin that we all need.

WELCOME

[Gracey]

Hi Reilles;

The bible does exhort us to meet and pray together. It urges us to spend time together with those who are like-minded; in other words, the children of God.

Now, "exhort" means to "urge or encourage". That doesn't mean to say it's a commandment, but it is a good thing. As christians we should be learning to love and help each other; to edify each other; to teach and learn from each other. The "true church" if you wish to use that term is the body of
Christ... the children of He who called us. Unfortunately, when we get together in a group, a lot of us are not edifying at all.

Reading the bible doesn't make you a Christian, no - but it is important if we are to live like Christians. Being a Christian is not just a "once in a while thing" - we must strive to be "Christ-like", which is a lot harder to do if we don't know much about Him. The bible gives us much in the way of instruction.

There are some "overly devout" or "religious" who are more like the Pharisees than Christians, but not all are like that. Some are simply moved by the spirit. There are all sorts - from the legalist to the charismatic.

We are a very diverse bunch...sometimes kind and loving, sometimes not. Judge not christianity by all christians; look instead to Him who created us.

Also, God "could" have created the "big bang", but did He? The bible says not. My opinion is (mine) that he created the earth as Genesis records.

search on!
Gracey

[blainefabin]

Now...to dive in. I am a Christian, though I do not attend Church. I believe that God is everywhere-in the world, in the eyes of people, everywhere. I do not feel the need to commune with the Lord in a community-I find strength in His presence alone. I am also a scientist at heart, although I see no reason why, for instance, God could not have created the Big Bang which began the Universe, or the process of evolution.

I believe that God could have created the big bang and used evolution as a means to bring about life on earth. Other christians do not, and still other are in between. I personally don't think that the way god did it is important to ones faith.

With that said, I do believe that such things as going to church and reading the bible are important. Can you still know God apart from this? Sure why not, God is big and ultimately it is He that will judge you,,, not me or any other person on earth. But, here is the point, what does your conscience tell you? If you know that you should do something and don't do it that may be a grave error on your part. If you are not certain or don't honestly believe that you should, I think God takes that into account. The problem of hypocrisy may turn many people who would have come, away. I think God is aware of that.

My rant is simple. I have friends who are similar to me, and we have all shared the same experience. Other Christians have told me that I am not Christian if I do not attend Church or regularly read the Bible. Others like me have gone to Church, and when they attempted to participate, were shunned by their Christian friends.

why were they shunned?

This attitude is a hypocritical of what is taught of God and his love for all of his people. As I've delved deeper, I've found more hypocrisy. The idea that Christians who attend Church and regularly read the Bible are somehow more devout, or believe "more" than Christians who don't is rife in many areas, according to those I've spoken to. So why is this? I don't know where I'm going with this, so reply as you wish.

I hope this comes off right. I believe that hypocrisy is common to all of us, religious or not. The fact that we find hypocrisy in the church, priest, pastor, evangelist, layman, should not surprize us at all, especially when part of our beliefs about christianity revolve around the idea that all have sinned. I am a sinner, saved by grace. I will at time be a hypocrite, a liar, angry, manipulative, though i would say that i don't have a problem with any of these (did i mention prideful?). I guess what I am getting at is that it may be part of Gods way of dealing with us. The church, the body of christ can nourish us and strengthen us not only in the positive things it provides, such as teaching, sacraments, fellowship, and of course pot lucks, but I think it also strengthens us in the negative aspects as well. To stand next to the hypocrite may teach us to be humble, it may give us opportunity to love those that hurt us, or accuse us or shun us. It may be the only way to really learn how to love.

mike