Can one follow Christ and not be a "Christian"?

Welcome to Wondercafe2!

A community where we discuss, share, and have some fun together. Join today and become a part of it!

Register Log in
That's a very simplistic and shallow view, in my opinion. Unfortunately, I don't think we have a common ground for conversation.
 
GiancarloZ -----your quote ----- That's a very simplistic and shallow view, in my opinion.


unsafe says -----Take it as you like -----unsafe says ------there is no neutral ground -----you either have Christ in you and follow Christ or you don't -----The scripture explains this view very simply and clearly -----it is not complicated --don't have to be a Rocket Scientist to understand this passage below -----Jesus is speaking here -----

d7d95df79671af2446d3577efe637529.jpg
 
teasing and mocking are divine
here r some more rl examples
i have heard this called "dealing the dozens" or "playing the dozens". some of us here might never have experienced this and it would prolly b very surprising. i remember my first time, i thot they were arguing...it is a wonder 2 behold (no wonder such amazing art as jazz comes from such brilliant human beings)
 
unsafe said:
GiancarloZ -----your quote ----- That's a very simplistic and shallow view, in my opinion.


unsafe says -----Take it as you like -----unsafe says ------there is no neutral ground -----you either have Christ in you and follow Christ or you don't -----The scripture explains this view very simply and clearly -----it is not complicated --don't have to be a Rocket Scientist to understand this passage below -----Jesus is speaking here -----

d7d95df79671af2446d3577efe637529.jpg
Click to expand...

This doesn't allow for a twinned soul as defined in the biblical myth ... Isaac and Esau and all those pairs ... foreshue!
 
Religions are myths - myths do become reality, look at sci-fi - that have both contributed to and outlasted the dystopian Zeitgeist of the 20th and 21st Centuries. It is rather awe inspiring, in an awful way in many instances. With Christianity we have the notion of God the tyrant who is rejected, so both his believers -out of spite, and in allegiance to their god - and his rejectors, (dispassionate reason - atheists without much human compassion) become tyrants. And the notion of God the merciful, who manifests as a compassionate humanist...and both believers and non-believers become compassionate (spiritual and spiritually grateful in the case of believers) humanists...the former still holding to the belief that there is a greater conscious presence we call God, responsible for the origin of everything.

The thing with Christianity is...beliefs, how they manifest, are based on attitudes and values, not facts. A just and merciful world with no poverty, disease, slavery, racism...can exist if tools are employed in the proper Spirit, in our creative imaginations. The opposite is also true. So it’s not a case of facts vs. Beliefs. It’s about the values that underpin what we do with the facts.
 
Last edited:
Kimmio said:
The thing with Christianity is...beliefs, how they manifest, are based on attitudes and values, not facts. A just and merciful world with no poverty, disease, slavery, racism...can exist if tools are employed in the proper Spirit, in our creative imaginations. The opposite is also true. So it’s not a case of facts vs. Beliefs. It’s about the values that underpin what we do with the facts.
Click to expand...

Nice, but wishful thinking , 2000 yrs latter , 1/3 aprox christians world wide, and still we have problems, hey maybe it is a fact, all people of all religions commit good and evil, and why we can never save ourselves.
 
No, but maybe God extends his mercy through people to save each other from destruction. As the story tells, he did so with Jesus as the primary example...to bring us to the All in All. We are all one human family by extension, for better or worse, and that is the truth - so let’s try to make it better. There’s a whole lot in the bible about patience and mercy. Undeserved mercy and forgiveness...which we are supposed to pay forward instead of saying “you’re not in with the in crowd”. I don’t see anything wrong with hitching my wagon or vice versa, to well intended, compassionate minded, non-believers...instead of working against each other.
 
Kimmio said:
No, but maybe God extends his mercy through people to save each other from destruction. As the story tells, he did so with Jesus as the primary example...to bring us to the All in All. We are all one human family by extension, for better or worse, and that is the truth - so let’s try to make it better. There’s a whole lot in the bible about patience.
Click to expand...

No , Jesus/God Raised Himself , not like us, so far everyone I know regardless of how good they were, haven't been able to do that.

There is only one King of Peace, and its not humanity
 
What does being One in Christ - all the millions upon millions - mean to you then? I agree, nobody can do it by themselves.


On the resurrection...it is a spiritual concept, not a zombie idea.
 
Kimmio said:
What does being One in Christ - all the millions upon millions - mean to you then? I agree, nobody can do it by themselves.
Click to expand...

It means that the christians hope of eternal life is Christ in us alone, and nothing that we do

On the resurrection...it is a spiritual concept, not a zombie idea.
Click to expand...

why do you think Jesus in His New Body was a zombie
 
It’s symbolic. There’s the myth that has allegorical meaning. A dead Jesus arising and showing up with holes in him, alive...does not give a literal picture of a ‘new’ body. It gives a literal picture of his old body with holes in it. But Thomas had to see ‘that’ version, literally, a resurrected Jesus in the flesh...wounds not healed, to believe in miracles. That was the point.

For many of us...evidence of Christ, is wherever healing love towards one another exists.

The new body is the Body of Christ living in the Spirit of Christ...who cared that we love one another.
 
Kimmio said:
It’s symbolic. There’s the myth that has allegorical meaning. A dead Jesus arising and showing up with holes in him, alive...does not give a literal picture of a ‘new’ body. It gives a literal picture of his old body with holes in it. But Thomas had to see ‘that’ version, literally, a resurrected Jesus in the flesh...wounds not healed, to believe in miracles. That was the point.
Click to expand...

you mean, You believe its symbolic, Just like a born again believer believes is actual fact that Jesus Rose physically in a new body .

To say it is symbolic is to make a truth clam that you cannot support to be True

For many of us...evidence of Christ, is wherever healing love towards one another exists.
Click to expand...

to believe only that is to willfully blind yourself to all His other teachings because of ones comfort zone

The new body is the Body of Christ living in the Spirit of Christ...who cared that we love one another.
Click to expand...

that is something again you believe that has no bases in the teachings scripture.

I mean people do it all the time, its nothing new, its called making God in our own image , projecting our thoughts and values onto God instead of allowing God to speak for what He Truly is[/quote][/quote]
 
blackbelt1961 said:
you mean, You believe its symbolic, Just like a born again believer believes is actual fact that Jesus Rose physically in a new body .

To say is symbolic is to make a truth clam that you cannot support to be True
Click to expand...
I do believe it. I do believe in being born again...but not the same way as you do. The symbolic points to the truth. The symbolic is not the literal truth.
 
Kimmio said:
I do believe it. I do believe in being born again...but not the same way as you do. The symbolic points to the truth. The symbolic is not the literal truth.
Click to expand...

I believe in being born again as Jesus taught, I dont know how you believe it , you never mentioned what you believe,

do you believe absolute Truths exist ?
 
Yes. But we haven’t experienced the full manifestation of it (right now we are living amidst a whole lot of lies) - we only will when it is fully apparent that humanity is restored, and whole, and at peace and just and equal (however long that takes) - and taking a literal approach to the bible is not the Truth.
 
The conversations above are examples of why I choose to describe myself as a follower of the Way, doing the best I can with all my human weaknesses. I know that some would say that I am a Christian, and some would say I am not. That label has been defiled over the centuries and still today by religious institutions and individuals as they spoke and speak and acted and act out of hate and lust for power and self-justification.
 
Kimmio said:
I said...a literal reading of the bible, is not truth.
Click to expand...

and again, your making a sweeping statement of what you think is not Truth which you have no way of proving which parts are Literally True.

If you want to know where i’m coming from, I can pm you a link to some sermons...but pls respect my privacy.
Click to expand...

sure I will take a look at it , TY
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top