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First Weekend of March 2010, Christian Experiment?

ChildoftheProphets

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I was looking through a religion thread here earlier this week, and I was surprised to see how many Christians there are on this forum!

Like me, many seemed to be uneasy with their organized, denominational churches and the people who attend them, with quite a few upset over issues of narrowmindedness (especially the NTs, which I suppose is to be expected lol).

My purpose in writing this, now, is to suggest an experiment and an opportunity: why not create a weekly gathering of believers right here on Typology Central? Each weekend, someone can post a link to a Biblical passage, as well as write a few short paragraphs to express their interpretation of it or otherwise encourage discussion. The rest of us (including skeptics and those of other faiths who'd like to join in) can voice our opinions as well.

And if any other Christians here are interested in doing something like this, I ask you to please answer me one more question: what is it that has disheartened you most about modern Christianity, and what may be Christianity's greatest strength or chance for the future?
 

Lark

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I'm a traditional RC and dont break with much of the Church's tradition and practice, when I do I treat it as a matter of personal conscience, the church has been extremely slow to change but in so doing it has preserved much which the rest of the world has lost. I think that maturation should be a gradual and slow process rather than a race resulting in crisis and ruin.

So I guess I'm not part of the audience you're targetting with this post.
 

cafe

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I'll bite. I like the question (especially the positive part) and will be mulling it over while I putz around today. You may want to mentally formulate what direction you want the thread to go in and give the madmins a heads up if you don't want to spend a lot of time engaging in debates with folks who are only participating for that purpose.
 

ajblaise

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I hereby state that I will not heckle any BelieverCentral group that comes out of this, or this thread. And my atheist/agnostic compatriots will do the same. :yes:
 

Laurie

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^Is this supposed to be some surprise? Most Christians are used to it. I grew up with an atheist mother who made fun of my Christianity before she matured in that section of her life. I can take it from other people.

On topic:

I've actually started to think about denoms in MBTI - it makes a lot of sense, and a lot of sense why certain people like certain denoms.

I've also considered (but I'm lazy!) going back farther to look at Christianity. One of my college courses on the reformation was taught by a leading reformation scholar. He talked about Martin Luther and it is really something that I can identify with, rather than the "be good" currently in vogue. Still thinking about it.
 

ajblaise

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^Is this supposed to be some surprise? Most Christians are used to it. I grew up with an atheist mother who made fun of my Christianity before she matured in that section of her life. I can take it from other people.

Well, in that case.... how stupid do you have to be.. err.. nvm.

I'll hold back. You might be a total masochist that can take it, but the other Christians might not appreciate it. ;)
 

Laurie

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I can give it too, I just figure you probably are too weak in your beliefs to be able to discuss things rather than just try to heckle people.
 

ajblaise

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I can give it too, I just figure you probably are too weak in your beliefs to be able to discuss things rather than just try to heckle people.

My beliefs aren't that fragile. Feel free to heckle me as well.

It's not like I need to go through tests of faith, like you. Being a non-believer is pretty easy.

But really, I should leave you Christians to talk quietly amongst yourself and discuss the teachings of Jesus.
 

Laurie

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It's not like I need to go through tests of faith, like you. Being a non-believer is pretty easy.

Oh, but you do. Just like everyone. (I hope!) Not questioning your stance on something when there are so many other thoughts would be a sad thing indeed.
 

cafe

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My beliefs aren't that fragile. Feel free to heckle me as well.

It's not like I need to go through tests of faith, like you. Being a non-believer is pretty easy.

But really, I should leave you Christians to talk quietly amongst yourself and discuss the teachings of Jesus.
Thank you. :hug:
 

Jeffster

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I was looking through a religion thread here earlier this week, and I was surprised to see how many Christians there are on this forum!

Wow, funny. Yesterday I was thinking, while reading that German homeschooling thread, how anti-Christian this forum is.
 

Colors

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Are you kidding me, this is the most uber-Christian board I know, Jeff.
 

ChildoftheProphets

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@ Lark: Well, maybe not in the precise target audience, but that's no reason to kick you out from any future discussions lol! The Catholic church has a lot going for it (yet no denomination is perfect), I would love to hear your thoughts on things if this BelieverCentral idea gets off the ground (thank you for the name, Blaise--nonbelievers always come up with the best names).

@ Cafe: I was thinking the weekly threads would be pretty straightforward and easy to run, but I also thought a private group might be good to have in addition to that, to allow for any unexpected growth and change which may come out of the public threads.

I don't know, we'll see how things go; after getting more feedback from this particular thread, I'll feel more inclined to start the real one. (Maybe next week?)

@ ajblaise: You could always start a parallel heckling thread for those who are so inclined. :devil:

@ Jeffster: I haven't peeked into that discussion; what's been going on?

@ Colors: "Uber-Christian"? Hmm, is that a bad thing or a good thing? I'm getting horrible visions of Christ-Nietzsche crossbreeds coming down from their mountain and proclaiming "Mankind is dead," or something.

@ Elaur: I've often thought the same thing. Gatherings of believers are supposed to minister to each other's physical and psychological needs, not just those of the predominant personality type, whether it be the SJs or SPs or NFs or NTs.

And yes, a lot of good came out of the Reformation by restoring corrupted doctrine and striking a blow to the predatory practices of Christian hierachy. Still, Martin Luther wasn't perfect (he could be described as a rather temperamental anti-Semite at times, although I'll admit kidney stones would make me temperamental too . . . .). Also, I think the Reformation could have gone further by completely removing clerical hierchy from Christianity, as such formalized and powerful top-down structure was unheard of in Paul's day. (Pastors and deacons were not even supposed to have paid positions of full-time employment; they were supposed to be volunteers with day-jobs.)
 

Beorn

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I'd be interested. I'd also like to see RC involvement. There are many misunderstandings between protestants and RCs that might be cleared up in conversations here. Also, I think the eastern orthodox should be welcome as well if we have any.

Along with answering your question it might be a good idea for people to give a short bio so everyone knows where people are coming from.

As for me, I was raised in a typical evangelical suburban non-denominational church. Their beliefs were basically those of baptists except we didn't have alter calls. I attended a christian high school at my church. My Bible teacher was a reformed baptist. Through his teaching I began to focus more on what the bible taught and began to see that the teachings of the reformers lined up the most with scripture. By the time I got to college I had surpassed my teacher in my reformed-ness and became a full blown Presbyterian. My beliefs on what scripture teaches are about 95-98% in line with what the westminster confession of faith teaches.

And if any other Christians here are interested in doing something like this, I ask you to please answer me one more question: what is it that has disheartened you most about modern Christianity, and what may be Christianity's greatest strength or chance for the future?

What disheartens me most about the modern state of the church in america (I really can't speak for other geographic areas) is biblical ignorance on the part of the left, right, and center of the church.

Much of the right side of the church relies too much on tradition for the sake of tradition and not tradition based upon the bible. I have no problems with tradition in and of itself. I think traditions can be very stabilizing, but they are not on par with with scripture.

I think many in the center want to avoid controversy and be broadly appealing. In their attempt to do so they break down the gospel to the most simplistic grounds and never develop an understanding of how the bible speaks to all aspects of life.

I think much of the left have the same concern as the center and desire to be relevant to society. My fear is that much of the left has abandoned the gospel altogether and ignores what scripture plainly teaches. The left want to be compassionate, but they surrender the truth.


I think the church's greatest hope for the future is in Christ himself. I believe in a sovereign God and thus I believe that the church is in the state that it is in for a purpose and God will make good of the bad.
 

miss fortune

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If you do allow non-Christians to participate I enjoy discussing religion from a theological viewpoint as opposed to that of a beleiver :)

I beleive in SOMETHING, I'm just not exactly sure of what yet :unsure: As a result I've spent quite a bit of time reading about various religions and their development and histories. I lean towards eastern religions (and would probably be enthusiastic if most didn't suggest not eating meat :dry:) but was raised Methodist :yes:
 

Jeffster

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Are you kidding me, this is the most uber-Christian board I know, Jeff.

What does "uber-Christian" mean?

In most topics where Christianity is brought up, it is treated like a disease. If you add the word "Evangelical" to it, then it becomes an even more repulsive disease.
 

ajblaise

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I think the majority of the forum is Christian. Even if most aren't exactly vocal about it. But there is a decent amount of regulars that do talk openly about it.

Then agnostic is the second largest group. But it's close.
 

Katsuni

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There are members of the board who are against christianity, though they are rare in number.

The majority are moreso against ORGANIZED RELIGION, which christianity is just technically part of.

We have a large number of christians and agnostics on the board who don't mind the concept of christianity at all, they just go GRRRR at the political structure of such.

I have no issues with the idea of christianity, and think it has some very good points. However, I take that with a grain of salt; it has some truly abhorrent points as well, which are strictly enforced by evangelists, fundamentalists, and the vatican.

Such is not the fault of the religion as a whole, but the fault of individual power bases. Those that use a little common sense to translate whot they see into something that makes real sense, I have no issue with.

In any case, most of the board isn't really anti-christian at all, but they are against large organized religions and strict dogma that causes harm.
 
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