I'm not a church-going guy, but I could make an exception

[packman]

More:

https://www.boredpanda.com/wantagh-memorial-congregational-church-signs/?utm_source=leenks&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=organic

[democratisphere]

1. Agreed.

[AJT]

2. Amen brother.

[Fla Dem]

3. Last one is right on. The hate of some of these so called Christians.

[Iggo]

4. Not "so-called."

They're actual Christians.

Just because they suck at it doesn't make it not so.

[erronis]

6. Not being one, how can they be certified as "Christians"? Is there some plenipotentiary board?

I'm not trying to be argumentative, just curious.

I know many groups have special councils/boards/honchos that give blessings/certifications to the petitioners.

I suppose to be a "roman catholic" you have to get approval from someone up the chain of command which leads to a pope (when there's more than one.)

To be a orthodox or otherwise jew, you probably need to have the right parent(s) and some ceremony in some holy place (not sure who designates "holy places" ).

Muslim (one of several brands) - same rituals.

Atheists/agnostics are self-proclaimed and probably couldn't give a shit about certification (except for pastafarians and universal life church[ULC]).

But I'm thinking "being a christian" is just a moniker of convenience. Can be switched on or off. Just like a (R)epuglicon's patriotism.

[Iggo]

7. It's exactly that: self-selection. They are one because they say they are one.

Sometimes it's living right, other times it's more like being a fan of a sportsball team.

But they're all members of the same club.

[Wounded Bear]

15. Kind of like being an alcoholic...

If you say you are one, you are. That's all that is required for "membership" in AA.

And, just like Christians, those who declare it are often not very good at following the teachings of the group.

[erronis]

16. Got it. Thanks. So I am now a member of the "Stable Genius Club". Very very special.

[wnylib]

19. In most Xtian denominations you need

to be baptized to become a member, often as a baby or in some churches, when you are ready as a teen or adult. Those baptized as babies might or might not grow up in a church with Sunday School instruction in the faith, depending on the parents. When older they choose (or not) to join on their own through confirmation.

Adult converts to the faith are baptized to become members.

Not all who join a church follow the teachings of Jesus or of their church faithfully.

Not all churches follow the teachings of Jesus very well. The ones who do - or try to - are not happy about the loud-mouthed, self-righteous, smug, and hate-filled frauds who have hijacked the faith for their own agendas. But those frauds are the people who grab public media attention.

[Fla Dem]

8. No they proclaim to be Christians, but do not follow the teaching of Christ.

Matthew 25:35-45
For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them,

‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did unto me.’

They are Christians in name only.

[Major Nikon]

10. 'no true Christian'

Oh wait, Scotsman. Yeah, that's it.

[Fla Dem]

11. Thanks.

[patphil]

13. Yes! You have to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ to be a Christian.

Apparently these guys have lost sight of those teachings and just wander around in the darkness of their true god.

[usaf-vet]

5. I AGREE RIGHT ON.

[Major Nikon]

9. Sounds good, but there's really not much reason to believe Jesus was a low-wage worker

If you go with the official story, his alleged step-dad was a carpenter, which would have made him a tradesman and most likely middle to upper-middle class. As a rabbi, Jesus had enough income to employ a treasurer, albeit one who dropped a dime on him for 30 shekels.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

20. He seems to have been self-employed.

[wnylib]

21. I don't think Jesus was a salaried rsbbi as

we know them today. In Jesus' time Judaism was centered around the priests and temple at Jerusalem. There were synagogues in villages with teachers (rabbis) and there were several sects who also had their own teachers/preachers. But teachers like Jesus lived poorly and humbly travelling around with their disciples, not attached to a supporting congregation.

I don't know but I don't think carpenters got union wages in Roman occupied Judea at that time. They might have been independent locals in a town earning what people could pay or they might have worked for a shipbuilder or patron who commissioned people for a project. There were some very wealthy Jews, Romsns, and Greeks under Herod's local reign. By comparison a carpenter was not high on the social scale.

[Major Nikon]

22. "as we know them today" just doesn't apply to back then

People in general were significantly poorer than they are today. The question is was he a "low wage worker" or poor at all by the standards of the day. So maybe he was and maybe he wasn't, but there's plenty to suggest he wasn't at least going by the official story.

[burrowowl]

12. Great ones!

[IronLionZion]

14. Love a good liberal church

This one is in Hempstead NY, on Long Island

[Brother Buzz]

18. UCC, Baby!

[erronis]

17. How timely. A new post "This Presidency Has Exposed My White Christian Friends"

is right on. https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212648160

From John Pavlovitz most recent post: This isn’t Christianity
https://johnpavlovitz.com/2019/11/02/this-isnt-christianity/

We need to be really clear on something, because there seems to be confusion out there lately:


This isn’t Christianity.

They may use the word and steal the iconography and cop the aesthetic, but that is where the resemblance diverges and where the similarities end. There remain no other commonalities with which to rightly associate the two.

This isn’t Christianity.

It is spiritual misappropriation: the violent hijacking of something helpful and weaponizing it in order to do the greatest amount of damage in the shortest amount of time. It is a hostile takeover of something beautiful and grossly disfiguring it to terrorize people with.

This isn’t Christianity—that is, not if Jesus was Christian.

...

[wnylib]

23. I think that people who do not attend

church might be surprised at the views and focus in many of them today. Most of the "mainline" churches, e.g. Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, and Baptist churches have branches or splinter groups who hold onto conservative social and religious views.

But the main bodies of those churches are inclusionary in their beliefs and practices. They accept and ordain LGBTQ people (not sure about Baptists on that). They ordain women (including Baptists). They have members of various ethnicities and races. They have outreach programs for minority rights and support of equality in housing and work. They hold after school classes taught by volunteers to help disadvantaged kids do well in schools.

They do not forbid abortion or divorce. They advise people to think it through carefully and make decisions based on their situstion, health, needs, and conscience. They offer shelters for victims/survivors of domestic violence. Even the Salvation Army does that.

They keep lists of members and people in the community who are alone, elderly, and disabled and have member groups who look in on them and announce in e-mails and church bulletins calls for assistance in transportation, cooking and housekeeping help after surgery or while recovering from falls, etc.

They hold fundraisers for donations to immigrant legal aid. They sponsor refugees, migrant families, and human trafficking victims, finding them homes, counseling, and language snd customs classes as well as jobs. They organize e-mail and letter campaigns to Congress on behalf of migrsnt and refugee human rights.

They collect donations for disaster relief after hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, earthquakes, etc. and call for volunteers to travel to the disaster sites. They work together with other denominations to increase and coordinate aid and fundraisers. They announce local projects like Habitat for Humanity home locations to help provide volunteers.

They give non-judgmental help to single mothers and pregnant teens.

Their sermons emphasize the brotherly (and sisterly) love for everyone that Jesus taught. And of course they still teach not to steal, kill, etc.

They do a lot of good. Some members hold very traditional and literal Christian beliefs about Jesus, death, and resurrection. Others hold more abstract and metaphorical views about Jesus, death, and an afterlife. But in all of these churches there is an emphasis on trying to live up to the teachings of Jesus. They dislike being lumped in with the hate-mongering crazies who call themselves Christian.