The next time someone tosses the 'Christian card' at you, respond with this.

[Midlodemocrat]

"Yes, I understand you are a Christian, which simply means that you have decided to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. I wonder though, how many of the Corporal Works of Mercy you have performed recently? You see, Christ not only compels us to believe, he asks us to be like him. Be Christlike in our approach to the downtrodden, less fortunate."

Most people who proclaim themselves to be 'Christian', have no idea what the Corporal Works of Mercy are. They think it is enough to state that they have accepted Christ. Well, it isn't. Most RW Christians, while professing their beliefs under the name of a man whom they don't emulate, are too busy quoting the Old Testament and trying to justify eating bacon on Sunday morning, while condemning homosexuals through the same passage, (Leviticus)

Not all Christians are equal. Most that I know, including myself, are individuals who have chosen to be 'like Christ'. To comfort the sick, to help the poor, to visit the imprisoned.

Most self proclaimed 'Christians' are too busy condemning and judging and stating that they are flawed like all men. The difference is that our country has been hijacked by those who believe that Christianity is a mindset rather than a call to action.


A wise man once said 'Going to church doesn't make you Christian any more than going to a garage makes you a car'.

Wise man being my dad. A liberal to the core, devout Catholic who felt that claiming oneself as a Christian bore the responsibility to behave like Christ.

[patrice]

1. "mindset" = I know God = my thoughts/feelings are God's thoughts/feelings = BLASPHEMY

to this Old Hippie Catholic.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

14. Not only is it blasphemous, it's arrogant.

You believe that you can understand the consciousness of an entity that is infinitely knowledgeable and powerful? Really? That's believing quite a bit in your own intellect, don't you think?

Honestly, we likely know just as much about God's intentions as flies know about ours.

[Lerkfish]

2. "corporal works of mercy" is a catholic terminology, but

protestants have the same general admonition.
I'm just saying that the right wing religious whackos are usually a bitter flavor of protestantism, so that terminology won't mean squat to them.

but, from my experience, you can't tell them anything they'd listen to anyhow.

[Midlodemocrat]

6. Yes, it is. But in my personal experience

asking one of these Bible thumpers what he or she has done that is 'Christlike' will guarantee a deer in the headlights look. They honestly believe that accepting Christ is the be all and end all.

If that were the only thing Christ wanted, the New Testament would be about 2 pages long.

[Lerkfish]

8. actually, the new testament COULD be two pages long.

page one: love the Lord god with all your heart, and all your soul and all your mind
page two: love your neighbor as yourself.

that's all you need.

[Midlodemocrat]

10. LOL. You're right.

My point is that throughout the NT are examples of Christ trying to get people to follow his lead, especially his compassion.

Sometimes, when I am in the correct frame of mind, it almost reads like a primer on 'Good Works'.

Are you Catholic, Lerkfish? Just curious.

[Lerkfish]

13. nope, but I was raised the only protestant in an all-catholic neighborhood

so I know some of the terminology through osmosis.

actually raised a methodist. currently a lapsed UCC member.

the point you're making, and I agree with, is that many christians conveniently avoid Christ's actual teachings, or at least the intent of his teachings. I refer to them as modern day Pharisees, because they love the trappings of religion and like to act like they are God's favorites but somehow never manage to actually to do God's actual will.

I like to quote Matthew 7:1 to them: "judge not that ye be not judged".

they don't like that one.

:)

[Midlodemocrat]

16. That is what I face all the time here.

It gets so frustrating to be talking to someone about a whole house water filtering system and have them state that the person who installed 'obviously knew this was a Christian home, so gave us a good price".

Yeah, sure. Idolatry, much?

[patrice]

32. It seems to me that they think "the Risen Lord" is somehow elsewhere,

elsewhen.

When, to many others, the Risen Lord lives in Us, so every time an Innocent human being suffers and/or dies for want of care, or is killed for political/economic reasons, we should say, like Peter, "I'm sorry I denied you, Lord" - or - conversely, every time a "gun guard loosens (our) bonds" we should recognize our Risen Lord in that act of kindness.

No, to many "Christians", the Risen Lord is found in $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ and anyone who needs some of their $$$$$$$$$$$ assaults their "Risen Lord". In short, they are not only Blasphemers, assuming the judgement of God on others, they are also Idolators.

[hobbit709]

3. I had one of those self-proclaimed Christians ask me once if I was a Christian

My response was that I held myself to higher standards than that. I thought steam was going to come out of his ears.

[Midlodemocrat]

5. Proclaiming that one believes in Christ is just the first step.

If one believes, Christ admonishes us to embrace social justice. The RW Christian voting block has no idea what that even is.

Say what you'd like about the Catholic Church and the scandals, Catholic Charities is one of the biggest charities in the world and they actually do get things done.

I don't see anything resembling anything similar coming from the RW evangelicals. I see a guy who thinks he knows the Bible hanging out a shingle and getting people to follow his screed.

[patrice]

36. "follow his screed" AND do business as exclusively as possible within their

own congregation. I'd bet this also includes filling jobs that come open around them.

[Lerkfish]

7. they should have been happy about that.

For those who act as if under the law without knowing the law are a law unto themselves.


Face it, religious people are human, with all the faults contained therein.
the real purpose of relgion, though, no matter which one, is SUPPOSED to be to elevate man to his higher calling. Right wing nutjob churches tend to give permission to continue to sink down into his lower calling: bigotry, judgementalism, hatred, abuse, denying free will to others, etc.

we must judge all individual churches by whether they elevate man higher or give permission to man to do bad things and feel justified for doing so.

[randr]

4. When asked about my religion I often answer

"I would not call myself a "christian" but I know one when I meet one"

[patrice]

37. Good response. I think I'll adopt it.

[cjsmom44]

9. RE: Please

Please...I know that many who profess themselves as "Christian" are the ones who talk the talk but don't walk the walk....they spout their faith from the roof tops, but do nothing for the downtrodden...they are full of ego...and self righteousness.
BUT that being said...PLEASE DON'T SAY MOST CHRISTIANS....BUT I AGREE THAT THERE ARE MANY...THE FUNDAMENTALISTS FALL IN THIS CATEGORY.....
Remember that there are many who call themselves Christian who DON'T fall into that category...please be careful not to condemn and judge all Christians....but I understand the frustration behind the post...It pisses me off too, that those who profess themselves as Christian...do very little in the way of walking their faith...they are swept away with the arrogant "better than thou" attitude that their born again mantra professes.....
Christians for Obama and PEOPLE OF FAITH FOR OBAMA 08

[Midlodemocrat]

11. Um,. re read the OP.

And, it's not just fundamentalists.

[Lerkfish]

18. I didn't interpret the OP as swiping all christians, FWIW

:shrug:

[Midlodemocrat]

19. LOL. Because I didn't.

[patrice]

38. Oh they do "enough" in the way of walking their faith FOR CERTAIN SELECTED OTHERS.

Thus all of this concern about the missions in South America, where Evangelism is rapidly expanding, but NO concern for suffering Iraqis.

My point is that these folks would tell they walk the walk all of the time, but I think if we were to look into that more we'd find definite limitations. Efforts limited to those who might become or ARE members of OUR church, as opposed and EXCLUDING other Christians and other Faiths.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

12. I am sick to death of the "I'm a Christian..." line

Newsflash - 79% of this country is Christian. What, do you want a Scooby snack for that? Holy shit, I would've never guessed that you're one of the invisible 200+ million Americans that believes in Jesus Christ.

And you know what - probably about 60 million of those Christians are going to be voting for Obama, and 50 million of them will be voting for McCain, so spare me the drama and the bullshit that being a Christian is about voting for a hate-filled asshole.

[jberryhill]

15. I beg to differ - mentioning "works" as a component of faith to hard core Protestants

...is a non-starter.

Fundagelicals have actually been conditioned to be suspicious of anyone who mentions works and will recite Ephesians 2:8-9 on cue.

[Midlodemocrat]

17. Nope. I mentioned behaving in a

Christ-like manner, as opposed to Christian. They are neither one in the same, nor mutually exclusive.

[WinkyDink]

24. How conveeeeenient. Maybe they shoud read Matt: 25: 41-46......

41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%2025

[Clio the Leo]

20. And the next time they accuse Barack of being a socialist....

... ask them to turn to Acts 4:32-35 and explain to you if the first Christians were NOT engaging in wealth redistribution (the very thing they like to throw back at Barack in regard to his tax plan) then WHAT were they doing?

Watch them mumble and stumble all over that. Superfun.

The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common.
With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all. There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need.

[Midlodemocrat]

21. Jesus Christ was a community organizer. Pontius Pilate was a governor.

Whoever came up with that here should be given a medal. Sheer genius.

[patrice]

41. The Bible actually is Alive to those who avoid Blasphemy.

Transnational Oil Royalty = Pilate
BushCo = Herod
ALL Innocent Dead = Jesus.

And to me, Innocent includes those who were operating under mistaken perceptions due to the fact that they were LIED to.

[patrice]

43. Also: A Good Capitalist does not invest the Real Value of their own time/labor/talent without

the GUARANTEE of Real Value in return - AND - since the quality of work does NOT secure one's job anymore and the value of paycheck and property are arbitrarily manipulated up and down by abstract financial entities with no concrete allegiance to the U.S., these, job/paycheck/property, are NOT Real Values, and, therefore, not adequate compensation for the Real Value of my labor/time/talent.

In exchange for the investment of the Real Value of my time/labor/talent, we should demand Real Value in return; that would be: Universal Health Care and a Complete and Appropriate Education - for starters.

[patrice]

44. P.S. ergo, Barack Obama is NOT a Socialist. He IS a Capitalist.

[nyc 4 Biden]

22. Can we please start an Anti-Christian DU group already?

I think it is long over due. GD-P is not sufficient, we need a place for our daily attacks on Christians and religion as a whole, they are ALL lunatic scumbags!




:sarcasm: for the record.

[Demi_Babe]

28. why you're not different than those fundamentalist Christian radicals...intolerance

[nyc 4 Biden]

31. You are correct I'm intolerant of painting with a broad brush. n/t

[Midlodemocrat]

34. Actually, it seems that you're less intolerant

and more illiterate. :thumbsup:

:eyes:

Try reading before responding. You won't look so stupid.

[Midlodemocrat]

30. Wow. Way not to read the OP. Nice work.

:thumbsup:

[nyc 4 Biden]

42. You are right OP.

I did read your OP and I do admit that you were clearly not bashing all Christians. But I really don't see the point of having this post in GD-P and posts like this usually attract anti-Christian sentiment.

EDIT: for spelling

[patrice]

39. Christians know that Discernment is a characteristic of mature Christianity.

[WinkyDink]

23. I always respond with those old saws about "feeding the hungry, clothing the naked...". ;)

[progressiveforever]

25. A true Christian--not a "molded" one

Christian means follower of Christ. I am fairly certain abortion was not a central message of Jesus. I invite Christians to go get a red letter version of the Bible (one that puts the alleged words of Jesus in red letters) and see who falls more in line with Jesus--Barack Obama or John McCain? Obama has the compassion for all people as Jesus did. McCain tends to be the "keepers of the law" whom Jesus condemned.

[Midlodemocrat]

33. Which is why I differentiated between Christian and Christ-like.

And, for the record, Jesus was a liberal. No doubt about it.

[patrice]

46. "not molded" Jesus was toooooo Free; that's why his church/state killed him.

[nyc 4 Biden]

26. dupe

delete for dupe

[Doctor Pedantic]

27. Have them read Matthew 25

Jesus talks about separating the "sheep from the goats" upon His return, sending people to their reward or punishment. And the only criteria He says He will use is how we treat the "least of these, my brothers and sisters." Did we feed the hungry? Clothe the naked? Visit those in prison? Comfort the sick? Every minute a person spends railing against abortion or gay marriage or taxes is a minute he or she did not spend engaging in the conduct that Jesus said is all He cares about.

And as someone upthread noted, Jesus also said the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, mind and soul, and the second greatst is to love your neighbor as yourself. That's pretty consistent with the "least of these" approach.

I am not being a smartass when I say that given the clear teachings of Jesus, I honestly don't understand how anyone who considers himself or herself a Christian could possibly be a Republican. The "well, individual acts are one thing, but the government shuoldn't be doing it," is B.S. Your priorities are what they are, and as Jesus also said, where your treasure is, so is your heart.

Unfortunately, you can't reason with the religious right.

[WinkyDink]

29. The Matthew 25 Network endorses Obama:

http://matthew25.org/?gclid=COeD_9zH75UCFSemQQod6jaJfg

[Midlodemocrat]

35. You can, however, and I have had some success with this

force their hands and embarrass them about their lack of acting to alleviate suffering while railing against the bad morals/values of the liberal crowd.

Start quoting scripture from the NT along with facts about the divorce rate, abortion rate, etc under this monkey's cabal and they soon shut up.

Maybe some of the fuckers will just stay home on November 4th. LOL.

[DevonRex]

40. Excellent post. Somehow the fundies have turned doing good works

into "trying to work your way to heaven." And that is their excuse for not doing good things. Bizarre but true.

[codjh9]

45. Yes, I think *behavior* matters far more than 'muttering a few words', as I put it - my

brother is a fundamentalist, and he's a PRIME example of what you're talking about. Not quite 'all talk and no action', but generally so.

[Ganja Ninja]

47. I have a real problem with some of these so call Christians.

Especially the one's like Sara Palin that are making a big display at church flopping and twitching and "speaking in tongues". They are the least christian people I can think of. They strike me as being just a bunch of crazy superstitious lunatics that have adopted the label "Christian" to lend themselves an air of legitimacy.