Are you a "Christian"?

Interesting - I always wondered what a true "Deist" thought about the deity they believe in? Is the creator good? or bad? or is there more than one? Things like that.... Does that belief you have about a creator stem back to the fact you were raised a Catholic?

MSgt David Hoffman - It's not that I'm saying people who truly believe in god don't exist. What I'm saying is that I have never met any, nor do I know of any.
If you believe the bible is the infallible word of god, then you believe the earth is set on four pillars in space, that non virgin women should be stoned to death on their fathers doorstep, that you cannot shave the hair on the sides of your face, that you can't eat shellfish, that you can't wear mixed fabric clothing, and that you must kill unbelievers for jesus.
I don't think you truly believe those aspects of the bible. And not believing those parts, to me, means you think the bible is fallible and therefor cannot be the perfect word of god. This also means you can't be a christian, in the biblical sense. But todays christians are more along the lines of only preaching the pretty stuff of the bible and they completely ignore the wicked commandments or flat out deny they exist. Spoiler Alert for anyone who hasn't read the bible cover to cover, those evil commandments exist and I hope you don't truly believe you should tie a millstone around a childs neck and drown him in a river rather than let him hear another religion.

MSgt David Hoffman - huh? I have read the bible cover to cover. I just don't believe it to be factual as there is no evidence to support it's claims.

MSgt David Hoffman - Why? You only find common ground with people that believe two people were tricked into gaining critical thought by a talking snake then went on to populate the entire planet? Then most were wiped out by a flood that covered the entire planet and then those few remaining populated the planet again? Then they had to follow commandments like 'kill non virgin women on their fathers door steps', 'drown children in rivers so they can't hear false preaching', 'massacre entire villages because they don't believe in the same god', or 'killing people in front of jesus because they don't want to be his slave'?
If you truly believe those to be factual, along with the hundreds of other evil commandments in the bible then I don't want to find common ground with you. I want you to seek therapy and medicine to curb those homicidal thoughts.

If you're like most other 'christians' and just read and follow the 'nice' parts of the bible then that's ok with me. But you have to know that you don't actually believe in the god of the bible, you just made up your own personal belief system and follow that.

Nowhere in acts does it say gentiles only need to follow those 4 commandments. Nowhere. In fact it says that moses law was already taught throughout the land and then later on, in romans, it confirms this by saying gentiles don't have the law, but they still follow it. It must also be taken into consideration this was spoken by paul, not jesus. And what jesus said was
Matthew 5:17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. 18 For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 So then, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do likewise will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever practices and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven."
The only person doing any cherry picking is you. And you have not answered the question. Something about bringing up the evil that god commands brings out an inner 'christians' cowardice and they refuse to respond. When pressed they say something like 'how could we ever know the mind of god'. So I'll ask again, but slightly different.

Do you think that the hundreds of evil biblical commandments were gods word?

I wish more people would stop and think about your definition before calling themselves a "Christian" - The New Commandment of Jesus to "love one another" is part of the final instructions given to his disciples after the Last Supper had "ended", and after Judas Iscariot had departed in John 13:30 - I just don't see this in 76% (or more) of our country! I'm not trying to be cynical, but it think if we did get this right, we'd have a lot fewer problems!

A Christian is not a Saint, we are still trying.

Evidently, someone, at one time or another in your life, "pushed" their opinion on you for you to have learned enough to decide to call yourself a "Christian" - aren't you glad they did that? :-) There are many, many people who just don't know - and would like to know, but sometimes are afraid to ask - so they don't. I was like that. However, I did meet someone who pushed me a little bit and I discovered what was missing only because he did it with love. I think if it's done with love and understanding, it can be a good thing!

To me there's a huge difference between sharing my belief and pushing my belief. I share my belief. I do not push it.

If I could relate this to leadership, I'd say there are different responses for different people and a good leader will know which one to use. For some people, the only option that will work is a "push" - but again, if you can preface it with the "this is for your own good and because I love you" approach (just like your mama did it) :-) then you just might have the chance to teach - and you might be their only chance to learn the good news.

I can respect that.

Feel free to add your own in your comment - no problem... :-)

As I mentioned in a previous comment, somehow I hit the "enter" button (causing the post to be published) before finishing the "options" and I am not able to go back and edit them - I can edit the text, but not the options.