Do You Consider Yourself a Christian?

Do you?

Yes...why???

I also consider myself a Jew.

do I wholeheartedly believe in and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, then yes, I am.

However, if you mean in the commercial, traditional churchy-dogmatic sense, then no.

Humanist

Yes. But I also consider myself a Buddhist. And a humanist. And I like process theology, too.

I'm just a virtual SMORGASBORG of spiritual dee-lites!

LOL!

Feeling silly, sorry. But I really meant the first part of this post.

I am a Christian, humanist, with Buddhist leanings....such is life. We are what we are and we believe what we believe.

Preach it! We should all be so spiritually diverse! :headbang:

:)

Though I've had fundamentalists tell me I'm not - I'm Roman Catholic.

but I only consider myself Catholic since my mom's mom was originally "Greek" Catholic.

dismisses all our other Catholic brethren - as if they don't exist or aren't important. Not that we don't share fellowship but that we all take pride in our own traditions. :-)

I just consider myself Catholic since I do like the "Eastern" church too.

I went to an Armenian Catholic wedding once - really lovely. I loved the bridal crowns.

I speak for the Orthodox too when I say that.

really cool.

Dem2TheMax gave it to me. I don't know where she got it.

but I wouldn't be caught dead in a room full of extremist fundies. I've never seen anything as hateful as self-righteous "Christians"!!!

I sat in church with my mom last Easter, and heard the preacher refer to Muhammed as a 'demon-possessed pedophile". He obviously knew nothing about history. It was common practice in the 5th century to marry a young girl and take her into your family home until she started her menses, and was considered old enough for 'relations'.

Later, I saw the same 'possessed' comment on the internet, so apparently they have meetings and/or flyers & newsletters telling them all what to say. That's for those who can't think for themselves.

(I'll be skipping the service this year, and join Mom for dinner)

I do.


Why do you ask?

I was just wondering what percentage of people on here do, you know, believe in Christ.

Not fundamentalits christians, obviously.

Interesting question.
:hi:

a rightwing fundamentalist magical thinking devoid of all Logic fucking wackjob.

or a real Christian.

I'm neither but for the sake of clarity.

to avoid arguments with those who are: "Me? No, I'm not a religious person."

Ends discussion without agressively flinging my beliefs (nonbeliefs) in anyone's face,

to echo similiar questions, why you ask

nt

not fundamentalist, show job, screaming preacher, tongue speaking, snake handling, holy rolling or superstitious.

Just trying to live my life according to my conscience and Christ's teachings.


and there are some who would say I am notreally Christian because I am:

1. United Methodist
2. Liberal
3. Democrat

But, I don't attend church regularly, and I'm not a fundamentalist. I believe it the right for everyone to choose their own belief/or non belief.

I believe in doing unto others and I was have done unto myself. I believe in treating all equally. I believe in trying to be the kindest person I can be. I believe that Jesus would not approve of the fundamentalists, but he would still love them.

I believe religion is a very personal thing. It's not something to be showcased, other than your kindness toward all who live on this earth.

I don't believe it's my right to judge. I don't believe I have the right to tell others that their religion or non-religion is right or wrong. And lastly, when a religious holiday comes up, I won't wish you a Merry Christmas or Happy Easter, unless I already know that you celebrate those holiday, because I'm not stupid enough to think that everyone believes as I do.

And my best friend is Hindu, and if your obtuse enough to tell her she's "going to Hell," you'll have a verbal beating on your hand.

and I don't intend to become one, either.

Caps intended for the word "personal." I am a firm believer in the separation of church and state, and faith should be passed on by acts and deeds, not mere words. These days, with so many so-called "Christians" bending their beliefs to their cause (take heed, "Religious Right"), I bristle at the term. To be Christian is to be "Christ-like," and sadly these so-called fundamentalist Christians don't have me convinced. Mind you, we all fall short sometimes. I try to be as good to my fellow person as I can, but some days it's not so easy, especially when there are those who push their beliefs to keep one or more sets of people down, as well as those who think I am somehow delusional for keeping faith in God.

I do not believe in a supernatural world, which includes gremlins, goblins, ghouls and gods. And that includes Jesus. Now, if Jesus would be so kind as to project his image on a corn chip for me, I might change my mind. :evilgrin:

Fully Jewish.

I used to be- I was raised as a Lutheran- I went to Lutheran parochial school for all but grades 7 & 8, and was very active in the church and the youth league- this time every year I'd go with my dad in his van to the greenhouse to pick up the hundreds of lilies for the easter sunrise service display. I was also in the choir, as well as 'the choraliers', a group of six sigers who went to nursing homes, hospitals, etc., to sing- we also put on a version of 'Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'(years before the Donny Osmond version).
I believed it all. God the Father, Son & Holy Ghost...I went thru confirmation and started taking communion.
but it didn't hold- as i got older, i got more inquisitive about the historical origins of religion & the bible...i studied about Constantine and council of nicea. i studied other religions, in my own kind of "comparitive theology" course...
i had more questions, and it all just stopped making sense- most of all, i couldn't understand why a supposedly loving creator would condemn his "children" to an eternity in/of hell for even minor mortal offences- it smacked of scare tactics...i also wondered why, in the age of mass communication(which an omniscient deity would have forseen), we are expected to rely on nothing other than the ancient words of mortal and therefore sinful men, as to who & what 'god' is, and what he expects from us, and what we get in return...
the more i studied on it all, the less sense any of it made, and i came to the realization that it's all a bunch of hooey and/or malarky.
i try to the best of my ability to live by the most important ideal in the bible, as well as in other philosophies and religions dating much further back, but the king james version goes something like this:
"Do unto others as you would have it that they would do unto you"
But the whole believing in jesus as the son of god thing- which the christians, by definition, usually stress- just doesn't work for me...it seems like just so much melodrama to wrap around the "do unto others..." stuff and the other rules, in order to keep society civil.

so...my answer would be "No. I'm not a Christian."

Is this a trick question or something? Or are you just curious?

For a more complete answer, just read LiberallyInclined's response; it echoes my experiences almost 100%.

I could write a novel as to why. In fact, check out authors who have written books entitled Why I am Not a Christian.

My reasons stem from both intellectual and moral arguments against the religion. There's no there there. I checked very thoroughly.

more philosophical, I also lean Buddhist, spiritualist, secular humanistish...glad I have some background in it just for understanding Western Civilization