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How can 'Christians' be so divided?

fromthe heart

Well-Known Member
I got to thinking of how we Christians must look to others today...we have so many differences within what we call Christians...How do you suppose we look to those who don't understand Christianity? Well??? How can we explain a faith that is so wonderful with promise when we have so much that confuses those we'd like to win for Christ??? I'd like to get some input from other 'Christians' on this subject.
Thanks,
Hugs to all,
FTH:162:
 

Mike182

Flaming Queer
fromthe heart said:
I got to thinking of how we Christians must look to others today...we have so many differences within what we call Christians...How do you suppose we look to those who don't understand Christianity? Well??? How can we explain a faith that is so wonderful with promise when we have so much that confuses those we'd like to win for Christ??? I'd like to get some input from other 'Christians' on this subject.
Thanks,
Hugs to all,
FTH:162:
a good question, but i think that each individual system of belief under the name of christianity should be a recognised belief system in its own right - i think that would actually help to clear up a lot of the confusion
 
It's not just Christianity. Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, America, Democrats, Republicans....there are sects and divisions in all these groups. Perhaps an even more fundamental question is: how can the human race be so divided?

*edit: Sorry, I didn't mean to draw the thread away from it's originally intended topic. This was just something I felt like throwing out there. :) *
 

fromthe heart

Well-Known Member
That probably would help some Mike....but Christian is supposed to mean Christ like and so many areas of some 'christian' beliefs don't appear that way...do you suppose that's how it's supposed to be or are we to be more unified in our beliefs sticking to the word of God? I'd say there are as many different types of Christians as there are nations...don't think that is what God intended is all...what could we do to be more unified in our faith? It's sort of nuts that an onlooker/person of differing faith hears the word Christian and then can't decern who one is because of the many gettin'down to the nitty gritty stuff we disagree on. We can't decide on one book of God...have to add others, God says have no idols but we wear crosses,have statues of Jesus on a cross hanging in the churches, statues of the Blessed Mother everywhere...items of worship that distinguish us from other 'christians'...why can't we just be christians of one accord???
 

Green Gaia

Veteran Member
The difference aren't a problem for me until people start treating each other badly because of the differences. That's what turns me off, not the differences themselves.
 

fromthe heart

Well-Known Member
Maize said:
The difference aren't a problem for me until people start treating each other badly because of the differences. That's what turns me off, not the differences themselves.
But that's just the point...why are we so divided in thought to feel the need to put another Christian down for something their heart says is truth to them?
 

Abram

Abraham
Great thread...

I think God will support your belief as long as it's pointed at him. I know we all belive different things in the details. But how can a LDS pray and read the Bible and believe so strong in it. How can a baptist pray and read the Bible and believe so stong in it. God answers prayers and why would he mislead one belief if it's not true. Well he supports all beliefs that point to him. There is to so much faith in so many beliefs. We as wicked humans choose to deface religion and think we're right there for your wrong. It just might be, that we're all right in loving God.

Was Jesus God? Is the Trinity real? Is hell just? Who cares...do you believe God loves you and in return do you love him? There you go... hey we all can agree on that, right?
 

Quiddity

UndertheInfluenceofGiants
Mike182 said:
because each sub-religion would be clearly layed out
Mike, if there are clearly essential disagreements from one denomination to the next, how is things be clearly be layed out?

~Victor
 

TheGreaterGame

Active Member
We need to embrace the teachings of The Bible . . . we need to elevate our theology . . . we need that theological knowledge to breed love for the poor and dying . . . we need some consensus on what the bible clearly teaches and what clearly deems as unorthodox . . . but there are so many wolves in sheeps clothing and now its high time that Godly shepards remove the wolves from the sheep herd.
 

Green Gaia

Veteran Member
fromthe heart said:
But that's just the point...why are we so divided in thought to feel the need to put another Christian down for something their heart says is truth to them?
I don't know...
 

Green Gaia

Veteran Member
TheGreaterGame said:
. . . but there are so many wolves in sheeps clothing and now its high time that Godly shepards remove the wolves from the sheep herd.
Wow, that's a loaded statement. I suppose anyone who doesn't view things just as you do is a wolf?
 

fromthe heart

Well-Known Member
TheGreaterGame said:
We need to embrace the teachings of The Bible . . . we need to elevate our theology . . . we need that theological knowledge to breed love for the poor and dying . . . we need some consensus on what the bible clearly teaches and what clearly deems as unorthodox . . . but there are so many wolves in sheeps clothing and now its high time that Godly shepards remove the wolves from the sheep herd.
Exactly TGG...but how could we make that happen within the volume of the world when it's always someone debating who's right...shouldn't the main teologians sit down and talk it all out and get it right? There ARE many wolves in the herd...rooting them out is still getting to pointing fingers...so should we point fingers then...doesn't it say if your brother does wrong to point it out to him/her? Then why is it such a fight?
 

Bangbang

Active Member
Victor said:
How exactly is being divided help in less confusion?

~Victor
Great point! Think of the Bible as a Letter from god. Why would he want us to see so many different interpretations of the same letter?
 

Mike182

Flaming Queer
fromthe heart said:
That probably would help some Mike....but Christian is supposed to mean Christ like and so many areas of some 'christian' beliefs don't appear that way...do you suppose that's how it's supposed to be or are we to be more unified in our beliefs sticking to the word of God? I'd say there are as many different types of Christians as there are nations...don't think that is what God intended is all...what could we do to be more unified in our faith? It's sort of nuts that an onlooker/person of differing faith hears the word Christian and then can't decern who one is because of the many gettin'down to the nitty gritty stuff we disagree on. We can't decide on one book of God...have to add others, God says have no idols but we wear crosses,have statues of Jesus on a cross hanging in the churches, statues of the Blessed Mother everywhere...items of worship that distinguish us from other 'christians'...why can't we just be christians of one accord???
well, some people are firm in their belief that all statues and idols are evil and detract us from God, others believe that statues and pictures and idols help us to focus on God - these two beliefs are cleary at odds with each other, but that is not to say that they do not share common ground, but if the sub-religions were layed out independant of eachother, these smaller differences can be seen clearly - maybe even some of them could be resolved:eek:

face it, we already sub-divide our religion anyway, we may as well do it clearly :rolleyes:

note: im not at all implying certain believers can't identify as christians, and im not saying the christian community cannot share resources and work together, im simply saying that the finer details of our belief that we disagree on - if clearly expressed - would resolve a lot of the confusion of people outside the christian faith
 

robtex

Veteran Member
fromthe heart said:
But that's just the point...why are we so divided in thought to feel the need to put another Christian down for something their heart says is truth to them?
God is based on faith. Faith is a belief in the absense of evidence. I am thinking God is each person's emotions and feelings projected into an entity that they call God. There is no such thing as "christ-like" except in conception. Christ never wrote anything down and what you read about him was Paul's conceptions and whoever else wrote about him conceptions. Nothing more nothing less. What is Christ-like to you may or may not be similar to your Christian neighbor, a Christian in another country or to Paul.

You best summed-up in the answer in the last part of your qoute. You said, "something their heart says is truth to them." To them, which is to say not to everyone but to them . Being Christ-like isn't the answer to a greater harmony amoung's humans spirtual nature. Religious and spritual tolerance despite interpetation of Jesus or any other religious doctrine and accepting those of different beliefs is.
 

Mike182

Flaming Queer
Bangbang said:
Great point! Think of the Bible as a Letter from god. Why would he want us to see so many different interpretations of the same letter?
its not as simple as a letter, for example - if i wrote a letter to my mum saying "mum, im working late on saturday night, could you pick me up some milk from the supermarket" - this meaning is clear

if you take the bible - its words were meant for a completely different audience to todays culture, there have been translations after translations of the bible, and it was not written by God but by Man - so its meaning can very easily be argued, and if you believe it says one thing, but are told to believe another, you'd get pretty miffed pretty quickly:(
 

MdmSzdWhtGuy

Well-Known Member
Christianity is no more likely to become unified than "sports fans" are likely to be unified. To illustrate . . . . a die hard Yankee fan and a die hard Red Sox fan, are both, to an outside observer, "sports fans" but they are never going to be unified in the sense that you are requesting.

There was at one time a unification of the church in the manor in which I think you are hoping for. It was the Catholic Church of the Middle Ages, also known as the Dark Ages. It was also in the Caliphate of the Ottoman Empire. It was, on a smaller scale, in the high preists of the Inca's whose human sacrifices caused the streets to flow with blood.

Since the age of the enlightenment, however, theocracy has been absent in western civilization, largely. This is a result of freethinking, applying reason and science, and the result of the masses being able to read. Uniting all Christians under one church is going to be a pretty tall order in this day and age.

Are you willing to forego your particular brand of Christianity in favor of Catholocism? Or LDS? Or Snake Handling, or what-have-you? If you were to unite all Christians, what would be your core doctrine? Which version of the Bible would you use? Would your God be a vengeful, jealous, Old Testament style of God? Or a loving, all inclusive, Jesus-style God?

It is these and literally thousands of other questions like these that makes overall Christian unity an impossibility. When you hold the keys to the gates of heaven, you have power over others. Unless there is some disagreement with the established view of those holding the keys, then there is not going to be any room for future key-holders to pop up. And make no mistake, there is strong gain to be had, by holding the keys to heaven.

B.
 
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