YmirGF
Bodhisattva in Recovery
Looking North off my back porch a few winters ago. There are similar infestations East, West and South. It's insidious, really.
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Leaving Christianity
- Thread starter Trackdayguy
- Start date
Looking North off my back porch a few winters ago. There are similar infestations East, West and South. It's insidious, really.
Jeremiah Ames
Well-Known Member
The humans get in the way.
And those pesky humans just love their religions with all the rules, and rituals, and a bunch of stuff to do to take the place of following Jesus. Cuz that particular path is a bit too narrow for most.
I think the days of large organized religions are gone. With education and worldly exposure, you can’t tell people what to think. Religion is now more of a personal thing than an institution.
Trackdayguy
Speed doesn't kill, it's hitting the wall
YES. I would agree, but at the same time I wouldn't. Christians in my opinion have become the modern day pharisees, with their rituals, rules, organised structures, stand up sit down which include the none relational spectator meeting they have have every week.
What on earth has that got to do with being a follower of Jesus. That's why I walked away from the Church 30 years ago.
The hypocrisy of starting another church, and blaming it on the failure of the hundreds of other churches, adding to the hypocrisy of accusing them of not being Christians.
Milton Platt
Well-Known Member
Not sure what that even means.....If Jesus is the Christ, then you aren't actually leaving Christianity.....
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There are tons of ex-Bahais out there too, for many similar reasons.
Flankerl
Well-Known Member
I don't get this weird logic some Christians have.
Leave the Church and return to Jesus' Christianity?
What does that even mean? Return to the Christian Bible? If so that makes no sense. The Church is the organisation that is pretty much the author of the Christian Bible.
The Church is the organisation that decided who this Jesus even was let alone about his status in Christianity.
The Church is the source of Christianity.
To leave all of the Church behind and go to some Early Christianity someone would need actual knowledge about this Early Christianity. And that isn't really something growing on trees.
Leave the Church and return to Jesus' Christianity?
What does that even mean? Return to the Christian Bible? If so that makes no sense. The Church is the organisation that is pretty much the author of the Christian Bible.
The Church is the organisation that decided who this Jesus even was let alone about his status in Christianity.
The Church is the source of Christianity.
To leave all of the Church behind and go to some Early Christianity someone would need actual knowledge about this Early Christianity. And that isn't really something growing on trees.
Trackdayguy
Speed doesn't kill, it's hitting the wall
Jesus didn't start a religion Paul did
Trackdayguy
Speed doesn't kill, it's hitting the wall
With respect your comments only show how uniformed you are.
Milton Platt
Well-Known Member
Nobody knows who first wrote down the oral stories collected in the bible, and no one knows who precisely started the Christian religion......But nonetheless, that does not matter. If you are in some manner a follower of "the Christ", then you would fall under that ever-widening umbrella of Christianity. I guess it's just semantics at this point, anyway, though.
Buddha Dharma
Dharma Practitioner
Interesting you make this post, since I was thinking a day or two ago myself about the fact that Christianity is so far from what Jesus wanted and was about. His political activism has almost entirely been forgotten or dismissed as an unimportant detail in all the dogma. The fact that Jesus was actually quite a political person, and was actively resisting a society he saw as unjust and oppressive on behalf of the oppressed and social outcasts.
I thought it's interesting that now people claiming to act in his name are sometimes oppressors. Jesus called the holier than thou defenders of the establishment status quo of his time (like today's evangelicals) hypocrites and whited tombstones.
Unveiled Artist
Veteran Member
The Church doesnt define christianity. How do you leave christianity but worship christ?
Thats like saying I leave my family but I still love and talk to them. I just dont call us a family.
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Some info I have just looked up:
about the author "... is pastor of Community of Faith in Fallbrook, California. Since 2001, he has taught seminars on understanding the Bible from the perspective of cultural anthropology and social linguistics." -- from the Amazon page about the book in the OP
The church he is part of: Community of Faith Church - Nondenominational church Fallbrook, CA 92028 | FaithStreet which claims Mennonite and Anabaptist origins.
The church page says the author has a M.Div from Azusa Pacific University
Azusa Pacific University - Wikipedia
about the author "... is pastor of Community of Faith in Fallbrook, California. Since 2001, he has taught seminars on understanding the Bible from the perspective of cultural anthropology and social linguistics." -- from the Amazon page about the book in the OP
The church he is part of: Community of Faith Church - Nondenominational church Fallbrook, CA 92028 | FaithStreet which claims Mennonite and Anabaptist origins.
The church page says the author has a M.Div from Azusa Pacific University
Azusa Pacific University - Wikipedia
Well done to you Terry, with this statement, you have not moved on from Christ, you have found Christ in the 'Glory of God' as Christ has promised. What I like about the Message of Baha'u'llah, is that it has made me a dedicated follower of Christ
The journey is amazing and it is as equally as challenging. You have my email and you are always welcome to ask any questions.
Regards Tony
There will always be people that build their house on sand;
"Matthew 7:24-27 - Building on a Solid Foundation - 24 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. 25 Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. 26 But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. 27 When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”
This is the journey in Faith. Only God knows our heart.
Regards Tony
Terry. It is very important to find Jesus the Christ, the one the Bible tells us about. Yes this will require us to rethink what has become fundamental doctrine and see it with new eyes.
In the end we all have to find our connection as one human race, with our One God. The coming years will see great progress in many aspects of Life and Faith and at the same time, this will pose many challenges for us all.
Regards Tony
Trailblazer
Veteran Member
Matthew 6:19-21 Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
“For every one of you his paramount duty is to choose for himself that on which no other may infringe and none usurp from him. Such a thing—and to this the Almighty is My witness—is the love of God, could ye but perceive it.
Build ye for yourselves such houses as the rain and floods can never destroy, which shall protect you from the changes and chances of this life. This is the instruction of Him Whom the world hath wronged and forsaken.”
Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 261
I can say with all my heart and soul, that Jesus the Christ was a Messenger from God, born of the Holy Spirit. We see a man like us, but Jesus held the power of all creation within his grasp and chose death over this life. His sacrifice was to show us that we must Live in Christ and not for this world.
Regards Tony