I'm a Christian but...

Heather - posted on 05/29/2011

I'm closing this conversation, as I didn't open it to start an argument, but to get counsel from fellow Christians.

Jody - posted on 05/29/2011

Heather, this point is what I don't understand... what is the difference in a 'difference of opinion amongst Christians', to 'not a Christian even though you say you are'. It seems to me that the reality is that whoever agrees with the popular opinion of what it means to be a Christian at a certain time and place in history, gets to call themselves Christian, and everyone else is heretics.

There was a time in history when a person could be tortured to death for claiming that the Earth moves around the Sun. Today, if someone said they believed that the Sun moves around the Earth because its in the Bible, they'd be totally disregarded as incompetent. People don't like to think of their religion, especially religions that deny the validity of other religion, as being morally and spiritually relative, but if you look at history, you see the reality is that Christianity changes its stripes as much as any other group does with the times.

Now, this is not a bad thing. It means that Christianity will remain relevant to future generations; if it were incapable of change, it would die out. But people are horrified when they try to think of Christianity that way, when they shouldn't be.

And actually, it says in the Bible that if a man rapes a virgin, he has to pay her father 50 shekels of silver and must marry his victim. (Deuteronomy 22:28-29) If that's not paying for damaged goods, I don't know what is... but nowadays, we don't give women to their rape victims as wives, we put them in jail as enemies of women. Moral relativism at work, eh? =)

Heather - posted on 05/29/2011

Katrice! What a great response! Jesus said go and sin no more. He always pointed to the right way. He pointed out when people were hypocrites, but He was also never short on love. He said light should not have fellowship with darkness.



Christianity isn't about what we say it is, or what we make it, it's about what the Bible says it is. I don't mind when Christians have differences of opinion, it's when they completely go against God's Word. I'm not perfect, but I don't believe I could call myself Christian while doing something the Bible directly says is wrong. There are some things that we are allowed to decide for ourselves and disagree on (Romans 12), but there are other things that the Bible makes clear. We aren't suppose to mix with other religions and make our own. We are suppose to commit our lives to Christ, and Christ alone. The Bible says nothing about selling women. True in the Bible days a man compensated the family for their loss, but today, the husband buys an expensive ring for his bride, which would basically represent the same thing.



My main concern is ultimately that these people are deceived. They think that they are Christians, but they ultimately haven't made Him Lord over their lives. They have confessed a belief, but not submitted to Him. Again, I know I'm not perfect, but I don't want to encourage someone to sin, or ignore something that could be deeper than just a difference of opinion. I don't believe that Jesus would ever stand by and let someone who thinks they are going to heaven, continue on the path of darkness unwarned.

Jody - posted on 05/29/2011

To Linda: I'm not sure where you get your information, but you're incorrect about Vodoun being a Satanic cult.

Actually, 99% Satanic cults are atheist sects based on the teachings of Anton LaVey - they don't believe in God or Satan, but each Satanist holds him or her self as their own personal god. The other 1-ish percent are Spiritual Satanists, who believe Satan is the Creator God instead of Jehovah.

Vodoun, on the other hand, is an shamanic religion that is a product of the African religions brought over to Haiti by the slaves, combined with the Native American religions of the slaves that were already there, and including bits of the Catholic faith of their French masters and the Celtic culture of refugees from Ireland and Scotland. Its got pretty much nothing to do with Satan, because Satan is a Christian concept, and Vodoun is mostly African/Native American. The fact that they practice Christianity together with Vodoun is a concept foreign to many Westerners, but its a common practice in many parts of the world, especially Asia, to practice 3 or more religions simultaneously.

I realize its hard to accept that you have something in common with people who look and act so differently from yourself, but there it is. This has been your multicultural lesson for the day. Cheers ^_^

Kat - posted on 05/29/2011

What would Jesus say to these people?

Linda - posted on 05/29/2011

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." (Matt 7:21) I'm fairly sure that those who are practicing voodoo (a Satanic cult) are not true Christians. Many in America say they are Christians because they are not Muslims or Buddhists, but they don't have a full understanding of the only way to heaven. So...when someone says they are a "Christian, but", why don't you ask them what they mean by that? If they're not trusting in Jesus's death on the cross to save them and cleanse them from their sins, then they are still lost. Maybe, these can be opportunities to show them the true way of salvation.

Jody - posted on 05/28/2011

This will probably just frustrate you more... however... Christianity is bigger than just your way of interpreting it; there are literally thousands of denominations of Christianity, and each one is a different interpretation of what Christianity is; Christianity has traveled around the world, and mixed with hundreds of different cultures, and in doing so has become hundreds of different things.

Haitians are 90% Christian, but almost 100% also practice Vodoun (more commonly called Voodoo).
Mexican Christians celebrate the Day of the Dead, in which they build altars to dead relatives to welcome them back to the world of the living for one day of the year.
Christians in parts of Nepal bathe and offer food to statues of Jesus and the Virgin Mary, similar to the way Hindus bathe and feed statues of their Gods and Goddesses.
Many Irish Christians still ward against spirits and fairies and bad luck with charms, and a number of Catholic Saints are direct parallels of Druidic spirits and Gods/Goddesses
And of course most Christians practice things that are not originally Christian and never even realize it. Holidays that most everyone celebrates, Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day, etc, were originally Pagan festival days in ancient Rome, that had their meanings changed to Christian ones when the Church fathers found they were too embedded in the culture to be rooted out.

And of course, there are many fundamental values in our own society that go against the Bible. For instance, women are no longer property to be sold or traded by men; we no longer practice slavery; we no longer believe the Sun travels around the Earth... we no longer believe that eating shrimp is an abomination. But all those things are endorsed and state in the Bible.

So see, we all do it; the only difference is a matter of degree. So when someone says "I'm a Christian, but...", think of 'shrimp' and try to remember that we're all God's children, even if we look and act a little differently from one another.

Rebekah - posted on 05/28/2011

God's children are supposed to be "sheep" - which means we follow. Goats, these animals always have a "but" and a rebuttal -- instead of throwing in a but and acting like a goat, which has nothing to do with a sheep, why not try to be a sheep?!

Anne - posted on 05/28/2011

Heather I just read a reply you wrote to a mom in another communities and you said every thing I was thinking and in my opinion you DID USE LOVE and respect. Sometimes "The Truth Hurts"

Victoria - posted on 05/28/2011

Respond with the word, generally when someone comes out with something that completely contradict the word, you can show them the exact scripture they are coming against.