<< NeoHC421,
It is exactly "Christians" such as yourself who have given most of the atheists such a poor view of Christian beliefs. Your assertations that most people will burn in Hell, and your "judgement" of those who do not believe the same things you do, are far more effective in driving people from your "religion" than anything any opposing viewpoints have ever come up with. Those views of "Christianity" turn off so many rational, intelligent people.
You preach strict obedience, and punishment for failure to comply, and yet blindly commit the same sins you accuse others of. You may feel that you are doing your "God" a service by preaching to those who have not yet found your way, yet you refuse to even accept as valid the views of those of us who believe in those ancient vitures such as tolerance, acceptance, and love for your fellow man. While we believe in tolerating other viewpoints, you expect us to adopt yours without question. Your closed mind prevents you from seeing this.
I'll tell you again, though you'll continue to ignore it, that you are only forcing people further from the Message. You'll simply shake your head, though, and think that if only I would see it your way, I would understand. Your "religion" has perverted the original Message, and it is finally putting the nails into its own self-inflicted coffin. People will continue to be turned away from your "message", until you learn to encourage faith, not obedience, tolerance and love, not conformity-or-else, and spirituality and ideas instead of blind adherence to the "facts" of allegorical stories.
That is not to take away from any of the true teachings of the Bible. Many people of faith believe that Christ died for our sins, and at the same time see how Muslims, Buddhists, and Jews are all also correct. We follow and believe in the virtues taught, not the judgments and condemnations that were only parts of the story. >>
I have never said that you have to accept what i believe. I was simply clarifying that if you profess to be a Christian, this is true message. As for you, you seem as if you just say the same thing to every other Christian, but i am not so. I have never expressed non-tolerance. On the contrary, I have explored other religions of the world, but every time i have been pointed to Christianity. And, not to be rude, but worshipping what i had for lunch, or praising a dead guy turned me away, just as many people have turned away from Christianity. I understand that because i have been through that myself. Many times in my life, i have rejected God. When my cousin died in a car accident, and when my grandparents passed away, I was angry with God, but then i began to see the big picture, and why they had to die. But every time i fell, he chased after me because i was a lost sheep. But now that i am in the light, will you condemn me for shining it in this dark, dark world? Many of my good friends are non-Christians, and all of those points you have raised have been also raised by them, but they have never accused me of being non-tolerant and such because i believe it is wrong for me to judge other people or their beliefs. The rebukings on this forum were directed to the "christians" who may read this, but have heard a watered-down message, or are fallen away. In no means did i intend to offend you. I have said that true Christians are accepting of other people, not judgemental of outsiders, but You have simply passed me off another closed-minded christian, but you did not give me a chance. And if I did not love, would I share my faith with you? I am here because i believe that the original message has been deranged and changed to conform to the likings of this world. Like in the early church, people wanted numbers of people, and so they altered the message to make people feel better about themselves, to make them feel as if they did nothing wrong, and that's why there are so many lukewarm "christians" in the world.