Why I am still a Christian.

[greneknight]

So you have identified your works with the church as your "fruit." In Matthew 7 there is mentioned another group of people who have identified their works with the 'church' as their fruit.

15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

I Never Knew You

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Appearently their/your works aren't the Spiritual fruit Christ is looking for. For the Men Christ "Never knew" based their worthyness on the works they did for the church as well. Meaning there must be some other fruit than what you have yeilded that God is demanding.

Let me get this straight. You are still trying to convince Greene of his non-christianity by using passages from a book that he already said he considers full of shit?

Thanks, genkaus. You save me the trouble of explaining again. I just told him I thought St Matthew was bonkers. He quoted what I said in his reply and he went on to quote large chunks from that looney book. What's the point. I don't care what St Matthew says. St Matthew says a lot of rot. That's the chap who told the tall tale that many people rose from the dead and went into town when Jesus died.
If you can believe that, you probably believe the movie "Zombie" is factual.

No, I don't care two hoots what St Matthew says. That guy talks nonsense.

[CaseyTheAthie]

Let me get this straight. You are still trying to convince Greene of his non-christianity by using passages from a book that he already said he considers full of shit?

Thanks, genkaus. You save me the trouble of explaining again. I just told him I thought St Matthew was bonkers. He quoted what I said in his reply and he went on to quote large chunks from that looney book. What's the point. I don't care what St Matthew says. St Matthew says a lot of rot. That's the chap who told the tall tale that many people rose from the dead and went into town when Jesus died.
If you can believe that, you probably believe the movie "Zombie" is factual.

No, I don't care two hoots what St Matthew says. That guy talks nonsense.

What's really great is the people that believe that, but discredit the zombie apocalypse as stupid... It's really the same thing.

[The Grand Nudger]

Extend that two hoots argument to the character of Jesus. Then what do you have left? "I just like all the pretty buildings". Check out some mosques, gorgeous.

[Ace Otana]

God is for me a concept. Not a being. If he were a being, that'd be superstitious. It's like believing in a bogeyman. But He is not a being. He's a concept or a metaphor for goodness. It's like the ancient miracle plays where you personify a quality or an attribute.

So you're not a Christian, more an atheist but who likes to continue the religious culture of a country. I guess that makes sense....

For me, having no part in religion even culturally is not a rebellious act. It's simply a lack of interest. I'm not religious, so why par-take in religious events? Just because something my be traditional doesn't mean it should be followed. Change is a great thing my friend.
Religion is the old belief system that has been made completely redundant by the scientific method. Time to let it die.

[greneknight]

What's really great is the people that believe that, but discredit the zombie apocalypse as stupid... It's really the same thing.

That's precisely a point I always make. If you can't rely on St Matthew's Gospel when it talks about MANY zombies rising from their graves and going into towns on the occasion of Jesus' death and no sane person can believe that, how reliable is it when it talks about Jesus' resurrection? It's my hope that my fellow Christians will think about this very carefully. It's not at all cool to be obstinately stupid.

[CaseyTheAthie]

What's really great is the people that believe that, but discredit the zombie apocalypse as stupid... It's really the same thing.

That's precisely a point I always make. If you can't rely on St Matthew's Gospel when it talks about MANY zombies rising from their graves and going into towns on the occasion of Jesus' death and no sane person can believe that, how reliable is it when it talks about Jesus' resurrection? It's my hope that my fellow Christians will think about this very carefully. It's not at all cool to be obstinately stupid.

Grene, I'm not gonna tell you what you are or aren't, I don't feel it's my place. But when you get to the point when you're refuting every major facet of the traditional Christian belief system eventually you're gonna wake up and look at what you've been doing (being an alterboy) and ask yourself why in the world do you want to do it. You're realistically going through motions doing these rituals. It's equivalent to me doing them and not being a believer. You may feel a holy tingly feeling from it, but all that is because when you were small and impressionable when you started and reacted to what those teaching you did. Other than that and the whole you'd feel rebellious bit how you keep going like this.

[greneknight]

That's precisely a point I always make. If you can't rely on St Matthew's Gospel when it talks about MANY zombies rising from their graves and going into towns on the occasion of Jesus' death and no sane person can believe that, how reliable is it when it talks about Jesus' resurrection? It's my hope that my fellow Christians will think about this very carefully. It's not at all cool to be obstinately stupid.

Grene, I'm not gonna tell you what you are or aren't, I don't feel it's my place. But when you get to the point when you're refuting every major facet of the traditional Christian belief system eventually you're gonna wake up and look at what you've been doing (being an alterboy) and ask yourself why in the world do you want to do it. You're realistically going through motions doing these rituals. It's equivalent to me doing them and not being a believer. You may feel a holy tingly feeling from it, but all that is because when you were small and impressionable when you started and reacted to what those teaching you did. Other than that and the whole you'd feel rebellious bit how you keep going like this.

No problem. You're entitled to your opinion about what I might one day be. I know deep in my heart that I'll remain a Christian all my life. My view will always be the same. I may discover new things. I suppose the truth is I'll never really know what I might be. Heaven forbid, I might even grow up to be a Muslim suicide bomber or a US-style Christian fundy. I can be anything. Nobody knows the future. But I think I will always be a Church of England, enlightened, rational Christian. I hope so at least.

[CaseyTheAthie]

Grene, I'm not gonna tell you what you are or aren't, I don't feel it's my place. But when you get to the point when you're refuting every major facet of the traditional Christian belief system eventually you're gonna wake up and look at what you've been doing (being an alterboy) and ask yourself why in the world do you want to do it. You're realistically going through motions doing these rituals. It's equivalent to me doing them and not being a believer. You may feel a holy tingly feeling from it, but all that is because when you were small and impressionable when you started and reacted to what those teaching you did. Other than that and the whole you'd feel rebellious bit how you keep going like this.

No problem. You're entitled to your opinion about what I might one day be. I know deep in my heart that I'll remain a Christian all my life. My view will always be the same. I may discover new things. I suppose the truth is I'll never really know what I might be. Heaven forbid, I might even grow up to be a Muslim suicide bomber or a US-style Christian fundy. I can be anything. Nobody knows the future. But I think I will always be a Church of England, enlightened, rational Christian. I hope so at least.

Please don't joke about stuff like that. The suicide bomber thing has killed many a friend.

[Cyberman]

@ grene: It's heartening to see that you recognise you're still of an age at which anything achievable is still within your grasp and that labelling yourself at any age, never mind yours, isn't particularly healthy or helpful. On the other hand, I personally know of one fundamentalist born-again creationist xtian who crossed the floor to become a staunch atheist; you at least are coming from a background and with a perspective far, far less devout. Who knows - this time next year we might have turned you to the dark side!

---

Incidentally, I decided to start referring to you as "grene" instead of knight, since I realised we have another knight among our number, a mystic one, and I didn't want to end up confusing myself (again).

No reflection on you, mystic, it's just that my interactions with your good self have been few and far between - even though you are dressed as one of my favourite videogame characters. Plus I get confused really easily.