(November 10, 2011 at 9:07 am)chadster1976 Wrote: As a Christian, I am constantly amazed by how often I am told I am not a true believer BY OTHER CHRISTIANS!!!
Now, just historically, the Roman Catholic Church is probably the oldest Christian denomination there is and is the largest. It also holds scriptures in original languages and relies on the older texts to form its doctrines. You would therefore assume that it is closest to the church set up by Jesus. Right? Well not according to some. Many YEC's rely on 20th century translations of the Bible that have slightly differing translations and are annotated in such a ways as to guide away from traditional interpretation.
Where does it state in the original Greek text of Genesis that the 6 days of creation were distinct 24 hour periods? It doesn't. Yet, this is a fundament to many Christian groups. It does saay in the Bible how hard you can beat your slaves, but ask any Republican candidate if they believe wholeheartedly in the Bible they all say "Yes, I am a committed Christian". Really?
Why are there so many Christian churches now? Who gave the religious authority to create them all and more importantly, why do they feel they have the right to decry all other denominations as "not true Christians".
And please, don't resort to only being rude about Christians, even though some of us clearly deserve a smack in the face with a reality hammer. Please answer on the psychology of religion too.
I don't think that this is a problem unique to Christianity since this kind of partisan behaviour is fairly common whenever the opportunity to interpret something differently arises and there is no definitive means of establishing which one is the best. Cats vs Dogs, Tea vs Coffee, Chinese vs Indian (Food that is), pop music vs alternative metal, to name a few. You can almost guarantee that if you ask sufficient people for their opinion on these you'll come across a few individuals with very strong opinions on the matter.
It's inevitable that there are some groups take the stance that they are correct and everyone else is wrong despite the obvious problem with such a position under such circumstances. I can recall several instances when I've forwarded an opinion that differs from the consensus and it was summarily dismissed because of it's minority status, and faults with their own opinions overlooked because weight of numbers overinflated their confidence in the validity of their own opinions
I've also found that it's also quite common for those with entrenched views not to be particularly informed about that which they are claiming is the truth. Sometimes debates between those who identify themselves as creationists or evolutionists show a remarkable degree of ignorance of science on both sides, not just the creationist side.
Um...
