Blurring the lines.

[Nope]

I have always liked these verses from Matthew, Chapter 25. They indicate that those who don't feed the hungry , clothe the needy etc. will not get into heaven.


Is taking care of the needy one of the signs of Christianity, Drich?

34“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

41“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

[Brian37]

We can't look inside someone's heart to see what they honestly believe, combined with the fact that Christians have been telling other Christians that they aren't really Christians for thousands of years. If someone claims to be a Christian, I don't really have any reason to disbelieve them, especially considering the fact that it's not our job to evaluate each claimant to see if he/she is a True Christian™. I'll still ask the same questions about their specific beliefs in order to discuss what they actually believe, but it's not my problem what label they want to use. If there's a sect of Christianity that has a fixation on the divinity of a Jesus-based scat fetish that somehow brings them closer to God, that might (and would) seem crazy as shit to me (hehe), but there's no rubric for evaluating who is a 'real' Christian, so the Jesus Scatologists can join the other 40,000 sects.

This is how new religions start, someone looks at the old ones and or current competing ones and adapts motifs and even characters and creates a new on. Mormonism was started by a con artist and Rastafarian is really simply Jewish/Christian mythology coming from the African continent where the new prophet Jamaicans took sympathy for.

[Drich]

Can you prove that they haven't received direct heavenly instruction telling them to behave the way they do? If you can't accept the faith-claims of others, why should you expect anybody to accept your own?

Yes I can, as per the bible 'all faith claims' should coinside with Scripture. If at any point a 'faith claim' contradicts scripture then the claim whether it be from a well respected prophet of angel of God, can not come from God.

Which of the 40,000 plus Christian churches has decided that your viewpoints on Christianity are absolutely correct, and why should I or the other 39,999 care?

a little late to the party huh? (BTW that number gets bigger every time you use it)
ALL Canonical Jesus Christ center religions, can be considered to be 'true Christians.' I dont know what that number is but I am sure it is alot more than 1.

The whole point of this thread is to assert that simply saying you are Christian is insufficient to guarantee salvation. But, you don't uphold and teach these laws as you were instructed.

Again Paul tells us in Romans the point of the Law is to show that no one can live righteously by it. That is why we need a canonical faith in Jesus Christ so we may have our sins forgiven. without this belief we are doomed.

You have not given all you have to the poor.

I have given all I am, and have several times, and I get back 10x's what I have given.
Just because you give all you have away doesn't mean you will have nothing to give/you will be poor. What it means is nothing you own, owns you. If you have to give it up then you must let it go.

All you do, when confronted with these requirements, is leaf through the Bible for loopholes that you think exempts you from them, that allow you to live your easy and comfortable life and still get all the rewards you think you're promised.

really like what?

I doubt that your god would appreciate you thinking you can outsmart him.

Indeed, that is why I've learned to submit.

It is because of selfish assumptions like these that no believer is qualified to accurately interpret their own religious texts. Only an objective non-believer can find truth in the Bible. Only we have no incentive to do otherwise, because we have nothing to gain.

ahh, no. it is because you have nothing to gain places you in a position of having nothing to loose, meaning you can and do twist the bible so that you can indeed gain from Christianity.[/quote]

[FatAndFaithless]

I don't really see the point of continued discussion, Drich will simply reassert that he knows what makes a "True Christian" and that he understands the requirements for being one, which allows him to deem certain other sects as "not-Christians".

There's no discussion here.

[LastPoet]

No true christian™ would think different of the way Drich thinks.

Christians being mormons or vice-versa is not a question. They are all idiots either way.

[Drich]

There is a very simple test to determine whether one is a Christian or not. 1st do the claim to be? 2nd do they follow the canonical teaching of Jesus Christ?

Those are the only two requirements Per the Apstole Paul, and his letter to the Galations.

Why are their requirements for atheism who has no rules, and no requirements for those who claim Christianity who does have rules?

Mormons believe that they are following Jesus too. If it bugs you so much join a Mormon forum and argue with them. Maybe a few will come over to your way of thinking. Mormon's interpretation of the bible is different from yours. They obviously believe that they are right and you are wrong.


I am not certain what you expect from a group of atheists. What you are doing would be like me coming to you and complaining that you were calling someone an atheist who believes in ghosts. Anyone who doesn't believe in a deity is an atheist, that's it. If someone states that they believe Jesus is the son of god, I am going to consider them a Christian and so will most other people.

Do we have any Mormons on this forum?

That's just it. According to thier last president/prophet Hinkle, different Jesus, Different God. He clearly states the Jesus of the bible and the Jesus of Mormonism are two different people with two different orgins. The mormon Jesus just happens to be call Jesus Christ. The current president has done nothing to correct this statement.

---

I have always liked these verses from Matthew, Chapter 25. They indicate that those who don't feed the hungry , clothe the needy etc. will not get into heaven.


Is taking care of the needy one of the signs of Christianity, Drich?

34“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

41“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Again one must follow the Canonical teachings of Jesus, as this is a direct teaching i would say yes.

---

I don't really see the point of continued discussion, Drich will simply reassert that he knows what makes a "True Christian" and that he understands the requirements for being one, which allows him to deem certain other sects as "not-Christians".

There's no discussion here.

It is not the assertion of Drich your arguing FF it is the direction of Paul in the book of Galations.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?se...ersion=ERV

[FatAndFaithless]

I'm not even going to get into why you think that line of Paul is binding or how you deal with other Christians that don't see it your way.

You have the True Rules for Christians™, and that's that. We get it.

[robvalue]

http://youtu.be/kLBDFe3mDtk

[Ryantology]

Yes I can, as per the bible 'all faith claims' should coinside with Scripture. If at any point a 'faith claim' contradicts scripture then the claim whether it be from a well respected prophet of angel of God, can not come from God.

That only presents you with the task of proving that the Bible is 100% accurate and valid. You would also have to prove that God cannot or would not ever circumvent the words on its pages.

ALL Canonical Jesus Christ center religions, can be considered to be 'true Christians.' I dont know what that number is but I am sure it is alot more than 1.

Whatever. Which ones get to decide what is properly canon and what isn't?

Again Paul tells us in Romans the point of the Law is to show that no one can live righteously by it. That is why we need a canonical faith in Jesus Christ so we may have our sins forgiven. without this belief we are doomed.

I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were a Paulstian, that his opinions mean more than the words of your savior.

T have given all I am, and have several times, and I get back 10x's what I have given.
Just because you give all you have away doesn't mean you will have nothing to give/you will be poor. What it means is nothing you own, owns you. If you have to give it up then you must let it go.

I just said that you interpret this line so that you can justify your life of comfort, so thanks for proving me correct.

really like what?

"Paul tells us in Romans the point of the Law is to show that no one can live righteously by it."

"Just because you give all you have away doesn't mean you will have nothing to give/you will be poor."

Indeed, that is why I've learned to submit.

Sure you have. Better hope your god is more gullible than I am.

ahh, no. it is because you have nothing to gain places you in a position of having nothing to loose, meaning you can and do twist the bible so that you can indeed gain from Christianity.

I can't gain from it. I'm automatically ineligible to gain any of its alleged rewards or avert any of its alleged punishments.

[Thumpalumpacus]

I hope none of you think that God is bound by your understanding of some death bed effort on your part to keep you out of Hell.

Considering that your god is nonexistent, I really don't give a shit what you hope for.

But if that monster you worship is real, I won't beg anything from him, I won't worship him, and I'll march into Hell simply to be that much farther from the psychopath.