Important characteristics of Christianity

Exploring the details of Christianity

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OnceConvinced
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Important characteristics of Christianity

Post #1

Post by OnceConvinced »

OpenYourEyes wrote: if you probed deeper you'd find out that the differences are not that great when it comes to the important characteristics of Christianity. For instance, the overwhelming majority of Christian denominations believe in the divinity of Christ, the resurrection, the nature of God, the authority of Scripture, they share the same Bible canon, etc. Dividing over what day to worship, as Seventh-day Adventists are distinguished for has little impact on understanding the core messages of Christianity.
Which important characteristics/core messages do the majority of Christians agree upon?

Which are crucial when it comes to determining whether someone is a true Christian and saved?

Are these things listed by OpenYourEyes crucial for salvation?

Belief in:
- the divinity of Christ
- the resurrection

Do the majority of Christians agree on...
- the nature of god?
- the authority of scripture?
- which versions of the bible to use?

Society and its morals evolve and will continue to evolve. The bible however remains the same and just requires more and more apologetics and claims of "metaphors" and "symbolism" to justify it.

Prayer is like rubbing an old bottle and hoping that a genie will pop out and grant you three wishes.

There is much about this world that is mind boggling and impressive, but I see no need whatsoever to put it down to magical super powered beings.


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Re: Important characteristics of Christianity

Post #51

Post by Monta »

[Replying to post 50 by onewithhim]

"I'm doing nothing of the sort. If you knew ancient history, you'd know that God was not being cruel and mean. He was living up to His promise to Abraham, and also, the Canaanites were a very depraved people. Why would God want His people surrounded by or be among people who regularly practiced vile sexual rituals and sacrificed their children to their gods? Maybe He thought it was better that the kids were "put to sleep" (which is what death is, in Jesus' terms), rather than thrown alive into a fire. And the pagans could have stayed if they gave Jehovah His due respect and agreed to live by His laws. "

Very familliar with 'just wars' for the last 10+ years and very familliar with israeli wars; just as you described it.
Of course we do not go and bomb the good guys, they are bad, they have to be otherwise we can't bomb them!
Sorry, you opinion of a Divine Bing is very poor indeed.
The good news is that it is utterly false and such a (B)being is man-made..

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Re: Important characteristics of Christianity

Post #52

Post by OnceConvinced »

onewithhim wrote: [Replying to post 32 by Monta]

Why the question mark Monta? The theme is important characteristics of Christianity, and JW brought up the point that the MAIN characteristic is love.

Can I surmise that you have never given that any thought?

:-s Now is as good a time as any to respond to that thought.
OK, so love is one of the most important characteristics of Christianity. So what can we say about the Christian version of love that most Christians would agree on?

Society and its morals evolve and will continue to evolve. The bible however remains the same and just requires more and more apologetics and claims of "metaphors" and "symbolism" to justify it.

Prayer is like rubbing an old bottle and hoping that a genie will pop out and grant you three wishes.

There is much about this world that is mind boggling and impressive, but I see no need whatsoever to put it down to magical super powered beings.


Check out my website: Recker's World

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Re: Important characteristics of Christianity

Post #53

Post by Hawkins »

[Replying to OnceConvinced]

Apostles' Creed can be used to identify basically if an earthly church has the ability to save souls.

Apostles' Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic* church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

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Re: Important characteristics of Christianity

Post #54

Post by Monta »

[Replying to Hawkins]

Apostols' Creed, good base for Christian teaching.

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Re: Important characteristics of Christianity

Post #55

Post by OnceConvinced »

Hawkins wrote: [Replying to OnceConvinced]

Apostles' Creed can be used to identify basically if an earthly church has the ability to save souls.

Apostles' Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic* church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
so are you saying that these are all crucial beliefs? Things that every Christian MUST believe and agree upon? Or are most of them just "nice to haves"?

Society and its morals evolve and will continue to evolve. The bible however remains the same and just requires more and more apologetics and claims of "metaphors" and "symbolism" to justify it.

Prayer is like rubbing an old bottle and hoping that a genie will pop out and grant you three wishes.

There is much about this world that is mind boggling and impressive, but I see no need whatsoever to put it down to magical super powered beings.


Check out my website: Recker's World

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Re: Important characteristics of Christianity

Post #56

Post by onewithhim »

OnceConvinced wrote:
onewithhim wrote: [Replying to post 32 by Monta]

Why the question mark Monta? The theme is important characteristics of Christianity, and JW brought up the point that the MAIN characteristic is love.

Can I surmise that you have never given that any thought?

:-s Now is as good a time as any to respond to that thought.
OK, so love is one of the most important characteristics of Christianity. So what can we say about the Christian version of love that most Christians would agree on?
Actually what "most" self-proclaimed Christians agree on is not the end of the matter. Jesus indicated that most people who claim to be Christian are on the wrong road. He said, "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are MANY who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it." (Matt.7:13,14, NASB)

Verses 21-23 address the fact that "Christians" are not acceptable to him just because they CLAIMED him as their Lord and did miraculous things in his name. It is the ones who do the will of his Father who would be accepted by him.

So what most self-proclaimed Christians think about love doesn't quite coordinate with what Jesus says. Most "Christian" churches are involved in politics and they support wars. What did Jesus say? He said that his disciples were no part of the world (John 17:14,16), and that they would love their enemies and even pray for them (Matthew 5:44). The scriptures are FULL of admonition to be PEACEABLE. Nowhere did Jesus or his disciples advocate the killing of other people, like the military of any country is designed specifically to do.

I have even read an article by some Protestant preacher who wrote that "we should love people right up to the time that we kill them." Excuse me?


So....we show true love when we obey Jesus. We don't get involved with worldly politics, nor do we support the world's killing machines.


:study:

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Re: Important characteristics of Christianity

Post #57

Post by Monta »

[Replying to onewithhim]


"So what most self-proclaimed Christians think about love doesn't quite coordinate with what Jesus says. Most "Christian" churches are involved in politics and they support wars. What did Jesus say? "

Unfortunately it is true.
We have been told the first shall be last and the last shall be first. Thinking on these matters I can not but think about Hitler. What has he done that has not been done this last century or after his demise? Us sending him to hell is convenient.
Heaven and hell, perfect justice at last.

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Re: Important characteristics of Christianity

Post #58

Post by Blastcat »

[Replying to post 57 by Monta]





"So what most self-proclaimed Christians think about love doesn't quite coordinate with what Jesus says. Most "Christian" churches are involved in politics and they support wars. What did Jesus say? "
Monta wrote:
Unfortunately it is true.
We have been told the first shall be last and the last shall be first. Thinking on these matters I can not but think about Hitler. What has he done that has not been done this last century or after his demise? Us sending him to hell is convenient.
Heaven and hell, perfect justice at last.
Unfortunately, what you consider "perfect justice" has a lot of holes in it. It's a pile of philosophical contradictions, moral dilemmas and by the way, has NEVER been proved to be REAL.

So much for perfection.

Just face it, sometimes the bad guy gets away with it. I think that Hitler died pretty miserably, took down his entire nation, destroyed a lot of Europe along the way, too. I think that's an abject failure for Hitler.

And YET, people still hold him up and his bizarrely evil ideology up as GOOD. People believe VERY WEIRD THINGS..

I would say that Christianity is a VERY WEIRD BELIEF, too, and that has some pretty awful consequences. I think that antisemitism has it's roots in Christianity.
Hitler just exploited the religiously motivated hatred.

:)

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Re: Important characteristics of Christianity

Post #59

Post by onewithhim »

Monta wrote: [Replying to onewithhim]


"So what most self-proclaimed Christians think about love doesn't quite coordinate with what Jesus says. Most "Christian" churches are involved in politics and they support wars. What did Jesus say? "

Unfortunately it is true.
We have been told the first shall be last and the last shall be first. Thinking on these matters I can not but think about Hitler. What has he done that has not been done this last century or after his demise? Us sending him to hell is convenient.
Heaven and hell, perfect justice at last.
OK, how did Hitler get into this discussion? Is he connected with the Churches? I'm not sure what your point is.

:-s

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Re: Important characteristics of Christianity

Post #60

Post by onewithhim »

Blastcat wrote: [Replying to post 57 by Monta]





"So what most self-proclaimed Christians think about love doesn't quite coordinate with what Jesus says. Most "Christian" churches are involved in politics and they support wars. What did Jesus say? "
Monta wrote:
Unfortunately it is true.
We have been told the first shall be last and the last shall be first. Thinking on these matters I can not but think about Hitler. What has he done that has not been done this last century or after his demise? Us sending him to hell is convenient.
Heaven and hell, perfect justice at last.
Unfortunately, what you consider "perfect justice" has a lot of holes in it. It's a pile of philosophical contradictions, moral dilemmas and by the way, has NEVER been proved to be REAL.

So much for perfection.

Just face it, sometimes the bad guy gets away with it. I think that Hitler died pretty miserably, took down his entire nation, destroyed a lot of Europe along the way, too. I think that's an abject failure for Hitler.

And YET, people still hold him up and his bizarrely evil ideology up as GOOD. People believe VERY WEIRD THINGS..

I would say that Christianity is a VERY WEIRD BELIEF, too, and that has some pretty awful consequences. I think that antisemitism has it's roots in Christianity.
Hitler just exploited the religiously motivated hatred.

:)
I would say that anti-semitism has its roots in FALSE Christianity. It is nowhere to be found in the Scriptures. Jesus himself loved his countrymen dearly.

He also has told us that there are people who CLAIM to be Christians (they call him "Lord" and do miraculous works in his name) and yet he will say to them, "Get away from me...I never knew you!" (See, please, Matthew 7: 13-23.)

Hitler did indeed exploit the hatred that was manifest even in the churches. The popes did nothing to protect the Jews & even encouraged the Inquisitions and the Holocaust. Pope Pius XII is on record as having a distaste for Jews. The Vatican and Hitler had an agreement (a signed Concordat) that they would, in effect, be buddies. The Jews suffered horrible consequences of the Church-State agreements, from the very early centuries on up to today.


:-| [/i]

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