Misconceptions about Christianity

[Burninglight]

1. Christianity is based on blind faith. Christianity is not based on blind faith, but rather faith based on evidence. Blind faith is superstition. Christianity is overwhelmingly supported by reason, evidence, and scientific inquiry. http://www.faithfacts.org/search-for-tr ... christians.

2. We get to heaven based on how good we are here on earth. This is not true we are saved by grace through faith it is not of ourselves; it is the gift of God.

3. Once we become a Christian, being saved by God’s gift of grace, it does not matter what we do
This is not true. God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, so shall he reap.

4. There are many ways to heaven, many paths to God. Because man is separated from God by his sin, the penalty for our sin had to be paid somehow for justice to be done. Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sins. Thus Christ is thus the only name under heaven by which man may be saved (Acts 4:12). http://www.faithfacts.org/search-for-tr ... s-the-same.

5. It doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere. This is a nice idea, but does not hold up to logic. Christianity is so radically different from other belief systems that if Christianity is true, the others are false. One can be sincere and be sincerely wrong. Sincere belief in a cult, in a false religion, in atheism, or in the tooth fairy do not get one to heaven.
http://www.faithfacts.org/world-religio ... ristianity.

6. The New Testament was written long after the events took place and are thus subject to legends being inserted into the text. The New Testament was written entirely by eye witnesses to the life of Christ or by interviewers of eyewitnesses. Many of the books were written within 25 or so years of Christ’s death, and many scholars—both liberal and conservative—are moving toward the view that all of the books of the New Testament were written prior to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD. The one book for which some doubt remains is Revelation. But recent scholarship holds that even this book was written prior to 70 AD. This is the view that liberal scholar John A. T. Robinson presents in his book Redating the New Testament. This is also the view that conservative scholar Kenneth Gentry presents in his book Before Jerusalem Fell. So there was not enough time for the stories to have been developed into legend. Further, as professor of Medieval and Renaissance English, C. S. Lewis said, “Another point is that on that view you would have to regard the accounts of the Man [Jesus] as being legends. Now, as a literary historian, I am perfectly convinced that whatever else the Gospels are they are not legends. I have read a great deal of legend and I am quite clear that they are not the same sort of thing.� (quote from Lewis’ “God in the Dock.�)

7. The Bible has been changed or is otherwise not true to the original manuscripts. The original manuscripts—that is, the actual pieces of parchment or papyrus upon which St. Paul and others wrote the Bible—are no longer extant. But, especially as regards to the New Testament there has been an unbroken chain of manuscripts from the originals. There are thousands of ancient manuscripts extant, including ones from the first and second centuries. Scholars have been able to correlate the manuscripts to know that the Bible we have today is faithful to the originals. See http://www.faithfacts.org/search-for-truth/maps. A good book on this issue is The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? by F. F. Bruce. Regarding the Old Testament, the Dead Sea Scrolls, first discovered in 1947 were from the time of Christ and even to the 2nd century BC. These manuscripts predate the previously oldest known manuscripts by a thousand years. Comparisons of these texts with the others already in existence showed that they were essentially identical. This information confirms how carefully the texts were copied over the centuries and has given scholars tremendous confidence in the accuracy of the Old Testament we have today.

[Burninglight]

What could I do if my kids told me they were gay? I could suggest that they repent from a gay live style, because I don't believe God meant for a man to have sex with a man. God created Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve. If you want to call me dogmatic because of this, go ahead. I wouldn't think dogmatism is any worse than justifying sin using progressive religion as an excuse.

Please tell me you didn't just use the "Adam and Steve" cliche.

You do know that people are born gay, right? It isn't a lifestyle choice. Therefore, it cannot possibly be a sin. Progressive Christianity does not excuse sin (urban myth). It does recognize, however, that we know more about human sexuality than people in the first century. We believe it is a sin to ask people to repent for being born gay. It would be the same as asking someone to repent for being born with red hair.

Are people born bisexual too? Are people born to be pedophiles?
What is a myth is to believe that man or a woman don't have a choice to act out bisexually , homosexually or heterosexually. Many or most men and woman are born straight and learn homosexuality, because their taste somehow got perverted. I know that there are some people born that have a choice to live the life of a man or woman (they are few and far between), but when a man decides to be a transsexual or to act out, these things are perversions that God can help them overcome (these are perverted learned behaviors like pedophiles). The red hair analogy does not apply to what I am talking about, and you know it!!!.

[kayky]

Are people born bisexual too?

Of course.

Are people born to be pedophiles?

Yes. And sociopaths too.

What is a myth is to believe that man or a woman don't have a choice to act out bisexually , homosexually or heterosexually

So gay people must be denied love and sexual pleasure in order to please
the God who made them that way? Does that really make sense to you? Seems pretty cruel to me.

. Many or most men and woman are born straight and learn homosexuality, because their taste somehow got perverted.

This is absolutely untrue. Such a person was born bisexual. Do you think you could be taught to be gay under the right circumstances?

I know that there are some people born that have a choice to live the life of a man or woman (they are few and far between), but when a man decides to be a transsexual or to act out, these things are perversions that God can help them overcome (these are perverted learned behaviors like pedophiles).

You are wrong on all counts. This dangerous belief leads to wrongful discrimation against whole groups of people and the release of pedophiles from prison to continue a behavior they cannot control.

The red hair analogy does not apply to what I am talking about, and you know it!!!.

I know no such thing. Science is on my side. I think the AMA and APA know more about this subject than you do.

[kayky]

Burninglight, you never did answer my question. What would you do if your teenager came to you one day and told you that he or she was gay?

[Burninglight]

Burninglight, you never did answer my question. What would you do if your teenager came to you one day and told you that he or she was gay?

I did answer, but I'll respond again. I would sit down with them and listen to what my kid had to say carefully. I would ask when and where did they start feeling that way. I would get as informed as possible and take it from there. I might ask how do you think Jesus would see this or what does the Bible say about it. I would be loving, understanding and patient because I know what kind of a depraved world we live in.

[kayky]

Interestingly enough, Jesus had nothing to say about homosexuality, much less calling it depravity. This seems to be something you have concluded on your own.

By the way, I've just started a new thread on the "Christianity and Apologetics" forum, called "The Gospels and the Jewish Calendar." I'd be interested in hearing your take on it.

[Burninglight]

Interestingly enough, Jesus had nothing to say about homosexuality, much less calling it depravity. This seems to be something you have concluded on your own.

By the way, I've just started a new thread on the "Christianity and Apologetics" forum, called "The Gospels and the Jewish Calendar." I'd be interested in hearing your take on it.

All the books in the world couldn't contain all that Jesus said and did as written. He mentioned nothing about pedophilia either or was it just not recorded that was practiced in Greece. Does that mean it is a alternative to meeting one's sex desires and not be against God or Jesus?
I'll look at your thread, but I don't know much about Jewish calenders

[Burninglight]

Are people born bisexual too?

Of course.

Are people born to be pedophiles?

Yes. And sociopaths too.

What is a myth is to believe that man or a woman don't have a choice to act out bisexually , homosexually or heterosexually

So gay people must be denied love and sexual pleasure in order to please
the God who made them that way? Does that really make sense to you? Seems pretty cruel to me.

. Many or most men and woman are born straight and learn homosexuality, because their taste somehow got perverted.

This is absolutely untrue. Such a person was born bisexual. Do you think you could be taught to be gay under the right circumstances?

I know that there are some people born that have a choice to live the life of a man or woman (they are few and far between), but when a man decides to be a transsexual or to act out, these things are perversions that God can help them overcome (these are perverted learned behaviors like pedophiles).

You are wrong on all counts. This dangerous belief leads to wrongful discrimation against whole groups of people and the release of pedophiles from prison to continue a behavior they cannot control.

The red hair analogy does not apply to what I am talking about, and you know it!!!.

I know no such thing. Science is on my side. I think the AMA and APA know more about this subject than you do.

How do you think the Apostle Paul would've responded to your comments?

[Ankhhape]

[quote="BurninglightAll the books in the world couldn't contain all that Jesus said and did as written.

Good grief, I'd settle for ONE friggin' book written by the Nazarene, he's worse than Lovecraft actually.

He mentioned nothing about pedophilia either or was it just not recorded that was practiced in Greece.

That's because it was Pederasty not Homosexual.

[kayky]

How do you think the Apostle Paul would've responded to your comments?

It's difficult to say. He was definitely against the pagan practice of male on male sex between heterosexual men. That certainly is unnatural. Yet Paul was a first century man. We know a lot more about human sexuality today. So I'm not sure that it matters how Paul would react.