"When Peter drew his sword to defend Jesus, Jesus told him to stop. There is no violence in real Christianity." --Don S
2006-06-17 05:51:50 · 24 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
A "real" Christian "polices" him or herself by following the commandments Jesus restated for us....Love the Lord your God, and Love your neighbor as yourself.
You've somewhat taken Jesus response to Peter's actions out of context. Jesus' point was that if He really wanted to get out of that situation, He could call upon legions of angels to defend Him. What was happening had to happen to fulfill the prophecies and God's promise for the redemption of us all through Jesus' suffering and death.
2006-06-17 06:00:16 · answer #1 · answered by Dont_Tread_On_Me 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Maybe. But that's the thing about religion, you see. If it doesn't make you better than you were before, then it's probably going to make you much worse. The potential is there to go either way. And I don't really suppose there's much that a real Christian can do about the hypocrites, except decry their actions and try to correct some of their mistakes. Other than that, what is there to do? We can't force them to change or restrain them from violence or stupidity any more than you could, and we can't keep them from calling on God for cynical purposes. We can't even know for certain that their purposes are always cynical. The only discipline method we're permitted to use is to exclude someone from the Church, and sometimes we do use it, but that still doesn't keep those people from joining another church (or none at all) and going right ahead with whatever they'd already decided to do. No religion I know of has ever embraced freedom so completely as Christianity has, and for that very reason there's no way to avoid getting worms in the apple sometimes. Christianity should be judged not by the badness of the bad ones, but by the goodness of the good ones, if you want a true understanding of the thing.
2006-06-17 06:13:04 · answer #2 · answered by Billy 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think the best answer is this: "Real" Christians--as you put it-- don't have time to sit and think about who is a fake Christian. They are entirely engulfed in doing God's Work. The main part of following the Messiah's Teachings, was not to mind what other people are doing until you have yourself on the right path. Once you have found your true self, you should practice patience with other and help them to understand the WAY. That is of course if they are ready and willing to learn the Way. Otherwise you are working in Vain. You cannot force someone to truly believe, and embody the Truth. Each person must find it, much the same as Enlightenment. It isnt the type of thing you can just hand over to someone. We are talking about things of the Spirit, not flesh, and especially not material things.
And Peters action just goes to show that he really didnt have as much faith as he thought he did. Otherwize he would have "KNOWN" that the Messiah had things undercontrol. He was just going to fulfill his destiny. Throughout history all of the enlightened people have embodied a philosophy and lifestyle of nonviolence. Thanks for you time, Don Juan
2006-06-17 06:17:46 · answer #3 · answered by J Panting 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Atheists don't have to police anyone, What makes you think they do? Were all here on Yahoo Answers by choice. And if you can't control Christians, I would think the most sensible thing to do, is make the choice to leave. This is the religion section, and Christianity is a religion. But let me assure you, atheists is not a religion. Look it up in the dictionary. It means denial of God only. Nothing about religion. And if you think this is a contest to see who can control who, let me assure you again, I am here to answer and ask questions, not to control anyone, as most of the Christians are. What are you here for? To police the Christians? Yahoo Answers do not need your help. You're here for control, and ridicule! Well, It can't be done! God always wins His wars with Satan.
2006-06-17 06:15:27 · answer #4 · answered by Hebeholdsu 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Seems like a reasonable expectation but you'll find that the various groups of Christians have difficulty deciding which groups are actually Christian much less looking at individual members and making that determination.
2006-06-17 05:54:56 · answer #5 · answered by Melius 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
"I say leave the unreal Christians, at least it gives them morals"
It is unfortunate that we would have to depend in outside factors to determine whether we have morals or not.
Violence should not be encourage or condoned in any situation.
It is unfair to assume that because someone is an atheist they would "POLICE" anyone, we don't have any way of knowing what every Atheist does. The reality of it is that within every faith they are those who believe themselves responsible for policing those outside of it.
2006-06-17 06:18:19 · answer #6 · answered by Rhina 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is why christians try to fob the lie that "you have to be christian to be moral". It's an attempt to shift responsibility from themselves and their more disgusting members onto others.
By the way, anyone who claims to "follow jeebus" is a christian. Martin Luther King Jr. was a christian, and Adolf Hitler was a christian.
2006-06-17 06:40:42 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You got that right. But Atheist are not Policemen over the Family of God. there is one Lord, Jesus.
2006-06-17 05:55:31 · answer #8 · answered by kritikos43 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In a perfect world that may be right. But it will take the Lord coming back and burning all the unrighteous to have that perfect world.
2006-06-17 05:57:03 · answer #9 · answered by saintrose 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I say leave the unreal christians, at least it gives them morals
2006-06-17 05:55:28 · answer #10 · answered by a stranger 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋