Why are many Christians Mean Spirited and Condemning?

Question

The majority of Christians I have met have allways been very condemning all to the point of mean spirted. Any time I have ever gone to church I"ve allways noticed they allways try to make you feel like your not good enough, or you just missing him by a thread. The Christian religion seems to have a very condemning spirit about it, and thats not what God is about. He is about love, and I never feel that when I go to church, or when I talk to other Christians. Allmost to the point of instead teaching people to love and do right, they put themselves on a pedastool and just condemn people left and right. Who's better then the next, kind of thing. And just because the pastor or priest interprets something a certain way doesn't make it right. You should be able to reason with them, JUST like the bible says. Many don't like that though, and I find that very odd. This is quite allright though, my personal relationship with God will do just fine.

I'm talking about all Christian relgions in general.

Every church I have been to has been this way.

Thank you very much for your honest responses. You have proved there are good Christians out there.

pourin, what I was getting at is at least the Churches and people I have run into need to get rid of their condemning spirit, and replace it with a loving one.

Answer 1

I'm sorry that you've had that very negative experience.How old were those people?Maybe age had something to do with them being so judgemental & legalistic towards you.I'm not having such an experience now at the church I presently attend as a Pentecostal(but not judgemental & legalistic & cold!)Christian at a Faith Assembly of God church here in Chestnut Ridge,NY.

I've been a member there for almost 2 years,and,I have found most of the people(it's a small congregation)as well as Pastor Tinch & his wife Susan to be very warm & friendly,which is one of the two main reasons why I was attracted to becoming a member there two years ago.

I don't know where you live,but,try attending an Assemblies of God church on any given Sunday.Maybe you'll find most of those people friendly towards you,but,please don't get into any arguments or debates with anyone if you decide to become a member of an Assemblies of God church.Get to know the right people first before debating issues with them.That's what I would do if I was in your situation.

We Christians aren't perfect,but,we are forgiven & redeemed by the blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ,and we all have our different personalities,temperaments,skills,and so on,which don't change when we get saved.Getting conformed to Christlikeness is a growth process for all Christians,but God doesn't want all of us to be the same.That's boring!

God made all of us to be different.If you're mature enough to accept that,then maybe you'll have no more problems trying to relate to any Christians you know.

Answer 2

Some are, true. I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe the other members of the church do not have the spine to stand up to the mean people and tell them to shape up or ship out (but that would seem judgmental, now wouldn't it?).

However, my experience has been that not everyone in the church is that way. We tend to focus our attention on the handful of bad apples sometimes, and ignore all of the other good people because they are so quiet.

Answer 3

Wow misse is clearly a chirstian. Go to the problem for the answer huh?

Listen I could rant on about my point of view, my father was an immaculate bible thumper who decided it isn't a sin to forsake the children of his first marriage. It's commonplace for people to create their own guidelines for life and cite the bible as backup. Fact is, they do as they will and it's very easy to insist some incomprehensable thing decided it for them. There are no prophets, especially not prophets who do constuction work and shower their stepdaughter with goods because the wife said so.

Take from everything what you know to be true and nothing else.

Answer 4

It is proven, time and time again on this forum and everywhere else that has to do with religion. They think they are better than everyone else. They believe that their way is the only way. They believe that the bible is truely the words of god, even though it was written by man, interperated by other men, and is preached to them by man. They do not think for themselves, they base their actions not upon their own decisions, but by "What would god think"? (*hard core religious people)

They preach to be kind to everyone, yet they hate anyone who is not one of them. Take gays for example. You're gay, so you must be evil, you must be taught the error of your ways, the bible says gays are wrong, so we don't like you. Atheists... ooh boy, if they're not looking at you as a possible convert, they simply hate you. I had a good friend who was also a co-worker. One day we started talking about god and religion and I told him I was an atheist. He didn't speak to me hardly at all after that and invited everyone else in the department to his wedding, but not me.

I see this all the time. Religious people are so self righteous it's sickening, yet they don't see the error of their own ways. They are always more than too busy pointing out everyone elses errors to notice their own.

Answer 5

That is soooo true!! I get the same treatment when i tell them i am not christian or I disagree with their comments... ( such a show of vanity and ego!!), Jesus himself wasn't like that at all... but throughout the New Testament Apostle Paul behaved that way even before he was converted. For some reason, they are not even supportive of the fact that I enjoy reading the words of widom found within the bible but am not a believer...weird weird weird... so un-christ like

The modern Christians tend to follow Paul's way of preaching the word... Caustic, Catalystic and Condemning. Its sad that people prefer to follow Paul rather than follow the Prince of Peace, Lord Jesus Christ... who was Peace-loving, Joy Giving and Faith inspiring.

Answer 6

there is a difference between christian and born again christians i know wat you mean and your right now some people just go around condeming and doing wrong things that the bible is against "do not judge " 1 corinthian 4 and your going to the wrong church if you want more info about our church email me and ill tell you about.... like at our church many speak in tongues and have recieve the holy spirit and phophecy about the future and everyone is kind and not condeming we all believe that we all are sinner but our belief in christ and god saves so everyone is equals whether your a saint or a murderer.....

Answer 7

I think it maybe has to do with ourselves sometimes. Maybe we are feeling guilty so we feel judged, you know what I mean. Or maybe I am the wierd one. I hear of all this horrible judgement in the church. I have not experienced it. The only thing close to it I had was when I switched to another church from a very small church to a very big church, it was kind of wierd with the poeple we knew.

Answer 8

I can understand what you are going through. Most of the people believe that they must be part of a religious order to be part of God. They put their trust in minsters and pastors for direction instead of having a direct relationship with God Himself.

When a person that the Father leads to His Son Jesus Christ chooses Jesus as Saviour, God directs him to His Word. The Word is where we gain our strenght. Its the Bread of Life, and the Living Water.

People practicing religion have to put that ahead or before God and that breaks His First Commandment.

Why don't you make a stand for your belief. I mean, teach them the truth with tenderness. If they don't want to know then just leave. Just like Jesus tells us to do.

Put God first and He will be first in your life. Love Him and He will Bless you. Take Comfort in the Comforter.><>

Answer 9

You have not run into the silent majority but the loud and boastful few. Every church has them but, I do not know what you were trying to put across at the Churches either .

Answer 10

Well they're not really Christlike as we are all supposed to be. The only way to deal with people like that is to bless them and walk away otherwise you'll get upset and get into a unnecessary predicament, meaning wasting your time with them. Of course we all get our ups and downs but you can overcome it if you pray and read,meditate in the word. you'll never go wrong.