What's misconceptions do you think others have about your church/denomination or belief system?

Question

If you could stand up and correct 2 or 3 misperceptions that people have about your church, what would it be?

I'll start: the Roman Catholic church does NOT pray to statues/worship the Blessed Virgin Mary, and we do NOT rely on "works alone" nor "faith alone" to get us into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Your turn.

Answer 1

That we worship the pope instead of Jesus. How stupid is that?

Answer 2

Buddhism is maybe the only world religion that is liked by a great number of people not believing in it. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean it is well understood. Here are some of the more common misunderstandings.

1. Mahayana Buddhism does not view the Buddha as a God, nor pray to him like he was.
2. Karma is not about retaliation but about cause and effect in moral actions.
3. The goal of Buddhism (Nirvana) is not extinction and becoming nothing, but about becoming totally free, happy and helping all others to be the same. What is being extincted in Nirvana is not yourself, but your disturbing emotions (the craving, aversion and ignorance).
4. Buddhism is not egoistic, it's the contrary - nothing is more important than love and compassion on the Buddhist path.
5. Buddhism is not a religion without moral - on the contrary, Buddhist practices are totally useless if you don't do them on a basis of ethical behaviour and altruistic attitude.
6. Buddhism is not about stopping having feelings, but about transforming destructive emotions and reinforcing positive, constructive ones.
7. Buddhism is not an easy "feel good" philosophy, but hard, devoted work aimed at transforming your very ego, habitual thinking and destructive emotions into love, compassion, wisdom and happiness.
8. Meditation isn't easy - if you think it's easy you've probably got it wrong.
9. You can't reach enlightenment just by meditating - if you can't identify your own mistaken apprehension of the world and your self you can never change it, instead you just strengthen your habitual misapprehensions.
9. Buddhism doesn't say you can believe whatever you want and still be a Buddhist, what it says is that you have to understand what you believe and see for yourself that it stands up to scrutinizing reason and experience - otherwise it's useless.
10. Buddhist Tantra isn't about sex.

Answer 3

Wiccans do NOT worship Satan. We have no equivalent concept to Satan in our cosmology. Nor do we hate Christianity; all we really ask is to be left alone to practice our faith.

Wiccans do NOT worship "the creation instead of the Creator". Because we generally view the universe as the living body of the Goddess and the God, it's more accurate to say that we worship the Creator IN the creation.

Wiccans do not go around randomly cursing people and causing harm, magically or otherwise. The one "commandment" of our religion, the Wiccan Rede, states: "If you harm none, do what you will". Most Wiccans interpret this to mean that to act in a way that minimizes harm is a good idea; also, the Rule of Three, which states that whatever you put out into the world will return to you three times over, tends to discourage acts of harm.

Answer 4

Even though it wont matter because you cannot educate the willfully ignorant who enjoy spreading lies.
We DO NOT worship satan. We dont even believe in satan and it would seem a belief in that which you worship is necessary am I wrong?
We DO NOT have any less morals than a christian or any other religion out there. Morals do not come with religion they come with being a human being.
We DO NOT hate Christians, or any other religion for that matter, we simply take a different veiw on things and follow a path more suited for our personal beliefs.
We DO NOT go around cursing people. or atleast most dont. we have one rule that is common among the different traditions and that is "an it harm none, do as you will" which many of us interpret to not only harm noone but also to do whatever possible to minimize the amount of harm done to another.
We DO want to just be left to practice our faith. Notice that we dont go door to door preaching, most dont force their beliefs on others, and we dont run around telling everyone who does not believe like us that they are wrong.

Answer 5

I was raised a Seventh Day Adventist which goes to church on the Jewish Sabbath. Many consider that "Legalistic". I was saved at 12 yrs. old when I aknowledged the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior as a Seventh Day Adventist.
I stopped attending church until about age 40. I started attending a small Christian church near me in the country. I experienced a rebirth during that time. So I've come to the conclusion that the Apostle Paul wrote"Let those who observe the sabbath do so unto the Lord and let those that choose not to observe the sabbath do that also unto the Lord."
Now I follow 2 commandments that Jesus gave His disciples"Love God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself,thereby thou shalt fulfill all the law and the prophets"
T4

Answer 6

I am a Christian attending a church that is of no denomination.

1. I do not attend a non-denominational church (that's a denomination too these days)

2. Being full of the Spirit of God and speaking in tongues does not make me a fake Christian.

3. Laying hands and healing is not an act.

Answer 7

I would correct the perception that the Catholic church is not the Church that Christ established here on earth. I would also correct the misconception that Confession to a priest is a man-made idea.

Answer 8

But you pray to the Virgin Mary or your not a true Catholic. As for me I have not heard any misconceptions about my church.

Answer 9

Many people think that Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe in Jesus. However, Jesus is our King, Redeemer, the Head of the church, and our model. In other words, he is the central figure to our fatih.

Acts 4:12 “There is no salvation in anyone else, for there is not another name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must get saved.””

John 14:6 “Jesus said to him: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

1 Timothy 2:5 “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, a man, Christ Jesus,”

1 Peter 2:21 “. . .Christ suffered for YOU, leaving YOU a model for YOU to follow his steps closely.”

- Bob

Answer 10

Neo-pagans (Wiccans, Celts) are not satanists. We don't even recognize the existence of a personified evil or hell.

Our works of magic(k), are just asking high powers to intercede and make changes in our lives. Rather like practical application of prayer.

We live by a simple crede: "As ye harm none, do as you will"

As we don't proselytize, we depend on curiosity to attract followers. Or questions like these.
Thanks for asking, Jon

Answer 11

Pantheism

People think we worship bunnies and trees, and while we do consider Nature/the Universe to be the Divine, we worship the whole of it, not bits and pieces of it. We don't think seperate things, or ourselves, are God.