as a former christian i just wanna know?

Question

I know the bible says murder is a sin, homosexuality is a sin, glutteny is a sin and so on and so on, so:
How is it that any church can have a gay preacher?
How is it that any christian can kill while at war?
How is it that christians can be rich? ( i know that you can be blessed with wealth in this one, but why is it not required to give to the more needy? I believe that if you have a 42" plasma in your living room, that money could have gone to the less fortunate)
Not trying to offend anyone, these are just questions that i always had as a christian, and they are so straightforward that i can not see how they can be interpreted as anything but what they say.

and i understand self defense as a freebie in the thou shalt not kill area

ok, so people want to answer the money part but nothing else, is that what im getting?

16 yr old christian, i was a christian longer than youve been alive, and the 42" tv was an example. If you took the bible interpretation as strict as you took my question, maybe you would come to an awinspiring clarity ~blessed be the youth with all their spunk~

Answer 1

Anybody can profess to being a Christian. But that doesn't mean that they actually are. True Christians who are "born of the Holy Spirit" of God, do NOT jump ship, and are the only ones who earn the right to be called true and faithful servants, and saints in the family of God. God blesses and chastises those who are His. Just as any human father would his own. It is not a sin to accumulate wealth as long as it's not done with vanity, greed or pride of life. God wants to see His children succeed in this life and in this world. As long as we ask in prayer for things that are within His Will for us, and OBEY His Commandments, God is more than willing to give us the direction we need to achieve it.

Answer 2

1. Being gay is not a sin; participating in homosexual behavior IS.
2. Christians can kill while at war because there is a difference between killing for your nation (According to the Social Contract), and killing at random. Also, self-defense is a case where killing is not a sin.
4. Not all Christians have a 42" plasma - you are generalizing
5. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that you are not supposed to be blessed by the Lord. It does teach that you are supposed to give.

*More than sixteen years, eh? And yet, you didn't know that the Bible talks about homosexuality in terms of the acts (and not the actual people) as sin. Were you taking the Bible literally? Sometimes the scriptures should be taken literally, other times they should be taken as metaphors, etc., etc., etc.

I took your question literally because it was appropriate. It's not appropriate to take everything in the Bible literally. That's why there are different denominations - their interpretations usually benefit them.

Answer 3

As a former Baptist turned atheist for over a decade, I had the same questions. I had them all answered a year ago:

1. If homosexuality and sex outside marriage are sins, then a church should not allow homosexual clergy.
2. When a Christian is called to defend a nation, it is expected that bloodshed will occur. War is to be avoided, but defense in the name of a just cause or a nation is expected.
3. The Bible clearly teaches 2 things:
-The gospel of Christ should be preached without making money off of it. There are multiple scriptures saying that Christ's church should have an unpaid ministry.
-Mark 10:25 "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Giving 10% of your income as Malachi directs is a MINIMUM. The law of tithing pales in comparison to the law of consecration, which is a total surrender to Christ and His principles... giving up all of your wealth to build up God's kingdom.

Answer 4

I am a Christian. I would not attend a church with a gay preacher. I would not kill even if the government commanded me to. And the more money that I earn, the more that I give. I do not, however, condemn gay people. It is not my place to condemn anyone. God will make those determinations, although I do believe he will be true to the scriptures. I also do not condemn anyone who will go to war and risk his or her life to protect our freedom. And I don't think it is a sin to have a 42" plasma tv. (Hey, maybe that person uses it as a tool to open up his or her home in hospitality. I personally would not spend that kind of money; but I don't condemn those who do.)

In considering others' behaviors and motives, I find it important to remember this scripture:
Philippians 2
12Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

It is my own salvation that I need to attend to - my own actions, motives, etc. We can all look around and point fingers to try to prove a point. And at some point we will all be hypocrites, because we will all fall short of the glory of God. That is why I love him so much, because he loves me anyway. And that motivates me to follow Him and to grow in Him.

Answer 5

The question I can answer is the one concerningmoney. Christians and anyone else for that matter can be rich. My belief is that if you worship the money and become greedy is when it becomes a sin.

To answer you on the gay preacher thing.....I personally would not attend a church that has a gay preacher and do not think that this is right in the eyes of the Lord.

Answer 6

All very good, common sense questions. I'm not religious, so I really can't speak for those that are, but I would imagine not too many people could actually give you a good answer to these. I'm also sure some will say, it's God's will....Whatever that means....I'm guessing then it's God's will to let poverty, plaque and disease to run wild in Africa, allow people to be slaves, permit the Holocaust at the same time giving some endless bounty of good fortune....I guess my only answer could be without pain there is no pleasure, without poor there is no rich, without good there is no bad....So, pretty much these things happen to show people what is evil, greed, poor, sick and murderous.

Answer 7

I have an answer to your "How is it that any christian can kill while at war?"

The answer is, God himself waged war against people and kingdoms. In the Bible, the people fighting for him were being told by HIM to fight. That is my answer to that.

As for your "How is it that christioans can be rich?"
I beleive that you need to pay your 10% for tithes, but I'd have to do more reading on it. But think, King David was a king.

Now for the last one, any church with a gay preacher is doing the wrong thing. The lines between church and world have gotten smaller and smaller, to where whats morally acceptable in the world is also accepted in the church. That is what we would call false prophets. God destroyed Sodom and Gomoroh for stuff like that. Beware the false prophets, especially the anti-christ.

Answer 8

How do you know that those people with a 42" t.v. didn't also donate to the needy? When you start saying that we need to take from the wealthy and distribute it evenly, that sounds a lot like Communism to me. As we covered in another answer this evening, the love of money is the root of all evil, not money itself.

Answer 9

God gave us free will. He loved us. He loves us. Even so much as he was prepared to die for us so we would not have to. He gave us free will so that we could follow his example and love him and honor him. He didnt create us as robots. Its just like a parent and child - if a child tells his parent that he loves them because he has to, it does not mean anything. But if he comes willingly and tells his parents that he loves them, it means the world to his parents.

You need to understand that we live in a flawed and inperfect world. For you to be at peace, you need to look past and stop questioning the corruption and inpurity of God's earthly church, but look to his heavenly church. It is not hard to believe that a church run by flawed people is bound to be flawed itself.

ps. I dont know where you go to church, but mine cannot have a gay preacher. Nor can Jahovah's witnesses kill at war. Nor can munks or nuns be rich, whom give up their lives and live in poverty to serve God. So your argument that you present is fundametally flawed, and I suggest you go back to the drawing board before you try to apply it to all christian. I guess you would make a fine racist - because its the same principle - assume the shortcommings of a few apply to everybody.

Answer 10

Unfortunately churches and organized religion seem to have their foundations in complete hypocrisy, with their tagline of "Do as I say, not as I do." The holier they pretend to be, the more "evil" they are doing behind the scenes. Look at all the televangelist types who've gone down in flames for adultery, fraud, getting caught in same-sex situations, etc.

A side note on your question regarding wealth: the wealth of the catholic church was one of the main reasons Martin Luther broke away to start Protestantism. He too, saw the hypocrisy and could not tolerate it.