Sunday, February 12, 2012
Those who have been hurt by "religion" have been hurt by people, not God.
As hard as it may be to believe, Jesus was not a Christian. He was God, and people have been doing great things, as well as making terrible mistakes trying to be “Christ-like” ever since. I will be the first to admit, even as a Christian, that religion can be terrible. People do hurtful things to others in the name of religion. Pastors get power hungry and do wrong under the pretense that God has given them that authority. Violence is also committed in the name of God — unspeakable acts that make no sense to the rational mind. There is a difference between God and religion, though. They are simply not the same. Religion is defined as “a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as…
Sunday, January 8, 2012
As Christians, should we show more enthusiasm for God in church than you would see at a typical football game?
There have been many times I can remember jumping off my couch to cheer on my favorite football team while watching a big game. With fists pumping, I would scream out the word “touchdown!” at the top of my lungs. In that moment, I didn’t care who heard me. I was completely into the game and so was everyone else in the room. Something about the intensity of this full-contact sport almost demands that kind of enthusiasm, doesn’t it? With a lot of important games coming up soon, it got me thinking — should Christians have that same kind of enthusiasm for God? Is that even a fair comparison? I’m definitely not the first person to ever pose this question. I must have heard it 100 times from pastors growing up in a pentecostal church. For those …
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Claims of the rapture are more than just an entertaining diversion, it gives Christianity a black eye.
In its short history, Smyrna-Vinings Patch has published slightly more than 900 articles, none of which were read more than one that was posted nine days ago. What was so special about this article? Was it about government corruption? Did it feature a high-profile murder investigation? Well, no. The subject matter of this, the most read article on Smyrna-Vinings Patch, was the end of the world as we know it. Thanks to the magic of modern technology, Patch is able to pinpoint where the people that read our articles are located. The article titled, “What are your Saturday Judgment Day Plans?” by Sydney Busby, received so many hits that three people from South Africa happened to read the article at the same time. Busby’s story took a …
Alan Sargent
11:03 pm on Sunday, February 12, 2012
Because each Christian has their own idea of what a Christian is, and say that other Christians are not "real Christians". Just like each religious person has their own idea of who and what God exactly is. The key property of Gods are their non-existence, and the key property of Christians is their insistence that they are certain that he does. more ›