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I've not paid much attention to all of the recent church / Christian threads, but it does seem there's a huge number of them. I know that as a Buddhist, the Religion area offers little of interest to me, but I suppose I could rectify that by posting something about Buddhism. Question is, would I get a bunch of people responding, telling me that I'm well on my way to hell?

hahahahahah I had the same thoughts. Maybe they're trying to compete with the mormons for conversion numbers.

Though at least the mormons are well-dressed handsome young men who politely accost you in the street. :)

I'm all for real discussions and not preaching.

The Religious community fades in and out, it goes on tears and then fades away. Seems zealotry is a fad :)

Question is, would I get a bunch of people responding, telling me that I'm well on my way to hell?

Try it!

Maybe it's time for my to dig out the doctrine set forth by the Church of Large Appliance Worship. ;)

UGH.

@josh: I can't promise that a response to an entry on the subject of Buddhism would be positive. But, I know it would be more interesting than something trite. As a disciple of Christ, I'd be sure to be gentle and respectful in any conversation you start as I believe thats a part of what the Bible tells me to do.

@peroty: I want to get into conversation with some Mormons sometime. But I know they specifically avoid people who are too interested because they know we will probably tempt them to waver in their faith.

@Mjoshua: Thanks for the bid to be gentle and respectful. I've received far worse when being spoken to by Christians about Buddhism. ;) We'll see if I strike up the nerve to post something. I'm honestly not sure if this is the place, though.

Meh, I just let my eyeballs skip over all the notes that don't interest me. There have been quite a few religion notes recently, but at other times, there are far too many politics notes (a topic that I find equally unsavory) for my liking. As I said, just ignore them.

Mjoshua: I'm curious as to what you mean by churches? Are entire churches targeting 9rules notes? I've been led to believe it's more individual people who are holding these discussions, not churches.

I skip them, unless the title is just too far past preposterous to overlook, and then I look in if only for the entertainment value to be gained from the "polite conversation." Religious conversations are just not my thing, online or off and therefore I have very little to contribute. Ditto to politics, if the truth be told. Hmmm, celebrities would probably fall into the same category, along with TV and sports.

You're my kind of person, dreamweaver. :)

Mjoshua,

Mormons actually encourage their youth to question their faith. The whole 2 years of service thing is a time where they have to find themselves and learn to deal with their faith being questioned, and learn other people's views. We have them come around the neighborhood every six months or so. They always come in a pair, one senior and one junior. The senior does most of the talking, the junior the listening. They don't get angry if you question them or disagree with them. It's one of the most respectful and refreshing branches of christianity I've ever dealt with.

@Josh, that's why we get along so well! ;)

@estarla: I'm referencing the individuals who seem to be propagating their churches. I know the term "Church" can be quite confusing considering all the words relating to Christianity seem to have been bastardized in one way or another.

@Ozone42: You bring up good points. I guess I should have been more specific in what I meant about questioning their faith. Mormonism isn't affirmed by most Christians because it runs contrary to some of the chief tenets and has some really questionable foundations; especially those surrounding its founder, Joseph Smith. Not to mention the whole 'Kolob' thing. Basically, I was saying that if you're too excited to talk to them, they know you might be bringing some of that stuff up.

I really don't see the basis of mormonism any more quesitonable than any religion of the world. I don't see whyy Joseph Smith is any less grounded or credible than say Moses.

I understand. It wasn't my initial intent to diverge by expressing an incongruity with their world view and what I believe is true.

I'm about people growing, spiritually. I believe there are lies that hinder truth. I believe those lies hinder that spiritual growth. I think its good news that there are lies. A recognized absence of truth gives light to truth's existence.

I am pretty staunch in my atheist views but I do try to avoid religious-themed threads since I prefer avoiding heated arguments (like those I have had with some friends before). I did find this quote the other day though that I liked:

"If you follow a religion, you are atheist to all other Gods, I just have one God less."

There are so many ways religion is being distorted by man today that it's hard not to feel disillusioned with it. After all, weren't all the holy texts written by a man's hand so who's to say who was the origin of those words.

I'm also a very doubtful when it comes to some of the Charismatic movements that seem to blur the lines between religious belief and financial gain. Fund raising and grandiose buildings/conferences/gatherings seem to be the mainstay.

Benny Hinn doing some kung-fu fighting

I find a lot of religious propagandist types here pretending not to be so.

In My Opinion.

@Josh ... i think you should post on the boards. i'm a Christian but that's me. Last I checked , Christians don't have a monopoly on the board. In fact I think everyone needs to learn about tolerance. Might make this world we live in a better place. It's a social blog open to all. Do you. If folks have issues, then that's them.

And on behalf of someone that blogs as part of the religion section, and as a Christian.
I apologize over and over and over again.

@nathancolquhoun: As someone who reads your blog religiously (ba-zing!), YOU have no need to apologize. In fact, it was reading your blog that made me reconsider Christianity altogether.

Am I missing something? I'm in the religious community, and I haven't noticed churches promoting themselves.

Tried as far as possible to stay away from the religious community in 9rules - the only time I posted was at 1 in the morning, and then to (wrongly) state that Christians believe in the reincarnation of Jesus.

As a Christian I prefer to do, and to act, on my beliefs, rather than condemn the belief systems of others. The former does something for the world - the latter does nothing to help anyone.

@weisheng: Its interesting you say what you do. I was at my church network's leadership conference this weekend and something was said like "After forty years, the Charismatic movement is basically dead. (Thank God!)." This was stated to a group of people that have been defined as "Charismatic" because of our convictions. The speaker's point was that it's absolutely wonderful that the movement's self-emphasis and financial foolishness is at a close. Now we're throwing those things away and rejecting them as deep errors, embracing what is truly important: starting businesses to generate wealth for the sake of providing for the poor and oppressed.

@cooper: touché.

@Mike: The Religious community fades in and out, it goes on tears and then fades away. Seems zealotry is a fad :)

Or the rest of us are slacking when they are posting and vice versa. :=)