is there such a thing as a nonpracticing christian ?

>>1984172
Yes, ever heard of "cultural catholics"?

>>1984172
Most of the US and western Europe.

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>>1984172
They're called Catholics.

>>1984182
>>1984187
>>1984190

the question is whether these "christians" deserve the title christian or whether it is a necessary part of the definition to practise the religion

>>1984196
Faith requires works and works require faith.

>>1984196
>deserve

Every single practitioner of a religion has a different idea of what their religion entails, you will not find unanimous agreement. That's why we have sectarian divides in the first place. And frankly you could argue that there's not a single Christian on the planet who should be called Christian.

I know it's a bait question but...

If you don't believe Jesus Christ is God. You aren't christian.
I mean Jesus = GOD, not One with God or a God. That's one is for mormons and jehovah witness. You aren't christian neither.

>>1984172
Yeah, it's called most of Western civilization.

>>1984223
What about all the early Jewish groups that believed Jesus was the messiah but not Christian?

>>1984213
but what if someone describes himself as "nonpracticing" as many do ? its not remotely possible to rationally think that christianity entails no practical rules

>>1984196
Faith alone is required.

>>1984233
what do you mean by faith ? doesnt faith in an omnipotent allknowing god that you follow his rules ? otherwise it seems hardly credible that you really have faith in this omnipotence

>>1984223
this is a serious question lad

>>1984233
"practicing" is also meant in a negative sense it also means that you do NOT murder steal lie copulate outside of marriage etc without honest repentance

>>1984244
Yes, but it is not required for salvation. Salvation is a free gift given by God, not earned.

>>1984254
why are there even rules then ? you could have expressed the relevant part of the bible in one goddamn sentence

>>1984227
Obviously in early Jewish Christianity the borders were blurry but in the Saint Paul Words:

Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

>>1984172

Most Christians are non-practising.

>>1984254
[.....]nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God[.....] whats with this famous verse by paul spoken in first corinthians 6:11

>>1984271
dont you need to show repentance to be washed from this ?

>>1984261
The rules are made for man to lead a good life as God intended. None can live up to God's standards though. Therefore everyone is condemned, save for the few ones that God freely saves out of his own mercy and by no merit of their own, and those are the ones that believe in his son.

>>1984172
There's no such thing as a non-practicing anything.

If you aren't practicing what you preach, you must not really believe it.

people should just live in a state of asha

ride, shoot straight and speak the truth

>>1984223

wtf. why arent they christian. they believe in jesus dont they?

>>1984287
If you follow the rules aren't you by definition living up to gods standards? Youre a cretin

>>1984271

So someone please sum it up properly what is needed to go heaven? so god picks me. but i have to have faith to be picked in a way because he only gives his grace to people with faith. and then he can see the future so he knows that ill be faithful but he will also see if i did good or bad shit so he will stop me if i do that? or is it just true faith? can i be forgiven for bad shit? how much bad shit do i have to do? what if i change my mind on my death bed? so you cant work your way to heaven but god wont pick yuo if you do bad things... is that only bad things without true repentance? some people with brain damage might repent but cant help doing shit again and again,

>>1984673
>They can't say, 'Here it is!' or 'There it is!' You see, the kingdom of God is within you."

>For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

>In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

>>1984662

You stone people for gathering wood on the sabbath do you? If you don't keep ALL the laws, not just teh ones that happen to line up with your lifestyle, then you're non-practising.

>>1984172
I know like 3 people that are practicing Christians.
One is an alcoholic woman who's content with being some guys third girl.
One got baptized last month after he was released from an asylum (he had a nasty outburst of rage).
Third one.... i don't know what's up with her, but i kinda wanna fuck her.

>>1984662

>cretin

the word of guardian readers.

>>1984287

this actually makes the most sense.

It depends cause two different people have two different practices.

A lot of people call themselves Christian all the time, and honestly you'll never actually know how much someone spirituality comes to their mind because there is one thing we are taught

>But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thine inner chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret, and thy Father who seeth in secret shall recompense thee.

People become complacent all the time, it isn't a matter of whether or not they are religious, it happens to all people sometimes, it is just a matter of choice to pick yourself up

>>1984687
dont christians not keep those laws coz iesu?

>>1984721

i have a problem that god clearly doesnt recompense people.

>>1984725
What makes you think that?

>>1984733
because people have bad lives all the time for no reason.

>>1984739
No reason? What context do you mean bad lives?

>>1984748


suffering. even the most pious go through hell.

>>1984739
Suffering always has a cause according to the Noble Truths in Buddhism.

People either hurt themselves or are hurt by other people. To hurt yourself over a selfish interest or to be hurt by someone else's selfish interest.

There is a Way to end suffering, because there is always an end to suffering

>>1984720
I'm just saying, but just because it makes the most sense doesn't automatically make it true.

>>1984773
at least you used the word through instead of to

>>1984287
of course no one cant fully live up to gods standards but there are tons of christians who happily ignore many rules without any justification like the rule to remain a virgin until marriage they dont try to live up to it and there are many examples like this

your argument only applies to christians who honestly try to live up to gods standards and repent if they fail sometimes

>>1984779
im not talking about buddhism slimebone.

>>1984781

and when you see people claiming theyve had miracles, it makes no sense to me why some people would get them and others dont.

>>1984803
We're not talking about Buddhism but you mentioned suffering, which exists, has a cause, has an end, and there is a way to end suffering, the noble truths aren't exclusive to buddhism

>>1984802

What is they aren't the elect those ones?

>>1984811

theyre irrelevant to a conversation about christianity with an interventionist god who wishes people to believe in him and repent and gives the gift of everlasting life.

>There is a Way to end suffering, because there is always an end to suffering

huh?

>>1984828
It isn't irrelevant.

There is suffering, sin is the cause to suffering, everlasting life is the end of suffering, and the way to everlasting life is through repentance, which in this analogy is the way to stop sin, the way to end suffering.

>>1984841

im talking about how god can recompense.

dude its very different theologically though i can see what you are trying to say by your analogy.

>>1984862
recompensate?

i guess he does at the end of life. christianity is very much about beyond i guess.

>>1984862
To recompense as forgiveness and as a reward, think how God gives and why God gives.

When you repent, God recompenses, yet God also gives freely (grace, mercy), in an apparently causeless way we can't exactly define why God does or how.

What we can do though is focus on what we can explain. What type of recompense do you mean? What do you think it is? Sometimes what we receive isn't exactly tangible, but we are looking for psychological and emotional "recompenses" from God above

It ties into suffering from sin and repentance only because we are talking about actions we need to take in order to be accepted (in some way) by God

>>1984878
Why do you think it would happen only at the end of life?

>He is not God of the dead, but God of the living; ye therefore (Sadducees) do greatly err.

>>1984890
maybe its just misconceptions..

>>1984924
To have a misconception is suffering, so you could say there is an end to having misconceptions and a way to end them, some of us are very tired of maybe

>>1984187
And eastern Europe just look at Russia

>>1984968
what are you saying. youre buddhist guy? what is your end you speak of? i mean misconceptions of what god is "supposed" to do

>>1984172
Catholics

>>1985009
What do you think? How we think at stuff affects how we see it, so if we have a negative idea it will impact how we perceive it.

What people conclude when they say that God is "supposed" to do something, how would they know what God is "supposed" to do?

>>1984723

It's the same law that teaches homosex is wrong. They take the teachings that happen to agree with their own natures and ignore the ones that are inconvenient, and then call themselves "observing christcucks".

I hope for their sake that they're wrong about the nature of god, because if they're right, they're all going to Hell.

>>1984172
Everyone is like that here.
They say they believe in god but nobody ever goes to church.