What is Christianity?

Well, I don't see three prayers to Mary or even one. The Roman Catholics simply ask Mary to intercede for them. They do not ask Mary or Jude or Peter to forgive sin or grant requests.The two quotes I provided were simply from the Bible.But then there is that great old hymn I first heard very early one morning while on a road trip, fading in and out over the nighttime airways from WWVA...

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

So Luke 1:28 and 1:42 are prayers?

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Today much of Christianity in the US, particularly the evangelical/fundamental/Biblical chapters of Club Christian are just a great way to con the gullible and fleece the sheep. It is a Constitutionally protected con job. A great way to sell promises, to market ignorance, promote fantasy with no product liability.

In many cases the answer is "Yes, it definitely is a con". So far no one has ever even been able to explain what "Jesus is alive" means and until someone can do that it does not rise beyond the level of word salad. Belief is not dishonest. It can and often is silly, stupid, incorrect, wishful thinking, distracting, irrelevant, confusing, destructive; but a belief is not dishonest. However marketing a belief, marketing "God is doing for us" often is dishonest and yes, an example of palming the pea, misdirecting attention and in the US at least, of moving wealth and power from the believers to the conmen.As I said though, it is a Constitutionally protected con with absolutely no product liability, requirement of truth in advertising or oversight.Edited by jar, : appalin spallin inc0orect is not spelled with a zero

That is what the evidence shows. I have no idea what that even means but from what you post it seems the perfect judge is the one that lets you off the hook. Who knows but all the evidence seems to show that yes, judges need review and correction.

Hi Rocky, welcome home. Pull up a stump and set a spell.Pointing out what all the evidence actually shows does not take any audacity at all. The Holy Bible is so filled with contradictions, falsehoods, fantasy as well as information pointing to the various beliefs, laws and customs of a particular people in a particular era that nothing in it is unambiguous to those who honestly study it. One thing that is clear from the very beginning though is that the authors of the various Bible stories were as clueless about who and what God is as we are today. Genesis 1 and Genesis 2&3 are great examples of that, the former much newer story depicting a God character that is competent, who creates simply by act of will, that shows no hesitation and is overarching, but aloof, not connected in anyway directly with the creation. The God in the much older Genesis 2&3 stories is much different though; unsure, learning on the job, somewhat fumbling and bumbling but in direct involvement with the creation, creating by hand and using trial and error but also very human, showing doubt and fear but also love and concern and communion that is totally lacking in the Genesis 1 God.What is pretty clear though is what we are supposed to do and that is to help others, to honestly evaluate our own behavior and acknowledge when we screw up, try to make amends and try not to make the same mistake in the future.But as this thread has shown, the answer to what is a Christian is as open ended and varied as humanity itself. The only common denominator seems to be that the individual is a member of one of the thousands of Chapters that make up Club Christian.

I don't know who told you that but at best they are woefully ignorant. Of course there is overwhelming evidence that the earth is billions of years old and only the ignorant or dishonest dispute that fact. Historical science is another of the conman creations of the Christian Cult of Ignorance and of course what happened in the past most certainly is testable. Change leaves evidence.Sorry but them's the facts.AbE:But the topic is What is Christianity and since the age of the Earth is totally irrelevant to the question of how old the earth is, it has no real place in this discussion.AbE2:There is one way that the age of the earth might be relevant is as an indicator of how difficult it is to identify what a Christian is. There are Chapters of Club Christian that try to sell the idea that the earth is not billions of years old and even Chapters of Club Christian that try to sell the idea that humans are some special creation and not just the result of billions of years or evolution.Edited by jar, : see AbE. Hit wrong key.Edited by jar, : see AbE2:

But that is a misrepresentation of what I say as you certainly should know Phat, and it is also not what the Bible says.The Bible says that Jesus being raised from the dead is not special and I have provided you time and time again with the supporting evidence. Lazarus and son of the Shunammite woman and the son of the widow of Nain and the son of the Zarephath widow and the daughter of Jairus all were raised from the dead. Peter and Paul even raised folk from the dead and a whole herd of unspecified folk rose from the dead at the same time as Jesus. There is even some unnamed guy that rose from the dead when his body touched dem Elisha bones.You do present quite a few examples though of just how hard it is to say what a Christian is, what a Christian believes, what it means to be a Christian other than the fact of membership in one of the thousands of Chapters of Club Christian.

Of course almost all of the major Christian churches understand that evolution is a fact, that the Theory of Evolution is the only explanation so far for life as we see it and that the earth is billions of years old.The Roman Catholic church is and always has been a Christian church.The Protestants certainly have been a cruel as the Roman Catholics and may well have been far more successful at genocide.Which just reenforces the difficulty of defining what a Christian is or what a Christian should do.Edited by jar, : fix sub-title

Which is why, as the Bible shows, the authors created Gods in their own image that they could relate to.

So an Admin jumps into the discussion but without helping much.Which teachings of Christ?Were any of Jesus teachings related to a religion?Or is Christianity more the product of the early salesmen and writers?So it looks like we still don't have a definition beyond "Someone who is a member of one of the Chapters claiming to be in Club Christian.AbE:A great example of why following the teachings and actions of Christ can be a problem can be seen in the evolution of "The Great Commission" (see The evolution of the Great Commission over time. ). The "Great Commission" is what the stories says Jesus told the disciples to do and yet it grew and evolved and changed over time as the authors of the different stories modified it to fit their narrative and epistle.The same pattern can be seen in the iterations of Paul's vision.Edited by jar, : see AbE:Edited by jar, : fix link

Again, as I pointed out, that tells us nothing about what those teachings were. Each Gospel presents a different version tailored to fit the desires of the author.

More than just that, in Message 106 she claims the entire Bible is Jesus.

and in this case it demonstrates another facet common to many of the Chapters of Club Christian and that is, they think they are the real Christians and all the others are not. It's nothing new and a trait that appeared almost as soon as Jesus died and the entourage began creating a new religion.

Another example of Faith's inability to keep from posting falsehoods.Faith, I have never claimed my belief system is the true Christianity and in fact have always said it is pretty much impossible to say what Christianity is other than being a member of some chapter, even the self identified chapters, of Club Christian. I have never denied that you are a Christian or that the Pope is a Christian or that even people like Calvin were Christians.