From: rlk@underprize.think.com (Robert Krawitz)
Newsgroups: alt.atheism
Subject: Re: A Struggle With Christianity
Date: 12 Aug 92 12:22:29
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge Mass., USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: underprize.think.com
In-reply-to: coop2b34@crchh75d.BNR.CA's message of Wed, 12 Aug 1992 13:27:09 GMT

In article <1992Aug12.132709.1045@bnr.ca> coop2b34@crchh75d.BNR.CA (Carey Dula) writes:

   John, this statement is akin to saying "I was a slave under communism
   so I hate democracy."  Both Morman and Jehovah's Witness teachings
   are radically divergent from those of the Bible (i.e. Christian).
   They are religions.  Christianity is a relationship.

And they say the same thing about every other branch of Christianity.
How am I supposed to distinguish theirs from yours?

   You think Christians are hypocrites?  So do I.  I am.  A lot of other
   things too.  You should question anyone who claims to be saved and
   will not acknowledge that he or she is a sinner.  Romans 5:6 says
   "...Christ died for the ungodly."  That's me and you both.  I wish
   that my life perfectly matched my profession.  It doesn't.  That's
   just evidence that I NEED Christ.

If that makes you happy, do it.  Don't preach on alt.atheism; we've
heard all this before and we're not interested in hearing it again.

Mind you, I suspect that your idea of "hypocrisy" and John's might be a
bit different.  All of those folks are more than happy to call
themselves sinners, particularly when they don't actually have to admit
doing something specific wrong.  I don't care if you call yourself a
"sinner" or not, I just care what you actually do when push comes to
shove.

   It is very easy to drag the Levitical system (the OT law) past the
   cross (when the veil in the Temple was torn in half symbolizing the
   end of the Levitical priesthood) and place the believer under the
   law.  Doing this is a sure way to produce a defeated life full of
   standards that no one but Christ could ever meet.  He did meet them,
   however, and did so for all who will accept Him as their substitute.

Actually, one thing that I prefer about Judaism (I was born Jewish, I'm
not observant and I consider myself an atheist) is that it focuses on
actions.  Some things I consider silly, but at least it's a fairly
straightforward code to live by (and still gets interpreted all over the
map and produces its share of jerks).  But I digress, this is irrelevant
here...

   I feel safe saying that if we live long enough, we will all reach a
   time in life when the most important question for us is "what is our
   relationship to Christ?"  There is no one who cannot call upon Him
   for salvation -- even the likes of me.

Once again, do so if you want, but we're not terribly interested in
hearing this.

   I hope that I have not upset you.  It is not my intent.

Upset?  BWAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!  Just wasted a little bit of time and
some network bandwidth.  Other than that I couldn't care less.
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