ALAYMAN said:
No, Smellin' you ain't a Christian, no matter how good your current belief system makes you feel. Denying the atonement, and slew of other cardinal doctrines shows your character. I'm truly sorry to say that. You can continue to lie about what Christians advocate, but they will nonetheless be your own lies and experiences within your own head and heart. To portray the majority, or anything near it, of Christians as racist, sexist, etc, etc, etc, as you have shows you lack a sense of reality. Maybe Tarheel is right about you and Hyles did such a number on you that your sense of Christianity is simply a caricature.
Choosing to dilute the teachings of Christ is what Christianity (Western world, for sure - can't speak for overseas) is all about. I can safely call out a "majority" because over 80% of those claiming Evangelicalism as their religious hub voted for a sex predator, night club owner, serial adulterer, racist, dishonest charlatan all while KNOWING his behavior. But that didn't matter. After all, go ahead and split families by sending members back to countries
they don't even remember, plugging the 'citizen kids' in foster care. That's the Christian thing to do. And those that are on death row? Fry 'em because that is the Christian thing to do. Shut down health services that poor women rely on? Yep. Let's get rid of educational opportunities by not showing grace to the debts of poor kids who are trying to get a leg up in the world, many of whom happen to be of wrong color. Put poor blacks in jail for years for carrying an ounce of the same substance white shops sell in Colorado by the tonnage.
Historically? Slavery being condoned by Christians in colonial times. Not to mention Manifest Destiny to wipe out the Natives whose land we stole. I do not believe for one moment Jesus would support any of those things so yeah, keep your Christianity. I choose to follow Jesus Christ even if that makes me a non-Christian, an apostate, a heretic, whatever label gets thrown at me.
This is not a lack of reality. I can no longer in good conscience be that kind of person I was while a Fundagelical. Whatever moral code that is within me (perhaps God-placed) won't let me be that way anymore. You guys can blame Hyles all you want but I left that system over 30 years ago and have witnessed the same pattern repeat itself time and time again, church after church, only one of which actually endorsed the Hyles mentality. So what is the key component? Not Hyles: but doctrine with a violent God, inerrant Scriptures and a penchant for driving an agenda against those who disagree.
I would rather be about helping a poor Sudanese family trying to make it from literally nothing but the clothes on their back. I would rather be about housing a "Christian" teenager whose parents kicked her out because she told them she is gay. I would rather be about coaching special needs children and adults through several sports, getting to know their families, caregivers and the organizations that assist them. I would rather be all about that rather than Evangelicalism and the politics of exclusivity and hate in which it has bed itself.
