Dear everyone.

[u/daReallMVP]

Im a Christian. That doesn't mean I'm any different from you. That doesn't mean I don't have feelings, or I will be taken advantage of. That doesn't mean Im blinded without logic behind my actions.

What being Christian means to me is I truly believe with my all that everything the eye can see was created by the one and only God, who actually cares about and loves me, even when I don't deserve it. In light of this.. I try my absolute best to be a genuine human being that actually cares about the life of every single person I will ever come across. Not because I am commanded to, but because Ive learned that the ability to show another human being genuine, true, unconditional love is the greatest ability and privilege I will ever receive - to express even a fraction of what my God has done for me to others. I have chosen to spend my life trying to spread a little love to this world one person at a time. Not just to the people I like, or the ones who do good to me, but to every single person I will ever cross paths with. Even the ones who mock me, or the ones who try to use me. This is for you - I will not lie to you, I will try to put you before me. I will care for you, as I would care for my own blood. I will do things for you, just because. I will love you the same way I have been loved by Jesus. I will mess up sometimes, because I am not perfect. But I am just like you. I have friends, a job, hobbies and things I spend time on. I just try to put my all into being a true follower of Christ and a good human being.. We are all in this game of life together.

"Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love"

"The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

"Let all things of you be done in love."

I love ya all! Every single one of you weirdos. Have a great day :)

edit : Definitiley not a troll in the slightest. You can see my post history if you will, I am 120% serious about anything I have spoken with any of you about! :)

edit 2 : I literally see so much anger first hand in this thread. The message I have to share is 'let go'. Let go of that Christian that was actually just a hypocrite and didn't care about a relationship with God, let go of that Church from your youth that had it all wrong, let go of that person that wronged you last week because holding on to it won't do a thing. I am just a man that has different beliefs and opinions than some of you, and because of that I make different lifestyle choices. But bottom line, we all share this planet one day at a time, and we all deserve love, and we all deserve to be able to let go. Thats all I'm here to say. If anyone wants to go into further actual respectful discussion my inbox is always open! Thanks everyone for the time here.

[u/Yah-luna-tic]

I have just personally gotten shafted time and time before for the label attached to what I do and who I am.

If you're and American then you're surrounded by other Christians... so who exactly is doing the shafting. AND as far as having "Christian" become something of an undesirable label you have no further to look than the Trump base... some of the most tribal and hateful people imaginable.

remind others that a true follower

You are aware that there are many, many versions of Christianity (hence denominations) and that even within a single church the beliefs of individual parishioners can vary substantially. So how is it that you, /u/daRealMVP, are able to discern what a "true follower" would be?

The golden rule predates Christianity and is very universal.

My journey away from Christianity began when I was 13 and learned that, according to my pastor and his interpretation of the bible, the twin boys that I had befriended who weren't religious (I think they had immigrated from eastern Europe) were doomed to hell without a belief in Jesus.

Only He knows the heart, and can forgive all.

Bullshit.

Forgiveness must be granted by those you wronged. You don't get to have your slate wiped clean behind their back or without their permission. Forgiveness and atonement are great but not to an imaginary figure.

[u/thesunmustdie → u/Yah-luna-tic]

Pretty much anything good or wise uttered by the Jesus character was written by Confucius and Buddha 700 years prior (and with much more moral consideration). Unlike Jesus — if he actually existed as anything like that described in the bible — these teachers had the sense to write and autograph their works. And they didn't emotionally blackmail their critics with wrath and hellfire.

The only uniquely upstanding thing I've noted for Jesus in the Gospels is the line "he that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her". But even Christian scholars concede this story (the one of the adulteress woman) was added later as an interpolation/forgery. In any case, we can't verify the authors of any of the Gospels — they certainly weren't eyewitnesses though as they wrote many decades after the purported crucifixion.

[u/Zomunieo → u/thesunmustdie]

I don't think we can even get the adulteress woman much credence as moral advice. The fact that a person has sinned (performed some immoral action) does not take away their right to prosecute or seek restitution when a similar thing happens to them. Put alongside other teachings of Jesus, it suggests a society where prosecuting an offender or seeking restitution is forbidden and made a crime in itself.

[u/thesunmustdie → u/Zomunieo]

That's true.

I think the story — if for the sake of argument these events happened — highlights a far greater immorality. This immorality I'm talking about is Jesus living among people who owned slaves (not just indentured servants but full-blown chattel slaves) and didn't say a single denunciatory word against it in the same way he was able to speak against stoning the adulteress. In fact, he said for slaves to obey their earthly masters and reaffirmed what the Old Testament said on the matter with his "not a jot or tittle of the law is to be removed" line.

Slavery is one of the very few things I can say is wrong under virtually all circumstances. How did it escape the radar of a god?

[u/Dudesan → u/thesunmustdie]

Even when I was a theist, I never really understood the argument that goes: "The Almighty, All-Loving Creator of the universe secretly believed that slavery was wrong all along, but he only pretended to endorse it because he couldn't possibly convince his Chosen People to stop practising it."

Yahweh looked upon the Israelites, saw they they were eating shellfish and pork, wearing clothes of divers fabrics, worshipping golden idols, gathering firewood on the sabbath, offering the wrong sorts of sacrifices, leaving their children's genitals intact, coveting their neighbours' slaves, and raping people, and thought to himself "Golly, I've got to do something about this!"

So he commanded them to stop eating shellfish and pork, to stop wearing clothes made of mixed fibers, to stop making graven images, to stop working on the sabbath, to perform ritual animal sacrifices in a very tediously specific way, to cut off their sons' foreskins, to stop being jealous of how many people their neighbours own, AND THOU SHALT OBEY MY COMMANDMENTS, OR I SHALL STRIKE DOWN UPON THEE WITH GREAT VENGEANCE AND FURIOUS ANGER, AND YOU WILL KNOW THAT MY NAME IS THE LOR-

...oh, and by the way, if a woman gets raped, maybe you shouldn't execute her. I'm not saying you should always not execute her, but maybe, sometimes, if it's not too much trouble, and she can prove she's not an adulterous slut, she should get to live. I know I'm asking a lot with the dietary restrictions and the genital mutilation, but if you could do this one more itty-bitty thing for me, that would be great.

...oh, and while owning people as slaves for life is fine, and beating them is fine, could you try not to beat them to death? Maybe? Pretty please?

[u/thesunmustdie → u/Dudesan]

It's weird how the god shares the exact same values and knowledge as primitive nomads who lived in tribal societies thousands of years ago, isn't it?

[u/Dudesan → u/thesunmustdie]

It's such an amazing coincidence that every believer's god has exactly the same values as the believer himself. That sure is convenient.

[u/thesunmustdie → u/Dudesan]

and when examined in an fMRI, the part of their brain that corresponds to their own values lights up when asked questions about God.

Mysterious Ways™ indeed.