what's up with the churches ?

[itaintoveryet]

little baptist church here in the bible belt had the following on their weekly sign :

"Friendship with the World means Enmity with GOD"

what does this mean ?

[commander bunnypants]

1. Man-that is sick

Enmity means hatred. What a sick church and those conservative Christians, make want to :puke:


DDQM

[Skittles]

2. I have not a clue what have the supid sh** I read on those signs mean

I guess it's because I'm a heathen. I did, however, like the one I saw outside a church in Sherman, Texas: GOD LIKES SPIRITUAL FRUIT, NOT RELIGIOUS NUTS.

[commander bunnypants]

3. I am a wiccan

can we hang out. This thread really got to me.


DDQM

[dawgman]

17. It's probably a perversion of the idea that heavy investment

into worldly possessions will lead one astray from the WAY to salvation (read as enlightenment). Materialism and spirituality don't work well together so the early church (paul and the apostles) said something to the effect of "one must be OF the world but not PART of it." Meaning as I said before one must cast off the desire for earthly possessions to attain christian enlightenment.

peace, dawgman.

[Rowdyboy]

4. Saw a great bumpersticker yesterday: Jesus Loves Me...

Everyone Else thinks I'm an Asshole!

[supernova]

6. LOL!

:D

[Az]

14. Another Bumpersticker

Don't pray in our school &
I won't think in your church

[joeybee12]

15. Saw that on a birthday card--but it was everyone else thinks YOU'RE

an asshole, meaning the birthday boy/girl.

[Az]

5. I suspect it is an attack on reletivism

The idea that we better enable relations with the rest of the world by not insisting on one truth dominating. Openess and tolerance are required for dealing with the multitude of cultures and beliefs. Absolute dogmas are not keen on openess and tolerance for other beliefs. Anything that does not teach their dogma is from Satan in their opinion.

[Lars39]

7. "Be ye not of the world", or something like that.

Can't remember the particular scripture. Translated by fundy-preacher:
Be in church any day the doors are open, don't listen to worldly music like rock n roll, no dancin', etc. You get the drift. :silly:

Seems as though that congregation put a political spin on it.

[supernova]

8. Seems to be a crass

version of Paul's call to "be in the world, but (at the same time) not of the world."

I personally think Paul was off his rocker here. You can't minister to the world (however you define that) without living in it!

[bobbieinok]

9. what this means

From one who grew up in the Southern Baptist church.....

...Christians are supposed to be 'in' the world but not 'of' the world. (This is somewhere in the New Testament.)

...Christians' first allegiance is to God, not things of the world such as money, fame, prestige, etc.

Perhaps one of the best expressions of this belief is found in the 1934 statement of faith of the German Confessing Church. This was written by a group of Christians (one of the leaders was Dietrich Bonhoeffer) in opposition to the Hitler and Nazi demand that all pastors had to take a personal oath of allegiance to 'der Fuehrer,' ie., Hitler.

The statement starts off something like...'The Christian's first allegiance and devotion is to God through Jesus Christ, NOT to a leader, a country, or a party.'

This is one of the many reasons that I find the religious right with their unquestioning devotion to the republican party and aWol definitely UNchristian.

[AndyTiedye]

10. Hack the Sign

I saw one once, that by the time I saw it said:

Happiness is a nose full of dope.

[grannylib]

12. Why aren't more churches speaking out against Smirk and minions?

Since the republicans and conservative Christians are so clearly the Pharisees of the 21st century, how is it that the Christian Left is so hard to hear?
I do read Sojourner's and some other liberal Christian publications but for the most part the church seems silent, and tacitly willing to let Roberson, Falwell, Dobson et al take over Christianity and pervert it in the most disgusting fashion...
"Prosperity theology" is the most horrid lie that the televangelista are perpetrating on a naive following all too willing to give money to these "ministries" which are little more than fundraising organizations for the preachers....
Nauseating.

[Lars39]

13. I think the christian left Are speaking up, it's just that we don't have

a free press anymore to amplify their message, and the press is corporate, so the corporate-driven message is the only/loudest one.

And welcome to DU, grannylib! :hi:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

18. You may remember that the heads of all the mainstream

Protestant denominations issued a strong statement against the invasion of Iraq.

If you don't remember that fact, it's because it was on the bottom of page 26 in your local paper.

Meanwhile, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson are treated as if every vile word from their mouths is a timeless gem. They serve the purposes of the corporate elite, so that's why they get all the coverage and why they and their kind always seem to have an endless supply of money to build megachurches from scratch in the outer suburbs.

[Liberator_Rev]

20. The "Christian Left" is Censored right here at DU !

The "Christian Left" is Censored right here at DU !I am a leader of the "Christian Left" and. because I include the extremely Conservative Roman Catholic allies of the Bush administration and the Religious Right, I am being gagged here at DU, with posts taken down (without a trace or a word of explanation) and told to "back off or ELSE"!

And you wonder why you don't hear more of us in the Conservative Corporate owned media !!!!

http://www.LiberalsLikeChrist.Org


See what Christ might say about the "Christian Coalition" & "Religious Right" imposters.

[forgethell]

11. How about

"Friendship with Bush Means Enmity with the People"? Does that make it clearer to you?

[number six]

16. They're getting pretty gnomic...

My local baptist church always tries to get some pop culture.
Recent example -
"WHAT WOULD WAYNE GRETZKY DO?"
About what?
He'd probably look right and shoot left, i guess.

[DBoon]

19. My Fave WWJD

What Would Jimi Do?

Play guitar loudly, smash guitar, pour lighter fluid on guitar, set guitar on fire......

[JVS]

21. If you aren't being self-righteous enough to piss people of, you aren't...

loving Jayzus enough.

[Liberator_Rev]

22. What Jesus meant when he said . . .

That church sign is based on the teaching of Jesus, which is usually misunderstood because people just parrot the words without actually trying to figure out what Jesus really meant. John 15 quotes Jesus as saying to his 12 leaders (apostles):17 "I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
18 "If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you.
19 If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world--therefore the world hates you.
20 Remember the word that I said to you, 'Servants are not greater than their master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also.
21 But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me."
Unlike Conservatives, people who have read the Gospels (and REMEMBER what they have read) know that "the world" which persecuted Jesus and will persecute those who preach what Jesus preached is not what WE understand by the word, namely the secular world beyond the Judaic community in which Jesus lived and worked. On the contrary, it is precisely that community with all of its politics and religion.

In point of fact, (and I'm serious about this) what Jesus was saying in this passage would be more accurately conveyed if the original is translated as "Religious Right" rather than "world":
"If the Religious Right hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. If you belonged to the Religious Right, the Religious Right would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the Religious Right, but I have chosen you out of the Religious Right--therefore the Religious Right hates you.
Remember the word that I said to you, 'Servants are not greater than their master.' If the Religious Right persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also.
But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me."

http://www.LiberalsLikeChrist.Org/Christlike

[Bertha Venation]

23. friendship with the world/enmity with god means...

If you love worldly things you don't love god.
If you are materialistic you don't love god.
If you grub for money you don't love god.
If you don't go to church (i.e., the right church) you don't love god.
If you don't put god over your family, you don't love god.
If you don't put god over EVERYTHING, you don't love god.

But most especially, if you buy into liberal thinking (i.e., social programs are okay, gun control is okay, public schools are okay, gays are okay) you don't love god.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

24. Churches are out of control...

One a friend of mine was telling me about had a sign that said something about Patriotism and how supporting the President was supporting God and his will or whatever...Yeah...that makes me wanna serve a God that tells people to kill and hate. That's not MY GOD...It just makes me wanna barf...No wonder Christians are the leading cause of athiesm. They're horrible to people. When God said, "Love one Another." THere was a period after it. There wasn't a "..." thing. It wasn't Love One Another as long as you feel like it or love one another when it feels good, or makes you happy...And I swear if Christians don't stop picking and choosing what's true in the bible and what's not...I'm gonna freak out. I mean either you believe in it, or you don't...there can't be a gray area. I don't believe in it because a biased man on this earth had it translated. Anyway...my rant is over...
Duckie