Jesus DID NOT die on the cross to start a religion, He died to start a revolution.
1 Corinthians chapter 13 talks about love.
Guys LOVE is the number one thing we must possess. Without love WE ARE NOTHING.
If a non-christian says something you don't agree with, don't interupt them or say, "No, you're wrong.". Be their friend. Jesus was friends with plently of people that weren't Christians and showed them love, even if they never became Christians.
It's love guys.
One of my friends is actually gay and I asked him if he'd like to hang out or something, and he said "Wait don't you go to church?" and I replied "Yes, why?". Then he told me "Well doesn't that mean we can't hang out since I'm gay?" and I told him, "No why would you think that?" and this is what he told me. "Wow, you're the first Christian to ever tell me that. Every other one told me that I'm going to hell. I always wanted to go to church and have a relationship with Jesus but every church I went to kicked me out."
Guys let me tell you something, that broke my heart ten thousand times over. Does that sound like the church Jesus wanted? I actually led that friend to Christ after just showing him love and compassion and he eventually just wanted to know how I had that kind of love for people like him that everyone else hated, and my answer was Jesus.
Guys seriously, if someone doesn't agree with you being a Christian, you are STILL called to love them.

If anyone has any questions or anything at all that they'd like to just talk about, please feel free to ask for my email.

Actually, we collectively do have the right to force beliefs on other people. That is the entire basis of society. Without that, there is no basis for a social system of any kind. For example, the vast majority of people in society feel that pedophilia is morally wrong. Therefore, society forces this belief on everyone. Whether you agree or not, society has said that you will not engage in this activity, regardless of your own values and beliefs, and if you do you will be punished. Christians – at least the segment of activist Christendom to which you refer – simply casts a wider net of values that they want society to enforce. They absolutely have a right under our democratic system to peacefuly influence society to achieve their goals. The fact that you don’t agree with all those values doesn’t mean that suddenly society has lost its legitimacy to enforce social rules. If you want to debate them on the merits of your beliefs vs their beliefs, by all means, go for it. However, don’t use the argument that people have no right to force their beliefs on others. As a society, we absolutely do have that right. It is the whole basis by which we have a functioning social system.

“2) From my experience, most Christians don’t seem to understand their own beliefs.”

There is a tremendous amount of sectarian division and chauvinism within Christendom. In no way does this invalidate all of the Christian faith. Christianity teaches that humanity is terribly flawed. Christians – despite the chauvinistic claims of some – are included in humanity. Of course, many Christians are going to get it wrong and not be good examples of what the Christian faith teaches.

By the way, I’m not a Protestant, but I am yet to meet one that would say that other Protestants are going to Hell because they are members of a different denomination. The fact that one of your grandparents was a loon doesn’t mean all other Protestants are.

“3) Many Christians are woefully ignorant of the discrepancies in the Bible. If the Bible is the unfallible word of God, why are there so many inconsistencies? ”

As an Eastern Orthodox Christian, I am very much aware of the discrepencies and contradictions in Scripture. Scripture contains truth only when interpreted within the tradition and witness of the Church. Protestants would disagree, but Scripture is part of Church tradition. Your comment applies only to Protestant evangelicals who hold to Sola Scriptura.

“4) Why do Christians refuse to acknowledge historical facts like the reason we celebrate Christmas at the Winter Solstice, or that the Bible was created by men at the Council of Nicea? Or, more importantly, how many people have been killed throughout history in the name of God?”

I was always taught that pagan holidays were superseded by Christian themes throughout the Roman Empire. This is something for which the Church should rejoice, not be ashamed of.

The Council of Nicea did not write the Bible (I’m assuming by “create”, you mean wrote). That is historically inaccurate and unfactual. The Nicean Council simply formalized into an official creed the core Christian doctrines that were already being taught throughout the Church. They did this in response to several heresies that were threatening the unity of the Church.

The Bible was written by many different authors over centuries. The process of formally collecting these desparate texts into a single Canon did not occur instantly at any council. It was actually a rather long process.

“5) Why do Christians believe that it is necessary to follow the Bible to the letter on some issues but not on others? I have never seen an adulterer stoned to death in the public square! (I am not suggesting that we should start stoning aduklterers to death – only making a point). ”

I don’t know of a single Christian denomination that teaches that every single rule in the Bible is to be obeyed. Even your most strident fundamentalists don’t teach that. The fact that YOU misunderstand their beliefs doesn’t make THEM hyporcrites, it just makes you ignorant of their actual beliefs.

Nowhere in Scripture is it taught that the Church established by Jesus Christ in the New Testament is under any obligation to enforce the civil code of the ancient Hebrew kingdom. The moral guidelines that we can draw from that code (such as adultry being a terrible sin…hopefully we can agree on that, or at least that it is bad) are instructive, but the Church has never held that we should seek to apply the ancient Hebrew civil system. The New Testament nowhere compels the followers of Christianity to adhere to this ancient system. In fact, quite the opposite is true. For example, God revealed to Saint Paul that there are no dietary restrictions for Christians and that any meat can be freely eaten so long as we do so with thanksgiving. If the dietary laws of the older order don’t need to be followed in the new age established by Christ, why would other aspects of the ancient Hebrew civil system be adhered to? Such a thing is illogical.

I don’t know of any mainstream Roman, Orthodox, or Protestant denomination that teaches otherwise.

In closing, I find that most of the comments seem directed at Protestant Evangelicals. I would just remind everyone that Protestantism is a new development in Christianity, and they are only part of Christendom. They are predated by over 1,000 years by the Orthodox faith. Many of the criticism and questions don’t seem to hold much significance if you consider the Eastern Church.

But RM seems offended that they don't.

I can't you can't please everyone. Damned if you do..

A long time ago, a woman who could not be more different from me said, “DR I love you but you know what? I really *like* you. I just like you, you’re interesting and so fun to be around.”

Christians seem to use the word “love” so much that we don’t even know what it means anymore. I think to really challenge what it means to love those who aren’t christian could be the most worthy of discussions we could ever have. It might be listening and saying nothing at all in response. It might be taking the anger hits when someone whose been scared of and shamed by Christians for years needs to say it, needs to vent and just get it out.

The best example is my friend Sarah. She is a friend of mine here in San Francisco. She is tiny (this being an important part of the story). She reminds me a little bit of Bambi, very gentle and doe-eyed, she’d literally not hurt a fly (she captures them and carries them out of the house).

When gay marriage was legalized here, there was some really intense – borderline violent – protests at the capitol. Violence was certainly felt in the words and the signs of the Christians who were protesting. One Saturday morning she called me, shaking and crying, asking me to come and fetch her to take her home.

Sarah had watched the news at all of the horrifying things being said to gay and lesbian couples who were getting married. So she decided to take her 95 lb self one morning down to City Hall where she engaged with the protestors. And believe me, they got in her face. They screamed at her, called her a traitor to her faith. For a little woman like Sarah, any confrontation is draining so this took all her effort to engage.

I have no such issues, when faced with fight or flight I am a definitely “fight” individual, I will give you the beat down of your life if I think you’re hurting someone. So I was furious, oddly at her. I asked, “Why in the f**k would you even engage with these people? Look at you! You’re shaking. Why would you do it? They are Fundamentalists, they are unable to change.” She simply said,

“I knew I couldn’t change them. But I also knew that if I provoked them, for a few minutes there would be a few people who just celebrated getting married that wouldn’t have to face them if I took it on myself. So I absorbed it so they wouldn’t have to. I think that’s what Jesus would have done.”

Of course, I promptly burst into tears. Even writing that makes me cry. Sarah is the kind of fighter and the kind of Christian I aspire to be. She’s the one who does it right. Hope comes in surprising forms and Sarah doing that has created waves of hope for me that perhaps, Jesus isn’t bound by this horrific dogma, fear and control that so many are trapped within and choose to validate themselves with.

I know you probably won't see this, but the point of John's post was for Christians to *listen*. To really *hear* what non-Christians need from us. And your post started out defensively and you've not stopped talking. You didn't reference any of what the non-Christians via John's Craigslist posts said. To me, that is a tragedy, it actually brings tears to my eyes. I wish you'd not do that. I wish you would listen. It's so important that we just listen and really just seek to understand what we're doing. You need to understand that as a Christian in America, you get listened to constantly. Laws reflect our values. Politicians cater to us. For hundreds of years, we've dictated what is "moral". We've left virtually no room for atheists and non-Christians to have any significant seat at the table. It's time we do that.

You seem entitled to have an experience as a Christian on your own terms dictated by your own feelings (including excitement and passion for the Gospel). But true connection with others means it's not about you – in this instance, "you" being your faith in Christ, your desire to share it and the belief that everyone is after you because you're a Christian. Consider that you're not being persecuted if you don't get your way every second of the day in every conversation. I honestly don't mean to be insulting, I just believe that you and I and a lot of Christians are spoiled brats who at the first second we're confronted, countered or challenged, get defensive.

Have you