Are Christian narrow-minded?

Dor said:
Are Christians narrow minded....well I believe alot of us are narrow minded about the message. Of course part of that reason is we have 90% of all religions and 90% of all the christ conscience type "christians" that all they want to do is tell us we are full of crap and destroy the Bible and anything having to do with the real Jesus...Of course to them they are not being narrow minded it is simply cause we are so narrow minded they have to do away with it.
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that is what it is Dor.
i am not convinced that the totality of the non literal view has the same impact on people. maybe for a few, but i do not generally see the same concern & love for the scriptures as those who get BOTH the literalism & the metaphor. BIG difference IMO & that is why many set out to prove it is a fairy tale & has flaws.

For me, I dont take things AS serious, that i do not believe are real. See?

it is like saying "WE GET THE MORAL OF THE STORY ABOUT HURRICANE KATRINA & NEW ORLEANS, BUT THE literal HURRICANE, CITY & DESTRUCTION ITSELF NEVER HAPPENED"

WE UNDERSTAND THE MESSAGE BEHIND 9/11, BUT THERE WAS NEVER ANY LITERAL BUILDINGS, HATE, DEATH OR DESTRUCTION.

what i have seen is it ends up compromising the totality of what it is really saying & there is a non chalant approach to the scriptures, where people go off in other directions for answers...and THAT is where beliefs get altered. Just like a fictional movie & the experience of a reality is lost.

it is like me saying, i understand what mohammed was writing, but Mohammed himself never existed...well that was a nice fairy tale. this is what people do today with the bible, not just a little, but a lot.

The people, places & events in the bible are not that difficult to accept as a reality when i look at the world & its conditions today. Excluding the parables of Jesus, Revelations & certain passages which are obviously metaphors.
SO- that makes everyone a bit narrow minded.

Call me narrow minded, it does not bother me if people think that way of me.
this is my honest opinion about it & i am not changing, just like i dont expect others to change there belief.:)

thank you everyone for allowing me to share my feelings about this.
 
Quahom1 said:
Perhaps it is. Variety, after all, is the spice of life. ;)

But it does not detract from the original message of hope meant for man. In fact, the writings emphasise hope. And that was the original purpose.

v/r

Q
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I agree. It is important because of its truth. Not because of who wrote it.
 
Dondi said:
Holy Schmoley! Did this thread become volatile or what?
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It's just another fun day at CR. :)

Luckily nothing too heavy, but it is a shame the thread is drifting on the instance of the original question - it seems to be that there is a general consensus that people may reach to extremes of opinion, almost regardless of the ideology being explored.

However, is this a supportable hypothesis, or applicable to Christianity (and perhaps other exclusive faiths such as Islam) more than less exclusive faiths such as Buddhism and Tao?
 
Bandit said:
it is like saying "WE GET THE MORAL OF THE STORY ABOUT HURRICANE KATRINA & NEW ORLEANS, BUT THE literal HURRICANE, CITY & DESTRUCTION ITSELF NEVER HAPPENED"

WE UNDERSTAND THE MESSAGE BEHIND 9/11, BUT THERE WAS NEVER ANY LITERAL BUILDINGS, HATE, DEATH OR DESTRUCTION.

what i have seen is it ends up compromising the totality of what it is really saying & there is a non chalant approach to the scriptures, where people go off in other directions for answers...and THAT is where beliefs get altered. Just like a fictional movie & the experience of a reality is lost.

The people, places & events in the bible are not that difficult to accept as a reality when i look at the world & its conditions today. Excluding the parables of Jesus, Revelations & certain passages which are obviously metaphors.
SO- that makes everyone a bit narrow minded.
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I'm with you on this one, Bandit. There are some people today who are trying to convince us that the Holocaust never happened. And others are trying to re-write history in order to be politically correct. But that discussion is another thread altogether.
 
Dondi said:
Christians are often accused of being narrow-minded about thier beliefs, that is having little tolerance for other religious views. But is it not because the Founder of Christianity stated that He was the only Way to God? It is truly the belief of Christians that they have the Truth. This means to Christians that any other method of getting to God is invalid, for the fundamental reason that Jesus is the link to God. He died for the sins of the world, to save us from Hell and grant us a place in Heaven. Hence, there is an urgency in their message, namely that to die without Jesus means eternity in Hell. So for many Christian denominations, Christians are exhorted to get the Word out in the form of evangelism and door-knocking. How do people of other faiths really view this concept? Does it bother you to think that Christians believe that you will go to hell without Christ? Do you blame this assertion in light of what they have been taught? Do you consider Christians as narrow-minded? I'd like responses from those outside the Christian faith, please.
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[font=&quot]Don't forget Muslims and Jews;). Traditional Christians, Muslims, and Jews are the most close-minded people in the world. In particular Christians and Muslims have committed horrible human rights violations in the name of their God.[/font]
 
What is so ironic is that Christians and Muslims are so much alike in many ways, and yet they hate each others guts. They have been at war for a long long time, and while it seems Muslims have won the day, fundie Christians today still have their hate for each other.

The other day I talked to a few Muslims about the Mughal invasion of India. It is so ironic that Muslims claimed to have "civilized" India, just like what the Christians said when they committed the genocide against the Native American.

Both religions were born from blood and while they have many great concepts in them, they still have some pretty evil verses in their scriptures that tell them that other people who do not believe in them and evil, and Islam has taken it a step further and now given us verses such as "You must slit the throat of infidels".

The fact that these religions have such a narrow viewpoint on other faiths and even have verses to that contradicting other verses by saying to put to death all other people who do not believe, really says a lot about these being the word of God.
 
Re: Are Christian narrow-minded? (ecumenism)

What I find so beautiful, amidst the intolerance of the ages - sometimes charactized by tremendous bloodshed and cruelty - is the deep appreciation and honoring of each other's mysticism displayed between the Knights Templar and the Saracens under Saladin 850 years ago. These groups, while mortal enemies on the battlefield, took mutual refuge in the fact that their spiritualities were mystically, and therefore essentially, one.

The recent movie `Kingdom of Heaven' illustrates this to a great extent, especially toward the end where Orlando Bloom's character, Balian, meets Saladin on the battlefield, and they reach a truce regarding Jerusalem. Both men, it turns out, see eye to eye regarding the true worth of this once-Holy city ... and for the astute observer (especially one familiar with the Templar-Saracen relationship), a glimpse is afforded into the similarity of their spiritual views as well.

For the skeptic, the point is driven home succinctly as Saladin enters into one of the shrines of the Holy City, and finds a ceremonial cross knocked onto the floor. With all reverence he carefully kneels and picks up the cross, replacing it on its proper pedestal.

What is so unfortunate is that since Sept. 11, just four short years ago, the lines of division between Islam and Christianity have again become so greatly accentuated, thanks to the forces of hate and religious intolerance so rampant in both camps (Xianity & Islam), as well as worldwide. But what is even sadder is that many well-meaning christians and muslims have been swept into this evil whirlwind, fueled by the small-minded (to refer back to the topic of this thread), such as a good number of America's current political administration ... as well as the more obvious contributors in Al Qaeda.

Violence is not the only weapon of the forces of evil, and so the division fostered by President Bush in particular (and this same kind of ignorance in general) has continuously watered the seeds of hate sown four years ago, until we now have some very unpleasant weeds to deal with. Here are yet more challenges for the spirit of ecumenism (and Humanity) to overcome.

I found it interesting the other day to read that Islam was given to Humanity (regarding this as a gift from the Divine, just as other religious movements) in order to offset somewhat the growing acceptance by many (who could sense Christ's true message) of our Innate Divinity. To balance this recognition and remind us of the importance of humility, an emphasis on the transcendent aspect of Deity needed strengthening, thus the focus in Islam on such elements as prayer five times a day, a pilgrimage to Mecca, no images of Deity or Mohammad, etc.

Esotericists shouldn't be surprised by the idea that Mohammad was overshadowed (spiritually inspired & guided) by none other than the Master Jesus, following his life as Appollonius of Tyana. So for the people who are having a hard time struggling to accept the Koran as God's Word (another thread, I know) ... just try on that idea for size (to wit: Jesus essentially dictated it). I admit I find it casts things in a light I had not considered, but I especially love to see people squirm at the notion. Certainly such a statement is not easy to prove or even defend, but it does give food for thought.

Personally, I am inclined to try a bit harder to see the wisdom of each page (of the Koran), and each verse. And of greatest importance, remember - same God, same Love, same Purpose (if adapted somewhat for the special instance of Mohammad and his followers).

Are many Muslims today narrow-minded? Errrr, geee, ya think? More so than Christians perhaps, but I think their sub-set of human karma, while overlapping that of Christianity, is a karma in many ways - different, or more difficult. That's all I can come up with at the moment.

Salam,

protokletos
 
so much hate on this thread.. Its obviously turned into a bash fest on Christianity and Islam. How did politics get involved?
 
Re: Are Christians narrow-minded?

I wouldn't say there's been 'bashing' of Christianity or Islam themselves, but perhaps criticism of, or questioning of the interpretation of the religion/ religious texts etc. To me, anyway, there is a difference.

And I wouldn't have called it hatred either (not wanting to get pedantic about words, but it is a pretty strong word...). The difficulty for most (or all) of us, I guess, is being able to understand differences in other peoples 'open/ closed-mindedness' or 'interpretation' or whatever (whatever the religion or belief. i.e. someone who doesn't believe in a completely literal understanding of the bible (as an example) understanding that there may be significant thought, study, rationale that goes has gone into the formation of that belief, even they don't believe that themselves. And also vice versa, someone who believes in a literal understanding of the bible (please remember that is only an example), realising that there may be significant thought, study, reading, experience and rationale that may have gone into the formation of the belief that it is part-literal, part-myth, or a more pluralistic belief or whatever.

I think that is where the 'pretty but empty box' image may have been offensive (sorry to bring it up again...!). It just reminded me of a discussion I was having with two Christians - one, I guess you would say evangelical (not sure of denomination actually) and one a catholic. In passing, the first just mentioned off the cuff that he didn't really believe that catholics were 'real' Christians ("no offense"). While to him, that didn't have any kind of strong emotional meaning, to the Catholic, it offended her deeply. So I guess while freedom of speech is one of the best things we have been gifted, I guess these kind of forums may inevitably offend some, when the comment did not have emotional meaning to the person who said it, and no offense intended.

Anyway, while offense may occasionally be taken, it is still valuable to question every now and again whether we are being too narrow-minded (and if we are happy with that, how is it perceived by others) or if we are being too open-minded and not strong enough in our convictions (or if in fact, we are strong in our belief in the 'greyness' as opposed to black and white). Its like when my cousin called me a 'watered-down' Christian - I didn't actually take offense at the time, but it did make me question myself and beliefs anyway.
Just a thought.
 
Faithfulservant said:
so much hate on this thread.. Its obviously turned into a bash fest on Christianity and Islam. How did politics get involved?
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I agree - we need to keep focussed on the topic in context.

Silverbackman said:
[font=&quot]Don't forget Muslims and Jews;). Traditional Christians, Muslims, and Jews are the most close-minded people in the world. In particular Christians and Muslims have committed horrible human rights violations in the name of their God.[/font]
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I have personally observed a lot of "fundamentalist anger" within secular Atheism.

In fact, despite attempts to claim otherwise, it's worth pointing out that the worst mass murderers of the 20th century - Adolf Hitler and Stalin - were hardline secularists.

Hence the point that close-mindedness is not the exclusive property of any single ideology.
 
I suppose, then, what makes Christians and Muslims narrowminded is how they view the end game. For Christians, it's Jesus or hell. For Muslims, it's Allah and His Prophet or hell. For Jews, they seem to be a bit more inclusive, not condemning either Christians or Muslims so long as they believe in one God, correct me if I'm wrong. At any rate, the Jews are not out to convert anyone, but do accept those who are interested. For Buddhism, Hinduism, and many other Eastern religions, well, there's always the next life to correct your karma, but it would do you good to get as much good karma as you can in this life. The rest of the religions seem to have variants of the above, but are non-condemning, seeing life as a growing process of a elevating soul.

The more fundamental you are, the more likely you are going to view mankind as needing immediate salvation. The more liberal you are, the more accepting you are of other faiths leading to God.
 
Dondi said:
I suppose, then, what makes Christians and Muslims narrowminded is how they view the end game. For Christians, it's Jesus or hell. For Muslims, it's Allah and His Prophet or hell. For Jews, they seem to be a bit more inclusive, not condemning either Christians or Muslims so long as they believe in one God, correct me if I'm wrong. At any rate, the Jews are not out to convert anyone, but do accept those who are interested. For Buddhism, Hinduism, and many other Eastern religions, well, there's always the next life to correct your karma, but it would do you good to get as much good karma as you can in this life. The rest of the religions seem to have variants of the above, but are non-condemning, seeing life as a growing process of a elevating soul.

The more fundamental you are, the more likely you are going to view mankind as needing immediate salvation. The more liberal you are, the more accepting you are of other faiths leading to God.
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i tell ya what Dondi, i just had a look at some all christian boards, denominational types & you are right on the money. as a christian i am ashamed at how they treat each other. i recently had a look at the all muslim boards & it is the same exact thing.
i do not understand how they can claim love & some kind of salvation, yet all i see is hate, hell, pointing fingers & condemnation from many of these religions. i know for a fact not all christians or muslims are this way.
it seems to me, it all comes down to the individual.
i think the best thing is to search out things for yourself & do the best you can with what you know. :)

i have learned to leave heaven & hell in the hands of the Lord.
 
Bandit said:
i tell ya what Dondi, i just had a look at some all christian boards, denominational types & you are right on the money. as a christian i am ashamed at how they treat each other. i recently had a look at the all muslim boards & it is the same exact thing.
i do not understand how they can claim love & some kind of salvation, yet all i see is hate, hell, pointing fingers & condemnation from many of these religions. i know for a fact not all christians or muslims are this way.
it seems to me, it all comes down to the individual.
i think the best thing is to search out things for yourself & do the best you can with what you know. :)

i have learned to leave heaven & hell in the hands of the Lord.
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There is a difference between fingerpointing and geniune concern for another's soul. One has to approach with humilty and respect (of the other's beliefs), if your aim is to get them to listen. Any attempts of conversion must be tempered with love (and much prayer). Of course this forum is not the place to evangelise, according to the rules. But even comparative dialog is useful to indirectly opening eyes to another point of view. And that is what this forum is about: the exchange of ideas. We are to shed light, and not to master.
 
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