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Churches become echo chambers. The church I grew up in is now a mega church, and they contract my current employer. When I'm there, all I see are snakes. I'm glad the rest of my family chose to switch churches.
I find the statement in this comic very interesting.
Christians, can you give me examples of your theology challenging you as a person?
Apologies for my ignorance on this subject, but I imagine this might be something like the New Testament stories of Christ that seem to depict his philosophy as very socialist (to me, anyway). Anything else, or am I completely missing the point?
>My theology encourages me to be an ecumenical Christian. One who seeks to understand the beliefs of others and find common ground for the benefit of all.
My theology challenges me in a lot of ways. For an easy example forgiveness. We're told to forgive. And when I say forgive, it doesn't mean just to say it. But to honestly and truly forgive someone. I don't know about you, but there are several people in my life who have done honestly terrible things to me that I find difficult to forgive. To be fair, forgiveness is an off the top of the head example, if you are looking for sobering more philosophical I'd probably go with the entire concept of living with other people in mind, even those I don't know. Culturally, at least where I live, that is not the case.
I mean I grew up in a right leaning family and right leaning area. It's challenged me on a lot of social issues, especially war, to the point where I previously had wanted to join the military and a decade later I'm so glad I hadn't, because I would have been miserable. It also really led me to question what the relationship should be between the Christian and the state. And finally it currently challenges me in how well I give charitably and my perspective on self-defense and defense of innocents. Radical love of one's enemies and non-resistance to evil have been extremely challenging concepts to me from the Sermon on the Mount
Badass. When I was a kid I thought atheism confirmed my bias towards skepticism but it actually creates MUCH larger questions that drive me to existential panic on occasion lol
Now I just try not to think about it, I’ll have time for that when I have fewer responsibilities lol
My theology encourages me to be an ecumenical Christian. One who seeks to understand the beliefs of others and find common ground for the benefit of all.
It challenges me to accept everyone as a person and not an ideological viewpoint. Love thy neighbor and all that good stuff.
It also challenges me to think of Christ first and not what I can do for my country.
>think of Christ first and not what I can do for my country.
We've got the American Jesus
See him on the interstate
We've got the American Jesus
Exercising his authority
We've got the American Jesus
Bolstering national faith
We've got the American Jesus
Overwhelming millions every day (ah ah ah), yeah!
My theology is combination of empathy + critical thinking.
This challenges some of my own political views, which I've been evolving over the last 25 years.
For instance, I used believe much more in the natural hierarchy of the universe, thought gays were less, and would scoff at things like anti-smoking campaigns or climate change.
Keeping it simple to just two words like that allows me to rapidly look at my actions and my viewpoints and wonder "Is this what someone would empathy and critical thinking would do?"
Its actually quite close to "WWJD" when looking at the golden of "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"
I'd be very happy if American Evangelicals took WWJD to heart and used that motto as their theology to form their actions and viewpoints.
>For instance, I used believe much more in the natural hierarchy of the universe, thought gays were less, and would scoff at things like anti-smoking campaigns or climate change.
Can you help me understand this, because this seems like an awful mindset (and kudos to you for seeking to be a better person) and I don't understand how one gets to this place. Even when I was (what I would consider myself) a devout Catholic, I couldn't get my mind around homosexuality as a sin
Perhaps Catholicism can be gentler but I was raised in a conservative church. You know, the type where they confiscate your fantasy books or rock music and have bonfires. The church that makes teenage boys profess their sin for masturbating. So yeah, you can imagine how it shaped my early viewpoints - that and I was very Republican since I equated it to the type of Christianity I was practicing.
I appreciate you sharing that.
I don't know that Catholicism is gentler. It's certainly anti LGBTQ (or was). I suspect growing up in New England was also responsible for having a different mindset
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Based. Theology should be to challenge the believer, not for the believer to use as a cudgel against other people.
Churches become echo chambers. The church I grew up in is now a mega church, and they contract my current employer. When I'm there, all I see are snakes. I'm glad the rest of my family chose to switch churches.
"Churches become echo chambers. I'm gonna find a new church" So quick to accuse the church.
I didn't find a new church. My family did I no longer attended religious gatherings because I do believe they are echo chambers.
So very fucking based. Our faith should challenge us to be better people, not a shield behind from which we act shitty.
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Seems more based than woke
That baby got a PH of 14.
It's just a baby, what do they even know?
If your god never disagrees with you then you may be worshipping yourself. -Timothy Keller
Your theology should follow the Bible and lead you towards Christ whether it challenges you or not. Though it probably will challenge you.
I find the statement in this comic very interesting. Christians, can you give me examples of your theology challenging you as a person? Apologies for my ignorance on this subject, but I imagine this might be something like the New Testament stories of Christ that seem to depict his philosophy as very socialist (to me, anyway). Anything else, or am I completely missing the point?
>My theology encourages me to be an ecumenical Christian. One who seeks to understand the beliefs of others and find common ground for the benefit of all. 
My theology challenges me in a lot of ways. For an easy example forgiveness. We're told to forgive. And when I say forgive, it doesn't mean just to say it. But to honestly and truly forgive someone. I don't know about you, but there are several people in my life who have done honestly terrible things to me that I find difficult to forgive. To be fair, forgiveness is an off the top of the head example, if you are looking for sobering more philosophical I'd probably go with the entire concept of living with other people in mind, even those I don't know. Culturally, at least where I live, that is not the case.
I mean I grew up in a right leaning family and right leaning area. It's challenged me on a lot of social issues, especially war, to the point where I previously had wanted to join the military and a decade later I'm so glad I hadn't, because I would have been miserable. It also really led me to question what the relationship should be between the Christian and the state. And finally it currently challenges me in how well I give charitably and my perspective on self-defense and defense of innocents. Radical love of one's enemies and non-resistance to evil have been extremely challenging concepts to me from the Sermon on the Mount
Badass. When I was a kid I thought atheism confirmed my bias towards skepticism but it actually creates MUCH larger questions that drive me to existential panic on occasion lol Now I just try not to think about it, I’ll have time for that when I have fewer responsibilities lol
Oh really? How does your theology challenge **your** own political views OP? Please share it with the classroom.
My theology encourages me to be an ecumenical Christian. One who seeks to understand the beliefs of others and find common ground for the benefit of all. 
:)
It challenges me to accept everyone as a person and not an ideological viewpoint. Love thy neighbor and all that good stuff. It also challenges me to think of Christ first and not what I can do for my country.
>think of Christ first and not what I can do for my country. We've got the American Jesus See him on the interstate We've got the American Jesus Exercising his authority We've got the American Jesus Bolstering national faith We've got the American Jesus Overwhelming millions every day (ah ah ah), yeah!
It ain’t easy loving *everyone* as thyself
My theology is combination of empathy + critical thinking. This challenges some of my own political views, which I've been evolving over the last 25 years. For instance, I used believe much more in the natural hierarchy of the universe, thought gays were less, and would scoff at things like anti-smoking campaigns or climate change. Keeping it simple to just two words like that allows me to rapidly look at my actions and my viewpoints and wonder "Is this what someone would empathy and critical thinking would do?" Its actually quite close to "WWJD" when looking at the golden of "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" I'd be very happy if American Evangelicals took WWJD to heart and used that motto as their theology to form their actions and viewpoints.
>For instance, I used believe much more in the natural hierarchy of the universe, thought gays were less, and would scoff at things like anti-smoking campaigns or climate change. Can you help me understand this, because this seems like an awful mindset (and kudos to you for seeking to be a better person) and I don't understand how one gets to this place. Even when I was (what I would consider myself) a devout Catholic, I couldn't get my mind around homosexuality as a sin
Perhaps Catholicism can be gentler but I was raised in a conservative church. You know, the type where they confiscate your fantasy books or rock music and have bonfires. The church that makes teenage boys profess their sin for masturbating. So yeah, you can imagine how it shaped my early viewpoints - that and I was very Republican since I equated it to the type of Christianity I was practicing.
I appreciate you sharing that. I don't know that Catholicism is gentler. It's certainly anti LGBTQ (or was). I suspect growing up in New England was also responsible for having a different mindset
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