"As a Christian..." followed by "I believe it is important to...be kind/not kill people/eat cheese/whatever"

[hunkermunker]

Does this phrase irk anyone else?

Like if you're not a Christian, you can't possibly hold such high moral standards?

[bruxeur]

If anyone uses that line on me, I tend to reply with

"Well, your religion also implies that you like to kill Jews and bum small boys, whilst covering up the evidence, so I'll take that with a pinch of salt".

If I don't like them.

If I do, I tend to go for the sarcastic "ooh I'd love to believe/do/think that too, shall I convert?"

[Dior]

Message withdrawn

[Amphibimum]

yeah i get irked.

[OverMyDeadBody]

yes it irks me too.

[AliceFairfax]

As a Christian it irks me. You might as well just say 'As a heathen, I think you are scum'

[KatyMac]

Are we allowed to say stuff like "As a Christian I try to emphasise the importance of Jesus at Christmas to my child" or is that irksome too?

Not sure my Christianity affects my cheese eating status & would probably have the same stance on the other topics whether Christian or not

[OverMyDeadBody]

If it's something specific to your religion that's fine, like jesus and such, but if it's just qualities that any good moral person would have, even if they're a 'heaven', then it is terribly irksome.

[Heathcliffscathy]

yes. 'good christian values' really gets on my tits.

and i am one sort of.

[avenanap]

I have problems with the 'not killing' part as the crusades have very conveniently been forgotten about. Didn't the christians go into the middle east and masacre a load of muslims?

[FAQ]

but OMDB - given that most of what HM mentions (bar the cheese bit ) is in the bible surely there's not many things that they can say that would be terribly irksome to you


Makes mental note to listen for friends saying "as a Christian I only eat the best French cheese"

[theSuburbanDryad]

It's a bit like "Speaking as a mother."

Anyway - didn't Jesus say, "Blessed are the cheesemakers?"

[seeker]

Someone once said to me "As a Christian, of course I don't vote, but....." I'm still baffled by that one

[OverMyDeadBody]

no no FAQ I mean only things that are only mentioned in the bible but not normal practice for any good human being, like believing in jesus nd all that!

Christians don't have a monopoly on being good lol

[seeker]

Someone once said to me "As a Christian, of course I don't vote, but....." I'm still baffled by that one

[Amphibimum]

i rather thought that too avenanap.
love thy neighbour my arse.
love anyone exactly the same as you, who agrees with every word and doesnt have anything you want. like oil.

oh dear, ive ranted havent i?

[OverMyDeadBody]

that is baffling seeker!

[theSuburbanDryad]

Seeker - was she Jehovah's Witness? I don't think they're allowed to vote, or something.

[avenanap]

Jehovah's witnesses are not allowed to have blood products.

I thought that christianity was created to stop all the pagans and druids having fun . Someone calculated that the north star was over bethlehem in februrary/marchish, not in December. Why have christmas on 25th December when this used to be a pagan festival?

[theSuburbanDryad]

Christians have taken over a lot of festivals which were once pagan.

Winter solstice (21st December) became their Christmas.
Beltane became Easter
Samhain became All Hallow's Eve/All Saint's Day.

And so on and so on.

Christianity - like so many other things - became a thing to suppress the workers and less educated people with. It became a means of control. BUT that doesn't mean it should be ignored as a source of comfort for many people.

[avenanap]

Ahh. That's the one good point. Anything that gives people hope is never a bad thing. It can be a nice community for people to belong to. That's a good thing. It can be in your face though. I live in a city and there is regularly a group who are singing (loudly) and trying to get passers by to go to their church. I didn't mind the first couple of times but it's almost every week.

[FAQ]

"I didn't mind the first couple of times but it's almost every week."

ahh well - I'm sure the more conservative Christians (and believers of other faiths too) think the same thing when they see people going home drunk, having loads of one night stands, taking drugs and generally being antisocial every week too

[Greyriverside]

Almost a fair comparison, but the christians in the street would be claiming that what they were doing was virtuous whereas I doubt the drunkards would really try and say that.

Actually, if they want to sing then good luck to them (either the christians or the drunks) as long as it's not late at night and as long as they don't accost passersby. I won't stand for people grabbing me to tell me they want to be my friend (either the christians or the drunks)

As for the phrase "As a Christian..." I think someone covered it with it being ok if something that was unique to christians.

So "As a Christian... I don't steal" implies that christians are the only ones who don't

[seeker]

Ah, she may have been a Jehova's Witness - there are several in our school. The children aren't allowed to go to birthday parties. I am pretty sure there's nothing against ballloons and cake in the Bible.......

[SqueakyPop]

???

The commandment is to love your neighbour as yourself, but when asked by one of the disciples who the neighbour is, Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan.

In that, the neighbour was definitely not someone the same as you. Far from it.

It's very easy to love likeable people, but much harder to love the unloveable. No one said the Christian life was an easy one, and with God's help, we do try to love those who would not be our natural friends.

[Scootergrrrl]

Someone in church once told me that if someone is really annoying you, you should look at them and think that Jesus died for them, just the same as he died for people like Mother Teresa - and it actually does help you not to lose your rag with people (most of the time!)