Thanks!  We in the UCC do try to show the world that Christians are to love their fellow human beings rather than judge them.  In the first century after Christ's life on earth, it is said that people looked at what the early Christians were doing and saying and said, "See how they love one another!"    I wish we all lived up to that today.  And I wish we did all spread the joy of God!  However, any church is made up of imperfect people and sometimes we fall short.  There is nothing we can do but try to listen to God, correct ourselves, and try again.  I think after seeing the commercial, you realize that there are some of us (in other denominations, too)  who are trying, and I hope you'll continue to give us a chance to demonstrate that.

Lisa

apostasyfighter,

Thanks for the chuckle!

It is so comical to me to listen to people like you who have all the answers.

People who know God so completely.

Thankfully, the Creator loves and forgives you for your judgments of your fellow humans, just as He Love and forgives all His Children.

See you in heaven.

Blessings and Peace,

Phyllis

BTW, just a little note here, there wouldn’t be a Christian church if there weren’t Apostates. 
Remember, Christianity comes from Judaism! 
And, Christ was Jewish.

I don’t believe apostasyfighter is truly a Christian. 

He/she is a believer in a vengeful malevolent God, not the God Jesus taught us about.

As a Christian, a follower of Jesus’ teachings, though I will admit that I often fall far short of following Jesus’ teaching to the best of my ability, but I cannot believe in a vengeful God.

I am so guilty of the sin of judging that I must constantly ask God’s forgiveness for this sin, along with other sins.  But I do not believe that God will punish me for these failures of mine.

When I was a young mother, I believed that physical punishment was the only way to make children “behave”.

I now look back and see that perhaps I was too harsh on my young children.  For as they grew, I learned to treat them with love and respect and found they were much more amenable to doing what was right and expected of them.

As teenagers I gave them great freedom compared to many other teens.  Though they knew what was acceptable and what was not acceptable to me because we often had long conversations.  They had no curfew, I expected only to know where they were and when they expected to be home.  If either were to change they were to call.

Neither ever tried drugs or even drank alcohol until they were of age, in fact, only one drinks even now that he is in his 30’s. 

Both are wonderful human beings!  They care deeply for their fellow man.  I am proud of them both, though by some people’s standards they are not fulfilling their potential. 

I’m proud because they are good people!

I believe God has given us the same freedom that I gave my children.

I believe that He Loves me, and all of us, His Children, just as I Love my children.  Unconditionally!

How could I worship a God who I felt was less than I?

I believe in God’s Laws, The Ten Commandments.

I believe even more strongly in the two laws that Jesus told us were the most important laws of all, to love the Lord Our God with all our hearts with all our souls and with all our minds, and the second, which is like it, to Love our neighbor as our self.

Though many of us disagree with apostasyfighter, it is important to continue to Love him/her, because we too are fallible. 

None of us is perfect in God’s sight! 

None of us has all the answers!

So, though we may believe differently than apostasyfighter, I believe if we are truly followers of the Loving Christ, not simply believers in Christ, we must Respect and Love those with whom we disagree.

I failed at this miserably when I first responded to apostasyfighter by chuckling at his/her post, but I will ask his/her forgiveness for this failure of mine and say, I respectfully disagree that God is a vengeful malevolent Deity.

Blessings and Peace,

Phyllis

[QUOTE]innervisions wrote
Excuse me if I'm wrong, but isn't "af" just cut and pasting things he's posted in other threads? And we're responding?

I always welcome other points of view, but sometimes, once you've talked about something, its time to let it go.[/QUOTE]

After I read his third post I realized that.  I suspect he will burn himself out.  It is hard to tell if he is genuine or if he is trolling the board.  He knows a lot about a very old (and I thought dead) view of God and Christianity.  It has been a while since I've encountered someone who still thinks the KJV is the only true version of the bible. 

[QUOTE]JohnHedtke wrote
I made a point of looking up this website just because of the commercial.  I'm not a Christian and not interested in being one myself, but I think that the Sadducees we see running around loose in this country are disgusting.  I'm tired of some slack-jawed yokel like Pat Robertson telling me that God abhors something I believe in or do. It's not his job and I'm very sorry that the populace haven't done the only right thing, which is tar and feather him on national TV.  Christians that are smug, arrogant, and pig-ignorant have no place on a planet that's discovered penicillin.  And they certainly do nothing to spread the joy of the God of Truth by telling lies. 

Seeing the UCC commercial has made me say to myself everytime it's on, "We need more Christians like that in the world!" and "It's nice we've got at least one Christian church that people might get along with and work to make a better world together."  Thanks very much! [/QUOTE]

For the reasons you state I have a for a long time had great difficulty calling myself a Christian.  I found the UCC through the internet, through people.  I found a local congregation because I needed to be around people who called themselves Christians who weren't hateful.  Almost 18 months later I'm considering joining the congregation officially!

[QUOTE]baronsabato wrote
Back when I was Southern Baptist, I had a pastor who gave me tracts supporting the KJV as the only "inspired" translation. I don't know how much he agreed with those tracts (they were part of a set, I believe), but they were pretty ridiculous.[/QUOTE]

Yes, they fail to understand history of the bible, how it was put together, etc.  Don't get me wrong, for its time it was monumental and quite controversial.  I believe there was quite a reaction to translating the bible from the Latin translation into German and English and other languages people could actually read!

Hello apostosyfighter, I enjoyed reading your criticism of the UCC because it challenges us.  You have shown much faith and courage to write this.  I wish to warn you though that Jesus said that ONLY THE FATHER KNOWS ABOUT THE TIMES HE HAS FIXED BY HIS OWN AUTHORITY---ACTS 1:7.  It may be blasphemy to assume that the end is near when Jesus says only the father knows.  I would hate to see you end up like my friend who took out more than $50,000 of his life savings from his bank account because Tim LaHaye, co-author of Left Behind, and others were babbling rhetoric about Y2K (remember that).  Now my friend has less money to buy a new bumper sticker saying that Christ's return is near--since his old one has faded and nearly fallen off.   Dante predicted the end around 1300.  Many said it would be in the 19th century.  So far, all were wrong.  Oh, by the way, in reference to your comments left in other places that I have read, God did not reveal the Bible to us in the year 1611.  A group of scholars under the direction of King James translated the Bible into English for us and it was published that year--the Bible had long since been around.  I hope you haven't burned other Bibles like some fundamentalists that have commited idolatry with the KJV have done (that is, put the King James Version of the Bible on a higher pedestal than God).  I wouldn't want you to have to explain to God during your judgement why you burned HIS WORD.  Well, I'm not trying to have a brutal confrontation with you.  I want you to know that on behalf of the UCC....you are welcome here!  The fact that you are Biblically conservative is not a barrier to entering the UCC.  We have a place for you.  I imagine you would probably stick to your church.   That's okay.  God Bless you.  Feel free to let us in on your feelings, beliefs and concerns anytime.  By the way, has your church accepted the LEFT BEHIND novels as scripture yet? Jesus is LORD.  I would pray for a special blessing for you my friend and brother in Christ.  Take care and chat with us soon.

WE INDEED NEED MORE CHRISTIANS LIKE THE UCC IS FULL OF--IT'S TIME THAT THE STEREOTYPE OF CHRISTIAN HATRED IS REMOVED FROM OUR SOCIETY. IT'S GREAT TO BE IN A CHURCH THAT SAYS LOVE GOD AND LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR!

[QUOTE]RuralUCC wrote to apostosyfighter

...  I want you to know that on behalf of the UCC....you are welcome here!  The fact that you are Biblically conservative is not a barrier to entering the UCC.  We have a place for you.  I imagine you would probably stick to your church.   That's okay.  God Bless you.  Feel free to let us in on your feelings, beliefs and concerns anytime. 

 

[/QUOTE]

Beautiful :) Thank you.

[QUOTE]apostasyfighter wrote
Well, it is YOU that needs to go back to Scripture. Jesus made it perfectly CLEAR that we woould know when He was AT THE DOOR, and to watch for it!! No, we are not to set dates, but setting a date is much different than knowing when something is about to happen.

[/quote]

NOt really.  Paul believed it was *about to happen* and so did the early Christians. 

[quote]

Jesus Himself gave us things to watch for, did He not? I mean, it DOES say that in Scripture. And speaking of Scripture, ponder this:However, this "new generation of ministers" is not really so new as they have already been forecast when the Bible clearly says – For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

[/quote]

I don't see anyone in the UCC who are hearing what they "want to hear."  They hear the words of Jesus directly from scripture.  I grew up reading the KJV of the bible and Jesus teaches the same thing in that version of the bible as he does in the NRSV, the NIV, and most other translations I've studied. 

[quote] 

Be careful about the "make me feel good Christianity". ;)[/QUOTE]

Not understanding where you are getting the idea the the UCC is a "feel good" denomination.  It is the most challenging denomination I've seen, so far.