“So what are you going to do about it? Toss out your congregation because they don’t meet your expectations?”
I am not talking about my congregation, I am talking about the Catholic haters, the “I said it, God believes it, that settles it” crowd. I am talking about the people who have run thousands or millions of sinners away from Christ because of their judgmental, hateful attitudes. That is not my congregation. My congregation loves me, regardless of what you think. Actually, my congregation loves EVERYBODY, and I consider my work for them a privilege.
It has become clear to me that many of you either did not read the OP and if you did, you didn’t understand it.
“It has become clear to me that many of you either did not read the OP and if you did, you didn’t understand it.”
Again, here is a perfect example. You wrote an incoherent screed and posted it. Then you posit “Are these people Christian?”
When people interpret it - and the interpretation that it was YOUR congregation is entirely reasonable based on what you wrote, you blame then, rather than your inability to communicate a coherent thought. If you demand respect, you have to earn it. You have not.
Again, you have a lot to learn about a lot of things, not the least of which is leadership and taking responsibility.
So perhaps you should rewrite your OP to be a little less whiny - and punctuate it without assuming God’s responsibility by passing judgement on the legitimacy of others Christianity.
“I am talking about the people who have run thousands or millions of sinners away from Christ because of their judgmental, hateful attitudes. That is not my congregation.”
One of the great failings of the modern church is its refusal to take sin seriously. It is true that sinners who choose to wallow in their sin will reject the judgmental attitude of...God Himself.
It is also true that a Christian who doesn’t take sin seriously is not a Christian, because you cannot be becoming more like God while rejecting what God says about sin. You cannot tolerate sin and be a child of God. You will still sin, as all of us do, but you won’t be happy about it.
One of the great heresies in the modern church is that it has changed “God loves you in spite of what you are” into “God loves you as you are”. The Gospel starts with “Repent”. Modern man, hearing the church, can reasonably reply, “Repent from what? You said God loves me just like I am....”
Who needs a new life, if God accepts them as they are in their old life?
A look at how you address those who disagree with you reveals an attitude on your part that needs some adjustment.
Perhaps it gets back to the old concept of that which we object to most in others is what our own faults are.
You complain of judgmental and hateful attitudes in a post that does not exude compassion and understanding.
What's the problem then?
Logic would tell ANYONE that they then ran to YOUR loving, non-judgemental church; right??