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It's a choice
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this post was submitted on 24 Sep 2024
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There's a difference between sharing your faith and making it illegal to not follow its rules. That's what I was trying to emphasize.
I fit the definition of evangelical Christian, though I generally don't use that label. I believe the God is the ultimate authority, and by extension, the Bible is the ultimate authority over Christians. That does not mean I believe in forcing people to follow its rules or punishing them if they don't. A lot of the laws simply don't work or make sense if you don't have faith, and the Bible makes it clear that you need a change of heart to follow the laws, not vice versa. That's why I'm not voting for or supporting movements to ban abortions (also the biblical basis of that is questionable) or force shops to close on Sundays.
I believe in the sharing of faith, but I'm not acting like an arch user or a vegan who has to work it into conversation every chance they get (yes, that's an exaggeration.) My friends already know I'm a Christian, and most people in Western society already know the basic tenets of the religion, so sharing that repeatedly isn't going to do much. And I can't force someone to be saved or bring them to salvation, God has to call them. So all I can and should do is help to show it's real by the way I live my life, demonstrating love for all mankind, and hope they get the idea. If that much is problematic, I think we've got issues.
The reason I take issue with demonizing evangelicals is that it comes off as "Christianity as a whole might be fine, just don't be an evangelical because they're the bad ones," and then you look it up and it becomes "you can be a Christian, just don't tell anyone and don't believe the Bible." I figured that isn't what was meant exactly, which is why I'm asking for a different label to be used, because that's how it comes off.
Youre doing it right now. No one wants to hear about your faith, or how "You might be one of the good ones" that exact thing has been said to persecute too many actual good people who are literally just trying to go about their day.
Its typically not seen as a good thing to go around proclaiming how terrible your critical thinking skills are.
Your argument is the same one cops use to justify "bad apples": it's not all of us, it's only some of us.
Before any religion starts preaching to their neighbors or "sharing the faith," y'all need to get your own folks in order. You may not demonize LGBTQ+ people, or want to ban abortion, or force others to live under the same tenets as you, but those who wear your cross and share your God do.
I would argue we definitely have issues. You will not change my mind, but religion has done significantly more harm across history, particularly Christianity, than any amount of Christian do-gooding will ever be able to undo. Millions across history have suffered, been enslaved, had their rights taken away, been tortured, and killed at the hands of "Christians," and that includes the modern day. Christian groups are the ones helping to spread HIV/AIDS across Africa because god forbid anyone use a condom, Christians are the ones pushing for abortion bans, and Christians are the ones trying to pull the US into an authoritarian theocracy.
So if you don't want to be associated with the ills of Christianity, you may want to reconsider, in my opinion, what benefit God provides to mankind. Because from where I'm sitting, it's literally zero. The world would be a much better place without religion, and you shouldn't need the promise of an eternal paradise and eternal salvation to, as you put it, "demonstrating love for all mankind." If you can't live that way without "God" telling you, then you're exactly the problem with Christianity.
"Christianity as a whole might be fine, just don't be an evangelical because they're the bad ones," that's about what I got from it. In my church at least, we're starting to focus more and more on doing actual outreach that doesn't include evangelizing. Those people who believe that we need to tell all our neighbors regardless of whether they want to hear are becoming more and more of the minority.
I get that a lot of evangelicals are bad but the level of hate Lemmy has for them is... Excessive