Why do Christians fail so miserably at promoting the faith?

I think this is a fairly easy question to answer based on my faith and the people I know who share it.

I don't force my faith on others. If it comes up in a conversation I am willing to talk about it, and if someone asks, I am very happy to help them find the faith for themselves. But I won't make it a talking point with everyone I meet every single day. I won't stand on a street corner shouting at cars driving by. My faith is personal. I will share it but I will not force it on anyone. Most of the people I know feel the same way. We don't go door to door, we don't ask for donations, we don't impose on others. We believe what we believe and we pretty much keep it to ourselves.

This is pretty much the opposite of people who are gay, vegan, or atheist. They have to make sure every single person they ever speak to knows that is what they are. Its as if the only thing that matters in their life is making others aware of that self imposed identity. I have never felt the need to introduce myself as a Christian heterosexual omnivore and force other people to acknowledge that identity. I wish others would show that same courtesy more often.

originally posted by: seedofchucky
a reply to: chr0naut

Being an American adult is not a Christian criteria.

If christians can't come to the basic understanding and have rifts ... How can you expect to unite others to it ?
Do you not like the number ? do you feel its higher or lower ? Why does it even exist ? How is there so much divide between the most basic concept of who you are pretending to worship ?

Are you worshiping jesus ? God ? spirit ? Father ? All in one ? Son ? .... It makes no sense..

One God in three persons. Like aspects of something greater than any person. This is a basic tenet of Christian belief.

Kabbalists hold that there are ten 'emanations' of God.

Like humans consist of a soul, a spirit, and a body, or from a more technical and cognitive definition, an ego, a superego and an id, but they still manage to have singular identity. The concept is not that hard to grasp.

Jesus also said "I and the Father are one" in John 10:38, and "Before Abraham was, I am" in John 8:58. He was clearly equating himself with God. He also said "I am in the Father, and the Father is in me" in John 14:11, another very strong equivalence.

Its already a violation of the 1st commandment.

It would only be if Jesus was not God, but someone else.

Jesus doesn't believe they are Christian:

"Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’…" Matthew 7:21-23.

Who cares what Jesus believes ... At the end of the day its what God Believes. You are confusing God and Jesus .. You own quote confirms they are seperate. ...

You see he has come not for his will but the WILL of whom sent him .

God...

because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me.

John 6:38

Or, Jesus will is indistinguishable from Gods will and He cannot choose something that God the Father has not also chosen.

Usually I find that if one thing in the Bible appears to contradict another, it is because my interpretation of what is said is the issue. There is usually a viewpoint and concept where the seemingly contradictory statements come into full alignment with each other, and this reveals a greater truth than my faulty interpretation.

You have to look at the whole of scripture as a single work and a single message, or otherwise, you might easily believe that a partial sentence or paradigm that your assumption happens to highlight, is truth, when it isn't.

a reply to: chr0naut

If a Christian truly has the Holy Spirit, if means you have a part of God within you as well. That doesn't make you God, but it does mean He is there.

Because belief is not religiousness.

Why do Christians fail so miserably at promoting the faith?

Why do some Christians make broad generalizations.

Read John 1:1
Jesus is God.

Do you now understand?

a reply to: seedofchucky

a reply to: seedofchucky

Pretty simple really ...

One thing Christians can't answer is who is god ?

Some say Jesus is god.
Some say Jesus is son of god.
Some say Jesus and god are separate .

Lets start with the basics first ... You will see Christians are torn apart on the simple question and answer....

If you can't even answer the basic question .. How are you gonna convince others ?

A Majority of Christians do not believe Jesus is god.

First of all, the title you gave this link doesn't portray what's in the article. A survey of "American adults" does not equal the term "Christians". Secondly, this article shows that while 30% of the "evangelicals" surveyed don't believe that Jesus is God, 66% of them do, so the third does NOT make up the majority. This article is actually discussing the concerns that historical and Bible based Christianity and theology have about those who don't understand how Jesus is God.

Jesus as God is a basic tenant of Christianity. Those who don't believe it, don't understand the definition, the faith, the Bible, or the religion as a whole and that article pretty much sums that up.

Not a Christian but you ask the wrong questions.

Why do they have to promote faith by all means? Isn't nothing more honest than sharing one's insights in own faith by living it and just let deeds speak instead of words? The best conversations I had about religion / faith / god were with Christians (as of now) that were open to my faith and it was more a comparing similarities and pointing out differences, than a "what's better".

All this your faith, my faith is such a holdback in growth.

Simply, cause they are human.

Besides prior to Monotheism some religions or cults were actually somewhat practical, and taught skills to an extent. Sure they wouldn't know what a millionth of an inch an the earth is the center, but hey if it work it not stupid.

And forgivable.

fail at promoting the Faith .... probably because 'Christianity' is misunderstood as being a 'Religion' instead of being a 'State-of-Mind'

Jesus who was deemed 'Christ' was a 'Suffering Savior' not a King of Battle or Redemption from Evil/destruction

is Buddhism a Religion or a Philosophy/ ideology...First & Foremost ?
same perplexity with Christianity as it is used today !

a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

Some interesting thoughts in this thread.

Before I throw my two cents in I’ll just point out that Christianity is not doing well at promotion in the West but in many parts of Asia and Africa it is growing in leaps and bounds (although I don’t think that is what you were talking about).

To answer the question I think you’re asking, I am simply going to take a step back and not get into as much of the nuts and bolts as others have so far. I think the reason that Catholics do such a poor job at promotion is that they never had to worry about it.

For so much of modern history in the West it was a given that churches would be filled . There wasn’t really a need to go out there and draw people in. Like so much in life, it’s hard not to take things for granted.

As someone who became a Catholic later in life (taking part in the RCIA program and the rites leading up to my baptism during Easter Vigil), I sometimes wonder if that’s why I’m more “into it” than other Christians (some practicing) that I know. I never take some of what I view as gifts for granted (or at least I try not to).

We attend mass regularly and our son goes to Catholic school (as will our daughter when she is old enough). We have Christianity in our lives but as it pertains to this thread…… if we weren’t already involved, going about our daily lives we would have NO IDEA there were churches in our area.

Why is that? For goodness sake, I remember being a kid and seeing TV commercials for that Scientology book “Dianetics”. I’m not saying that I want the Catholic Church to go placing dopey television adds all over the place but I wish they would go out there into the world and let people know they are there and they are welcome and they may find something that improves their lives in some way (either grand or subtle).

Anyway, that’s my answer. They stink at it because they never had to worry about it. I think the question I’m more interested in is what are they going to do about it.

a reply to: FlyInTheOintment


Ummm…because they don’t have…faith…they’re stuck on the belief side of the equation…

Belief is an unsure state of mind…wherein a person thinks a thing might be so…yet doubt remains…

Faith is Gnosis…knowledge…knowing a thing is…without doubt…


“Crooked is the way…and narrow is the gate…yet few there be that find it”


It’s all right there for the discerning mind to comprehend…







YouSir

a reply to: chr0naut

Jesus also said "I and the Father are one" in John 10:38, and "Before Abraham was, I am" in John 8:58. He was clearly equating himself with God. He also said "I am in the Father, and the Father is in me" in John 14:11, another very strong equivalence.

Imagine a God so powerful He could split his eye of pure awareness (I AM THAT I AM) into trillions of trillions of trillions of beings. Imagine a man that could open his/Gods eye into the unpartitioned conciousness of all those beings. Would you call that man a God. When its only God in man that can move mountains. Perhaps that is why its warned not to call anything that breaths, God. It belittles God into a fragment of His boundless Self.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

a reply to: ketsuko

Because they want to. But it was predicted there would be a "falling away" in the end times before the appearance of the man of sin the son of perdition.

2nd Thessalonians 3.

originally posted by: glend
a reply to: chr0naut

Jesus also said "I and the Father are one" in John 10:38, and "Before Abraham was, I am" in John 8:58. He was clearly equating himself with God. He also said "I am in the Father, and the Father is in me" in John 14:11, another very strong equivalence.

Imagine a God so powerful He could split his eye of pure awareness (I AM THAT I AM) into trillions of trillions of trillions of beings. Imagine a man that could open his/Gods eye into the unpartitioned conciousness of all those beings. Would you call that man a God. When its only God in man that can move mountains. Perhaps that is why its warned not to call anything that breaths, God. It belittles God into a fragment of His boundless Self.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

Jesus son of Joseph was not an engraved image or a likeness. Nor was Jesus placing himself above others in the Godhead. On those grounds He wasn't contravening the 1st commandment.

And the Theophany (in Matthew 3:17) clearly identified that Jesus was not the same as other mortal men from God's perspective but had special relationship to Him.

Eastern religions conceive of God consciousness in which the universe and all its inhabitants take part, but the monotheistic and supreme deity of Abrahamic faiths is also other than what is in this universe - outside and beyond it, pre-existing it, and it is entirely subservient to God's omnipotence.

If everyone had such God-consciousness, then I suspect that very many people would be in touch with it. Perhaps millions in any age. Since I see no evidence of any God-men arising out of any faith, I can only conclude that such people don't exist because the whole concept of God-consciousness that we all have, is a delusion.

a reply to: seedofchucky
He's the morning star. Lucifer twin , everybody is of God, God is all, you have to sacrifice to receive knowledge, Jesus is Lucifer, jesus is the sun in the mourning and lucifer is the dawn of knowledge

Took me 2 mins to work that out

From a Buddhist perspective god(s) exist but they are just as stuck in the cycle of becoming or re-incarnation as everyone else other than the degree of their past good deeds have given them as cause and effect in the greater unseen cycle... of it operating.

It does not matter how rich or "gifted" one's servants are at divining or oneself is at it in that limited time firmament even the one's illuminating it as a being that god hood hasn't achieved will eventually leave them in the dark.

What many of the so called enlightened haven't said or perhaps do not even know? Is one should also extinguish that "enlightenment." as being "enlightened" is only halfway across and it is better seen as a bridge one shouldn't stop or tarry on instead of a permanent residence as when it collapses all of those "it" supported will try to hold you personally responsible, instead of them deciding to just take up residence in YOUR light without asking.

a reply to: ketsuko How annoying it must be for the Goddess when all those men are chasing her man when both men and women acknowledge "God" to be male?

But the "Goddess" oh no no no we can't be letting our "God" be having one of those can we? As it doesn't fit the narrative of him having a go at mortal women while "a" female goddess Hera wants to cut his testicular clouds off.

But oh no Zeus and all of those "Gods" cannot be the biblical one.

The biblical one is some inimical anonymous one that just goes behind the name "God of Abraham" in logic that mean also by and for him or just Abraham who we'd have to assume to be in the image of that "God" but no one else before or since then was.

Dubious yeah?

So when everyone says no no no "God" both male and female as a He then where's the Goddess? Seriously... where is the Goddess of Abraham?

I basically personally have to take it as they say as some unity in the sense of "God" being one as male and female in one form(as the native Americans saw it before Christendom entered the scene and huh guess what? Those people called HIndus saw it or see it as the same way... and he who falls to earth from that union? Oh Oh just wait they'll be more cause he knows what's up wink wink.

Satire? Oh I don't know from what I gather I was delivered to this earth by a drunken stork(mom's story) whom my younger sister referred to as the "milk-man" so what do I know? Other than they keep trying to pawn this riff raff on me that I know is not my father and it is and has been beyond irritating.

a reply to: Crowfoot

Mankind as a whole was created in the image of God and being the all powerful one, didn't need any help from either gender or another God to create us. I'm not sure why people think of Almighty God from a human standpoint.

God's formal name in the Bible is YHWH. He is referred to in the Bible as the "God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" because it was that particular bloodline from Abraham that followed YHWH and eventually led to the physical bloodline and birth of Jesus Christ.

By the time God revealed himself to Abraham, the Israelites had already taken the wrong path by following a Goddess by the name of Ishtar, also referred to as the "Queen of Heaven", which they were eventually punished for. I'm pretty sure the days of Goddess worship ended there, at least for the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

God most likely used human terms to help us understand our role and his better, but that doesn't mean he's a man or needs a woman as a sidekick to help Him create like we do.

originally posted by: ntech
a reply to: ketsuko

Because they want to. But it was predicted there would be a "falling away" in the end times before the appearance of the man of sin the son of perdition.

2nd Thessalonians 3.

Well that's what we're seeing now - the falling away, and we're seeing it even in the churches where many think they're going the right way, but they're not.