That sounds like a very good explanation and a very good definition of a Christian.
It also sounds like it has much more to do with behavior than with belief and I think that is good as well.
>You will know them individually, on a person by person basis, by how the individual acts, by their fruit, Charles.
>
>Just because a person identifies themselves as a "Christian" doesn't mean they are. They have to behave as Christ did. That is what the expression, "You will know them by their fruit" means. If they are behaving as Christ did, then they are Christians. If they are not behaving as Christ did, then they are not Christians, even though they call themselves by that name.
>
>Best regards,
>Rick C. Hodgin
>
>
>>>You will know them by their fruit, Charles.
>>
>>You are absolutely correct. It is the reason women were denied the vote for the first 150 years of the republic, why the incidence of abuse of women has been so dreadfully high for so long and why so many women have lost faith in patriarchal institutions.
>>
>>It is also one of the reasons so many deny the "wisdom" of scripture and - more to the point - those who purport to speak for God by expressing their own interpretation of that scripture.
>>
>>By their fruit, we know them. Bitter fruit.
>>
>>( In fairness, by all accounts there is no record of Jesus being a misogynist or of sharing the obsessions of so many of his followers. I share with you a love of what Jesus presented to the world. I weep for the legacy that was twisted by men who conceived of God as being in their own petty image. And in fairness to you, while I in no way share you literal interpretation of scripture or take on reality, I find it nice that you seem to focus on love so I think the essence of the message is there loud and clear )
>>
>>
>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>Wanna know why the party that doesn't bow to the religious right does better with women?
>>>>
http://www.salon.com/2013/07/02/christians_have_always_been_misogynists_partner/>>>>(what is weirdly cool is that the web page actually has an ad for Liberty University on-line,
>>>>for those who read the quotes and say "Yeah, sounds about right ..." ) :-)
Charles Hankey
Though a good deal is too strange to be believed, nothing is too strange to have happened.
- Thomas Hardy
Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm-- but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.
-- T. S. Eliot
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.
- Ben Franklin
Pardon him, Theodotus. He is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.
