Casual fellowship

[Russell2]

Well, my dad had a football-themed Christmas tree this year. 🤷

Sometimes I think it’s best just to let things run their course!

I have ordered a copy of Is Christmas Unbelievable (Rebecca McLaughlin) to check it out, with a view to slipping it in many family Christmas presents next year.

[Trippy_Elixir (Kevin)]

@Randy

I grew up in a Muslim country

If I may ask, what country?

[Randy]

Niger, West Africa. I have great memories of the people there.

[beaglelady]

@Russell2

I think we worship the same God.

Yes, the God of Abraham. But that doesn’t sit well here.

[mitchellmckain (Scientist and Christian)]

Football doesn’t matter to ME. But it does to a lot of people. My only spectator sport is Go – I watch commentators discussing professional games.

Attributes? Yes and no. Theology, philosophy, and language matter to me more than football. But I am wary of artifacts of language in theology and philosophy. But the point is that for most people they matter no more than football does to me. If you look for your salvation in attributes then you are on even more shaky ground than looking for salvation in scripture (John 5:39).

[mitchellmckain (Scientist and Christian)]

I posted this in another thread but thought it fit better with this discussion about the fruit of the spirit in those of a different religion.

@mitchellmckain

… my apologetics … I rise to the defense of Christianity when it is attacked and NOT when someone simply expresses a different point of view.

But part of that is the difference between my Christianity and that of others. I see salvation coming to us by the grace of God, asking from us only faith, such as that which gives what we can to others in need without looking for rewards (i.e. doing good for its own sake). I see no merit in a Pascal’s wager that confers some imagined advantage on me for my opinions over those of others.

I don’t see why our religion or religious opinions matters more than what spectator sports we like to watch.

[Dale (evolutionary providentialist)]

@beaglelady

Yes, the God of Abraham. But that doesn’t sit well here

The imagined god of Abraham to many, kind of like the imagined god Thor.

[Dale (evolutionary providentialist)]

@mitchellmckain

If you look for your salvation in attributes…

If you look for your salvation to a false god with imagined attributes, then…

[Dale (evolutionary providentialist)]

@Russell2

She absolutely displayed the fruit of the Spirit

The Spirit was absolutely not necessarily the source, however. Anyone can be kind, for instance. (I wish my words were more so, especially online.) It results from common grace, more common in some circles and societies than others.

[beaglelady]

@Russell2

She absolutely displayed the fruit of the Spirit, in the midst of a clinic that was running very close to the edge.

Jesus was known to commend the faith of non-Jews.

[Dale (evolutionary providentialist)]

@beaglelady

Jesus was known to commend the faith of non-Jews.

For their faith in the non-imaginary God.

[Trippy_Elixir (Kevin)]

Neat I plan to take a trip to Africa one day, though I am not sure where exactly, maybe Nigeria, I know Ethiopia is on my list of countries to visit and I hear Kenya is a pretty popular destination.

[mitchellmckain (Scientist and Christian)]

@Dale

look for your salvation to a false god with imagined attributes, then…

if you make it all about those attributes then you look for salvation in attributes and the false god of your own knowledge and understanding.

if you make it all about the superior knowledge of God compared to your own then you look for salvation in the real God beyond your understanding.

[Dale (evolutionary providentialist)]

@mitchellmckain

if you make it all about those attributes

Um, I didn’t? I made it about the reality of God (he’s not Thor).
 

How do you know reality without knowing real attributes?

[SkovandOfMitaze (Mi)]

I have no issue handing out without and seeing goodness in anyone. Even if our creator is reflected through many gods just accommodating a wide range of nations, times and people I would still not view it the same as fellowshipping with Christians.

[Kendel]

Russell2, I am a librarian in state government who often works with people at the end of their patience in their search for information, or even the right contact when the automated phone tree dumps them with us. Our staff works very hard for anyone, who calls, and it’s not uncommon to receive a “God bless you” from patrons who are just relieved to finally have a sympathetic human on the line, or to have the information they need. I don’t worry about the god or God they reference. (It’s better than being cursed!) I’ll take the blessing. Your nurse most likely would have, too.

[Russell2]

@beaglelady

Yes, the God of Abraham. But that doesn’t sit well here.

Could you elaborate?

[Russell2]

@mitchellmckain

Football doesn’t matter to ME. But it does to a lot of people. My only spectator sport is Go – I watch commentators discussing professional games.

I suspect you’re mainly interested in the gameplay, rather than in fandom of a particular team or player. A topic for another thread. I have long thought of sports fandom as idolatry, even when I was an agnostic. It rather surprised me to hear both my pastor and N.T. Wrights are fandom-type sports spectators.

[Russell2]

@Kendel

Our staff works very hard for anyone, who calls, and it’s not uncommon to receive a “God bless you” from patrons who are just relieved to finally have a sympathetic human on the line,

God bless you!

Thanks. I should have said it!

Christian faith is quite marginalised here in Australia, compared to the US. But, your point is well received. I should have taken the hijab as an indication that angle would be well received.

[beaglelady]

@Russell2

Could you elaborate?

Yes. Some folks here don’t think that Muslims worship the God of Abraham.