If christian believer, do you truly follow Jesus?

[taifoon]

In heart? Through conduct, actions and behaviors?
Do you turn your right cheek to your offender when slapped on the left?
Do you forgive your enemies and wrongdoers?
Do you stop your car to help a stranger in need?
Do you try to ease the pain on someone you never met or know?


I personally find it quite exhausting if not unbearable and unlikely to an average christian to be able to truely conform to and live a daily christian life strictly abiding by the codes of Jesus the Christ. In particular in Lebanon. And i'm not talking here about being one of those who can't resist a general urge to steal, torture or kill, but the average man or woman..

Is it Okey to still call oneself a religious beleiver in and follower of something or someone when maybe not even half of ones conducts and practical daily life actions are in harmony with the rules and teachings of that faith or beleif?
Or is it plane hypocricy?

Or is it simply a matter of adapting the written, translated and sunday preached old words of an old faith to the existing social codes of ones modern world and cold reality?

Or is it only about a heritage of prayers, repeating mantras and visiting churches on occasions and holidays? A nice needed kind of social and communitarian theatric experience to enjoy, together with others within one and same friendly mass?

[WiseCookie]

Originally Posted by taifoon

In heart? Through conduct, actions and behaviors?
Do you turn your right cheek to your offender when slapped on the left?
Do you forgive your enemies and wrongdoers?
Do you stop your car to help a stranger in need?
Do you try to ease the pain on someone you never met or know?

I try, with all honesty, and as you said it becomes exhausting.

I don't turn my cheek to an offender, because it just isn't right to my thinking at the time.

I do forgive my enemies if they apologize.

I do help strangers in need, god help me, every time I go to New York City I leave that city broke because of the amount of money i give out to homeless people.

I've never had that problem, but I think I would.

[stigmata]

Originally Posted by taifoon

In heart? Through conduct, actions and behaviors?
Do you turn your right cheek to your offender when slapped on the left?
Do you forgive your enemies and wrongdoers?
Do you stop your car to help a stranger in need?
Do you try to ease the pain on someone you never met or know?


I personally find it quite exhausting if not unbearable and unlikely to an average christian to be able to truely conform to and live a daily christian life strictly abiding by the codes of Jesus the Christ. In particular in Lebanon. And i'm not talking here about being one of those who can't resist a general urge to steal, torture or kill, but the average man or woman..

Is it Okey to still call oneself a religious beleiver in and follower of something or someone when maybe not even half of ones conducts and practical daily life actions are in harmony with the rules and teachings of that faith or beleif?
Or is it plane hypocricy?

Or is it simply a matter of adapting the written, translated and sunday preached old words of an old faith to the existing social codes of ones modern world and cold reality?

Or is it only about a heritage of prayers, repeating mantras and visiting churches on occasions and holidays? A nice needed kind of social and communitarian theatric experience to enjoy, together with others within one and same friendly mass?

its all about: me stigmata, i beleive in u jesus, and i follow u.
yes taifoon, i can confirm that i do all what u mentioned:

Do you turn your right cheek to your offender when slapped on the left?
Do you forgive your enemies and wrongdoers?
Do you stop your car to help a stranger in need?
Do you try to ease the pain on someone you never met or know?

not coz its an heritage, or something like this, no, coz i feel myself in peace, when i do all this, coz its my mentality, i dont feel myself " majboura" bel 3akess i like doing this, i like feeling close to people, loved by everyone.
life dont deserve: problems, hate,... its too short, and for me i do all my best to pass it in peace, then when i die, everyone remember me in good.
this is how chritian people should think, this is what our jesus teached us.
beeing GOOD, so simply.

[NASR_MIN_ALLAH]

thats an interesting post

i've always wanted to ask you guys ( by you i mean christians ) , why do you have such a bad reputation with religion ? ya3ne we always hear that chrisitians have a hard time following their religion and very few of them actually do so ... or maybe its Christianity that's too easy going with you lol
the largest majority of my friends are christians and i must say that i rarely hear them talk about or even practice their faith in any way .. oh except one of them , she's fasting ( or was ... is Careme over ?? )


i seriously dont know anything about religons :)

[Dalzi]

Originally Posted by NASR_MIN_ALLAH

thats an interesting post

i've always wanted to ask you guys ( by you i mean christians ) , why do you have such a bad reputation with religion ? ya3ne we always hear that chrisitians have a hard time following their religion and very few of them actually do so ... or maybe its Christianity that's too easy going with you lol
the largest majority of my friends are christians and i must say that i rarely hear them talk about or even practice their faith in any way .. oh except one of them , she's fasting ( or was ... is Careme over ?? )


i seriously dont know anything about religons :)

Niyyelak coz the more you know the more guilty you'd feel :D...

As if Muslims are following properly!

It's true though, some of us actullay do more stuff coz we have to... Christians are kinda lucky lol...

[LebanesePride]

Originally Posted by stigmata

[b]Do you turn your right cheek to your offender when slapped on the left?

Could you give us a few examples?

(not being sarcastic, its just hard 2 imagine a scenario where thatd happen)

[stigmata]

Originally Posted by LebanesePride

Could you give us a few examples?

(not being sarcastic, its just hard 2 imagine a scenario where thatd happen)

sure lebanesepride
when u follow jesus, it dsnt mean, u have to be in the midle of a combat/ fight, to proove that if u someone slapped u on the right, u have to turn the left. its a metaphore, ya3ne for me:
i am christian, and i follow jesus, by forgiving the bad things done to me.
when i turn my left, after beeing slapped on the right, ya3ne i react like saying to the one who hurts me, i forgive u, and this way allow u to be: a3la meno biktir/ bi 2akhla2ak.
coz fighting dont ever stop, if all of us want to take their rights by force.
be calm, and u r the winner- beleive me

this is the only way to beat ur enemy.
always think by ur moral, not ur hand.

[Fragrance of Roses]

Originally Posted by taifoon

In heart? Through conduct, actions and behaviors?
Do you turn your right cheek to your offender when slapped on the left?
Do you forgive your enemies and wrongdoers?
Do you stop your car to help a stranger in need?
Do you try to ease the pain on someone you never met or know?

You do not have to be a Christian to do all these... not
even a believer in religions or even God!!!

You can be agnostic or an atheist and still do all the above...

[taifoon]

Originally Posted by AbirWard

You do not have to be a Christian to do all these... not
even a believer in religions or even God!!!

You can be agnostic or an atheist and still do all the above...

No doubt you can. You can also beleive in social justice without being a PSP , a patriot without being FPM. That wasn't the point, however.

My question was exclusively about being a beleiver in the teachings of Jesus, a christian either by heritage or through own conviction, but not being able, nor maybe capable, or worst, willing to practice them in daily life conduct and actions.

[taifoon]

Originally Posted by stigmata

its all about: me stigmata, i beleive in u jesus, and i follow u.
yes taifoon, i can confirm that i do all what u mentioned:

Do you turn your right cheek to your offender when slapped on the left?
Do you forgive your enemies and wrongdoers?
Do you stop your car to help a stranger in need?
Do you try to ease the pain on someone you never met or know?

not coz its an heritage, or something like this, no, coz i feel myself in peace, when i do all this, coz its my mentality, i dont feel myself " majboura" bel 3akess i like doing this, i like feeling close to people, loved by everyone.
life dont deserve: problems, hate,... its too short, and for me i do all my best to pass it in peace, then when i die, everyone remember me in good.
this is how chritian people should think, this is what our jesus teached us.
beeing GOOD, so simply.

You must be a most lucky person. I truely envy you your state of peace of mind and heart.

Originally Posted by WiseCookie

I try, with all honesty, and as you said it becomes exhausting.

I don't turn my cheek to an offender, because it just isn't right to my thinking at the time.

I do forgive my enemies if they apologize.

I do help strangers in need, god help me, every time I go to New York City I leave that city broke because of the amount of money i give out to homeless people.

I've never had that problem, but I think I would.

Sounds honest and it's appreciated. But i suppose that's also a fair picture of the usual boundaries of most christian peoples daily actions. If we are able to comply to half the rules/teaching set of our faith, shouldn't we for consistencys sake call ourselves half christians or 2/5 christians?

My question was also a bit about how truely do most of us comform to the label, any label, - although here religious- which we gladly attribute to ourselves?