being a good Christian vs simply being good

You don't have to be a Christian to be a good person. There are many good individuals helping others, the environment, animals or other noble causes who are NOT Christian -- Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and some plainly gnostic. These other individuals have their own (religious or otherwise) reasons to be good citizens in this world and beyond. Needless to say, some of these people are even our dearest friends -- especially if living in NYC.

We -- as Christians -- are supposed to be good all the time as a way to be true ambassadors of God on earth and beyond our limited human capacity of understanding. The best practice to achieve this (or so I've been told numerous times) is to pray, talk to God, ask for favors, be true servants of God and do everything on God's behalf. As someone told me, you should start the day with a prayer, live that prayer through out the day and end the day with a prayer.

"There are many who recommend opening the day with a prayer, and then continuing to live that prayer. Or, put another way, to do what we do -- even, say, washing the dishes, riding the subway -- in a meditative sort of gift to God... Then closing each day with even a simple word of gratitude."
http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/10/then-how-much-more-response.html

Of course, this is something that many Christians fail to do or care not to do at times (myself included in the second group too many times). Said all this, if we dare to call ourselves CHRISTIANS, we've got a higher obligation to be good as we do good in God's name.

friends from other books

As a continuation of http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/07/friends-from-afar.html I wanted to emphasize that distance doesn't always mean geographical position of two object or persons.

After living abroad about one third of my life and living in NYC for the other two thirds, not all my friends are Christian of whatever denomination.

For example, my friends I-An and I-Chun (sisters) are Buddhist.

Coto is atheist or so he calls himself. After all, his wife is Christian (Catholic perhaps).

Julian is non-practicing Jew and married to a non-practicing Christian.

Several of my friends are Muslim. As a matter of fact, my friend Sheila converted to Islam after spending most of her life as a Christian.

Of course, many are Christian although they don't practice their faith. If they do, it might be limited to several times a year.

After a while, religion is not too important when making friends for life. Nonetheless I must admit that some (if not all) the friends whom I've made in church might be my friends (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/05/my-church-friends-unexpected-fellowship.html) for the rest our lives.

church as a social club & the Christian poser

in response to http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/22680

A church -- regardless of the religious background -- can be seen as a social club where different peoples can share their personal and unique as well as common "journey of faith" (an expression commonly used by Rev. Dr. Scott Black Johnston from FAPC; http://www.fapc.org/). Therefore the individuals who go to a specific church building or who are part of a specific congregation and/or religious group practice a common religious and/or denominational background and traditions hence knowing what to do and expect in such environment.

In comparison to a social club, a church building should house individuals both searching for God's grace and trying to emulate God helping those in need. The problem comes when individuals act like Christians in church, but continue being everything but in their daily lives. Going to church and/or posing as a Christian for others to contemplate and/or simply bragging to be a Christian doesn't make a given individual a Christian.

I can't say that I'm not in the latter category. I've fallen in it many times and continuously ask myself if I'm a real Christian or a mere poser. Maybe I'm just excessively curious about human behavior and how it's affected by religious beliefs (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Krishna, Buddhism, etc). Am I poser?

what I think about religion

I guess that religion will remain a strange factor in my life. I do enjoy pornography and other improper non-Christian behaviors, which I've been trying to avoid.

In the past several months, I've tried to avoid Catholicism. Surprisingly I went to an Episcopal church, All Saints, this past Sunday. Episcopalism is merely an extension of Catholicism and I found this past Sunday's service fairly uptight (just like a Catholic mass) without the freedom that Presbyterianism gives me.

I guess I'd become a member of the FAPC congregation after all. Maybe this why tomorrow I'll go to a group at FAPC on technology at 7pm. I'm so eager to do something at this church (like helping with the website). Perhaps I might merely be looking for some level of acceptance from my "peers." Perhaps I'm just getting "old" and I need some assurance that my life has had some meaning. Either way, I'd never felt this way for any church of any denomination. Does this mean that I'm a reformed Protestant now of some sort?

Living in NYC, one has as many faiths to chose from. Well I don't know what to think at this point. Yes, this was an experiment to find God in different ways (roads), but which is the right one for me? Should I also try Islam and Krishna in search of God regardless of the human name given to him (Jehovah, Allah, Krishna, Buddha, etc)? By the way, how can we be so sure that God is a man? I can't respond so many questions right now, but could I ever?