I call myself a Christian, but I fail to act as such.
I see my friend Tiffany being a "true" Christian serving and helping others. Do her actions make her more of a Christian? Of course, they do especially since she does what she does quietly like helping in shelters at least once a month.
This comparison is merely to point out how fake we can be -- most importantly how fake and hypocrite I might be. I guess I must also point out that I admire my friend and I constantly wonder if I could ever be as unselfish as she seems.
I can only say that I have little children of my own to take care of. Well this is all I have in my defense.
Showing posts with label true christian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label true christian. Show all posts
Friday, September 3, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
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.
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.
Friday, May 14, 2010
my church friends, unexpected fellowship
When I started going to FAPC (http://www.fapc.org/), making friends was something I had considered. After all, that had never been my experience in any religious circle. As a matter of fact, my experience had been that of the individual sharing practically nothing in common other than considering ourselves to be "true" Christians.
During the first months, I read a lot of information on Christianity, divisions and differences in the Church, denominations, schism, Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox and anything else I could get my hands on. I wanted to make sure that what I had considered to be a "true" Christian would somehow fit into whatever new ideologies I was encountering in this different church. Nowadays Protestant Christianity makes more sense to me than my previous 37 years calling myself and/or being considered Catholic (born into a Catholic family/society and going to Catholic churches, all the while considering Protestants wrong).
Going back to the main subject, I started talking to other church goers asking questions here and there -- nothing special, nothing personal, other than the Christian faith. I then started going to these one-hour talks/classes. I slowly started hanging out in church with the same group of people and making friends there without realizing (fellowship). I also took several Bible study classes and met others and got to know some of the previous group of people somewhat better.
These new group of friends are guys whom I can talk, joke, laugh, eat (perhaps the favorite activity) and most importantly share a common faith (being Christian, perhaps with some differences in Christology -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christology --here and there). As a matter of fact, nowadays some of my dearest friends are from church. At the same time, I'm very grateful to some of them for helping me grow as a Christian and a better person (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/05/open-letter-to-my-friends-86-weeks.html).
I doesn't stop to amaze me how weird this one church is that these random people (myself included) have come together from different parts -- all coming to a common time and place in the universe. I don't think any of them is from NYC (myself included though living 27 years in this city).
During the first months, I read a lot of information on Christianity, divisions and differences in the Church, denominations, schism, Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox and anything else I could get my hands on. I wanted to make sure that what I had considered to be a "true" Christian would somehow fit into whatever new ideologies I was encountering in this different church. Nowadays Protestant Christianity makes more sense to me than my previous 37 years calling myself and/or being considered Catholic (born into a Catholic family/society and going to Catholic churches, all the while considering Protestants wrong).
Going back to the main subject, I started talking to other church goers asking questions here and there -- nothing special, nothing personal, other than the Christian faith. I then started going to these one-hour talks/classes. I slowly started hanging out in church with the same group of people and making friends there without realizing (fellowship). I also took several Bible study classes and met others and got to know some of the previous group of people somewhat better.
These new group of friends are guys whom I can talk, joke, laugh, eat (perhaps the favorite activity) and most importantly share a common faith (being Christian, perhaps with some differences in Christology -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christology --here and there). As a matter of fact, nowadays some of my dearest friends are from church. At the same time, I'm very grateful to some of them for helping me grow as a Christian and a better person (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/05/open-letter-to-my-friends-86-weeks.html).
I doesn't stop to amaze me how weird this one church is that these random people (myself included) have come together from different parts -- all coming to a common time and place in the universe. I don't think any of them is from NYC (myself included though living 27 years in this city).
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