Originally Posted by George_De_Vries_3rd

BC30cal, well put, and lovingly so as usual.

To those here who do not believe or scorn the church:

Christians are not only not perfect; some that are, are not. Even for those who truly are, in Romans 7, the Apostle Paul teaches us about the original,sinful nature we have to deal with once we come to Christ. We do this with varying degrees of success even though "born again." So you may see what you say is the hypocrite on occasion and perhaps he/she is; but perhaps not. I struggle with sinful patterns of behavior though I fight against them daily, but believe and trust in the redeeming blood of Christ and His spirit in me. People like me make the church imperfect--the spiritual hospital it was meant to be.

But to BC's point, The Church is the body of all believers, crossing denominations, cultures, languages, and socioeconomic groups-all who believe in and trust Christ for their redemption.

As a group, and organized, we can do things beyond the reach of the individual's resources, as Dwayne said, to bring the hand of Jesus and his healing words to the needy.

For example, here I am, in-country, in Ghana, Africa under the auspices of the Lukes Society, a Christian Medical Mission outreach involved in bringing medical care to some thirty Third World countries. In Ghana, a surgeon believer and friend and his two sons, and I, went to a small country hospital and though in archaic and difficult conditions performed about twenty surgeries in a two week period.

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Did you know universities (the Ivy Leagues in our country), hospitals, and women's rights were initially brought to the light of day by Christians?

The Church, here on earth, will never be perfect because of it's members, but that does not render false the message of it's Cornerstone, Jesus Christ. It only proves that His message concerning us two millennia ago was needed and exactly right.


George, you make a good argument for the utility of the Christian Faith, but utility does not equate with truth. But in claiming the good, you must also claim the bad. It was Christians women who ushered in Prohibition in 1918 while our boys were away fighting WWI. This lead to the Gangster era, and the corruption of local governments in places Chicago. It's this corrupt machine that gave us Barrack Obama, so by extension, good intentioned Christians own the election of Barrack Obama to the Presidency.

Further more, the missionaries in Africa are notorious for the opposition to birth control, specifically in the form of condoms. Do we really need to spread more over population and Aids and poverty across the Dark Continent?"

You didn't use logic or reason to get into this opinion, I cannot use logic or reason to get you out of it.

You cannot over estimate the unimportance of nearly everything. John Maxwell