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From: dickau@tools.DEC (Martin Dickau)
Newsgroups: net.singles
Subject: Christian singles
Message-ID: <189@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 10-Dec-84 03:09:10 EST
Article-I.D.: decwrl.189
Posted: Mon Dec 10 03:09:10 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 11-Dec-84 04:45:48 EST
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   I'm sorry to see that Chuq, who has always appeared reasonable to me,
equates all Christians and their beliefs with Jeff. I, too, am a Christian.
I was brought up in a Christian home, where we read the Bible every night. I
would venture that I am probably as devout as is Jeff, yet I rarely agree 
with most of what he has to say.

   Without going into a deep religious discussion, let me just say that there
are many variations, or sects, of Christianity. They share a common belief
that belief in Jesus Christ will bring them to eternal life (if I may make
a gross oversimplification). The reason there are so many different sects is
that they disagree on the biblical validity of each other's stands on a wide
range of issues, including those of interest to single adults. To say that
"Christians" are intolerant or "Christians" tend to label people as sinners
is unfair, to say the least. Some of us Christians take to heart Christ's
admonition "Judge not, lest you also be judged; condemn not, lest you also be
condemned;..." (I believe that is Luke 6:37, but I have no Bible at hand here
to check).

   To give you an idea of how bad some Christians can get, though, I once
went with a girl I was interested in dating at the time to her church's young
adult bible session. The question they were dealing with was "Should a 
Christian date a non-Christian?" I was apalled when the leader of the discussion
answered "No" and set out to prove it. And the group of a dozen or so went right
along with her!! She sat down with a Bible and "proved" that the Bible said that
dating, or at least marrying, a non-Christian was bad. I, however, was able to
take the same Bible and "prove" just the opposite. And my proof had the added
benefit of agreeing with my gut belief that the most basic Christian tenet is
to love everyone, no matter what they are like, no matter what they say, no
matter what they do.

   During college I have had a number of girlfriends. One was Christian, two
were Jewish, one was not anything. I have had a live-in girlfriend (yes, my
mother, who is a devout, VERY CONSERVATIVE Christian not only knew, but did
not ban me from the family for even a moment), and sometimes I am active
sexually, while other times I am not. Chuq may consider this a modified form
of Christianity, but I have never felt that my religious beliefs in any way
conflict with the lifestyle I am pursuing. That includes my love life. There
are some things I would never do, perhaps as a result of my beliefs, such as
having two SOs at the same time. That, however, is my decision for me and for
my life, and I have not more right to apply it to anyone else's life than
anyone else has a right to apply their beliefs to mine. That's where I tend
to be intolerant. Doesn't have the slightest thing to do with being a Christian,
though.

-- Martin --

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