Are you a good Christian? (ad)

[FreedomAngel82]

I saw this ad and liked it so I'm passing it along in case you didn't see it.

http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oId=18611

[ktowntennesseedem]

1. Thanks for sharing; liked it enough to recommend it!

[blogbear]

2. Define 'good' christian?

I really don't see that what privately I believe (or don't) pertains to anyone but me..

[asthmaticeog]

7. And here we have a classic example

of responding to the thread title without reading the post. Good show!

[blogbear]

14. I DID view it and there was NOT a definition of "good christian" given

[seabeyond]

16. lol lol i hadnt heard of the "good" christian

until a couple eyars ago. the church goer decides and verbalizes the good christian. not that they arent sinners, but more, avid church goer, contributor, know hte rules from bible. realy the only religion i have heard good christian has been the baptist

my son asked his teach, (went to fundie school) if "my mom" is a good christian. lol lol

they arent shy at calling someone a non christian, lazy christian, i was described as a good christian. and i dont follow any of their rules.

[blogbear]

17. yep, lol is right!

[jean]

33. my kid once asked if I was a 'choosy mother' - from seeing too many

Jiff peanut butter ads... If Frist and DeLay continue to get their nasty mouth framing into the audio culture and saturate enough small minds, we'll have a long term problem on our hands. Heck I guess we already do.

Ads like this one help a great deal.

[asthmaticeog]

18. Which only underscores how widely you missed the point. n/t

[blogbear]

22. I did NOT miss a point..I am educated and understood perfectly..

I made ANOTHER point to what was there that no matter how much SOME people elect to brow beat everyone else that there is not, has not been, and won't be an adequate definition of what a 'good christian' is out there..I DID view and listen to the whole thread and 'added' to the point..This is supposed to be a discussion board where people can give views..Do you have a problem with that? Do YOU understand?

[KuroKensaki]

36. That's not the issue...

Nobody questioned your education. People questioned whether or not you viewed the ad. For you see, this ad is completely in agreement with you. It says there's no way you're going to make a 'definition' of what a good Christian is, and that you should be suspicious of anyone who tells you what a 'good Christian' or a 'bad Christian' believes.

[blogbear]

44. ok..but you missed a point I was making as well and that is if people are

required to define "exactly" what is meant when they loosely throw out words like 'good', 'bad', 'moral', etc they might (hopefully) sooner or later come to see that there are no real adequate, totally true, and/or accurate definitions for these types of words. Then possibly said persons would be more careful about, and less eager about, rushing to judgment at least with their choice of words..I realize that what I said in the other posts was in harmony with the original post..Perhaps, we might all at least agree that there are oftentimes multiple and possibly even unexamined ways of addressing and dealing with daily issues which we each face..

[goodboy]

24. I'd say a 'good' christian is someone who emulates Christ. In other

words they live a life as Christ did, and apply his teachings to every decision they make.

[FreedomAngel82]

40. Yep

I agree. Only God is the judge.

[seabeyond]

3. wow......oh thank you thank you

that felt so good to hear. this is all i am asking of religion, lol lol, start standing up and speaking out. that was lovely. i am actually hopeful with what comes

hey freedom, you seem to go all over the place, find all kinds of things, i want to get some thought provoking mellow bumper stickers. no any good sites

[dhinojosa]

4. I am just recommending good stuff everywhere....

I am not christian (agnostic) but this really sends a good message home.

[wolfgirl]

5. Made me smile like an idiot!!! Hooray for PFAW!!

:bounce:

[wicket]

6. That's great!!!

:kick:

[kliljedahl]

8. No I'm not

I'm an atheist


Keith’s Barbeque Central

[YusefHawkins]

10. OK... your sig gets posted in my office on Monday

[hfojvt]

29. RU a good witch or a bad witch?

"I'm not any sort of witch at all. Witches are old, and ugly."
"Only bad witches are ugly."

WTF? Then why did you ask if I was a bad witch or a good witch? RU saying you think I'm ugly?

[YusefHawkins]

9. Excellent post! (nt)

[Tux]

11. Good ad

Couldn't get video but got audio. As for being a good Christian, sure, why not?

[bvar22]

12. Good AD

I especially like the picture they used of Tom Delay....evil and crazy.

[Ladyhawk]

13. Recommended. n/t

[AuntiBush]

15. Thanks. More & More People Are Speaking Out...

Has anyone noticed just recently more and more people are creating their own websites, speaking out? Or is it just me?

[Daphne08]

19. Great ad

[Rhiannon12866]

20. Thank you. I hadn't seen this. And I'll pass it on.

But I already know I'm not one of the "good Christians." But, apparently, neither are Kerry or Kucinich, so I'm in good company.:shrug:

[FreedomAngel82]

41. I'm probably not either according to these people

And yes. If Kerry and all the other democrats aren't good Christians at least we're in good company, like you said. :)

[Rhiannon12866]

43. Thanks, I agree. I sure would rather share values with Kerry and

Dennis Kucinich than the scary Fundies who have hijacked this country.
:scared:

I have a good friend who is a life-long Catholic, but also a liberal Democrat. In November, she ran for state office, and won. But, last summer, she showed me a folder, printed by Catholics, for Catholics, saying what we should look for in our candidates. It horrified both of us. There were five issues that, if a candidate favored it, we should vote against them. I cannot remember them all, but I'm sure you can figure them out. Opposing birth control, being pro-choice, gay marriage and stem cell research. Those, I remember. And it said that this is not just for national office, but local, since national candidates begin in local office. So I said I was going to call the guy who was running for Superintendent of Highways and ask him where he stood on stem cell research! Totally nutty.:crazy:

But the thing that disturbed me most is that these are the issues most vehemently promoted on places like Free Republic! Yikes! Christians are now expected to be ultra-conservative Republicans?! Most of my family are Irish and Polish-American, Catholic and life-long Democrats. Are they supposed to change? I don't think so. Anyway, I share your horror at all of this. I still stand with Dennis Kucinich, my original candidate, and voted for John Kerry.:hi:

[LARED]

21. Kinda weird if you ask me

While the message is great, it's strange to ask you to support the filibuster based on that message.

Do good Christians support the filibuster or not? Isn't that mixing religion and politics, the very thing the ad implies was no good?

[Ysolde]

23. What a GREAT ad!

I live in the 2nd reddest state in the union and this is just PERFECT! It so succintly describes the issue and frames it perfectly! I love it! I've forwarded it to everyone I could! Thanks for posting it! Unfortunately, I'm still too new to recommend, but I would if I could! Thanks again!

[Straight Shooter]

25. A 25-year-old ad. My, my, how times have changed.

I guess it's all personal perception, but my interpretation of the ad is that the man is conveying that a good Christian is someone who doesn't go around defining and judging other people and putting controls on their lives according to what she or he believes a good Christian is.

The mention of the filibuster does throw a curve because they fail to tie in that it's the politicians who are using religion as a political bullwhip in attempting to push through the elimination of the filibuster.

I want someone to do a movie called, "Jesus and Mr. Smith go to Washington."

[Roland99]

26. Very well done...gets the point across very well.

[Up2Late]

27. I wish it had said (in the ad) who originally aired the ad

Anyone know?:shrug:

[Roland99]

28. PFAW - People For the American Way Foundation

http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=18604

[Up2Late]

45. Yes, I know this ad is by PFAW (I worked the election for them)

But, who ran the ad 25 years ago (as it says at the beginning of the ad)? :eyes:

Christian Coalition? 700 Club? It should say in the ad at some point.

[tomreedtoon]

30. What an obviously PHONY actor!

This is an actor who's trying to sound like he's "just another guy" with an "authentic Midwest-Southern voice," but he's reading the dialog written by Norman Lear or some other old-school TV writer. And he's "lecturing the camera." Thank you, oh noble performer, for Handing Us The Big Message, but you can't change people's minds that way.

This spot is as phony as anything the Republicans put together. It won't convince anyone but people who are already members of PFAW. And the real killer is the "help us save the filibuster" line at the end. "Filibuster" is framed in the public's mind as "dirty political trick."

In other words, this ad is a waste of time. Ads by other agencies like MoveOn look and sound a lot more genuine.

[Straight Shooter]

31. Bear in mind that they are focusing on a 25-year-old ad.

Many commercials had actors who sounded just as "phony," as you put it.

I like the ad (except for it's out-of-the-blue reference to the filibuster). It's reminding people of how America once viewed politicians sticking their noses into people's personal spiritual beliefs.

[hfojvt]

32. I mostly disagree with the ad

The first step on the Buddhist eightfold path is "right view". It is followed by right intention, right speech, and right action is 4th. Of course, Buddhism is not Christianity, but I believe the wisdom holds if you want to get "right results". They just might have more of a disagreement about the definition of "right view".
When joining the Catholic church, the member claims that they "believe what the Catholic church teaches", so beliefs are important for Catholics as well.

One problem I have is with something like the apostle's creed: "I believe in God, the father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost ..."

That may be a summary of basic Christian beliefs, but it really contains none of what Jesus taught - things like forgiveness, mercy, and meekness, the golden rule, the gospel of love, etc. The beliefs mentioned in it seem trivial, or empty, like saying "I believe that Pierre is the capitol city of South Dakota, that it is pronounced "peer" and not "pee-air", that it is on the Missouri river, and its population is 12,906, that it is west of Minneapolis, east of Denver, south of Bismarck, and north of Omaha, ..."

Those are fine things to believe, except another denomination will be formed that says the population is really 13,142 and that it is WNW of Omaha. Then there are the heretics who insist on the "pee-air" pronunciation, which is just wrong.

There is plenty of room for disagreement and division, but what difference do those beliefs make in the way people live? I would just prefer a Christian creed that says something like: "I believe in kindness, honesty, compassion, fairness, justice, repentance, and forgiveness, ..."

If there was better teaching on those issues, the way Jesus taught them, then there might be fewer hateful, bigoted "Christians" and more Americans could easily see that Bush is not a Christian just because he says he is, and invokes God and Jesus, and claims to pray, etc.

But I certainly agree that there can be good or bad Christians, and that some political views are more enlightened and more ethical than others. Churches have a right and a duty to teach such things, and I will support a church which I think does a good job of it.

[Dervill Crow]

37. I agree with you, but I still like the ad.

A spiritual leader encourages you to know right from wrong and to follow your conscience. Having said that, if the ad gets people to THINK instead of believing any politician who invokes (insert deity here) during a speech, then it's a good thing.

[FreedomAngel82]

42. Right

It's not up to Bill Frist to tell me if I'm a good Christian or not. That's none of his business. Or George Bush's either.

[The White Tree]

46. I'm sorry but that's not correct

There are many examples in the Bible of Jesus teaching that love of and belief of God was of utmost importance to those who professed to be Christians.

For example - Jesus was asked, of the commandments which was the greatest and he said (and I am paraphrasing as I do not have the time to look up the exact verbiage):

The greatest commandment is to love God above all other things.

But he also said - And I give you a new commandment and that is to Love your neighbor as you would love yourself.

These 2 commandments are the core of the Catholic faith and encompass both the love of God and something similar to what you are stating you'd prefer to be a Christian Creed.

The Apostle's Creed is an affirmation of our belief in God and the core of that part of our belief but is, by no means the only arbiter of who we are as Christians. The Catholic service contains both teaching stressing the belief in God and the belief in kindness, honesty, compassion, fairness, justice, repentance, and forgiveness.

Consider the Our Father prayer: "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name......

Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us of our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us."

And in my church we generally start out with a prayer for forgiveness along the lines of the following - "Forgive me Father, for I have sinned, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do". Contained in this prayer is the admonition that while I have failed in the past, I have new opportunity to live my life more according to the principals that I believe are important to God as well as the humility to accept that no matter what, I am not perfect in what I do and will fail, but that forgiveness is always open to me if I approach it honestly.

While I would agree with the point that many who believe in a particular religion are more consumed with the dogma of that religion, I don't think it is the religion that can be blamed for it. Faith is a personnel thing and each of us is responsible for how we choose to follow that faith.

I beg your forgiveness, but my faith is very important to me, and I felt I needed to make these statements.

[thecai]

34. "There is None Good"

except for GOD. Christians strive to be "good", but cannot please everybody, so we should try to please GOD, and trust in Him. Without faith it is impossible to please GOD. (Do not fear).
We are humans and make mistakes. We are not to judge, nor compare ourselves, but we will know them by their fruits....Love, Peace, Joy, Goodness, Kindness, Gentleness, Faithfulness, Patience, and Self-Control.

PEACE!

[Rainscents]

35. I like the Ad!

The way I see it... Delay and the Company is telling you, if you don't follow their belief, you are a bad Christans.

[raysr]

38. That's a great

ad, it needs to play every network every half hour until these morons wake up.

[jwirr]

39. This ad reminded me of the Sunday

my grandmother and I were home taking care of my sick aunt and we were setting on the screen porch as the Baptist church on the corner ended. The sermon had been about "Saints and Sinners". The congregation came out fighting among themselves. We overheard the screaming, "...you smoke...."; "well you drink!", etc. as they walked to their cars parked in front of our house. That was 57 years ago and I have never forgotten it. It is probably the reason I have never claimed to be a saint!!!