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Who was the nicest Christian you have met? Yes, I do have a few Christian-lite friends. They believe in a god but don't do church. I am talking about full-on theists.
Here is one I met. I got a job in Rodney st, this is Liverpool's version of Harley st. Lots of doctors, dentists, and medical specialists. This guy Mark was moving into the whole house. Just him in a 3 story building that would have made 6 flats or offices. I am putting up bedroom furniture and I ask what he does for a living. (I suspected he might be gay but that's ok - no skin of my nose). "Well, that's a long story," he says. "When I left school I became a monk. Then we did work in a psychiatric hospital and I left the monastery to become a psychiatric nurse. Then I left nursing and took holy orders, becoming a priest. After that, I went to uni and studied psychiatry. So I am a qualified psychiatrist and I sit on the NHS trusts advising on the field but I still do some locum work as a priest if I am asked. I have also decided to open up a private practice, hence moving in here. The office will be downstairs and I can live over the shop."
We had a splendid day as I worked and we chatted. He told me all kinds of stuff like that Sigmund Freud had written a joke book. It did not sell well as it was all obscure 19th century Jewish jokes that no-one could understand anymore.
The guy was so nice I did have the heart to ask if catholic guilt clashed with Freudian philosophy.

273kelvin 8 Sep 24
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2

Most Christians are nice until they start talking about Christianity, at which point most feel obliged to turn in to total arseholes.

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One of the best couples we know are a retired C of E vicar and his wife. The most open, down to earth pair you could ever meet with a wicked sense of humour. The wife is a perfect English vicars spouse, but she can have the tongue of a fishwife if the need arises!
They count three atheists as their best friends, saying that we are the most honest of folk. Above all they cannot stand the Holy Joes as Mr Rev calls them 😜

Tilia Level 7 Sep 25, 2019

C of E are brilliant. Sensible, clever with both a sense of humour and reality.

Generally they don’t care who you or what you do long as you don’t nick the ecclesiastical silver.

1

My choir conductor is a serious believing Presbyterian...he is organist and choirmaster in his local church and I know he has a very strong faith. He is just the nicest guy you could ever wish to know, was at school with my son Graeme, who sadly died earlier this year, and has been so kind and helpful to me during this difficult period. He knows I am an atheist and we never discuss religion, although when we were rehearsing for our Gospel Concert last week and he had us singing these β€œhappy, clappy” numbers I did ask him if he was trying to convert me...he replied that he knew better than to try!

2

I've had some good experiences with people who were Christians whilst studying in UK as a foreign student. They were part of an organizing team for events where they would inform international students about local culture and effectively meet other international students.

1

I know many nice Christian's that try very hard to live by the New Testament and seem to really care about people.

I can definitely say that Cecil and Louise Johnson, a married couple that have both passed within the last few years are the nicest I have ever met. He was a World War II vet and she was his second wife. They we're not fabulously wealthy but had a good income and spent almost all of it helping anyone they thought might need help.

1

The two I knew are dead now!

1

My sister who converted to Catholicism and a friend who is evangelical. Both amazing and living as close to their principals as a person can.

Ever read the bible you can't live it! You cut your hair it is a sin, you get a piecing you did a sin, you eat a scavenger fish you commit a sin read it you will see it is full of contradictions and evil

@benhmiller Just to add to that list, is that if a hand causes sin it should be chopped off and if an eye causes sin it should be gouged out.

@benhmiller we grew up secular so no Bible reading for me. My sister is an anomalyπŸ™‚ but she does try to follow Jesus as she interprets his words to mean. Helping the poor, etc etc very liberal, all about social justice.

@gsiamne old testament not the Jesus part. At least that is what I was told.

@GreatNani What I used is in the New Testament.
Here it is: Matthew 5:29-30 - If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

@GreatNani Christianity is simply a follower of Jesus Christ, and his beliefs, it isn't anything to do with the Old Testament, which he reject insofar as it related to Judaism and its ritual.
The Bible wasn't meant to be taken literally and in it's entirety, nor was the New testament. The idea of cutting off body parts is meant to be read metaphorically, but the ignorant cannot see that.
It's on par with a person with a splitting headache, saying that they want to cut it off, no-one rushes to get them sectioned for being a danger to themselves.

3

Yes, I'll admit that I have a truly decent Christian ONCE in my life, that was the late and lamented Reverend Brian Nicholls,a Methodist Minister.
He alone helped me through a very tough time in my teenage years, NOT by spouting endless bible rubbish, etc, BUT by merely sitting, listening and talking with me and not AT me.

2

One of my best friends is a Christian. He’s a great guy.

1

my first exposure to christians was anything but nice, but as an adult i met many nice christians, none of them super religious, one i can think of rather dedicated to his catholicism and yet openminded and not pushy. his catholicism meant a lot to him and it wasn't something he felt other people had to join him in; it was personal. we had a lot of cool conversations about it. there are no evangelicals who won't be, or try to be, invasive. it just doesn't happen.

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