Beware of Christians!

Website: bewareofchristians.com
It is "a movie about leaving religion to follow Jesus"

How about that! Anyway, I watched the movie a while ago and took some notes. Here are those notes...

What happens when we give up on religion and try following Jesus? (and what does that look like? in a day to day aspect, what does it look like to give up religion and follow Jesus?)

An observation: we (Christians) are just as crazy about worldly stuff as everyone else. (obviously this is a generalization, but those do come from the general trend of things. So I think it is worth considering.)

Why don't we ask older people who have been through it before? (when it comes to getting through tough situations and handling things we aren't sure about; why do we go to others who are still trying to figure things out, instead of those who at least have the benefit of hindsight? I think the reason is pride/selfishness.)

If physical intimacy is for marriage, how can we have a physical relationship (and feel ok about it)? (also, what does it mean to have a physical relationship?)

Jesus didn't come to establish a new religion, He came to establish the Kingdom of God. (I think this is a big one that nearly everyone looks over at some point or another.)

What is our role, as Christians, to the poor? --> You wouldn't let your friend be cold or starving or thirsty, would you?

What does it look like to put Jesus in the parts of our lives that we are trying to keep Him out of?

[As Christians, we should be] living for something much bigger than [our own lives/happiness]. (the thing I actually wrote was "we're living for something much bigger than ourselves." but I think some explaining is helpful)

And then a bunch of Bible verses that, if I remember correctly, gave a rough outline of the different parts of the movie: Acts 2:42, Luke 12:34, Jeremiah 17:9, 1 John 2:15, 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5

And lastly: (I wrote this on top of a t-shirt design because I ran out of room on the flyer the gave us) Would you say that [insert name of person here] is not a Christian because of their actions?
Likewise, would someone looking at your life say that you aren't a Christian based on your actions?

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One of my former Bible study leaders liked to give the analogy that the Bible is like a mirror. As we look into it, it shows us a reflection of who we are and where we are flawed. However, if you try to use the Bible to look at other people, it doesn't work that way; the reflection gets distorted because that is not how its supposed to be used. Does that make sense? He can explain it a lot better than I can.

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye." -Jesus (Matthew 7:1-5)

Knowing, doing, thinking

The words could possibly be changed, as far as the order of them goes. But anyway. Here is what I'm thinking about.

Knowing - that knows; having knowledge or information; intelligent. (in other words, to know something, to be aware of it)

Doing - the act of performing or executing : action

Thinking - to employ one's mind rationally and objectively in evaluating or dealing with a given situation

Alright, there are some definitions from the internet. But even if you just look at the words, all of them have the good old suffix -ing. This implies that there is something happening, it is a current action or state (from the internet: expressing the action of the verb or its result, product, material, etc.)
So all of these words could be classified as 'active.' Each of them means you are doing something. But I suppose some might disagree. "Knowing," it can be argued, "is not really active, it is simply a passive state of being." I would say that is fair, but there is still that suffix to deal with. If it helps, let's just take it out: Know. Or, To Know. ok. good.

So, to know something is passive. It isn't doing (that is one of the words already!) something, is it? Is it more of the result of doing something? You read a book, you know what is in it. You talk to a person, you know (hopefully!) how they are doing, what their day has been like, what they are up to, and so on. Maybe, just maybe! before you do something, you even think about it.
I think about talking with someone, then I go and do it, and then I know more about them. It is sort of a progression, huh? So is one greater than any of the others?

Is it better to know information than to do something because of the information? Is it better to think about something before doing that something? Or is it better to do something, even if you don't know everything or even if you think it might not be a good idea?

I think it depends on the situation, personally.

But, in most cases, I think doing is more productive. It may not get the desired results right away, or without thinking about what you are going to do, but it does get something done, right? So why procrastinate?

Well, procrastinating is easy. Doing things can be hard. Especially when doing something involves making a change; changes are not especially easy to enforce, or begin, or maintain. But why? If things are always changing, why do we find it hard to change? Is it that we want to stick with what is easy? We want things to just stay as they are?

I'm not sure what my point is here, but here is a quote I will end with:

We change when the pain to change is less than the pain to remain as we are. -Ed Foreman

PS- I got the definitions from a couple of dictionary websites by doing a web search. Same with the quote.