Comparison of Statistics and Basics

Comparison of Origins and History

Comparison of Religious Beliefs

Tables courtesy of www.religionfacts.com.

This is very obviously a highly simplified summary and I’ve posted it just to show how very similar the views of three of the largest and most successful religions of the world are.  I think it’s safe for me to say that one of Bill’s aims here at Friendly Christian is to strip away much of the nonsense of religion and to focus on the core lessons that can be gleaned from faith in a higher power.  I would ask that you spend a few moments looking over these tables and then ask yourself if you are so different from your neighbours on this Earth.

Even I, who hold to none of these religious beliefs, can see how closely we are linked.  My wish for the New Year is that we can all work together to bridge the gap and build a better future for our planet.  What’s your New Year wish?

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This is my first Christmas as a real blogger.

All of the big name bloggers have been giving tip after tip on how to maintain your readership during this slow time.

• Write “best of” lists.
• Reflect back on high times.
• Reflect back on low times.
• Quote past comments.

I’ve decided to take a different route: spend time with my family and loved ones and put the worries of blogging aside for a few days.

Merry Christmas. Yes, I said Christmas. No, that’s not a cross behind me (anybody get that?).

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Today is my last day at work. I’m so excited that I have to say it again, only this time I’m gonna yell it: today is my last day at work.

I have the next 3 weeks off. School begins January 7th. I’ll be working (here) two days a week; Tues & Thurs.

My mom is in town for the Christmas season. Our goal is to be as chill as possible.

Call us unoriginal or cliche, that’s fine. Here’s a list of the movies that we’ll be watching:

Elf

Will Ferrell. Enough said.

A Christmas Story

Does anybody else want to celebrate when Ralphie beats up that red-headed bully?

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

One of my all-time favorite movies. Our family can pretty much quote the entire movie. Want to buy me a Christmas present? Go here.

Home Alone

I Am Legend

The new Will Smith movie. I don’t know a whole lot about it other than the fact that Will Smith is in it (which pretty much guarantees that it’ll be good). Anybody see it yet?

The Office

Yes, I know this isn’t a movie…it’s a TV series. This show (mind you that I had never seen it prior to 3 weeks ago) has quickly become one of my favorite shows ever. I’ve watched every episode made thanks to Netflix. Yep, it only took me 3 weeks. Dwight Schrute for president!

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My friend and FriendlyChristian author Deb left a comment in yesterday’s post, “Televangelists Are Easy Targets.” She said:

Yet, I think it is best said to preach at all times, and when necessary, use words.

This definitely wasn’t the first time I’ve ever heard this comment, as I hope it’s not the last. Every time I hear it, though, I can’t help but like it even more.

In search for my Holy Discontent, I’ve been able to narrow in a bit more:

• I want to put my faith into action. I don’t want to be an idle repository of knowledge.

• I want to always be as real as I can be. I am flawed and am the chief of sinners. I will remain exposed and transparent.

• I want to embrace people for who they are, where they are.

• I want to keep it simple

Yep.

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Secretly, I have much more patience and understand towards non-Christ followers than I do Christ followers. Ok, so it’s not really a secret…sue me.

So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God. 1 John 3:10

Wonderful.

I love them, God…they just frustrate me. Does that still count? I read Matt 23 and I actually get excited!

Don’t have hurt feelings. I’m not talking about you………….or am I?

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The other day I was watching a televangelist (entertainment purposes). I quickly realized that this dude, a prosperity preacher, was talking trash about preachers who don’t preach prosperity. “Ridiculous,” I thought to myself. Then I thought back to all the times that my favorite preachers have done the exact same thing - given their sarcastic two cents about the prosperity preachers.

No wonder people are confused. No wonder Christians are easy targets. We’re shooting each other. We’ve lost focus. We’re sitting idle.

The more I learn, pray, study, and experience, the easier it is for me to think I’ve got it all figured out…making it easier and easier to be critical of other Christians.

I don’t want to be like that. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: all I can do is be the example. If others want to follow - great.

I hope I can find more constructive ways to use my time. The easy targets are mere distractions.

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I have copied and pasted many of the questions from Bill’s link to Friendly Atheist questions to the Friendly Christian forum. I’ve almost certainly missed a few.

I hope people will continue the debate here as it’s getting difficult to keep track of the questions and answers over there and there.  I also don’t want to see the forum close down and would like to ask the FC readers to extend an invitation on their own blogs for visitors here.

I believe that honest discussion and open debate are healthy and sharing ideas makes everyone smarter.

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An interesting read for Atheists and Christians alike.

A controversial Christmas card reading “O come all ye faithless” has been strongly criticized by Christians as an “ill judged and insensitive joke.” Borders book stores began giving away the card free with every copy of Richard Dawkins’ well known atheist work, The God Delusion, this Christmas.

The Rev. Jonathan Edwards, general secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain. said the idea was “crass.”

He continued, “Christians have always been used to being punch bags but I would have hoped that, in a society in which we are seeking to show respect to all people and beliefs, we might have grown out of this kind of nonsense.”

“Borders wouldn’t do this to any other religious festival. Borders [has] made a strategic mistake and Christians will boycott it.”

Oh good, another boycott. We all know how much good comes out of Christians boycotting stuff. Sigh…

In Borders defense…

“Our customers are intelligent, curious people who enjoy exploring all types of books and music. Naturally, some of the thousands of books and music selections we carry could be considered controversial or objectionable depending on individual views, tastes and interest,” Borders said in a statement.

Read the full article here.

(via ChristianPost.com)

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If you follow sites like ProBlogger, Lorelle on Wordpress, and The Blog Herald, you’ll be often reminded how important it is to engage your readers:

• Email them personally when they comment for the first time.
• Thank them for reading.
• Send out personal emails when your readers start to drift away.
• Go comment on their page and leave a link to your own (Hey, I wrote this post - check it out).
• Study your numbers (visitors vs uniques, length of time per visitor, clicks, etc).

Truth be told, I don’t have that kind of time. I wish I did, though. I wish I could welcome each first time commenter with a big “WELCOME” and a smiley face. I wish I had the time to interact with our readers more…participate in blog conversations, etc. I understand that we’re in our “Dip” (Seth Godin) right now. I realize that it’s time for us to strive, not survive. With limited resources, it’s a tough task at hand.

It’s my prayer that God will continue to develop this site. I pray that we’ll end up with a committed staff (no clue to what extent) who will do the things I’ve mentioned above.

I absolutely love the concept of this site. I’m working on coming up with a mission statement.

I know some of you have told me before that this whole site concept isn’t anything groundbreaking or new. I agree with you. The thing is, though, I want to do it better than it’s ever been done before. I want to take it to the next level. I want to reach the world. I believe that we can be the best in the world. I’m not satisfied with what we (Christians) have been lead to believe it means to be a follower of Christ. I’m not satisfied with the mold we’ve created that Christians are supposed to be made from/into. And as a result, I’m not satisfied with the perception people have of Christians.

I’m gonna do something about it. I will be moved to action. This is my holy discontent.

With all this said, consider this my formal apology, loyal FC’ers. I’m trying my very best to be the best host I can be. I’m humbled that you guys continue to read. As usual, I’m honored that you guys are along for my journey.

Shalom

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Hemant from FriendlyAtheist.com has given his readers an awesome opportunity:

Christians, post your questions for Atheists here.

Atheists, post your questions for Christians here.

Play nice and adhere to the “Friendly” guidelines, por favor.

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