I ask people what they think of when they think of christian

biggot, intolerant, racists, homophobes, hateful, paedophiles, irrelevant, cults

I very rarely hear "graceful, kind, loving, would give you the shirt of his/her back, non judgemental, funny, relevant etc

I could go on, why dont I want to use the word christian? Because there is to many negative conotations associated with the word. I miss the intellectual discourse, being able to rationally debate all manner of subjects with people who had the same, or different POV however they could still support their POV with independent resources. It seems in many churches that intellectual discourse and moves of the spirit are mutually exclusive. If one is intellectual, then they cant move in the spirit and if one is moving in the spirit, they accept everything without taking time to find out whether it lines up with the bible.

Let me very clear, if it wasnt for Christ, I would have left this shindig called the church, it wasnt an alter call that saw me give my life back to Christ, it was a life changing encounter with the Creator. Had christians entered into the equation, I would still be a very angry practicing witch, hating God, and hating those who claim to represent him