Why does the word Christian equal good?

[ikojo]

I was thinking about this as I read a post in another forum. Someone had written that the Christian right thinks Bush is good (Christian moral).

I just wonder why it is that many people think the synonym for good is Christian. For instance whenever a person does something for another, people will often say "that was very Christian of them" even though they may not know whether that person is Christian or not. Why don't people say, "that was very Jewish of them."

I suspect that if someone used the phrase, "that was very Jewish of them" a WHOLE different concept would emerge and it would not be one of charity. The concept of charity (tzedakah) is built right in the very fabric of an observant Jews' life. I have a friend from a wealthy Jewish family who took some gift certificates she had been given and bought school clothes for children of a friend.

As a Jew I don't look upon the word "Christian" as being synonymous with good. History is replete with acts of Christian "goodness," Crusades, pogroms and other acts of genocide against those deemed non believers (Jews and Muslims in Europe and indigenous peoples in this hemisphere). For the most part I tend to view those who call themselves Christian as being only self interested or interested only in those who look like themselves.

Perhaps this is a result of the right-wing branding of Christianity by Pat Robertson and his ilk. Maybe if there was a more active and out left-wing Christian movement I would not feel as I do.

Discuss....Does Christian mean good?

[MercutioATC]

1. I think it comes from living in a primarily Judeo-Christian society

but it's a great question. I've never heard it put that way before.

[ClassWarrior]

2. It depends on how it's used.

If it's used to mean Christ-like, it means good, since Christ was good. If it's used to mean organized Christianity, it does not necessarily mean good. There are MANY instances of evil done in the name of Christianity.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. No

however, if people followed the teachings of Jesus, their acts would be good. Problem is that so many perport to be Christians but don't want to bother with the teachings. Don't get me wrong-I have no problem with anyone practicing his faith (or lack of it). I do have a problem when they get in your face with it or get this quaint notion that their concept of God is better than anyone else's.

Shalom.

[LiberalVoice]

4. No

I too get confused when people say stuff like "Of course I never did that! I was raised catholic(or christian)". All I can think is...wtf is that supposed to mean? I mean most christians don't actually practice the religion properly but only when it seems good for them.

Hypocrisy.

[displacedtexan]

5. Actually, the word "Good" equals "God."

(English is a Germanic language.)

To be good is to be like God (the Christian God, formerly known as The God Of Abraham).

This is why I'm told that, as an atheist, I can't possibly be a "good" person.

[Nimrod]

7. Another evildoer here

I find it humorous that in the rush to ban anything that could encourage violence, intolerance, or evil deeds, nobody pays any attention to the Bible.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. That's not what my dictionary says

In fact, it explicitly denies that:

god: O.E god; Ger. Gott, Goth. guth, Du. god; all from a Gmc. root guth- God, and quite distinct from good.

good: O.E. gõd; Du. goed, Ger. gut, O.N. gõthr, Goth. gõths

(Note: õ should be an 'o' with a long straight bar above it ,btu I can't find one of those in this character set)

[poliguru]

12. Most dictionaries don't go back much further than Old English

if they can establish it to that. But Old English is a blend of several languages, such as Anglo and Saxon and Norse. So previous to Old English, "God" and "good" may have been equated. I don't know for sure, because I'm not a linguist. I'm just speculating.

As others have said, when people say "That was Christian," they are referring to the tenets of Christ. There are a lot more Christians in the US than anything else, so that's why "Christian" is chosen instead. I'm betting that if you lived in a non-Christian country, like Israel or Iran, it would be different (can you imagine the Ayatollah praising his people by calling them Christian? lol).

It has to be frustrating, though, being a minority religion in a country that's supposed to be so tolerant. I think with the last two pres. elctions, we've shown some pretty ugly colors in relation to Jews.

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. I'm not a linguist either

but my dictionary (Chambers English) was written by one - that's why I showed that it says the words are not related, going back to the Germanic root.

If you actually think back to the polytheistic European past, there would be no reason to associate the word for 'god' - of whom there were many, both good and evil, with 'good'. I've also looked this up the Oxford English Dictionary - it suggests there may be a relation between 'good' and 'gather'; but not 'god'.

[poliguru]

19. What I meant was

that Germanic isn't necessarily the root languages - there were languages before that. At least that's what was explained to me. But I could be wrong.

[hexola]

6. Christians think they have an exclusive on morality...(nt)

[Cheswick2.0]

21. We do?

[Zynx]

30. I was unaware that I hold that opinion.

That's a new one to me.

[renegade000]

9. if you're a true christian

you know the whole love everyone as thyself...

pity that is quite rare

[seabeyond]

10. good point, i hear this often in my world

so in gigle next time i hear, i will ask how they dont know it was very jewish or islamic of them, and see the response. will let you know, lol lol lol lol. just in laughter at the surprised face i see i will get

funny funny. i like to play

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[DemBones DemBones]

13. When people say "that was very Christian of them," they are

simply saying "they acted in accordance with their beliefs." Since Christianity teaches that we should do what is good, the comment means that their actions were good.

However, other religions, including yours, teach that we should do what is good. Ethical systems also teach that we should do what is good.

People say "that was very Christian of them" because the expression arose among Christians.

People don't say "that was very Jewish of them" or "that was very Buddhist of them" because those expressions have never arisen among Jews or Buddhists.

***

Your comment

"For the most part I tend to view those who call themselves Christian as being only self interested or interested only in those who look like themselves"

certainly paints with a broad brush.

[ikojo]

14. I agree but I then go on to say that my feelings arise out

of a right-wing branding of Christianity.

[DemBones DemBones]

24. Obnoxious Christians, like obnoxious Jews,

make things difficult for other Christians/ Jews by causing people to form stereotypes about all Christians/ Jews.

Right-wing religious people want to dominate the discourse, if not the world. Thus you have right-wing Christians who maintain only they are morally good and right-wing Jews who maintain only they are morally good. Chabad Lubavitch is as bad as the Christian examples you gave but it operates under the radar, despite the giving of awards to Joe Lieberman and Ari Fleischer, and the Washington Lubavitcher rabbi who is influential with Congress.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[murray hill farm]

17. Born again Christians?

AS a retired private practice psychotherapist, we used to say that the only real treatment for a sociopath was to be a born again christian...and it works too...ha! A sociopath cannot put themselves in the place of another person...cannot grasp that another's pain is the same as their own..so their behavior is not controlled by a conscience that allows for that understanding..and they also want so much to be liked and admired...but can only copy the behavior of others who are admired and liked...Born again Christian works well for them...very defined rules of behavior so that they can finally know what to do to be a good person...one of the reasons born agains try sooooo hard to get you to join up and be saved...because they cannot perceive of the fact that others have their own belief based on being able to put yourself in the others place and reason that..."i don't hurt others because i know that it hurts them in the same way i hurt"...so bottom line is...lots of sociopaths find their way through christianity...and it works for them....makes them...."good" in the society. I think this is true of a lot of folks that cannot figure that out themselves...how to be "good" in the world.

[Cheswick2.0]

22. I think that's an ignorant cliche` first foisted on us by some overzelous

World theology 101 instructor.

[murray hill farm]

28. ha!

maybe so....i dont know that...but my practice was in the south...where i saw it again and again...it was kind of a joke..that born agains were the only treatment, but then again...well...it proves to be so true and it really does work for a lot of folks. Now,i am not putting down Born again Christians...or saying that all Born agains are sociopaths...and in so many ways, i am grateful that it does work so well...its not easy being a sociopath...very difficult life...very, very difficult...and this does help such folks very, very much.

[DemBones DemBones]

27. "Misquitoes"? Women who've won beauty contests in Ecuador's

capital? :shrug:

[Zynx]

31. More people have been killed in the name of nationalism than anything.

Very few leaders have truly believed in starting wars to spread Christianity. You must seperate public statements from private beliefs.

[GAspnes]

18. 2,000 years of PR

Don't underestimate the public relations campaign we've been exposed to for two millennia.

[Cheswick2.0]

23. Wow, you're old

Two millenia ago had most people even heard about Christ? :silly:

[ElsewheresDaughter]

20. "Christian" abuse of the Native American People...yeah sure it's = to good

Boys pray before bedtime with Father Keyes, St. Mary's Mission School, Omak. (© Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture/Eastern Washington State Historical Society, Spokane, WA)


Amnesty Now > Soul Wound

Soul Wound:
The Legacy of Native American Schools

U.S. and Canadian authorities took Native children from their homes and tried to school, and sometimes beat, the Indian out them. Now Native Americans are fighting the theft of language, of culture, and of childhood itself.

Andrea Smith (Cherokee) is interim coordinator for the Boarding School Healing Project and a Bunche Fellow coordinating AIUSA’s research project on Sexual Violence and American Indian women.

A little while ago, I was supposed to attend a Halloween party. I decided to dress as a nun because nuns were the scariest things I ever saw,” says Willetta Dolphus, 54, a Cheyenne River Lakota. The source of her fear, still vivid decades later, was her childhood experience at American Indian boarding schools in South Dakota.

Dolphus is one of more than 100,000 Native Americans forced by the U.S. government to attend Christian schools. The system, which began with President Ulysses Grant’s 1869 “Peace Policy,” continued well into the 20th century. Church officials, missionaries, and local authorities took children as young as five from their parents and shipped them off to Christian boarding schools; they forced others to enroll in Christian day schools on reservations. Those sent to boarding school were separated from their families for most of the year, sometimes without a single family visit. Parents caught trying to hide their children lost food rations.

Virtually imprisoned in the schools, children experienced a devastating litany of abuses, from forced assimilation and grueling labor to widespread sexual and physical abuse. Scholars and activists have only begun to analyze what Joseph Gone (Gros Ventre), a psychology professor at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, calls “the cumulative effects of these historical experiences across gender and generation upon tribal communities today.”

“Native America knows all too well the reality of the boarding schools,” writes Native American Bar Association President Richard Monette, who attended a North Dakota boarding school, “where recent generations learned the fine art of standing in line single-file for hours without moving a hair, as a lesson in discipline; where our best and brightest earned graduation certificates for homemaking and masonry; where the sharp rules of immaculate living were instilled through blistered hands and knees on the floor with scouring toothbrushes; where mouths were scrubbed with lye and chlorine solutions for uttering Native words.”

more..
http://www.amnestyusa.org/amnestynow/soulwound.html

[skygazer]

25. Excellent points

Language is very telling. It's true nobody says, "That was a Jewish thing to do" but you do hear people say, "Yeah, I tried to Jew him down on the price" or other disparaging remarks. Most people don't even think about it when they say these things - I used to date a Jewish guy and someone said that right to his face without a flinch. I was appalled.

I think much of it comes from the fact that Christians have always been a majority in this country and the majority has a tendency to think they're the force of good. At the same time, it makes it easy to treat those who are different with a casual disregard, so ingrained that it's not even noticed by those who do it.

Look at missionaries. They really believe they are a force of good, bringing "the word" to poor heathens. The intentions are good but look at the misery that this has caused in many instances. Whole cultures wiped out, a way of life gone, ancient religions lost. Arrogant behavior. Is that Christian?

[Cheswick2.0]

26. Why yes, yes it does

All Christians are good. Now other people can be good but it's usually by mistake because, of course, non christians don't really have the moral teachings to make a real choice to be good. For instance when a Jew or an Atheist is good it is kind of like a broken clock, even a broken clock can be right twice a day.

There is a left wing christian movement, it's just that we aren't on TV because we are too busy doing GOOD to hang around talking on TV. We leave that to our equally good right wing brethren because of course being Christians, they are every bit as GOOD as we are.

[kimchi]

29. Yes, as long as it is describing an action Christ would have done.

Far too often it is only vaguely identified with good. Bush is not Christian, nor is he moral, IMHO.

I think it is funny that my sister keeps saying "We should submit to our governments" when Bush wants to go to war, but "We need to make laws conforming to what God wants" when it comes to abortion. We all know Jesus would neither advocate for war nor condemn a woman's decision. So in that sense, it "Christian" equals "good" much less than it should.

Excellent question by the way.

[Zynx]

32. Those of us Christians who truly follow the teachings of Christ are.

There are those who call themselves "Christians" simply because it is acceptable in society or for the purpose of manipulating those who at least pretend to be faithful. For instance, Hitler didn't personally believe a word of any religious teaching, but yet invoked God and Christ frequently to manipulate German Christians into following Nazism.

[IronLionZion]

33. Some of the most horrendous acts in history...

have been Christian acts. Like the Crusades, Spanish Inquisition, and so on. "Christian" does not mean good but there are plenty of good Christians.

The "Christian right" are not the right Christians