Oftencold

Actually, I just gave you several intellectual points.

Well, the most popular Christian in living memeory would be Mother Theresa, the most popular Muslim in the would would be Osama Bin Laudin, before him I suspect that it would have been the Ayatollah Khomeini.

If you wish to claim equivalence between them you are not advised to do so but are free to.

I don't know of any terribly popular Wiccans or Buddhists, but I assume that they exist.

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Kyryahn

You're talking about popularity... from a non muslim point of view! Bin Laden is the most famous muslim for us westerns, but we're not muslims. I'm pretty sure that if you ask about Mother Theresa in a muslim country, not many people will know her. They'll have a different answer about how the most popular Christian is (it'll probably be one of the recent pedophilians exposed).
A very famous muslim is for example Shirdi Sai Baba, who was a wise man, a muslim AND an hinduist at the same time. He was preaching 2 religions and able to respect the teachings of them both. He's seen as a saint by the muslims and the hinduits. He's said to have accomplished a lot of miracles (he died in 1918).

It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind.
- Voltaire

The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border?
- Pablo Casals

Think for myself

I have met many that claim to be Christian, including yourself.

See my signature.

Ignore lists are for those that are wrong, know they are wrong, and prefer to keep being wrong without the nuisance of being told they are wrong.

lakeman

Yet it is pretty clear, at least by what we see on this forum, that Zaragrunudgeyon is no Christian. He does not believe the things that those of us who are Christians say is fundamental, he does not demonstrate the fruits of the Spirit, he is not Christlike in any way that I have seen, and there are no accompanying signs to indicate that he is a Christian either.

In short, being a Christin mean being Christlike in some important ways: one can believe the things that Christ taught, one can act like Christ wants us to act. Now go back to the OP and think about that quote. Ghandi basically said that the Christians he was observing were not Christlike. In other words the Christians he was observing were not Christians. (At it's worst that misunderstands the nature of being a Christian and at it's best that is a tautological statement that says that non- Christians are not Christians. Now Ghandi was no intellectual slouch and he understood what it meant for one's beliefs to translate into actual commitment. Perhaps that statement all along was meant to be taken loosely and understood to be a commentary on those who claimed to be what they were not rather than a commentary on actual Christians.)

The bible was clear that the path was narrow and that many would take the other path. It says that many would claim to be Christians and God would proclaim that He never knew them, it says that Christians represent a remnant.

In a country where 75% or 85% or whatever the actual number is of people who claim to be Christian the sad reality is that the real number might be more around 2%.

That is not a just government, nor is property secure under it, where the property which a man has in his personal safety and personal liberty, is violated by arbitrary seizures of one class of citizens for the service of the rest.
-James Madison-

Oftencold

I confess hat my information appears slightly out of date. A recent stud finds that Hezbollah chief Sheikh Nassan Nasrallah is the most admired leader in the Arab world, (which doesn't include the entire Islamic world of course.) Osama seems to have slipped in the polls and been replaced by another terroroist leader.

link 1
link 2

johnflesh

I agree. I do find it tough to find someone as perfect as Christ. No matter the truth of the past I think it is quite golden for anyone to present a common man as a sort of perfection, even if that man was still imperfect himself. It leads others who'd like to be good Christians to an obtainable measure. Just doesn't happen as often as we'd like.

In fact if it was so common there would be Jesus, Bob, Richard, Chris, Lester, et al who we could use as posters for good people. But even then, in Christ's time, there was only one man. One.

So up to this day and age it doesn't surprise me that man is not, for the most part, able to emulate that of a good Christian. I also like to recognize the human factor involved which usually concerns great construction and eventual deconstruction and the tests that are involved.

A good reference of this is;

"You Christians are no good fairy worshipers and it doesn't matter how much shit I talk to you because you have to forgive me or I can call you out on it."

Christopher

I understand why you agree with this statement, TFM, and I do agree for the most part. I also agree with johnflesh and think nobody could live a life exactly as Christ taught in words and by example. That does not mean there are none who try their best to do this.

Here are some other quotes from Ghandi to consider:

Quote:

<H1 style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in">If Christians would really live according to the teachings of Christ, as found in the Bible, all of India would be Christian today. – Mahatma Ghandi

Quote:

</H1>

Quote:

If it weren't for Christians, I'd be a Christian. – Mahatma Ghandi

And, here is another quote I found that goes along with this topic quite well:

Quote:

The best argument for Christianity is Christians: their joy, their certainty, their completeness. But the strongest argument against Christianity is also Christians--when they are somber and joyless, when they are self-righteous and smug in complacent consecration, when they are narrow and repressive, then Christianity dies a thousand deaths. – Joe Aldrich

Inkslinger

That's a great quote.
It certainly applies to most self proclaimed christians here.
The latter part that is.

lakeman

I thought Christopher's second quote was balanced and accurate.

The fist one:

"If Christians would really live according to the teachings of Christ, as found in the Bible, all of India would be Christian today. – Mahatma Ghandi"

expresses a sentiment that I often convict myself with and speak to other Christians in private messages all the time.

That is not a just government, nor is property secure under it, where the property which a man has in his personal safety and personal liberty, is violated by arbitrary seizures of one class of citizens for the service of the rest.
-James Madison-

Kyryahn

Well the question was about the most popular leader, not muslim in general. They couldn"t have picked Osama for example. And Nasrallah got only 26% of the polled ones voicing support for him. That's surprisingly low, considering he's seen as a symbol of resistance to western oppression. Their other leaders must really suck Actually I wonder what would be the result of the same poll in the "christian world" (Mother Theresa wouldn't show up, she wasn't the leader of a country).
You'll also notice that the same poll shows that a majority of the arab world support 2 states in Palestinia, which shows most of them don't agree with the Hezbollah who refuses to accept Israel.

It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind.
- Voltaire

The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border?
- Pablo Casals