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Ok, now let me get one thing clear right from the start. I know that parts of this post are probably going to piss alot of people off. It seems there's always some thin-skinned individual who gets touchy whenever any aspect of religion is criticised. If you are that type of person I reccomend you simply skip this section. The probable result of your ignoring my warning is an angry letter to me indicating that you have not believed a single thing I said. In such cases, it would be better to save your time and my patience simply by skipping this post.

And for those of you who ignore this warning, let me give you a few tips. Before writing an angry letter, simply take yourself away from the computer a bit, let your mind run over the problem, gather your objections, fomat them into coherent arguments, and begin writing with a clear and focused mind. One of my pet peeves is people who do not make sense. Brining a coherent argument to the table is much more effective than rage-fueled gibberish. After all, even the bible states (whether directly or indirectly) that where and when you focus your energy makes a big difference in the results.

And now, after that digression, Let's get to the meat of the subject.
These are common mistakes that those who call themselves "christian" make. They are usually easily made and understandable, but can have extremely negative results under the right circumstances.

1) the one verse doctrine: It may or may not be common knowledge among the major churches, but It is certainly reasonable to believe, that you can find a single verse in the bible to suppourt absolutely any doctrine you can come up with. No matter how virtuous, misguided, silly, or evil the idea is it can probably be found in the bible. Never trust anyone who feeds you single verses out of context. First of all, all major ideas and concepts that christianity puts forth can be found nearly anywhere in the bible. That is to say they are repeated over and over and over everywhere in the book. Therefore anything important you have to point out should be in at least two places in the bible. Secondly, there is the context. This is important because many verses that can be made to sound like they support a doctrine by themselves are really referring to something else. I have seen many of these used in my lifetime. It may be difficult for christians to always check their material, but I urge you to do so. Such things are immensly usefull in determining truth and maintaining fair judgement.

2) Taking people's word for it: I don't care how smart or learned anyone is. Any good christian will tell you not to take their word for it, but to look it up in the bible yourself. Do not take people's word as fact even though they have no reason to lie to you and are wise enough to know better. If they are talking religion, look it up. Everyone makes mistakes (see the above) and these mistakes get perpetuated quickly. Checking the source is a good way to make sure these things never happen.

3) The sin of the year: Now I know everyone is going to jump on this, but it's true. Christianity is prone to a dangerous trend towards fads. The worst of these fads is to focus on a single sin (or two) and declare it above all other sins. For instance, if you shoplift something from a store, that's bad. If you rob someone at gunpoint, that's terrible. If you are gay, however, that's Really Terrible. I mean, seriously, all those things are bad from a biblical point of view, but, according to the bible every single one of those has the exact same punishment. Lusting after someone's wife and shooting someone in an alley land you in the exact same spot. Now, it's reasonable to assume that some things are easier to become reformed from than others. Also, some sins have lasting repercussions that may also cause others to sin. In these ways, It is reasonable to assume that not all sins should be equally addressed. The phenomenon mentioned above, however simply seems to occur because a certain sentiment towards certain sins are becoming popular and people are jumping on the bandwagon. Judgement, Rationality, and, most of all, a Sense of Proportion are needed here.

Well, that seems to cover the three main problems. I might write about a few more trivial things later, but it's late right now, so I will simply stop right here. For those of you who are christian, pray, and read the bible, fight the good fight. For others who read this, please realize that those who practice these things I mention continue to call themselves "christian" but give christianity a bad name, driving many people away from the churches. I would urge you to who have the ability to try to remedy these problems. Thank you for your patience and your attention. Goodnight.