Why do people call themselves Christians or Catholics or whatever the hell your religion is but dont actually act like it?

[mrshooiser]

[LiamJHayden]

Because were are and yet are not yet there. Peter walked with Jesus, yet ran away and denied him before becoming truly faithful till death.

Of course, many, many are just generational, what might be called C and E, practicing only o Christmas and Easter, or are weekend warriors, faithful on Sunday morning and being just like everyone else the rest of the week. And many more are just flat out fakes, not believing what they hear or, for many from the pulpit, teach.

But even for the faithful, it can be a struggle like the late Dana Key, descendent of Francis Scott Key of "Star-Spangled Banner" fame, once sang.

""I don't wanna be, I don't wanna be a casual Christian
I don't wanna live, I don't wanna live a lukewarm life
'Cause I wanna light up the night with an everlasting light
I don't wanna live a casual Christian life."

That is my struggle much of the time.

[strateguy632]

I loved those clever titles for category "weekend warriors" or just "c&e Christian ".

[BarryLiverstone]

Everyone sins. There are no perfect people and evil exists to tempt us all. So while you may expect a Christian to have responsibility and boundaries, even they can give into that sin and fall from God.

[strateguy632]

Well you probably have EXPECTATIONS how you expect them to talk... all super sensitive... but that is woke talk rules, not real... But technicaly, "acting like a catholic" really means attending mass weekly, and frequent Confession, so yeh, catholic leaders wrote, most catholics, in name only, are "not real catholics," same as muslims who don't worship 5 times a day or do show her neck.

In contrast, protestants emphasized book romans and ephesians, the MAIN part is faith,(fulfilled prophecy Jeremiah) so "acting' is not only vague, but also less important.

People having the faith therefore call themselves Christians. This affects stats too! Only "practicing" counts , so those who don't practice can't be included in stats , except the branch of faith.

[Anonymous]

Unless they have a bad relationship with the church or their parents, people just adopt their parents religion.
They don't practice but they grew up that way and still celebrate holidays like Easter or Christmas, so if someone ask them, they'll just say that.

[slatyb]

They only profess religion because that's what their tribe demands.

[Gwendoline]

Because let he or she without sin cast the first stone.

[strateguy632]

But catholics need to be "practicing" or they are not considered, by catholics, to be catholics.

[Gwendoline]

@strateguy632 A lapsed Catholic is someone who was raised in or baptized into the Catholic faith but no longer actively practices it, though they may still identify as Catholic. This non-practice can manifest in various ways, such as ceasing regular attendance at Mass or sacraments, or no longer believing in or observing essential aspects of Catholic doctrine and teachings. The term often implies a desire to return to the faith and can also be distinguished from someone who has formally left and joined another religion.

[BCRanger10]

What do you define as "acting like it"?

[exitseven]

People are brought up in the church and even though they are hypocrites and are sinners they still believe that they are members of the church.

[loveyouoak]

Because it's really hard to follow all the rules of a religion, so many people just say which religion they belong to and leave it at that.

[Colin234234]

Hypocrisy