What would you say is the common conception of christianity? I believe the message Jesus was trying to convey was one of peace, deliverence from suffering, cultivation of limitless love and compassion for everyone by everyone, becoming non-judgemental, and ultimately trusting in Jesus by aspiring to act and think like he did (a by-product of this is your own savior).

However, what I would say the majority of people think christianity is about (in my limited opinion) is saving themselves. They ignore almost every message of Jesus except for "he died for our sins, so we are forgiven." Religion and God are not their first priority, they rarely uphold the teachings, they preach their limited understanding of the message to others who are put off christianity and spirituality because of misunderstanding.

There is another kind of christian that i've come across that is usually over 40 years of age. An example is the chaplain of the christian school that I work at. He is very closed minded, preaches without discussion, dismisses any questions that seem to attack his rigid beliefs or provoke thought. There are a lot of these types around...

I think (mainstream) christianity is headed in the opposite direction to where it should be headed. There are many christians who uphold the teachings and are open minded about things, but the outward image of christianity (which is important because its the image that non-christians are exposed to) is not very appealing.

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