Christianity

[JHDK]

But I don't subscribe to the idea there's big white-bearded caucasian father-figure in a gated community in the sky who is simultaneously a white hippie carpenter and a blessed version of a Scooby Doo criminal who insists we devote our earthly life to honoring him and begging him for forgiveness

IDK SadC. I can totally get that viewpoint but it's also kinda comfortable to think that God sent a part of him down to us to teach us his ways and become a symbol of what we can all be at our best.

I'm not an insane person, I know it's nearly 100% likely it's all a bunch of BS...But even still, its a nice story. I guess that's where the whole faith thing comes in, which makes logical arguments difficult.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

The view that God looks like an old bearded white guy comes from old bearded white guys descriptions of God. But I believe (and I have virtually no quotes from the bible to back this up just my belief) that God is what the person seeing him/her wants or needs him/her to be. If 3 people look at God they will simultaneously see 3 different images each tuned to their own eyes. A black woman may see a black woman, an old bearded white guy may see an old bearded white guy. Arguing about how he/she looks or anything else is stupid. Nobody has seen Him/Her or at least recognized Him when he/she saw Him/Her.

 

[JHDK]

God is what the person seeing him/her wants or needs him/her to be

I like that a lot and completely agree. Isn't that the whole point? He is in our image.

Once again, it's just nice to me to think (maybe believe) in a entity higher than we can understand. I mean, how could this all just be a lucky accident?

 

[scotchandcigar]

It's a good thing we don't talk about politics or religion here, otherwise, we'd be in trouble.

 

[JHDK]

It's a good thing we don't talk about politics or religion here, otherwise, we'd be in trouble.

hahah, yea. but I think we are being very polite about it so far here.

I mean, we have more or less trimmed this forum down to all people we can trust to not be assholes. We may disagree on a bunch of stuff, but even in our arguments we maintain civility. We should thank Aaron and Hectic for that.

 

[sadchild]

I guess that's where the whole faith thing comes in, which makes logical arguments difficult.

True. And it's nice to think there's a chance at something nice after death here. But when people start talking about their pets going over the rainbow bridge, that's where I have to hold myself back.

it's just nice to me to think (maybe believe) in a entity higher than we can understand

Agreed. I just choose not to define it, and say THIS IS WHAT IT IS even though I can't prove it BUT I'M CERTAIN AND YOU SHOULD BE TOO (which some religious people tend to do, and not just Christians). Maybe everything in the Bible is accurate. Personally, I just doubt it.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

True. And it's nice to think there's a chance at something nice after death here. But when people start talking about their pets going over the rainbow bridge, that's where I have to hold myself back.



Agreed. I just choose not to define it, and say THIS IS WHAT IT IS even though I can't prove it BUT I'M CERTAIN AND YOU SHOULD BE TOO (which some religious people tend to do, and not just Christians). Maybe everything in the Bible is accurate. Personally, I just doubt it.

The Rainbow Bridge comment is fightin' words!

Nothing in the bible should be taken literally. It was all written figuratively and it is only now that some people are taking it literally. Plus it has been edited translated and edited over the years. If you don't read ancient greek and/or hebrew you can't even say you are reading the right interpretation (not that that would get you a literal interpretation).

 

[scotchandcigar]

And it's nice to think there's a chance at something nice after death here.

I believe that when I go through those pearly gates, I'll be reacquainted with all the defunct DRC members. Except Hyson.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

I believe that when I go through those pearly gates, I'll be reacquainted with all the defunct DRC members. Except Hyson.

Isn't that more like Hell?

 

[JHDK]

If Heaven includes Hyson it's definitely a Good Place situation.

 

[sadchild]

Nothing in the bible should be taken literally.

That's a relief!

When you go out to battle against your enemies, and the LORD your God delivers them into your hands and you take them away captive, and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and have a desire for her and would take her as a wife for yourself, then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and trim her nails. She shall also remove the clothes of her captivity and shall remain in your house, and mourn her father and mother a full month; and after that you may go in to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife.

If any man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or his mother, and when they chastise him, he will not even listen to them, then his father and mother shall seize him, and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gateway of his hometown. They shall say to the elders of his city, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey us, he is a glutton and a drunkard.' Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so you shall remove the evil from your midst, and all Israel will hear of it and fear.

 

[scotchandcigar]

This case is so full of bullshit, I don't know where to start.

Nun admits to stealing over $835,000 from her school to help finance gambling habit, feds say | CNN

A now-retired nun will plead guilty to wire fraud and money laundering charges for stealing more than $835,000 for gambling and other personal expenses from the Southern California school that she ran, federal prosecutors say.

www.cnn.com

 

[sadchild]

That's sexist!! When a guy involved with a Catholic organization breaks the law, he's just quietly moved to another location so he can keep breaking the law. But a female does it and she gets busted? So not fair!

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

That's sexist!! When a guy involved with a Catholic organization breaks the law, he's just quietly moved to another location so he can keep breaking the law. But a female does it and she gets busted? So not fair!

No, if she had been caught raping a choir boy she would have been relocated. Anybody steeling money from the mother church is busted.

 

[scotchandcigar]

No, if she had been caught raping a choir boy she would have been relocated. Anybody steeling money from the mother church is busted.

But she feels remorseful, and she did good things until she developed "mental illness" which compelled her to steal almost a million dollars over a period of decades through a carefully planned scheme. And there's no mention of the fact that all that money's gone from wherever it was, and it's never coming back. She's just a criminal, and the church makes all these excuses for her.

 

[sadchild]

 

[HecticArt]

No, if she had been caught raping a choir boy she would have been relocated. Anybody steeling money from the mother church is busted.

Because their money is more important to them than the other thing. Some sins can’t be forgiven….

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

Because their money is more important to them than the other thing. Some sins can’t be forgiven….

Technically there is a commandment "Thou shalt not steal". There is no commandment that says "Thou shalt not bang the choirboy".

 

[sadchild]

Some sins can’t be forgiven….

While we're on the subject

Matthew 12:31
And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.

If someone rejects God and says blasphemous things as a teen, but then repents later in life and believes etc, are they forgiven at the ol' gates o' pearls?

There is no commandment that says "Thou shalt not bang the choirboy".

Exodus 20:17
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.

If you live next door to the choirboy's dad, you've sinned. Otherwise, you're fine.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

While we're on the subject

Matthew 12:31
And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.

If someone rejects God and says blasphemous things as a teen, but then repents later in life and believes etc, are they forgiven at the ol' gates o' pearls?


Exodus 20:17
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.

If you live next door to the choirboy's dad, you've sinned. Otherwise, you're fine.

I guess he comes under the anything clause.