I wanted to apologize as a Christian....

[Mr Greene]

Given the scriptures contain outright contradictions the figure for cherrypickers stands at 100%

[Brian37]

Given the scriptures contain outright contradictions the figure for cherrypickers stands at 100%

To be fair, there is no such thing as a consistent religion by any label. Like I said in the prior post every religion, bar none, has sub sects that do not agree on the interpretations of the writings or which holy person/sect to follow. 

Even with an upstart religion which all start out as. That small group may agree at first, but the larger it grows it creates competition which leads to splinter sects in the future.

[downbeatplumb]

All Christians cherry pick from the bible because everything in it directly conflicts with something else in it.

But as there is no true reading of it, however people interpret it is right, to a certain value of right.

[Drich]

....about my comments years ago stating Christians really did not cherry pick. I used to think that atheists making derogatory comments that many Christians cherry pick as being made up and atheists merely lashing out against Christians. I mean sure, cherry picking 5-10% of the Bible especially about rules from the Old Testament (such as taking a day off of work or not wearing multiple fabrics) was OK but I honestly had no idea that some Christians would cherry pick to the point they don't even believe in any part of the Bible or throw out the 75% of the Bible that scares them.

And if you are wondering (and I don't fool myself, I am pretty confident you don't care about what I have to say), this is the Facebook page that  convinced me you guys were right (Not The Kind of Christian). This is someone so insecure in their beliefs that they don't yet know their political/cultural beliefs (like promoting homosexuality) are not compatible with the Bible (the "but Jesus was so kind" type of people). And they are so many more pages it seems of people who have yet to state their views are truly incompatible with the Bible.

Are these cultural Christians who were brought up in a Christian household who are too scared to admit they are actually atheists? 

For example this a passage from the Bible. It's from 1 John. While 1:7 is my favorite verse (my signature), I know the surrounding verses are much less rosy.

"If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us."

This is their happy feel-good, BS version they will tell you while omitting all the negative text. If they post this version to you, they are purposefully committing sections of the Bible and are, in essence, lying to you.

"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

You are aware not everyone cherry picks right? That just because you or chirstians you know can't reconcile the whole of scripture does not mean others can't. It simply means your version of Christianity is not complete.

For instance, in Christianity/Biblical Christian no one can claim to be without sin yet we are still all saved. How? Because the book of Romans goes into great detail explaining that out righteousness is not dependent on where we sin or not. Our salvation is based on whether Christ did or not.

Paul tells us over and over we are all slaves to sin. This means we will never stop sinning. That means we can stop beating ourselves up over sin as it relates to salvation. As no one can master or conquer what controls/own him.

[Brian37]

....about my comments years ago stating Christians really did not cherry pick. I used to think that atheists making derogatory comments that many Christians cherry pick as being made up and atheists merely lashing out against Christians. I mean sure, cherry picking 5-10% of the Bible especially about rules from the Old Testament (such as taking a day off of work or not wearing multiple fabrics) was OK but I honestly had no idea that some Christians would cherry pick to the point they don't even believe in any part of the Bible or throw out the 75% of the Bible that scares them.

And if you are wondering (and I don't fool myself, I am pretty confident you don't care about what I have to say), this is the Facebook page that  convinced me you guys were right (Not The Kind of Christian). This is someone so insecure in their beliefs that they don't yet know their political/cultural beliefs (like promoting homosexuality) are not compatible with the Bible (the "but Jesus was so kind" type of people). And they are so many more pages it seems of people who have yet to state their views are truly incompatible with the Bible.

Are these cultural Christians who were brought up in a Christian household who are too scared to admit they are actually atheists? 

For example this a passage from the Bible. It's from 1 John. While 1:7 is my favorite verse (my signature), I know the surrounding verses are much less rosy.

"If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us."

This is their happy feel-good, BS version they will tell you while omitting all the negative text. If they post this version to you, they are purposefully committing sections of the Bible and are, in essence, lying to you.

"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

You are aware not everyone cherry picks right? That just because you or chirstians you know can't reconcile the whole of scripture does not mean others can't. It simply means your version of Christianity is not complete.

For instance, in Christianity/Biblical Christian no one can claim to be without sin yet we are still all saved. How? Because the book of Romans goes into great detail explaining that out righteousness is not dependent on where we sin or not. Our salvation is based on whether Christ did or not.

Paul tells us over and over we are all slaves to sin. This means we will never stop sinning. That means we can stop beating ourselves up over sin as it relates to salvation. As no one can master or conquer what controls/own him.

YES YOU DO, 

Drich, there is not ONE religion on the face of the planet as an umbrella label that does not have competing sub sects and individuals that cant agree as to how to follow their holy writings. EVERYONE thinks they are not cherry picking.

If you had something universal you could beat everyone to the patent office and sell your product in every nation. Religion is based on false perception, cherry picking and confirmation bias.

Humans like to claim to be good, like to claim to have the patent on morality. Most humans get sold their religions at birth. Ask a Sunni, they will claim they got the correct interpretation of the Koran and are not cherry picking. Ask a Shiite they will also claim they are not cherry picking. Ask a Tibet Buddhist, they will claim they are not cherry picking. Ask a Chinese Buddhist they will claim they are not cherry picking. Ask a Japanese Shinto Buddhist, they will claim they are not cherry picking. As a Obama voting Baptist they will claim they are not cherry picking. Ask a Trump voting baptist they will claim they are not cherry picking. Ask an Irish Catholic same thing, ask a Irish protestant, same thing.

7 billion humans and magically, lucky us we were lucky enough to run into you. Nope sorry, you are cherry picking.

[Drich]

In my lifetime Mark 10:11 went from 'damn right!' to optional to positively old fashioned, to freely ignored.

No shit, Princess Margaret (Queen Elizabeth's sister) could not marry her beloved Captain Townsend (decorated war hero, BTW) since he was married and divorced, when they were dating in the early 60s because in those days, Christian marriage was deemed to be indissoluble.

When's the last time (outside of me, here) have any of you heard anyone in public say anything like 'Christian marriage is indissoluble' ??

Anyone getting worked up about Jesus and His silly ideas about how He thinks marriage otta be conducted could very well be institutionalized, and they could very well find themselves being institutionalized by folks claiming vigorously they are, in fact, Christians.


How about that ding dong clerk in Kentucky, on a repeat marriage of her own, having a hissy fit about gay marriage licenses, and she's claiming 'Sincerely held BELIEFS" as her reason to deny.

Sincerely held beliefs?!?!?!  Jesus fucking Christ, what kind of sincerely held religious beliefs are there left for her to have after shit canning a Christian marriage of her very own ?

When we look at scripture like Mark 10/divorce we must also look to see if that teacher/chirst said anything else on the subject. as it turns out this event seems to be outlined in mat 19 as well. The record is about the same but with the addition of marital unfaithfulness. or in some translations 'adultery.'

This does not take away anything Jesus said but adds to it. in that being unfaith to one marriage/vows is a legit reason to be divorced and remarry.

---

The current bible itself has been cherry picked, with uncomfortable bits and stories being discarded over time. The myth and characters are themselves cherry-picked from other religions and older myths. So yeh, christians cherry-pick, and so does christianity.

That seems to be a popular narrative, but when ever I ask the person making that claim to provide an example of the bible 'cherry picking' they can't ever seem to find a legit example of it.

[Brian37]

In my lifetime Mark 10:11 went from 'damn right!' to optional to positively old fashioned, to freely ignored.

No shit, Princess Margaret (Queen Elizabeth's sister) could not marry her beloved Captain Townsend (decorated war hero, BTW) since he was married and divorced, when they were dating in the early 60s because in those days, Christian marriage was deemed to be indissoluble.

When's the last time (outside of me, here) have any of you heard anyone in public say anything like 'Christian marriage is indissoluble' ??

Anyone getting worked up about Jesus and His silly ideas about how He thinks marriage otta be conducted could very well be institutionalized, and they could very well find themselves being institutionalized by folks claiming vigorously they are, in fact, Christians.


How about that ding dong clerk in Kentucky, on a repeat marriage of her own, having a hissy fit about gay marriage licenses, and she's claiming 'Sincerely held BELIEFS" as her reason to deny.

Sincerely held beliefs?!?!?!  Jesus fucking Christ, what kind of sincerely held religious beliefs are there left for her to have after shit canning a Christian marriage of her very own ?

When we look at scripture like Mark 10/divorce we must also look to see if that teacher/chirst said anything else on the subject. as it turns out this event seems to be outlined in mat 19 as well. The record is about the same but with the addition of marital unfaithfulness. or in some translations 'adultery.'

This does not take away anything Jesus said but adds to it. in that being unfaith to one marriage/vows is a legit reason to be divorced and remarry.

---

The current bible itself has been cherry picked, with uncomfortable bits and stories being discarded over time. The myth and characters are themselves cherry-picked from other religions and older myths. So yeh, christians cherry-pick, and so does christianity.

That seems to be a popular narrative, but when ever I ask the person making that claim to provide an example of the bible 'cherry picking' they can't ever seem to find a legit example of it.

Every religion quotes their holy writings and the characters in those holy writings. That is STILL circular reasoning and confirmation bias. You quoted your bible so what? Muslims quote the Koran, Jews quote the Torah and Talmud, and OT, Buddhists quote Buddha, and Hindus quote the Bhagavad Gita and Vedas. So what, get in line take a number.

[Harry Nevis]

---

The current bible itself has been cherry picked, with uncomfortable bits and stories being discarded over time. The myth and characters are themselves cherry-picked from other religions and older myths. So yeh, christians cherry-pick, and so does christianity.

That seems to be a popular narrative, but when ever I ask the person making that claim to provide an example of the bible 'cherry picking' they can't ever seem to find a legit example of it.

And, of course, you are the arbiter of what is "legit".

[vorlon13]

As for those feeling Jesus doesn't have 'sufficient backup' for His admonition on divorce/remarriage to really be something He was serious about, I note Malachi records God (His Father for our posters and visitors from Rio Linda) stating He HATES divorce. Significantly, that admonition is in the Old Testament. One might conclude an Eternal and Unchanging God might just have inspired His Holy scriptures to read precisely what He wants on this occasion, at least.

I would advise EXTREME caution for 'sincere' believers who nevertheless feel they need a divorce and/or a subsequent remarriage. I'd also counsel profound suspicion of any (supposedly) Christian denomination/schism that is any way 'soft' on divorce. And especially the ones that treat remarriage as a sacrament.

As for a subsequent (LOL, or prior!) proclamation of belief in the death and resurrection of Christ from a divorce whore, I'd take that with copious skepticism. That is just the sort of thing one would expect to hear from unsaved disciples of Satan.

[Brian37]

---

That seems to be a popular narrative, but when ever I ask the person making that claim to provide an example of the bible 'cherry picking' they can't ever seem to find a legit example of it.

And, of course, you are the arbiter of what is "legit".

Yep, most of our 7 billion humans have a religion and all of them argue over which one is the right one. But lucky us Drich is the hero of all 7 billion of us.