RE: Is the catholic church a force for good?
February 28, 2013 at 3:42 am
(This post was last modified: February 28, 2013 at 3:42 am by EGross.)
People seem to think that the "10 commandments" created morality. Do you think the Jews were killing and having adultery and stealing and then Moses gives them the rules and they go "Aw, man! That's a switch!" No, it is a basic foundation of humanity, and societies have come up with rules like these on their own. According to the Rambam (Maimonides), societies that come up with such rules exist, but they don't get to have a share in the World to Come because they did it themselves, not because they believe that God wants it.
The 7 commandments (Ok, Christians call it 10, but what you gonna do?) are interesting, and contradictory, for example it says not to murder (versus kill), but if God or one of his speakers says it's ok, then that one is off the table (Spanish inquisition? Crusades? Pogroms? The Church [and protestants] played games with this one). Stealing? Kidnapping? Coveting for yourself that which was not yours in the first place? And one of our favorites that you must do in order to be a Christian: Having a God with a form (or as it is called in the text, an elohim acherim), even a mental image.
All of these things must be very Christ-like because all Christians have done and continue to do at least one of these in order to be a Christian.
Of course, one forgets that along with these nice ideas are horrible punishments. These are religious edicts from the Bible that civillized societies reject as barbaric:
A rebellious child who does not obey his parents iis put to death.
A Jew who steals from a Jew pays a fee, but a non-Jew who steals gets the death penalty.
See a cute woman you want for your own? She doesn't want you? Rape her and pay a 50 shekel fine. It's all good.
Make a fire on a Saturday, death by stoning. (The American Pilgrims would put you in the stocks and beat you in public for working on a Sunday. A better idea).
Jewish honor killing of a Kohens daughter who acted in a whorish manner - force burning metal down her throat until she burns to death from the inside.
A Jew who decides to worship Jesus - death by stoning. The same punishment goes for the missionary.
For blaspheming God - death by stoning.
You get the idea. Morality does not come from a book where the majority of the rules are about how to properly kill and harm others. In the Old Testament, there are (for some reason) 613 commandments. 248 are positive things (many do not apply due to the lack of a temple), but the majority, 365 of them, are what you CANNOT do, followed by extreme punishments in most cases. Yeah, I know, to make it easier all of Christianity went for the Cliff Notes version, and tried to wipe out all of the people who went for the original stuff, but that is the Biblical Foundation that bible thumpers like to quote when they see Gays or Abortion Clinics, and ignore it when they celebrate Easter or blow up an abortion clinic.
With the exception of a couple (Like Jainism and probably one more), all religions are death cults. They either look forward to death, find ways to cause death, or worship before a carving of a Jew being tortured and was stabbed to death.
Ah, to be free of all of that is true freedom for humanity!
The 7 commandments (Ok, Christians call it 10, but what you gonna do?) are interesting, and contradictory, for example it says not to murder (versus kill), but if God or one of his speakers says it's ok, then that one is off the table (Spanish inquisition? Crusades? Pogroms? The Church [and protestants] played games with this one). Stealing? Kidnapping? Coveting for yourself that which was not yours in the first place? And one of our favorites that you must do in order to be a Christian: Having a God with a form (or as it is called in the text, an elohim acherim), even a mental image.
All of these things must be very Christ-like because all Christians have done and continue to do at least one of these in order to be a Christian.
Of course, one forgets that along with these nice ideas are horrible punishments. These are religious edicts from the Bible that civillized societies reject as barbaric:
A rebellious child who does not obey his parents iis put to death.
A Jew who steals from a Jew pays a fee, but a non-Jew who steals gets the death penalty.
See a cute woman you want for your own? She doesn't want you? Rape her and pay a 50 shekel fine. It's all good.
Make a fire on a Saturday, death by stoning. (The American Pilgrims would put you in the stocks and beat you in public for working on a Sunday. A better idea).
Jewish honor killing of a Kohens daughter who acted in a whorish manner - force burning metal down her throat until she burns to death from the inside.
A Jew who decides to worship Jesus - death by stoning. The same punishment goes for the missionary.
For blaspheming God - death by stoning.
You get the idea. Morality does not come from a book where the majority of the rules are about how to properly kill and harm others. In the Old Testament, there are (for some reason) 613 commandments. 248 are positive things (many do not apply due to the lack of a temple), but the majority, 365 of them, are what you CANNOT do, followed by extreme punishments in most cases. Yeah, I know, to make it easier all of Christianity went for the Cliff Notes version, and tried to wipe out all of the people who went for the original stuff, but that is the Biblical Foundation that bible thumpers like to quote when they see Gays or Abortion Clinics, and ignore it when they celebrate Easter or blow up an abortion clinic.
With the exception of a couple (Like Jainism and probably one more), all religions are death cults. They either look forward to death, find ways to cause death, or worship before a carving of a Jew being tortured and was stabbed to death.
Ah, to be free of all of that is true freedom for humanity!
“I've done everything the Bible says — even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff!"— Ned Flanders
