Unconventional Religion

[genkaus]

So rape is bad because they said so. Why doesn't the poplulace revoke this extraneous law? Why was it created in the first place? Was it that darn Jesus again?

One of the reasons - yes. Why would the populace revoke this law? Nobody wants their wives and daughters to be raped. It was created to stop rape in society. And no, it wasn't that darn Jesus again - that darn Jesus had nothing to say on the subject and his daddy apparently approved.

I thought altruism was dangerous and irrational.

To the person practicing it. Not to the ones on the receiving end.

To acheive progress, the rich and powerful need to advance themselves and leave everyone else in the dust. I'm not going to attack that. You have the right to hold a selfish philosophy.

To achieve progress, the rich and powerful need to advance - period. Some may advance with them. Some may get left behind. On the whole, humanity is advancing.

I would be if Jesus had pulled the rich man out of a crowd. He approached Jesus and presented his own simplistic view of religion. He needed his understanding to be shaken up so he could think differently.

Even as rationalizations go - that is a pretty pathetic one. The young man didn't present any views. He asked a question. If the question was wrong, then Jesus need not have handed out his corrupt advice. Jesus didn't attack his understanding - he simply listed things to be done. In the end, the young man's understanding didn't change at all. And then Jesus reconfirmed what he said to that man by repeating the gist to his other followers. Which means, if you don't accept what he said applied to that man and his own followers applies to you, then you believe in moral relativism.

And what exactly is "accepting Jesus" to you?

I just told you - a free pass as well as a one-stop shop.

Guess what? The whole concept of 'doing' anything to deserve anything is the definition of the "free pass".

Guess what? The whole concept of 'doing' anything to deserve anything is the opposite of the definition of free-pass. You get a free-pass if you've done nothing to deserve that something. If I've worked and slaved to get a lot of money then I don't have a free-pass to an rich life. If I get all that money for nothing, then I have a free-pass.

Oh, so you are NOT building up walls to fuel your hatred of Christianity?

Don't need to. Christianity has done that for me.

If salvation was a dollar given to a bum, we'd all get it, and at the same time not all of us would be in the circumstances to do so. Which is why salvation is a universal gift waiting to be recieved. The reception of salvation lies in who you are as a person, but the offer was freely made before you made any action to take it. Salvation is a possession that must be claimed, but how easy is it to make that claim? To become something that can possess it?

You are not making any sense - at all. Everything you say here falls perfectly in line with what Jesus told that rich man - except for the part where you call it a 'gift'.

If I freely make the bum an offer - "I'll give you a dollar if you become sober" - then that dollar is not a gift. The bum has to earn it. So, there is this offer being made (salvation), but to get that I have to change myself (change into someone who keeps the commandments, has given up his belongings and follows Jesus) - then I have earned that "offer". That is precisely what your Jesus is saying and that is precisely what you are saying here.

More than that—it is futile.

And therefore, not the easy way out - by any stretch of imagination.

What false statement did he make? The sentence begins…"If you want to be perfect". Christ's reaction to the rich man's plea was for the purpose of establishing a truth.

That would be the false statement.
Statement A (made by your Christ to the rich man): If you want to be perfect you must do X, Y and Z.

Statement B (made by you): It was never possible for the rich man to be perfect.

These two statements are mutually contradictory. One assumes the possibility of the rich man's perfection, the other denies it outright. So either you are lying or your Christ is. Which one is it?

Whatever the term for your morals may be. How about 'rationality'? When your every action is so restricted to the greatest net profit that any sense of "we are the world" becomes nothing more than sentiment.

Exactly.

Because they are tempting other forum members into irrationality.

How so?