RE: A discussion around family table.
May 8, 2010 at 11:17 am
Quote:1-You can't say Christianity as a whole believes in hellfire and brimstone. Your definition of Chrsitianity is wrong. Southern baptists and evangelical luherans do preach hellfire and brimstone, but that subject is not broched in the universl creeds.
I'm going by what the official rulebook says. I don't think it has any preface saying 'take the following with a grain of salt', or 'these are only metaphors, people'. I'm not talking about what the followers are doing or believing these days. I'm talking about what their most holy book says, the one they think their god had written through divine magical inspiration for them.
Quote:2- That would also be an incorrect statement. Hellfire is only mentioned 2 maybe 3 times in the entire bible (outside the acid trip that is revelation- which is judgement day anyways not today) and in all referecne I recall they were used in metaphors by matthew about sheep and such. If you're a literalist in your interpretation then there's a lot more to reconcile in the Bible than hell. To claim we don't follow the Bible to the letter on every little thing, yes that's a correct statement. Context and perspective is important in seeking truth though.
Nope, I don't buy that. There is no disclaimer in the bible saying it's not literal, nor is there any indication that something must be repeated more than 3 times to be considered true.
Quote:3- Those that exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator. Those that choose the selfish path, as opposed to the selfless.
So, you are saying that a person who focuses on their own survival and happiness and the real world around them instead of placating and reassuring an imaginary supermonster through telepathy that he is so wonderful, is deserving of eternal torture?????? Seriously?
Quote:4-Second guessiong yourself is sad? Wow .. you might try some introspection sometimes. Maybe questioning your beliefs/ behaviorwould help you grow as an individual some. I mean you might well and good things its perfectly fine to chop someone up and make a soup of them, but others might disagree. Right no need to ever question yourself.
It's only sad when someone blindly accepts everything as being second-guess-worthy just because they want to trust the source, without thinking as to whether they agree or not. Otherwise, feedback is great and certainly is a big part of personal change and development.
Quote:5-God did create evil. Sin is simply a rejection of God, that's not something he created, unless you mean indirectly by giving us choice. God also created the devil and uses him to test us.. that's biblical.. why would I ever assume anything different. Who are theese people you're calling Christians? I don't think God wants to get rid of evil.. I think it's integral to growth?
No getting away with calling it 'indirect'. Either the fucker made everything or he didn't. And how is being tortured forever integral to growth? There is no afterwards to forever. When does the godvictim apply such a horribly learned 'growth'? Do you really think that your god is a nice guy if he 'tests' his beloved children, knowing that many will fail, when the result of failing means the testees will be tortured forever???? WTF kind of sick creep are you worshipping?
Quote:6-Where does it say in the Bible or the universal creeds that Christians are to see hellfire and brimstone as a real place? You're going to have to show me that one.. I've never seen it.. I could have missed it though.
If you want to play the 'that part's not really real' game, then would you admit that maybe your god is not real either? Nothing in the bible saying that you are to see him as a real being, after all....
Quote:7-so you would choose to be immoral if God were real? I'm not understanding your statement I think. I don't think there's a gun to my head, I'm just trying to see where you're coming from, please rephrase.
At the threat of eternal torture, there are probably quite a lot of immoral things I would do, like the immoral rules of biblegod. Everyone has a breaking point. The only god command I would not be able, as opposed to unwilling, to do would be anything involving thought, such as commands to love him, worship him (in the emotional rather than recited words meaning), etc.
