I'll try to be concise and brief and just answer the questions
Jesus did support and quote the old laws and showed us that we were too rigid in our interpretation and had set ourselves upon a font of worldy wants and desires instead of focusing on God's will.
I could list multitudes of good in the Bible, it is you who are focusing on the negative and I am merely coutering those. My view is Christian. They are supported fully by the doctrine of my churches foundation and I'm sure ar supported by most, if not all of the Christians who are members of this forum. If need be I will invite other Christians to poll. To answer your question yes it does say to not slaughter other tribes and stone gays. It says thou shalt not murder without cause. Clearly being gay, or another member of a different tribe is not a just cause for murder.
Well we're not Presbyterians, mormons, catholics, methodists or baptist, but we've been around since 1880. Official lutheran stance = "Hell is conceived as the place of the dead and the lost who are separated from the presence of God." For the Orthodox, Heaven is not a place in the sky, it is being with God. Here's a look at catholicism "This state of definitive self- exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called "Hell." C.S Lewis and J.P. Moreland see the protestant hell as a seperation from God. Some protestants even believe in a "limited" version of hell where you sonly suffer as long as proportionate to your crimes. 7th day adventists don't believe in hell. Jehovah's Witnesses reject the traditional concept of "hellfire". wiki runs out there but I'm sure I could go on. Perhaps you might admit that your view that most Christians (not just my little 7,446 congregation movement) could possibly be askew.
Of course I wouldn't stand by, or participate. Your death would not justified by those crimes.I think I covered why above.
May I ask if you've read the bible?
He can be anywhere and he is the good in everything. As to why he would create imperfect things, if I were to guess at his reasonings perhaps we needed room to grow into a better understanding of life love, right and wrong.
OK. Well firstly the bible teaches to respect all authorities including the laws of man, ergo I can't see it as any worse. Better and crime being very subjective words, I'll make a reasonable stab at it. Let's say a man watched his family brutally murdered, then freed himself and killed the perps. Would he legally have responsibility for taking a life, yes. Does he deserve some punishment, well my heart says he should get something, alothough I think he did the "right/just" thing and hope he gets off easy (which all depends on how the kidnappers family has money for a good lawyer). As to God's law, if it was a just murder then it was acceptable.. whereas his captors are indeed charged with an abomination from God and are out of his sight. Do I think that society would benefit (therefore the law better) from criminals having a little more healthy fear of what society will do to them and that justice will be had in or outside the courts? Yes. So in my opinion it would be a better law. If you have specific laws which you feel threatened by death-stonings for, I'll be happy to address those.
Your point was in saying that Christians believe the Bible was written by God, which is different than inspired , magical, divine or holy.
I don't personally take offense, although I really feel personal attack have little to no place in a civil discussion. What exactly has God done to you, or anyone else now/recently living that you consider evil? Actually God does make allowances for people who don't know of God.
and one better
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I'm not trying to change the bible at all. The only issues I have with some contemporary bibles are the misrepresentation of original context. Homosexuality is a great example. It's a 19th century word, what is it doing in a 2000 year old book? If there was an original Greek word for homosexual as we see it today, why didn't they use that instead? I'm not avoiding anything, and you've definately made your repetitive point that you believe God is immoral over and over. I can see why you might think that. You're not attempting to do anything other than cram your opinion down my throat and I don't think you're really listening. Should I give an example of where punishment is a good thing for an individual? You still have failed to prove that a majority of Christianity believe in an eternity of hellfire and brimstone and torture, if you would do that perhaps it would further the topic.
You are certainly entitled to your opinions. There is still a lot of resentment, accusation and presumption in the tone of your post. I'd really liketo continue this discussion but not if you're going to continue the personal attacks. I'm not sure what experiences you've had with religion to this point that has given you this preconception. If you would elaborate on that maybe we could further this discussion in a more civil tone.
I did leave it and it was rewarding in it's enlightenment, yet devoid of facets of existence I see as part of my reality. I simply reffered to us as a movement because we started off very much mving from place to place, with no actual church buildings, doctrine or formal membership. The movement also did a lot for awareness during the war, and while they supported it we have almost intrinsicaly been pacifists.
(May 13, 2010 at 9:27 pm)Scented Nectar Wrote:The Bible is not one big command to love God, IMO. As a whole, I would say it is man talking to man about God loves us and how we should show that same love to our fellow man to be more like him.
Of course I wouldn't stand by, or participate. Your death would not justified by those crimes.I think I covered why above.
He can be anywhere and he is the good in everything. As to why he would create imperfect things, if I were to guess at his reasonings perhaps we needed room to grow into a better understanding of life love, right and wrong.
I'm not trying to change the bible at all. The only issues I have with some contemporary bibles are the misrepresentation of original context. Homosexuality is a great example. It's a 19th century word, what is it doing in a 2000 year old book? If there was an original Greek word for homosexual as we see it today, why didn't they use that instead? I'm not avoiding anything, and you've definately made your repetitive point that you believe God is immoral over and over. I can see why you might think that. You're not attempting to do anything other than cram your opinion down my throat and I don't think you're really listening. Should I give an example of where punishment is a good thing for an individual? You still have failed to prove that a majority of Christianity believe in an eternity of hellfire and brimstone and torture, if you would do that perhaps it would further the topic.
I did leave it and it was rewarding in it's enlightenment, yet devoid of facets of existence I see as part of my reality. I simply reffered to us as a movement because we started off very much mving from place to place, with no actual church buildings, doctrine or formal membership. The movement also did a lot for awareness during the war, and while they supported it we have almost intrinsicaly been pacifists.
"There ought to be a term that would designate those who actually follow the teachings of Jesus, since the word 'Christian' has been largely divorced from those teachings, and so polluted by fundamentalists that it has come to connote their polar opposite: intolerance, vindictive hatred, and bigotry." -- Philip Stater, Huffington Post
always working on cleaning my windows- me regarding Johari
always working on cleaning my windows- me regarding Johari
