God Questions?

[Tracy]

I know I'd be pissed if I followed the Christian faith to a tee and I die, go to the gates of heaven and here comes Frogman. Frogman doubts God his whole life and gets a free pass to heaven.

I can see both sides. However, God is supposed to be all forgiving AND his followers are not supposed to be judgemental. As I see it, if you are a true christian, such pety things would not bother you and you would just be glad that God loves all.

[Jessica]

I can see both sides. However, God is supposed to be all forgiving AND his followers are not supposed to be judgemental. As I see it, if you are a true christian, such pety things would not bother you and you would just be glad that God loves all.

But on the other hand, a "true" Christian wouldn't wear clothes made out of more than one fabric, shave, kill anyone who curses their parents, stone psychics, kill any man who has sex with a woman on her period, ban blind and lame people from church, burn whores at the stake, kill adulterers, and a host of other "laws" of God that aren't followed.

Maybe there's a later part ofthe Bible that says "Yeah, just ignore all that killing stuff. We changed our minds?" My understand of what I've read has always "Thou shall not kill.... EXCEPT for....."

I think that's why I've never understood the Bible being so important to Christianity. Those of you who are Christians, you've got a good idea. Be kind, love people, live a good life. I'm down with it and that's how I operate too.

Beyond that I get confused.

Fundamentalists who view the Bible in literal terms pretty much pick and choose which parts they follow, right? What's the point? If the same book tells the KKK that it's okay to hate (and, there are passages that do, at least on the surface, support their dogma) and tells people homosexuality is wrong (again, it's in there) but AlSO tells people to love everyone and live in harmony, then I'm lost.

[Curly]

I can see both sides. However, God is supposed to be all forgiving AND his followers are not supposed to be judgemental. As I see it, if you are a true christian, such pety things would not bother you and you would just be glad that God loves all.

I was giving that example with a little humor. That would be pretty selfish of me. This subject is way to complicated for any mortal to figure out. It's all about faith. Me? I'm still confused about the whole thing.

[Kid Lester]

I was giving that example with a little humor. That would be pretty selfish of me. This subject is way to complicated for any mortal to figure out. It's all about faith. Me? I'm still confused about the whole thing.

Ditto.

I try to follow that whole 'Do Unto Others' thing.

I figure, as long as I'm not an asshole, I'll be alright. Whether there's an afterlife or not.

[max1]

I think I would rather live my life with the idea that he/she exists, and be disappointed at the end if I found out there was no God. Then live as though he/she does not exist and find out I was wrong....

I don't know who's quote that is but it sounds rather simple.

[Tracy]

[quote=Curly;226752This subject is way to complicated for any mortal to figure out. It's all about faith. Me? I'm still confused about the whole thing.[/quote]

I totally agree. That's one of the reasons that I think that it's probably MUCH more complicated than the Bible says as well. I personally think that there is some higher power, but that we are so beneath that higher power, there's no way we can understand this stuff.

[Jessica]

But on the other hand, a "true" Christian wouldn't wear clothes made out of more than one fabric, shave, kill anyone who curses their parents, stone psychics, kill any man who has sex with a woman on her period, ban blind and lame people from church, burn whores at the stake, kill adulterers, and a host of other "laws" of God that aren't followed.

Maybe there's a later part ofthe Bible that says "Yeah, just ignore all that killing stuff. We changed our minds?" My understand of what I've read has always "Thou shall not kill.... EXCEPT for....."

I think that's why I've never understood the Bible being so important to Christianity. Those of you who are Christians, you've got a good idea. Be kind, love people, live a good life. I'm down with it and that's how I operate too.

Beyond that I get confused.

Fundamentalists who view the Bible in literal terms pretty much pick and choose which parts they follow, right? What's the point? If the same book tells the KKK that it's okay to hate (and, there are passages that do, at least on the surface, support their dogma) and tells people homosexuality is wrong (again, it's in there) but AlSO tells people to love everyone and live in harmony, then I'm lost.

Should read:

But on the other hand, a "true" Christian wouldn't wear clothes made out of more than one fabric or shave. They would kill anyone who curses their parents, stone psychics, kill any man who has sex with a woman on her period, ban blind and lame people from church, burn whores at the stake and kill adulterers. There are a host of other "laws" of God that aren't followed.

For some reason, I can't edit my original posts.

[cracker]

Should read:

But on the other hand, a "true" Christian wouldn't wear clothes made out of more than one fabric or shave. They would kill anyone who curses their parents, stone psychics, kill any man who has sex with a woman on her period, ban blind and lame people from church, burn whores at the stake and kill adulterers. There are a host of other "laws" of God that aren't followed.

Those are all ideas from the Old Testament. The New Testament (a.k.a. the "Jesus part of the Bible") outlines a much, much different approach to salvation and ways of treating others.

[Jessica]

Those are all ideas from the Old Testament. The New Testament (a.k.a. the "Jesus part of the Bible") outlines a much, much different approach to salvation and ways of treating others.

So, essentially if you're a Chrisitan and follow the Bible, you're following two books: one pre-Jesus which is kind of effed up, and one post-Jesus that's a kindler, gentler way of life?

I get that part, but then I wonder why the Old Testament is included in the Bible as a whole. Is it there simply as a historical marker for the religion?

I believe that there is text the book of Romans, in the New Testament, that people often cite when arguing that homosexuality is a biblical sin. And doesn't Corinthians say that sodomites are amongst those who will not enter the kingdom of God ?

I believe Romans also talks about the death of heretics:

Romans 1:29
They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

I'm no Biblical scholar. I leave most of the theology to my husband, who studied religion in college. I just can't get a grasp on the Bible because it often seems contradictory to me.

Just my opinion. Not knocking people that read it, believe in it, and follow it. Like I said, great underlying message, it's the attempt to organize it that irks me.

[daisy dog]

Folks-it is simple.
God created the world 5770 years ago.
It took Him seven days to complete the task.
He made a lot of rules.
You do not question the rules-you just follow them.
Or else it will not be pretty.

And yes he also created fossils and DNA and started the atomic clock during those seven days.
And no-my ancestor was not a monkey.

[Tracy]

Folks-it is simple.
God created the world 5770 years ago.
It took Him seven days to complete the task.
He made a lot of rules.
You do not question the rules-you just follow them.
Or else it will not be pretty.

And yes he also created fossils and DNA and started the atomic clock during those seven days.
And no-my ancestor was not a monkey.

it's simple for you and that's great, but not everyone believes that. You have a right to your beliefs, just like everyone else has a right to theirs.

[Mark]

I always get a kick outta the George Carlin bit....

If God is all powerful, can he make a rock so big that even He can't lift it???

lol

When it comes down to it, everyone has their conviction and belief about what their faith means to them.

Some will follow faithfully, some will follow with questions and some will have questions and follow nothing until their questions are answered.

Organized religions provide a lot of good for people but they also can provide the fanatics which can be bad too.

[max1]

I always get a kick outta the George Carlin bit....

If God is all powerful, can he make a rock so big that even He can't lift it???

lol

When it comes down to it, everyone has their conviction and belief about what their faith means to them.

Some will follow faithfully, some will follow with questions and some will have questions and follow nothing until their questions are answered.

Organized religions provide a lot of good for people but they also can provide the fanatics which can be bad too.

Amen brah......
:-)

[Mr. Haney]

Jehovahs Witnesses just came to my door. They told me only 144,000 people will fit in heaven. Not sure what my chances are.

You should've told them what I did. There were probably already 144,000 people in heaven before your sect was even started so by your own dogma, it's already full!

[Mr. Haney]

Folks-it is simple.
God created the world 5770 years ago.
It took Him seven days to complete the task.
He made a lot of rules.
You do not question the rules-you just follow them.
Or else it will not be pretty.

And yes he also created fossils and DNA and started the atomic clock during those seven days.
And no-my ancestor was not a monkey.

So says the interpretation you were taught.

Origins
Young Earth creationists have claimed that this view has its earliest roots in Judaism, citing, for example, the commentary on Genesis by Ibn Ezra (c. 1089–1164).[3] However, Shai Cherry of Vanderbilt University notes that Jewish theologians have generally rejected such literalist interpretations of the written text, and that even Jewish commentators who oppose some aspects of Darwinian thought generally accept scientific evidence that the Earth is much older.[11] Similar claims are made of Christian commentators, but a number of prominent early Christian Church Fathers including Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Augustine, did not believe the Genesis account depicted ordinary solar days and read creation history as an allegory as well as being theologically true (however, all of these men believed in a young earth[12]). The Protestant reformation hermeneutic inclined some of the Reformers and later Protestants toward a literal reading of the Bible as translated, believing in an ordinary day, and maintaining this younger-Earth view.
The belief that the universe was made by a rational Creator was held by many of the founders of modern science, such as Copernicus, Kepler, Faraday, Galileo, Maxwell, Newton, Boyle, Pascal and Nicolas Steno, all of whom followed the empirical Baconian method described by Francis Bacon (1561 – 1626). Bacon's emphasis that the works of God in nature teach us how to interpret the word of God in the Bible is quoted by Charles Darwin at the start of On the Origin of Species.[13]
In 1650, Archbishop Ussher published the Ussher chronology, a chronology dating the creation to the night preceding October 23 4004 BC. Ussher's proposed date of 4004 BC differed little from other Biblically-based estimates, such as those of Bede (3952 BC), Ussher's near-contemporary, Scaliger (3949 BC), Johannes Kepler (3992 BC), Sir Isaac Newton (c. 4000 BC), or John Lightfoot

Young Earth creationism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

But hey! Believe what you want and I'll continue to believe that trying your best to live like Christ and having faith and loving God and your fellow man have everything to do with ones salvation and not a bunch of dogma created by man.

[Jessica]

You should've told them what I did. There were probably already 144,000 people in heaven before your sect was even started so by your own dogma, it's already full!

Or you can do what my neighbor did, growing up. He was an Elvis impersonator pretty well known around the East Coast. When he knew that any kind of religious sect was in our neighborhood going door to door he'd don his Elvis garb, take his mic and speaker out into his garage, and perform his act.

He never got a single person at his door.

[hockey]

... I'm not going to read all five pages of this thread but I am threatening to break out my Flying spaghetti Monster avatar.....






wait for it.....









I went with the fancy guy ^



and my book is Richard Dawkins "The God Delusion" ... just in case you were about to ask for references and linkage:
Amazon.com: The God Delusion (9780618918249): Richard Dawkins: Books


Ok...over and out. Have fun.

[Mark]

You can't prove to me that God exists! I can't prove that he doesn't!

You say toe-may-toe! I say toe-mah-toe!

So Who wins?

So why argue it?

Let's call the whole thing off

[Mr. Haney]

Who's arguing?

I thought we were having a discussion?

[Rusty]

But hey! Believe what you want and I'll continue to believe that trying your best to live like Christ and having faith and loving God and your fellow man have everything to do with ones salvation and not a bunch of dogma created by man.