Fellow Christians...
- Thread starter Arsen
- Start date
Recommended Videos
Yes, Gandhi was a brilliant man. Though my favorite quote from him is still "GET THIS F#$%ING DESSERT CART OFF MY FOOT!"DrunkenKitty said:
Its true, he said that, Look it up.
Seriously though you hit the nail on the head. The problem is that so many people adhere to Christianity according to dogma built upon dogma built upon dogma. People don't do the work, or perhaps don't know that they have work to do. I don't know I think that in the end people need to get away from concepts like hell and Satan and some battle for our souls and just start focusing on living a good life.
Yes, which makes me wonder why I made a pure smart hero knowing how much they fail in pure combat.4thegreatergood said:
Well personally, While I respect Atheists I don't fully understand their view, even when I was one for a short while in high school. Still as long as an atheist does nto go 'fundie' I think it should be live and let live.DaniJ said:
Still it is supposed to be the mandate of every christian to spread the word of god, but they all act like Moses did in one of his hours of failure. We are supposed to preach by simply being good people and living good lives, people who see someone who is genuinely happy say 'I gotta get me some of that', ask the christian and then make THEIR OWN genuine decision to buy into what the christian has found or not. in other words we are supposed to be passive and help people and if they are interested, all the better.
Christians are humans though, and so many of them seem to think that the responsibility is to 'save souls at any cost'. They are convinced that hell is real and that they need to use anything to make sure those souls are saved even bigotry and violence.They hit the stone instead of speaking to it.
PedroSteckecilo said:
Eh... I'd classify them really pretty close to Catholics, there are a few differences, but a lot of doctrines are quite similar.
*Is trying to remember his world religions class* Isn't it fairly similar to Limbo?EXPLICITasian said:
Uncalled for, he's entitled to his opinion. (Reported)Boredom13 said:
Anyway on topic, I have to admit I have no interest in any higher being, the truth is I'm here. I do my job, I help all I can and I have fun.
That's my answer to life..
LIVE
He said things to do with religion, not a regligion itself. Anyway if he did mean all words with that ending, he was thinking and you should be angry for a diffrent reason.Boredom13 said:
EDIT: If he was being a idiot that doesn't mean you get too as well.
I did think before I "spoke". Those are all stupid and pointless.Boredom13 said:
I wouldn't say "especially" those, since by definition I am very much an Agnostic. But inventing -isms is just man's way of making things more confusing. Every -ism is a subgroup, many of them subgroups of subgroups... ad infinitum. I just don't see the point.Aardvark said:
Why are some people talking about agnosticism?
Did they not notice the missing letter "A" in gnostic? I mean, this was actually an interesting way to see how different sects within the christian faith saw each other. Don't turn it into a religious/atheist/agnostic flame fest, please.
Did they not notice the missing letter "A" in gnostic? I mean, this was actually an interesting way to see how different sects within the christian faith saw each other. Don't turn it into a religious/atheist/agnostic flame fest, please.
Christian Gnosticism in my mind is a heresy that is dangerous because it sounds so reasonable. Christians are not generally called to remove themselves from the world entirely, or deny that it is fully real; rather, they are to live in it as foreign visitors, respecting the local laws but remaining attached to the home country. No amount of knowledge is ultimately effective without faith - pick any recent church scandal where a theology PhD is caught in some obviously immoral act. And the world can't be said to be inherently evil any more than mankind itself, as God created it good and not 100% of it was replaced by the Fall.
However, a healthy dose of divine inscrutability, active searching for truth, and dedication to study can do much good. Try dredging up a copy of The Cloud of Unknowing.
Agnosticism is pretty much the exact opposite of Gnosticism, so it's really off-topic here. However noble it may be in theory, I find that most agnostics are just atheists who don't want to admit it to themselves.
However, a healthy dose of divine inscrutability, active searching for truth, and dedication to study can do much good. Try dredging up a copy of The Cloud of Unknowing.
Agnosticism is pretty much the exact opposite of Gnosticism, so it's really off-topic here. However noble it may be in theory, I find that most agnostics are just atheists who don't want to admit it to themselves.
I don't believe I called Catholics Christians despite the fact it would be perfectly reasonable to do; they are a subsection of Christianity after all. Christianity is a term used to reference many more subsections than just Catholic and Protestant; it also applies equally to all denominations.Untamed Waters said:
I think if the average Christian bothered to go beyond what one person has told them or a wikipedia article and actually research the Gnostic faith they'd find a lot of rich and fulfilling metaphors that would expand their relationship with God.
For s***'s sake, the Gospel of Thomas is less than a hundred pages and most libraries have a copy. Give it a read and stop letting other people tell you what to believe.
For s***'s sake, the Gospel of Thomas is less than a hundred pages and most libraries have a copy. Give it a read and stop letting other people tell you what to believe.
I actually find the gnostics a fascinating study subject. As well, I feel they were very unfairly persecuted by a controlling church who wanted a singular dogma.
I totally agree. The Gospel of Thomas is way shorter than 100 pages. It's actually just over 100 passages, most of which are just a single quote from Jesus.L.B. Jeffries said:
I remember reading the first time and stoked on what Jesus had to say:
"Yeah."
"Tell it like it is, Jesus."
"My brother speaks the truth."
... And then I got to the last passage:
"WTF? Mary can't go to heaven until she becomes a dude?! Jesus is performing a sex change? Watchoo talkin' 'bout, Jesus???"
(I realize that Jesus was more likely speaking of a transformation of spirit. I just like to portray myself as a dipshit once in a while.)
Here's a link for those of you whose curiosity didn't quite overcome their laziness:
http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/gosthom.html
OK, seriously, let's keep the religious threads off the forums and at post service coffees. There is so much tension that results from these threads, use the dialogue in this thread as an example.
The fact that it always leads to fighting and ignorance / disrespect paired with the fact that without these religious threads it would likely never ever come up, just makes me not want to come here.
The fact that it always leads to fighting and ignorance / disrespect paired with the fact that without these religious threads it would likely never ever come up, just makes me not want to come here.
Here's an example: that's more than a bit disrespectful. While I will agree that most of society claims religious belief based on little actual thought on the subject, professed agnostics are usually inherently more aware of religious philosophy by virtue of being professed-ly agnostic.Robyrt said:
You know that passage about judging a tree by its fruit? I was reminded of it recently and I really think it makes logical sense to apply it to the bible.Bright_Raven said:
For example the ten commandments, for a christian, will without fail bear 'good fruit' in that your life will be better for them. After all even in their most practical and non-religious aspects taking one day a week without fail to shut everything down and just reflect on life is probably something more of us should do, and while parents are only human and you should not do what they say if they do bad things one should at least try to respect them. You don't even have to talk to them if they are that abusive, but you can still be respectful when cutting them off. The others likewise seem to be simple but universal common sense, at least in my mind.
Same with the ACTUAL overall message of Jesus. Ignoring the translations and things that were more than likely inserted one can still get an idea of what seems to be from god by looking at which truths are good ideas not only now, but universally. After all that seems more logical and even if you are wrong, well, you still led a good life which is more or less what the jewish idea of a 'good' or 'bad' afterlife was all about.
