Holy War

[pike]

A Christian can be as horrible as anyone, but a Christian admits what he/she has done was wrong and is repentant.

I am a horrible person. I need help.

Yeah rough ridin' right, PW. Most "Christians" from college that I know go out and get absolutely hammered drunk every weekend, do drugs, eff eachother, cheat on eachother, lie to eachother, envy eachother, ETC. But it's ok in their minds since the next day they are "Forgiven" or whatever. This is what angers me about religion the most, is how hypocritical people are.

[Dugout DickStone]

Where did the souls of everyone who was born before Jesus died on the cross go?

[pike]

Where did the souls of everyone who was born before Jesus died on the cross go?

Hell, obviously

[nicname]

A Christian can be as horrible as anyone, but a Christian admits what he/she has done was wrong and is repentant.

I am a horrible person. I need help.

Yeah rough ridin' right, PW. Most "Christians" from college that I know go out and get absolutely hammered drunk every weekend, do drugs, eff eachother, cheat on eachother, lie to eachother, envy eachother, ETC. But it's ok in their minds since the next day they are "Forgiven" or whatever. This is what angers me about religion the most, is how hypocritical people are.

Hate the player, don't hate the game.  Though I don't think that really applies literally in this case.  I often used to say, "It isn't Christianity that I have a problem with, its the Christians."

[1/64th]

I believe in a higher being.  Don't believe in any organized religion.  

There is no hell, bro.

CNS Casey is certain of him/herself.

Does he/she know how dumb what he/she just said is?

Hell and Heaven are threats/incentives to live a certain way.

I don't follow organized religion.  However, I still live a life that most would consider one of a good person.  If I am wrong, will your god punish me for living a good life minus the belief in eternal damnation?  I don't need the threat.  I live the same life all of my good Christian friends do, minus their Sunday morning rituals.   I don't believe that this will be the difference in what qualifies a good man from one who is not.  If it does, maybe you should be questioning a god that requires such adoration and praise.  What would be the motives of someone who would prefer you sin as long as you follow rather than one who lived a moral live without being a follower?

Guess what...in the end it doesn't really matter what you or anyone else wants to believe or doesn't want to believe.  What is true is true, no matter what.  If I'm wrong, then I'm wrong.  But I don't think I am.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see huh?

[ew2x4]

So you're taking the bible that literally then? Is there no chance that that is a poetic description for the design process that God went through when deciding what man and woman would become?

Of course I take it literally.

There are things in the Bible that may not be known down to the smallest detail, but if there is a thorough description of God's creation, detailing that something was created on one day and something else was created on the next and it seems clear, why wouldn't I believe it. I certainly believe he was capable of doing it this way if He chose to.

You acknowledged that God said he made man in His own image, why take that seriously and not his creation of man from dust?

There's a line there that you can't cross.

There is a line. That line is saying that God couldn't do it that way, so it probably didn't happen. What I'm saying is it's more likely that it is a poetic description of his design, his passion in creation. Our place on this earth and historical evidence supports this. What I'm not saying, is God's power is limited. He could have done it any way He pleases. For us to limit ourselves and limit him because of what Moses wrote a some 4000 years ago in a completely different culture with completely different translations, is not helping anyone.

Limestone- It has to do with me reply to nicname. Jews didn't believe in heaven and hell. They basically said you just died. There's debate about whether your soul goes to an actual place, or that place is the grave though. Christianity believes in a heaven, but hell is a little iffy. There is definitely a lake of fire and a lot of suffering. This all comes after judgement though. Which is brought on by Jesus. The most common thought is you're in purgatory until judgement.

[ew2x4]

A Christian can be as horrible as anyone, but a Christian admits what he/she has done was wrong and is repentant.

I am a horrible person. I need help.

Yeah rough ridin' right, PW. Most "Christians" from college that I know go out and get absolutely hammered drunk every weekend, do drugs, eff eachother, cheat on eachother, lie to eachother, envy eachother, ETC. But it's ok in their minds since the next day they are "Forgiven" or whatever. This is what angers me about religion the most, is how hypocritical people are.

Hate the player, don't hate the game.  Though I don't think that really applies literally in this case.  I often used to say, "It isn't Christianity that I have a problem with, its the Christians."

The thing is, there are Christians and there are people who were only raised Christians. There's not always a long touching born again, coming back to Jesus story with everyone, but there has to be a point in life where you make that choice. Those guys haven't made their choice yet.

[1/64th]

Where did the souls of everyone who was born before Jesus died on the cross go?

The Big Waiting Room in the Sky?   

[Dugout DickStone]

A Christian can be as horrible as anyone, but a Christian admits what he/she has done was wrong and is repentant.

I am a horrible person. I need help.

Yeah effing right, PW. Most "Christians" from college that I know go out and get absolutely hammered drunk every weekend, do drugs, eff eachother, cheat on eachother, lie to eachother, envy eachother, ETC. But it's ok in their minds since the next day they are "Forgiven" or whatever. This is what angers me about religion the most, is how hypocritical people are.

This is why I'm a Christian.  Can't believe more people aren't.

[pike]

A Christian can be as horrible as anyone, but a Christian admits what he/she has done was wrong and is repentant.

I am a horrible person. I need help.

Yeah effing right, PW. Most "Christians" from college that I know go out and get absolutely hammered drunk every weekend, do drugs, eff eachother, cheat on eachother, lie to eachother, envy eachother, ETC. But it's ok in their minds since the next day they are "Forgiven" or whatever. This is what angers me about religion the most, is how hypocritical people are.

Hate the player, don't hate the game.  Though I don't think that really applies literally in this case.  I often used to say, "It isn't Christianity that I have a problem with, its the Christians."

The thing is, there are Christians and there are people who were only raised Christians. There's not always a long touching born again, coming back to Jesus story with everyone, but there has to be a point in life where you make that choice. Those guys haven't made their choice yet.

Good point.

So real Christians wouldn't claim these people as actual Christians? I for one, would not. Behavior like this is disgraceful to religion if these people still call them selves "Christians", and some of the ones that I know that exhibit this behavior are very religoius and like I said above it's ok because they're "forgiven".

[CNS]

I believe in a higher being.  Don't believe in any organized religion.  

There is no hell, bro.

CNS Casey is certain of him/herself.

Does he/she know how dumb what he/she just said is?

Hell and Heaven are threats/incentives to live a certain way.

I don't follow organized religion.  However, I still live a life that most would consider one of a good person.  If I am wrong, will your god punish me for living a good life minus the belief in eternal damnation?  I don't need the threat.  I live the same life all of my good Christian friends do, minus their Sunday morning rituals.   I don't believe that this will be the difference in what qualifies a good man from one who is not.  If it does, maybe you should be questioning a god that requires such adoration and praise.  What would be the motives of someone who would prefer you sin as long as you follow rather than one who lived a moral live without being a follower?

Guess what...in the end it doesn't really matter what you or anyone else wants to believe or doesn't want to believe.  What is true is true, no matter what.  If I'm wrong, then I'm wrong.  But I don't think I am.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see huh?

I am not judging you, just curious as to why a Christian god would differentiate as I described above, though.

[ArchE_Cat]

And sometimes some of us take wing and when they do, when their feet leave the ground, even for a second, they pull the rest of us with them. And when we rise, and when we rise, and when we notice that the sky has been around us all along. We have been walking into it. It has been this constant collision. Divinity and depravity. And we rise and we rise and we rise...........

[nicname]

So you're taking the bible that literally then? Is there no chance that that is a poetic description for the design process that God went through when deciding what man and woman would become?

Of course I take it literally.

There are things in the Bible that may not be known down to the smallest detail, but if there is a thorough description of God's creation, detailing that something was created on one day and something else was created on the next and it seems clear, why wouldn't I believe it. I certainly believe he was capable of doing it this way if He chose to.

You acknowledged that God said he made man in His own image, why take that seriously and not his creation of man from dust?

There's a line there that you can't cross.

There is a line. That line is saying that God couldn't do it that way, so it probably didn't happen. What I'm saying is it's more likely that it is a poetic description of his design, his passion in creation. Our place on this earth and historical evidence supports this. What I'm not saying, is God's power is limited. He could have done it any way He pleases. For us to limit ourselves and limit him because of what Moses wrote a some 4000 years ago in a completely different culture with completely different translations, is not helping anyone.

Limestone- It has to do with me reply to nicname. Jews didn't believe in heaven and hell. They basically said you just died. There's debate about whether your soul goes to an actual place, or that place is the grave though. Christianity believes in a heaven, but hell is a little iffy. There is definitely a lake of fire and a lot of suffering. This all comes after judgement though. Which is brought on by Jesus. The most common thought is you're in purgatory until judgement.

I believe that we are talking about creation/evolution here.  Like I said earlier you have to take into consideration the original audience.  It would be useless to try and explain the evolution of the universe, etc. beginning at an atomic level on up.  

[8manpick]

Super jealous of all the people who know what they are doing after they die. I'm sure heaven (or having 72 virgins, or being a cow, whatever) will be a hell of a time.  Of course, I hope for your sake that you aren't wrong about which religion you chose, because most of them seem to condemn those that didn't choose their idea of a deity.  I really am jealous of those who have confidence and solace in their beliefs about the afterlife, but I can't believe it myself. On the other hand, I don't have terrible memories of the time before I became conscious, and I'm not too concerned about the time after I lose consciousness at the end.  

[Gary Patterson Jr.]

Where did the souls of everyone who was born before Jesus died on the cross go?

Some people were deemed holy and rightous in the eyes of God. Look it at Job.

Also they made sacrifices. There was a way to be forgiven. But there was a guilty conscious problem. People still felt guilty. Jesus cleaned the conscious as well as the slate. Then gave someone something to strive for.

[pike]

Where did the souls of everyone who was born before Jesus died on the cross go?

Some people were deemed holy and rightous in the eyes of God. Look it at Job.

Also they made sacrifices. There was a way to be forgiven. But there was a guilty conscious problem. People still felt guilty. Jesus cleaned the conscious as well as the slate. Then gave someone something to strive for.

How did Jesus do this?

[Gary Patterson Jr.]

Where did the souls of everyone who was born before Jesus died on the cross go?

Some people were deemed holy and rightous in the eyes of God. Look it at Job.

Also they made sacrifices. There was a way to be forgiven. But there was a guilty conscious problem. People still felt guilty. Jesus cleaned the conscious as well as the slate. Then gave someone something to strive for.

How did Jesus do this?

They used to go off of sacrifices. Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice. The end all sacrifice in God's eyes.

But people were still their depressed, no real point to life selves with nothing to use as a guide to life. All they had to think about was what terrible people they were or how low they were in everyone else's eyes.

Look at Mary Magdaline when she met Jesus she just thought she was a terrible person. Jesus basically said by dying on a cross that no matter what you did, you're worth something. I'm dying for you as proof. Follow me and my example and now you also have a purpose.

[CNS]

What if Jesus was just a really nice guy?  What if a god judged people based off of the daily choices they make rather than Jesus getting offed?  What if what he did got him judged kindly, but has nothing to do with you or yours?


Better yet, what if god didn't pay any attention to anything "us" related.  What if god exists but doesn't serve the function that many think? 

[the KHAN!]

More like Theban steel!

same thing

Yeah, I'm not so sure the Spartans were conquered because they were morally inferior (socially I guess) than Thebes or Rome. Just that Theban Military Doctrine evolved faster. Not necessarily their morals. After all, the Thebans had their Sacred Band of Gay Lovers.  Not exactly morally superior to Sparta or inferior to Rome.

[yoga-like_abana]

 

[8manpick]

You created a monster

[bubbles4ksu]

Super jealous of all the people who know what they are doing after they die. I'm sure heaven (or having 72 virgins, or being a cow, whatever) will be a hell of a time.  Of course, I hope for your sake that you aren't wrong about which religion you chose, because most of them seem to condemn those that didn't choose their idea of a deity.  I really am jealous of those who have confidence and solace in their beliefs about the afterlife, but I can't believe it myself. On the other hand, I don't have terrible memories of the time before I became conscious, and I'm not too concerned about the time after I lose consciousness at the end.  

Super unheralded aspect of Pascal's Wager. There is a 1 in tens of thousands chance that you pick the right religion. And even if you do, you have to really really really mean it if you want to get to that heaven and not go to hell.

The odds are so against you that it makes life nearly as hopeless as being a stupid atheist. But you gotta try. That is why I am a Christian.

[WillieWatanabe]

I love this kind of stuff. You can argue all damn day...and there really isn't anyway for anyone to prove they're right. Love it.

[OK_Cat]

the god people have a disadvantage because they have no proof of an invisible ghost guy.  the burden is on them.

 

[PoetWarrior]

Yeah effing right, PW. Most "Christians" from college that I know go out and get absolutely hammered drunk every weekend, do drugs, eff eachother, cheat on eachother, lie to eachother, envy eachother, ETC. But it's ok in their minds since the next day they are "Forgiven" or whatever. This is what angers me about religion the most, is how hypocritical people are.

If they are doing these things unrepentantly, they are not Christians.

If they are using God's grace as a pass to do whatever they want without consequence, they are definitely not Christians.