| the bible is fault y
Posted: 3/11/2005 8:39:56 PM | | thing is, in the Bible God asked people to do some pretty horrible stuff, including kill their children, so it's not much of a stretch if one believes in a sick twisted god like the one described in the bible. | |
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| the bible is fault y
Posted: 3/11/2005 8:58:08 PM | | I will stand next to that GOD gladly.. what other god creates? gives life? we are created to give him glory not set and cry and question him. | |
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| the bible is fault y
Posted: 3/11/2005 9:57:48 PM | | Ummm alot of Gods in history do that and more, IsIs in one tale healed a young boy poisoned by vengeneful scorpions actually the tale is like, she was seeking shelter after a long journy and a rich woman turned her away for she didn't know she was a god as isis was traveling in mortal guise. And she had six i think its sick scorpions who traveled with her as gaurdians from another god. The scorpions were angered by the womans selfishness and poisoned her son in vengence. Isis was upset by there actions and went to the child and healed the child to full health. Just an example of kindness in legend and lore. Many gods are merciful in history i know my gods are kind, just and pure. | |
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| Something I've noticed about ex-Christians
Posted: 3/12/2005 9:09:08 AM | | I especially liked reading your response regarding Christians. I'm a believer too, and I agree with ya! Hey, in your profile, by "larger man", did you mean "height" or "width"? (smile) I wish you would turn off your blocking from out of your area, 'cause I'd move there for a right gal. I love it there anyway. God bless you! | |
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| Something I've noticed about ex-Christians
Posted: 3/12/2005 10:08:46 AM | Christians are the sweetest people in the world.....I'll never forget this family I knew who loved you like you were their own and never looked down on you in anyway..I used to ask them I never met anybody so nice..and they said.."We just try and show the love that Jesus would show you"....people if you ever knew this family ..you would realize how much Jesus loves you...people will always fail you but the Lord won't.  | |
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| Something I've noticed about ex-Christians
Posted: 3/12/2005 11:20:22 AM |
Loci, you find the Bible hard to believe but yet are trusting visions of Half-man Half-stag creatures who are guiding you along? I don't think anything else needs to be said.
My understanding is that's not at all how it works. It's like saying that God is this guy who sits on top of a cloud and has a remarkable personal resemblence to Charlton Heston. Yes there are people who believe this but one must admit that the knowledge of their religion is not very deep.
Wicca is very internal. It's hard to explain, mysticism is like that. | |
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| Something I've noticed about ex-Christians
Posted: 3/12/2005 11:23:20 AM | | Too the above statement... (about the family showing God's love) COMPLETELY WELL PUT! And great example! That's another of God's wills for our lives! I myself was raised from birth (literally- at 7 days old I was in the church nursery) in the southern baptist form of thinking. It isn't bad... any effort toward God is worth the attempt and does not go completely fruitless. So at the age of 12 though I began to run from God - full sprint is probably the more accurate word. But I'm back and it was a "non-denominational" teacher and body of believers that made me understand things that I didn't before. My family is still "Southern Baptist" and reciently visited my church and "approved". Often when someone leaves the correct path, it takes God led contact from the right person(s) to help them back to the path. I was practically dragged back kicking and screeming, but wasn't given up on and it made all the difference. All sorts of people choose to run for all sorts of reasons, but I'm not so sure that it is always about what they were taught. I think it is more often about their relationship or lack thereof with Jesus. I was raised to know Him and adcepted Him into my heart at the age of 6 but NEVER had a "relationship" with Him. I do more so now and am working towards a closer walk all the time. | |
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| Something I've noticed about ex-Christians
Posted: 3/12/2005 11:29:05 AM |
thing is, in the Bible God asked people to do some pretty horrible stuff, including kill their children, so it's not much of a stretch if one believes in a sick twisted god like the one described in the bible.
One could argue this dirrectly and go after things like interpretation and context, but I'm not going to bother. Have you ever explored gnosticism gamer? You might like it. I warn you it has some dangerous aspects, The Catholic church was not totally without valid reason when it declare them persona non grata. If you do wind up interested, excercise some care. | |
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| Something I've noticed about ex-Christians
Posted: 3/12/2005 12:10:01 PM |
Christians are the sweetest people in the world.....I'll never forget this family I knew who loved you like you were their own and never looked down on you in anyway..I used to ask them I never met anybody so nice..and they said.."We just try and show the love that Jesus would show you"....people if you ever knew this family ..you would realize how much Jesus loves you...people will always fail you but the Lord won't
I probably need to lay off this topic as I've harped on it a bit too much lately but I just feel driven here
I'm glad you found some decent ones. On my hierarchy of folks I have respect for a lot of the folks at the very top are Christians. But there are a whole lot of em on the very bottom too.
Christianity is no guarantee of the decency of an individual. In fact to my experience if someone refers to themselves as "a Christian" the probability they are good people drops precipitously from the norm.
If you want some examples of really awful horrific Christian families I can hand you 10 or 12. Spousal abuse and grotesque intolerance is a recurring theme, and theres one involving incest that would make Jerry Springer ill.
Of the really great Christians I have known I'd say they share traits of open mindedness, an avoidance of dogma, and nonjudgmentalism.
While fostering these traits is in my opinion a major focus of the gospels, They are not often the focus of many church groups. There is a precipitous absence of These traits in literalist right wing groups for instance.
These qualities are also not the easiest to internalize, which may be one reason why "great" Christians are so rare. | |
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| Something I've noticed about ex-Christians
Posted: 3/12/2005 1:32:51 PM | I'm wondering how ironic folks find that last post there.
It occurs to me that I do not display any of the above charecteristics to any particular degree. I think I produce some of the more judgemental posts on this forum for one thing.
It's a problem I find difficult to address. If you have a supposition which seems internally correct, how does one find out its value without testing it? | |
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| Something I've noticed about ex-Christians
Posted: 3/12/2005 1:52:38 PM | | The problem is that there are alot of people around calling themselves Christians, who have beliefs in opposition to the Christian Faith. The problem with many is they believe God is there to help them fulfill their purposes, not visa versa. God is not there to give us warm, fuzzy feelings as some like to think. The New Testament provides accounts of alot of people following Jesus around because He was a great guy. He healed people, provided free food, but when His teachings became harder, many of them turned away. While a true Christian should show the love of Christ that does not mean that all Christians will be nice people. That is one of the attractions of the Gospel. It is open to even those who are unloveable. They might have truly accepted Christ, but it may take a while for the Love and Joy to show itself outwardly. My point is, nice people, while pleasant to encounter, does not necessarily make a Christian. | |
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| Something I've noticed about ex-Christians
Posted: 3/12/2005 4:13:09 PM | @wastedtalent
Did you ever consider that you never veered from god's "path" for, that maybe he lead away from the church so that you would come back a richer stronger person. When I say richer I don't mean money. | |
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| Something I've noticed about ex-Christians
Posted: 3/12/2005 5:06:35 PM | I'm not saying pleasantness has anything to do with it. John the baptist for example was well known for being a bit more than merely abrasive. That guy who talked about his celibacy as an aid in his belief in god in one of the letters (I forget who and which one) was considdered kind of a nutter too.
The problem is that there are alot of people around calling themselves Christians, who have beliefs in opposition to the Christian Faith.
Thats the rub isn't it? Which is the "right" christian faith? The awnser to that one is simply beyond the scope of the project. And it's off topic to boot. My fault though. I was the one that dragged us here. | |
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| Something I've noticed about ex-Christians
Posted: 3/12/2005 9:10:12 PM | | What is the right Christian Faith? Good question. I have attended about 10 or 12 different denominational Churches that had similar but slightly different beliefs. I had no problem going to any of them because what I consider "core" beliefs were the same. You do not have to be a scholar to read the Bible. There are translations in plain english that most anyone can understand. What I was referring to specifically was people who called themselves Christians but held views that were extremely un-Biblical. I am beginning to think that there is alot of that out there. | |
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| Something I've noticed about ex-Christians
Posted: 3/13/2005 6:41:54 AM | | I was raised Southern Baptist,my folks were gospel musicians with a local TV show that was very popular for many years.When I got to be a teen I was always one of those analytical kids who questioned everything and religion just seemed to me to be a myth.I was more into science,art,history and really couldn't hang with such a dogmatic,one sided view of life.Wasn't for me.I respect it though,and people's free choice to follow the path that suits them. | |
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| Something I've noticed about ex-Christians
Posted: 3/13/2005 8:01:08 AM | eccentric
Why of course that occoured to me.....the same as it occoured to me that all of the crappy things that I did to myself during that time "away" made me possibly a stronger and a more powerful tool for Him since I can realate to some people now that I might have never had a thing in common with before. (Which would only b significant when sharing His word) Thing is (and this is a HUGE contridiction) something inside me tells me that my Fater God didn't sit up there watching proudly as I became this tool. Something tells me that He was more than likely saddened by my choice to not follow His will for me (assuming that is, that His will then for me was to have a relationship with Him). Something tells me that He knew what I would/will do with my life and He'd already planned to send a persistant child of His to love me and help me. Much of all things spiritual are confusing, it's just the way it is. We aren't meant to know everything- we are meant to have faith. | |
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| the bible is fault y
Posted: 3/13/2005 7:07:26 PM |
thing is, in the Bible God asked people to do some pretty horrible stuff, including kill their children
if it's Abraham you refer to, that's because God knew He would provide the sacrifice. He was testing Abraham's faith, and showing Him that He would provide. Otherwise God wouldn't have sent the angels to stop what Abraham was about to do....
If we're going to reference one part of the story, then we need to look at all of it. :) | |
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| the bible is fault y
Posted: 3/13/2005 9:30:09 PM | | I don't think God required Jepthah to kill his daughter. He vowed that what or whoever came out of his house he would offer it up as a burnt offering. Kind of a stupid vow to make on his part. | |
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| Something I've noticed about ex-Christians
Posted: 3/14/2005 12:36:41 AM | I've noticed this trend too (with Catholics and Pentecostals). My friends and I have discussed, and I think that it's a result of the rigidity of the denominations.
Catholics and Pentecostals are forced to adhere to some pretty strict rules (i.e. confession, strict rules about clothing, etc.), and I think that dogmatic approach can have one of 3 effects on people: 1) it makes them a TRUE BELIEVER and they fully and faithfully follow all the rules as closely as possible, 2) they start to question the validity of everything they've been taught (especially during times of tradegy or strife) and after contemplation decide to TURN THEIR BACK on the faith because they haven't found the doctrine to be true, and 3) you wonder somewhere in between the two extremes, really not knowing what's going on, and waiting for a sign or some sort of indication on which way you should go (i.e. you just live your life and hope that everything will be alright in the "long run"). | |
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| Something I've noticed about ex-Christians
Posted: 3/14/2005 6:25:27 AM |
Loci, you find the Bible hard to believe but yet are trusting visions of Half-man Half-stag creatures who are guiding you along? I don't think anything else needs to be said.
Is it not your religion where a certain key religious figure followed the words of a burning bush? Did not god appear as a dove at one point in your good book? The gods can take many shapes and forms, for him to appear like this to me is no differant then him appearing as a dove, or deer, since your so ready to bash my religion maybe i should note somthing from the bible, for it is only YOUR god who took great pleasure in the annilation of the entire world by flood IT is only your god who's wrath destroyed saddom and grimoria(sp on both), it was only your god who uses fear of hell to control his people. Before you start to question my religion maybe you should think about your own first and its faults cause i see very few in mine. | |
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| Something I've noticed about ex-Christians
Posted: 3/14/2005 11:30:07 AM | I think that it's a result of the rigidity of the denominations.
Catholics and Pentecostals are forced to adhere to some pretty strict rules (i.e. confession, strict rules about clothing, etc.), and I think that dogmatic approach can have one of 3 effects on people
Interesting.When I did a piece on Satanism and the occult I interviewed a family of practicing Satanists.Actually the husband was aDruidic Shaman and the wife was a Satanic priestess.The two grew up in dogmatically religious homes yet the husband grew up Mormon and the wife grew up Jehovah's Witness.The wife told me that she could not accept the strictness of the codes,especially when she said they didn't practice what they preached.She said the head church elder was a drunk.Hypocracy is one motivation for people rejecting the religion they were brought up with. | |
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| Something I've noticed about ex-Christians
Posted: 3/14/2005 9:54:14 PM | | Give me a break Loci. You have the gall to protest me questioning your religion when you start threads titled "Bible--Myth or Fact", knowing full well which way you lean. In fact I see wiccans on here all the time dogging Christianity but the minute one of us questions wicca you guys start boo hooing that the Christians are picking on your religion. | |
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