Anonymous4674

True dat. The RC church claims ownership of the world, but I extend my middle finger to that idea...


That being said, my asshole puckers when someone guarantees me they will be honest because they are a "good Christian."

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Ordained by the church of the Latter Day Dude.


"I know you think you understand what you thought I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant..." (Alan Greenspan)

OldMan&TheWeed

This is what I was telling my 13 yo son today (who's somewhat of an evangelical atheist).

The teaching of Christ are a Christmas tree, and everyone has an ornament.

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Nintey-three percent of what I say is brilliant, factual information and seven percent is complete bullshit. Have fun deciding which is which.

BibleGuy

It may be that literal interpretations which appear to make God look like, as you said, an asshole, are very skewed and mixed up, especially via translation. The Old Testament, translation at least, seems to present God causing everything - at least in many cases. Maybe that's a spin imposed upon the text. Maybe it represents a lack of balance in man. Jesus said:

If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake. (John 14:7-11, KJV)

We may have a deeply ingrained impression of God based upon various representations, but what I get from Jesus' words above is "you wanna know the Father? Look at me... at what I do... at who I am. I am the Father in action." And what did he do?

• Taught us to love God and each other as ourselves
• Healed everyone he touched in various ways
• Said to care for and feed the poor, widows and orphans
• Forgave everyone, everything
• Taught that the Kingdom is within; within you; within me, and how to go there
• Taught us to steer away from tyrannical scholars who are "the blind leading the blind" teaching external knowledge, behavior, traditions...
• Taught us to "repent" which the scholarly always seem to teach as "Stop behaving that way and start behaving this way, you sinful maggot". But the word is metanoeo in Greek and it means to think differently or afterwards, i.e. reconsider (morally, feel compunction). "Repent" ultimately changes behavior, but it does not mean to change behavior. It means to "think differently". Differently than who? See previous point.

Jesus gave his life serving pagans, simple country hicks, fishermen, prostitutes, farmers, demon-possessed crazies, carpenters, lepers, shepherds, kids playing tag... to teach us what the scholars will not: The kingdom is within, and the Father is love and wants to elevate you and me beyond imagination, no religious hierarchy required.

I don't personally think there's anything wrong with the Old Testament, but with representation and translation.

God is everything, so wouldn't killing his own creations be like killing himself?

Look at it this way... If one of the cells in your body isolates itself for some crazy reason and stops listening and cooperating with the whole, it spreads... infecting adjacent cells with it's ego-centric consume everything mentality. We call that "cancer" and we have two choices: convince it to "repent" (re-join the whole in balanced harmony), or eradicate it if it won't. Otherwise it will consume us and itself in the process. Now... you are a cell, and so is Bob, and Mary, and Jeanna, and Todd... but Todd decides life is all about "me" and starts raping the landscape... stealing from his fellows... stripping the Earth... acquiring everything for himself offering nothing but toxic pollution back to the whole from which he takes. He spreads his mentality and societies become unbalanced, selfish and toxic to the whole. Waddaya do? You have to get rid of "Todd" or he will kill everyone and everything. You have to restore balance for the health, the very survival, of the whole.

Furthermore, how do these people in the Bible "go to" God? Did he have a Villa at the edge of town or something?

You just made me tingle. Yep. A nice, comfy, fragrant one.

And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the LORD went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp. (Exodus 33:7, KJV)

That's where they burned incense. Nice tent, and you described it perfectly! A "tabernacle" pitched "without the camp" is a nice little Villa* at the edge of town, akin to a Scythian vapor bath (scroll to 73-75).

* Simple definition of "Villa": A semi-detached house.

"God" is way more groovy than we've been lead to believe. If Jesus were born today he'd probably wear tie-dye as a metaphor for being clothed in light.

SageTree

So are you saying God can't pitch a tent ?????

Nice post BG....


Sage

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verklingen

so we don't kill todd, we rehabilitate him. is our society, rife with its myriad injustices, truly more just than god himself?

the bible was written and kept by people, and people are fain to use whatever means necessary to achieve their desire. we have to remember that religious writings were as much holy scripture as they were historical records, and that in identifying with their gods ancient cultures were wont to paint a powerful picture of those gods and, by proxy, themselves. the same "spin" you mention in the translation of biblical texts must be considered for those who wrote and kept the original text itself.

jesus distilled the goodness of his people's god and built from it a doctrine of compassion (really like what waves had to say ). i stand by my original sense of wonderment at people's obsession with mythology while all that separates them from eternally self-evident truths are a few pages of paper

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“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”

BibleGuy

We're made in his image and likeness, so... I'd better stop there. <smirk>

SageTree

Maybe if God can't pitch a tent he's a she....

Take a walk on the wild side!

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BibleGuy

Rehabilitate... that's the "repent" option, IF Todd is willing. However, in our society, "Todd" isn't the 7-Eleven thief, the car vandal, or even the rapist or pedophile. Yes, these are a problem, but in the words of Sheriff Buford T. Justice, that's "baby shit" compared to Todd. Todd is the mega governments, the mega corporations, the pharmaceutical, oil and other industries, even religious tyrannicals... the "Great men of the Earth" (Rev 18:23) who are raping, pillaging, polluting and destroying at the expense of the masses (the whole, including the Earth itself). That's "Todd" and he does not want to be rehabilitated. Our society is not rehabilitating Todd. Todd is trying to assimilate society.

And you're right about peoples and texts and eternally self-evident truths. That's why ultimate Truth isn't found in a book. Its found within.

BibleGuy

And the Sage said "Do.. do do... do do... do do do do do.. do do... do do..."