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You first paragraph is false.
The Golden Rule is neither true nor false. That is a false dichotomy. It is flawed, not applicable in a multi-culture diverse world.
You seem very vested in this Biblical verse. Why do you then routinely and vehemently attack all other Biblical belief? What is so special about this. I am puzzled why the Atheist community seem so vexed with me and my post. I would have thought otherwise. Did i touch some sacred nerve? Very curious.
As usual, you're missing the whole point.
If you're going to live by the numbers, then you're going to have to die by the numbers, too.
OMG, I get so sick of these types of questions. Is everyone God loves supposed to live forever? Don't you get that it's not death, it's graduation? Human beings can't presume to know or understand the plan of the creator of the entire universe. Just stop it.
I love this post.
I always think of what my atheist friend said when a campus crusader for Christ handed him one of those 4 Spiritual Law tracts (with the butterscotch colored cover).
The first spiritual law is that "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life"...
To which my friend said that it should go on and say that what you and God think is "wonderful" may vary.
Sounds like many people get to graduate earlier than they would like or under circumstances that they might consider necessarily "wonderful".
For instance, Bill Bright who is the guy who came up with the Biblically based "Four Spiritual Laws" ended up dying after a long bout with metastatic throat cancer. So that was part of God's "wonderful plan" but I suspect it wasn't all that "wonderful" for Bill there at the end. Just like this preacher probably didn't think getting zapped in a Baptismal Font was all that great.
But of course, this post has the stock answer for that conundrum with the reliable old "God works in mysterious ways... beyond human understanding"....
It's just so much easier to realize that we can control our outcomes to some degree. Diet, exercise, risk avoidance... but like the old bumper sticker says... Sometimes "schitt happens". It can be random but it always occurs within the immutable physical laws of our universe.
OMG, I get so sick of these types of questions. Is everyone God loves supposed to live forever? Don't you get that it's not death, it's graduation? Human beings can't presume to know or understand the plan of the creator of the entire universe. Just stop it.
So should we wish you a happy graduation ceremony in the near future?
OMG, I get so sick of these types of questions. Is everyone God loves supposed to live forever? Don't you get that it's not death, it's graduation? Human beings can't presume to know or understand the plan of the creator of the entire universe. Just stop it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by eddie gein
I love this post.
I always think of what my atheist friend said when a campus crusader for Christ handed him one of those 4 Spiritual Law tracts (with the butterscotch colored cover).
The first spiritual law is that "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life"...
To which my friend said that it should go on and say that what you and God think is "wonderful" may vary.
Sounds like many people get to graduate earlier than they would like or under circumstances that they might consider necessarily "wonderful".
For instance, Bill Bright who is the guy who came up with the Biblically based "Four Spiritual Laws" ended up dying after a long bout with metastatic throat cancer. So that was part of God's "wonderful plan" but I suspect it wasn't all that "wonderful" for Bill there at the end. Just like this preacher probably didn't think getting zapped in a Baptismal Font was all that great.
But of course, this post has the stock answer for that conundrum with the reliable old "God works in mysterious ways... beyond human understanding"....
It's just so much easier to realize that we can control our outcomes to some degree. Diet, exercise, risk avoidance... but like the old bumper sticker says... Sometimes "schitt happens". It can be random but it always occurs within the immutable physical laws of our universe.
I love irootoo's post too. Because I know that when a Christian begs me to stop posting something that offends their senses I know that I've struck a nerve--I've said something challenges them to think and there's nothing a truly committed Christian hates more than to be challenged to question something about Christianity that just doesn't feel right. Because that's when all the cognitive dissonance sets in and when that happens a Christian has only two choices: either go with it and try to find a way to work it into their religion, or just block it out because it threatens their identity and sense of security that they have found with Jesus. Similar to the issue of the pastor doing God's work trying to bring children into God's kingdom and then suffering a horrible death in the prime of life right smack dab in the middle of doing God's work for him. I mean what kind of cognitive dissonance would that throw into a young Christian's mind?
The deadly enemy of Christianity is not Satan. Satan is a girl scout compared to Christianity's real enemy: education and critical thinking. Over the millennia Christian churchmen have always been terrified of their flocks getting too educated and learning to think critically, because they know that if and when Christians get educated and start thinking critically the first things they're going to start questioning is why so much of the Bible and Christian theology makes absolutely no sense to the normal mind. And that starts the death knell for Christianity. And that's exactly what we see happening in 1st world countries--the Internet educating people and teaching them to ask questions about the Bible and the whole Christian paradigm.
Suddenly they are learning that Jesus Christ was constantly talking about of both sides of his mouth in the gospels. For example, Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me....for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.â€
Now contrast that with Matthew 16:24
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
So which is it, Jesus? Is following you a piece of cake or is it like lugging around a 300 pound Roman cross?
These are the kinds of questions Christians are having to grapple with now that the Internet has opened Pandora's box. Or Christians are simply jamming the evils back into the box and slamming the box closed because thinking critically leads to them questioning their beloved Jesus and that scares the bejeezus out of them.
Last edited by thrillobyte; 08-28-2022 at 06:29 PM..
But that's the whole problem. History has pretty much proven conclusively that there never was a "Jesus of Nazareth, son of God who died on the cross for your sins". That's just a fable of yet another man-god among many men-gods circulating through the Mediterranean at that time. Historians believe the Jesus myth was likely based on a real Jewish anti-Roman zealot who was crucified for sedition against Rome and tossed into a hole with a bunch of other Jewish criminals and covered over. Afterward, various stories about a man-god who was crucified started circulating in the area, not much different from stories about Romulus, another man-god. Look at the legend of Romulus and see how similar it is to Jesus. And remember Romulus came first:
* Age 35 when he miraculously ascended to Olympus
* Son of Rhea who had been miraculously impregnated by the god Mars.
* Assassinated by the Roman senate vs Jesus condemned to death by Jewish Sanhedrin
* Earth darkened when Romulus killed
I mean the list of similarities goes on an on. Anyone would have to be out of their minds not to accept that the legend of Jesus is just the legend of Romulus and other man-gods rewritten and given a Jewish flavor.
This is why we can read things like Psalm 91:
The LORD is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.
Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day,nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.
A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but [harm] will not come near you.
You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.
If you make the Most High your dwelling-- even the LORD, who is my refuge--then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.
And we realize Biblical stuff like this doesn't carry a nickel's worth of truth. It's all just flowery poetry that we can find in dozens of other holy books but there's not a bit of supernatural power behind the words like Christians love to attribute to it.
And so it wouldn't be surprising that a minister would climb into a tub full of water with a live mike nearby and sincerely believe nothing harmful would happen to him because of a silly promise made in the Bible--a promise that obviously turns out to be not worth the paper it's printed on.
Problem is if it's in the Bible and as you say the Bible is the 'inspired" word of God then shouldn't the God of the Bible at least try to stand behind promises made in his name for the sake of the people who believe in him and his promises?
That is, unless the God of the Bible doesn't even exist.
You and I have very different views of the significance of a constant and similar theme or template to the God speculations. You see them as disprobative. I see them precisely opposite as probative that the consciousness of God was influencing those speculations. Of course, that is obviously because I encountered the consciousness of God and it definitely influenced ME!
The specific culture and circumstances are what colored the specifics in each narrative but the avatar template is obvious and constant! You seem to think the specifics matter. I don't. The fact that I encountered a consciousness that exactly matched the one described in the Jesus version of the avatar template is sufficient confirmation for me that God is the source. We ride very different spiritual horses, my friend!
The first question that comes to my mind is how on earth does a microphone electrocute someone? Was it struck by lightning?
(1)Ground fault somewhere in their equipment panel/wiring,
(2) no/improperly configured GFCI outlet for equipment (required for any wired equip used 'near' water) , even for a long microphone wire.
(3)touching any kind of wired equip whilst submerged in a grounding medium, unfortunately completes the circuit.
You and I have very different views of the significance of a constant and similar theme or template to the God speculations. You see them as disprobative. I see them precisely opposite as probative that the consciousness of God was influencing those speculations. Of course, that is obviously because I encountered the consciousness of God and it definitely influenced ME!
The specific culture and circumstances are what colored the specifics in each narrative but the avatar template is obvious and constant! You seem to think the specifics matter. I don't. The fact that I encountered a consciousness that exactly matched the one described in the Jesus version of the avatar template is sufficient confirmation for me that God is the source. We ride very different spiritual horses, my friend!
Of course we do, and that's what makes life interesting, right? And I'm happy that you find fulfillment in Christianity. You've heard me say, "Whatever helps you get through another day on this miserable God-forsaken ball whether it be sex, drugs, rock-and-roll or...Yes, Jesus...use it."
But obviously you are an exception to the rule. Tens of millions of Christians are reading about the lack of history on Jesus and historical determinations he was nothing but a mythical god-man and all the corruption in the early church and saying, "Get me out of this crazy religion" and are leaving Christianity in droves. Those are simple facts, Mystic. And while lots of people are coming to Jesus it's only happening in poor 3rd world holes where education is non-existent, so people are not being given the critical tools to make rational decisions for themselves and so Christianity may be picking up in these backward backwaters but they certainly don't add anything of substance to the religion itself. Now if you want to argue "At least souls are being saved" well, that's a different discussion entirely.
Of course we do, and that's what makes life interesting, right? And I'm happy that you find fulfillment in Christianity. You've heard me say, "Whatever helps you get through another day on this miserable God-forsaken ball whether it be sex, drugs, rock-and-roll or...Yes, Jesus...use it."
But obviously you are an exception to the rule. Tens of millions of Christians are reading about the lack of history on Jesus and historical determinations he was nothing but a mythical god-man and all the corruption in the early church and saying, "Get me out of this crazy religion" and are leaving Christianity in droves. Those are simple facts, Mystic. And while lots of people are coming to Jesus it's only happening in poor 3rd world holes where education is non-existent, so people are not being given the critical tools to make rational decisions for themselves and so Christianity may be picking up in these backward backwaters but they certainly don't add anything of substance to the religion itself. Now if you want to argue "At least souls are being saved" well, that's a different discussion entirely.
You are wrong...again...as usual. Why do you call a falsehood, a "simple fact"?
Christianity is growing...and the place it is growing fastest, is where education is top level.
(1)Ground fault somewhere in their equipment panel/wiring,
(2) no/improperly configured GFCI outlet for equipment (required for any wired equip used 'near' water) , even for a long microphone wire.
(3)touching any kind of wired equip whilst submerged in a grounding medium, unfortunately completes the circuit.
OR . . . Columbo would find the perpetrator among the equipment people who didn't like the Pastor because he abused them as a kid.
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And I'm happy that you find fulfillment in Christianity. You've heard me say, "Whatever helps you get through another day on this miserable God-forsaken ball whether it be sex, drugs, rock-and-roll or...Yes, Jesus...use it." 
