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Christians on this forum have said this over and over again, Thrill. Much of what you read in the Bible has to do with context. I know that a number of atheists roll their eyes whenever we tell them that, but it's so true. If you read some verses/passages in the proper context, suddenly the 'contradictions' disappear.
Except the contradictions do not disappear. The Christians have to invent 'proper context' to escape the contradictions. But when you look at the gospels in the proper context, as literary creations rewriting the earlier gospels by opposing sects of Christians, then one can understand why the contradictions actually exist.
First of all, most "religions" are about a certain philosophy; not merely 'assertions'.
And lastly, I believe that there ARE some universal truths, in the sense that if EVERYONE applied them, this world would be a better place. Take the 10 Commandments, for example. Even if 'we' eliminated the ones about how to treat God, and focused on the rest of them, wouldn't this world be better?
Before you answer that, consider this: Jesus didn't just give us a list of "do's" and "don'ts". I believe he was giving us...or at least, trying to give us... a rationalebehind the operative 'laws'. Take the whole adultery 'thing' for a moment. People who commit adultery don't simply do it without thought. As much as some claim, "It just happened", it didn't just happen. There were other events/thoughts and beliefs that lead up to that point. And those beliefs usually have to do with our own selfish desires...which Jesus warned us about. We often make ourselves out to be little 'gods' unto our own lives, and THAT'S the cause of so much strife.
I think it depends on how one sees religion. But let me just say this: Adam and Eve felt the same way. That is, that God may have been in their lives to a point, but they got to a point where they no longer believed that they needed God. They could be their own 'god' in their lives. Yeah? How's THAT going?
To me, I wouldn't be here, typing to you, if it wasn't for God...who I DO see as the Creator of life.
See, I don't make that assumption. But I also don't see 'slavery' back then, as being the terrible thing that it was in Colonial times in the US.
Yes, slavery was in the Bible. But the Bible isn't only about 'what to do'...it's also about what NOT to do.
The very idea that you so detest slavery can be said that this is, in part, what the Bible is about.
Let me ask you a question. WHO in the Bible questioned God about slavery? Some people DID question God, but never about slavery. WHY not? Moses questioned God. So did Abraham. And God didn't 'strike them down' because they did.
Perhaps slavery 'had to be' so people such as yourself get angry about it. See the injustice. Learn about "doing unto others."
Slavery has to do with, once again, a certain hubris. I "deserve" to have someone else lesser than me, cater to the whims that I detest.
Get rid of the hubris, you get rid of slavery. And THAT'S what Christ was trying to tell us.
So god made people suffer so that later other people wouldn't suffer. Even though he was all-powerful and could have ended slavery by his own power.
Except the contradictions do not disappear. The Christians have to invent 'proper context' to escape the contradictions. But when you look at the gospels in the proper context, as literary creations rewriting the earlier gospels by opposing sects of Christians, then one can understand why the contradictions actually exist.
Nope. The alleged 'contradictions' aren't there.
One of the first "contradictions" I saw (as proposed by so many scoffers) was the idea that God told Adam that if he ate the apple, he would "surely die". Some take that to mean that Adam would die IMMEDIATLY. But God never said, "You'll die IMMEDIATELY" And Adam DID die...but not immediately. So how is that a 'contradiction'?
MOST of the alleged 'contradictions' in the bible have been explained. There aren't 'contradictions'; only misunderstandings.
Because people who are joining have absolutely nothing to do with people who are leaving. But it's always a convenient dodge to evade answering the real question I ask which you just did, clever girl.
Now tell me, Mink, if Jesus is so great and so fulfilling, then why are millions of people LEAVING him?
Who sez they're leaving JESUS?
Just because SOME people aren't going to church anymore doesn't mean they've necessarily left Jesus.
Can people have a relationship with Jesus OUTSIDE of 'church-going'?
Look, I GET that some believe that you're ONLY a "Christian" IF you profess your faith AND go to church.
Just because SOME people aren't going to church anymore doesn't mean they've necessarily left Jesus.
Can people have a relationship with Jesus OUTSIDE of 'church-going'?
Look, I GET that some believe that you're ONLY a "Christian" IF you profess your faith AND go to church.
Personally, I don't believe that.
What say you?
Good points.
One doesn’t have to go to church to be a Christian, or believe in God.
The Covid pandemic didn’t help much either with church attendances, and many places of worship are still recovering from that.
One of the first "contradictions" I saw (as proposed by so many scoffers) was the idea that God told Adam that if he ate the apple, he would "surely die". Some take that to mean that Adam would die IMMEDIATLY. But God never said, "You'll die IMMEDIATELY" And Adam DID die...but not immediately. So how is that a 'contradiction'?
MOST of the alleged 'contradictions' in the bible have been explained. There aren't 'contradictions'; only misunderstandings.
Yes they are contradictions, from Jesus being born twice, through whether you should keep all the Jewish laws or just some of them, to the one and only sacrifice of Jesus being on earth, no, heaven, no, on earth.
Slavery is in the Bible because slavery was a basic component of every ancient civilization.
Quote:
Originally Posted by thrillobyte
Edward Gibbon in his monumental classic The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, viewed the the pre-Christian Roman empire as characterized by “religious harmony”, and the Romans were interested more in good governance than in imposing religious orthodoxy on their many subjects. A distinctive feature of early Christianity, by contrast, was for Gibbon its “exclusive zeal for the truth of religion”, a blinkered, intolerant obsessiveness that succeeded by bullying and intimidation, and promoted a class of wide-eyed mystics. Indeed, Christian zealotry, was, he thought, ultimately responsible for the fall of the Roman empire, by creating citizens contemptuous of their public duty.
Let me explain in more detail.
Before the US Civil War, the South was a well ordered and productive society.
After the Civil War, the South was destroyed. It was physically destroyed by Sherman's burning and psychological by Sherman's damage on the civilian population. After the Civil War, carpetbaggers from the Northern states brought corruption to the South. After the Civil War, the South remained poorer than the North for a century.
All true - but would you trade the stability of the South rather than end its slavery? Of course not!
Gibbon was absolutely correct in his statement:
"Pre-Christian Roman empire as characterized by “religious harmony”, and the Romans were interested more in good governance than in imposing religious orthodoxy on their many subjects."
So were the early Christians wrong to end slavery? Were early Christians wrong to reframe rape as a crime? Of course not!
BTW - It was British Christians stopped Africans from selling slaves to Europeans.
Quote:
Across the next 50 years British warships will capture approximately 1,600 slave ships, and they will do so at the cost of more than 2,000 casualties, almost entirely fatal, and almost all casualties of local tropical diseases. This was not an easy campaign, and it was not cost free. In the Royal Navy of the early 19th century, you were more likely to die in the West African anti-slavery Patrol and in any other deployment.
Thrillobyte - So why exactly are so you anti-Christianity? It had to be one big event to have you repeatedly thrashing it.
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