Comments to earthquake and bible is literal threads

[john walker's workshop]

that's the correct web address. "the samba" is the name of the site. a google search will find it.

[Moneyguy1]

Thanks!!

[Icemaster]

Originally posted by lendaddy
That's my opinion anyway.

OK, fair enough. Mines stated above.

[nostatic]

the problem is that quite a few people I've met don't have their own opinion, but rather parrot what the church tells them to think.

Not all...but quite a few.

And this country was not founded "on Christ". There is plenty of talk about "God", but no specific reference to Jesus that I know of. I suppose it is heresey to think that Jesus, Allah, Buddah and the rest might all be the same "god"....

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally posted by nostatic
the problem is that quite a few people I've met don't have their own opinion, but rather parrot what the church tells them to think.

I think one of the worst things to happen to Christianity is the formation of the modern day churches. They all get wrapped around the axle on one or two central doctrines that they have chosen from scriptures. Not only are these usually taken completely out of context, but then the church, as an organization, crams it downs its members' throats as the only possible interpretation of those scriptures. Membership is dependant upon keeping your mouth shut and going along with this. They preach that theirs is the only right way, and not only are non-Christians wrong, but members of other denominations are preaching false doctrine and are therefor worse than wrong. They often get nastier with their "I'm right, you're wrong" denomination vs. denomination pissing contests than they do with their brow-beating of non-Christians. This builds a feeling of fellowship among the members of a church as it unites them in a common struggle, but it sure as hell doesn't lead to any kind of free thinking among its members. Think too far outside of their little box, or a little too close to one of the denominations they dissagree with, and you're gone. It's too bad, but the churches have really blown it with this one. Now it's no longer a matter of what scripture says, and intelligent study and debate on what you think it says; it's more a matter of what any one church believes they say. Members have no right to question the churches' positions. Most don't seem to want to anyway.

As a Christian, all I can say is thank God there is life outside of this quagmire. I believe the bad name given to Christianity is the sole responsibility of the modern day churches. I find most of them to be an embarrassment. Christ refers to His followers as "sheep"; when applied to the mind-numbed parishoners warming pews on Sunday mornings, it is an apt description. I guess what it boils down to for me is that while I believe in Christ, I have little faith in the churches. There are good ones out there mind you, but they are not the ones making enough noise that you hear about them all the time. They are also not in the habit of doing all of their members' thinking. Of course, most people like the easy way...

[Moneyguy1]

A wise man once said:

God created faith; man created religion

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

OK... my two cents...

Anyone who tries to force their own narrow interpretation of Revelation on anybody else is no better than a rascist in my book. You have your faith, thats fine. For a book that supposedly teaches "the Way", there is a lot of violence, guilt, pain and needless suffering in it..

With all due respect to anyone affected by the recents events in Asia, nature is capable of a lot worse devastation on a global level. It seems stupid to say that this is the trumpeting of the horsemen.

I think the key issue here is to try to help these people out and not ***** about something that was written based on tales told in other languages and edited countless times over thousands of years.

I am a spiritual man, and I do believe in a higher order, but spending all your time on your knees and arguing over what someone said thusands of years ago doesnt accomplish anything but apathy and indifference. (I would think that Jesus would want people to shut up, get their ass in gear and go and help these people)

A earthquake and a tsunami happened, big deal, they've been happening for thousands of years. Probably even larger too.

Im reminded of what my dad used to say... Satan gives us religion to keep us from God...

[john walker's workshop]

"the problem is that quite a few people I've met don't have their own opinion, but rather parrot what the church tells them to think."

that's why we have dubya for 4 more years.

[azasadny]

I believe God gave each of us a mind to think with, a heart to feel with and a soul to reach him with... just my .02 worth...

[Lmiller]

Originally posted by Jeff Higgins
I think one of the worst things to happen to Christianity is the formation of the modern day churches. They all get wrapped around the axle on one or two central doctrines that they have chosen from scriptures. Not only are these usually taken completely out of context, but then the church, as an organization, crams it downs its members' throats as the only possible interpretation of those scriptures. Membership is dependant upon keeping your mouth shut and going along with this. They preach that theirs is the only right way, and not only are non-Christians wrong, but members of other denominations are preaching false doctrine and are therefor worse than wrong. They often get nastier with their "I'm right, you're wrong" denomination vs. denomination pissing contests than they do with their brow-beating of non-Christians. This builds a feeling of fellowship among the members of a church as it unites them in a common struggle, but it sure as hell doesn't lead to any kind of free thinking among its members. Think too far outside of their little box, or a little too close to one of the denominations they dissagree with, and you're gone. It's too bad, but the churches have really blown it with this one. Now it's no longer a matter of what scripture says, and intelligent study and debate on what you think it says; it's more a matter of what any one church believes they say. Members have no right to question the churches' positions. Most don't seem to want to anyway.

As a Christian, all I can say is thank God there is life outside of this quagmire. I believe the bad name given to Christianity is the sole responsibility of the modern day churches. I find most of them to be an embarrassment. Christ refers to His followers as "sheep"; when applied to the mind-numbed parishoners warming pews on Sunday mornings, it is an apt description. I guess what it boils down to for me is that while I believe in Christ, I have little faith in the churches. There are good ones out there mind you, but they are not the ones making enough noise that you hear about them all the time. They are also not in the habit of doing all of their members' thinking. Of course, most people like the easy way...

What he said!

No, God, Jesus, Buddha and Allah are not one in the same and the only way to understand this is to read the Bible. But until you do that you only believe what others have told you to believe. I have not read the Buddha or Allah books so my only reference is the Bible…for me I don’t need to go any further. I trust the ones advocating the Buddha and Allah books have read them. And if you haven’t read any of them my point is made.

I agree the latest natural events are not the trumpets or the horsemen. Remember my initial post, we need that world power in Babylon first (and I don’t mean Babylon 5). See Zechariah 5:5-11. For you Bible students the “Ephah” (KJV) in verse 6 represents a "bushel basket", which in bible times represents commerce. The image being painted is two women called commerce going to Babylon carrying a basket with a woman called wickedness inside. The wickedness within the basket is covered or hidden. You are probably familiar with what eventually happens to this "women" in Revelation Chapter 17. What this "women" does prior to this is written in Daniel Chapter 7 and elsewhere.

The Bible is like a mystery; the only way to understand it is to read the entire book. You can’t understand the mystery by only reading the last chapter and/or a few sentences that you put on a bumper sticker.

No, I don’t own a Porsche. I am also not as rich as Abraham or King David was. I don’t know the scriptures as well as the Apostle Paul. And I don’t own my own business like Peter. But as long as I keep giving at least 10% to fund the preaching of the gospel surely God will keep giving me more or tell me to do something else with my time. I am very sure that the place I give my money is sending some of it to help those who are suffering.

[Aurel]

I think all religions, and all sacred books, are different paths to enlightment, and all are valid. Even no religion is also a path. I cannot beleive that one book, or one God, is the real one, while all others are wrong. This belief, from the beginning of times, has been at the origin of religion wars. My God is mine, I own it. It is at my image, and he made me at his image. Your God is probably different than mine, because your faith and your level of enlightment are different. The path you take does not matter, it is how you walk on it that matters. I do not read the Bible, but I read life, and I see the working of a higher power in life. Walk your way knowing that there are other ways, and we will all met God at the end of the walk, or oursleves if we don`t beleive in God, which is exactly the same thing.

Aurel

[nostatic]

Originally posted by Lmiller

No, God, Jesus, Buddha and Allah are not one in the same and the only way to understand this is to read the Bible. But until you do that you only believe what others have told you to believe. I have not read the Buddha or Allah books so my only reference is the Bible…for me I don’t need to go any further.

If you haven't read them, then how can you know? Answer...you can't. This is exactly the problem. What are you afraid of? God gave you a brain...use it. Expand your mind. I know xtians that have actually learned a few things from reading other religous texts. And they are still xtians...and perhaps better ones at that.

For a start, take a crack at the Tao Te Ching (there are various translations, just as there are various versions of the bible):

http://www.chinapage.com/gnl.html
http://www.thebigview.com/tao-te-ching/chapter01.html

and there are others...

[Milu]

Originally posted by Lmiller

No, I don’t own a Porsche. I am also not as rich as Abraham or King David was. I don’t know the scriptures as well as the Apostle Paul. And I don’t own my own business like Peter. But as long as I keep giving at least 10% to fund the preaching of the gospel surely God will keep giving me more or tell me to do something else with my time. I am very sure that the place I give my money is sending some of it to help those who are suffering.

Paul was not an apostle and came along a bit later, he is
not noted as an expert on scripture. Much of Christianity however, is derived from his words which have his own particular slant.

[Don 944 LA]

comment about earthquake / psunami etc .....

mother nature was around before any storytellers .......

[stuartj]

Ah, god botherers. So where is your god? Not sufficiently omnipotent or omniscient to stop a natural disaster, it would seem.

Unless he meant to kill 100,000 of his children, ofcourse.

Stuart

[Flatbutt1]

Originally posted by Aurel
I think all religions, and all sacred books, are different paths to enlightment, and all are valid. Even no religion is also a path. I cannot beleive that one book, or one God, is the real one, while all others are wrong. This belief, from the beginning of times, has been at the origin of religion wars. My God is mine, I own it. It is at my image, and he made me at his image. Your God is probably different than mine, because your faith and your level of enlightment are different. The path you take does not matter, it is how you walk on it that matters. I do not read the Bible, but I read life, and I see the working of a higher power in life. Walk your way knowing that there are other ways, and we will all met God at the end of the walk, or oursleves if we don`t beleive in God, which is exactly the same thing.

Aurel

walk your way knowing that there are other ways

and that your path will cross others, cross peacefully.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

Originally posted by nostatic
If you haven't read them, then how can you know? Answer...you can't. This is exactly the problem. What are you afraid of? God gave you a brain...use it. Expand your mind. I know xtians that have actually learned a few things from reading other religous texts. And they are still xtians...and perhaps better ones at that.

For a start, take a crack at the Tao Te Ching (there are various translations, just as there are various versions of the bible):

http://www.chinapage.com/gnl.html
http://www.thebigview.com/tao-te-ching/chapter01.html

and there are others...

What he said... I cannot agree with this more. How many times have I dealt with Christians who were simply unaware or unwilling perhaps to read up?


FYI, Buddhism and Islam have been around much longer than Christianty.

"walk your way knowing that there are other ways

and that your path will cross others, cross peacefully." - Well said

[Milu]

Actually Islam dates from about the 7th century AD and Buddhism about 5th century BC, but that's a trivial detail. I have to agree with the points made by Jared and Nostatic.

.

[kach22i]

Originally posted by Jared at Pelican Parts
FYI, Buddhism and Islam have been around much longer than Christianty.

Wrong, but I see someone else also caught this.

[techweenie]

Okay, then, Zoroastrianism has been around since before Christianity...