Quote:
Originally posted by Dottore
Well Jeff, you believe what you believe. And that is just fine. I have different views - and that is just fine as well.
I think I understand Christians and Christianity very well, having grown up in family full of them. If you have never met a Christian that doesn't discriminate, you live on a planet that is very different from mine.
My comments were prompted by the 'learned' exchange earlier in the thread about whether or not homosexuality was condoned in the old testatment. A truly silly exchange in my view, and one that I still compare to Mullahs looking in the Koran to support whatever twisted proposition requires such support.
And I read carefully what you said about the gospels and the old testament. But I don't buy it. Sorry. The argument that goes "my book is better than your book" is not all that convincing.
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Well then, all one can gather from this is that you have made a choice to either be missinformed or defiant. Maybe a mixture of both.
First off, you did not read my words very carefully. I very clearly stated that "I do not know a single Christian that would
stand for discrimination". The Bible tells them not to. That does not mean they are not hypocrites that practice discrimination anyway. All it means is that their faith tells them it is wrong. If you still do not understand the dynamic of why Christians say one thing and do another, why they continue to sin even though they know better, then maybe you should go back and read through this thread again. Supe, and others, have explained that rather succinctly.
So what is not to "buy" concerning my description of the relationship of the Old Testament to the New? Believe me, I'm not nearly creative or bright enough to come up with that description on my own. EVERY Christian understands what I tried to explain. It is as fundemental to Christianity as breathing is to living. The Law accuses and convicts; the Gospel acquits and saves. If you don't "buy" into that description (and this is entirely seperate from believing the content of either) than I submit you are not nearly as knowledgable about Christianity as you think. In spite of growing up in a house full of them.
So if you grow up in a house full of brain surgeons, that makes you one by proxy? You understand their craft just by being around them, through osmosis or something? I'm sorry, but the study of the Bible and God's word is more serious and involved than you, or many others, would like to think. From an "insider's" perspective, the statements you post concerning the topic are simply rife with missperceptions and error. As are most non-Christians on this board who profess to know a thing or two about it. Don't get me wrong, you are free to believe what you will.
You, and others in your camp, might be well served to actually make a serious study of this subject matter. If nothing else, even if you don't believe a word of it, you will then be better equiped to discuss it. Then again, maybe not.
Just as with a foreign language and culture, you simply will never truly learn it from a book or by any means of detached study. It requires what linguists and anthropologists call "full immersion" i.e., going to live with the people until you are considered (by them) to be "one of them". You will never fully understand Christians until you do. As an observant adult, not a child that is forced to comply.