You are seriously kidding yourself if you believe this Eljay.

To begin with there is no single accepted interpretation of the Bible. Clearly the Jews and the Muslims veered off when Christianity was born with their versions which actually were so drastically different they earned their own names (i.e. the Torah and the Quran).

However, even if we ignore that, just looking at the Christian Sect we see Christianity fall into a myriad of conflicting and opposing views. The Catholics had the right idea to preserve a religion. Give one person supreme authority to interpret the scripture and everyone else must accept his interpretation. However, many people protested against this and thus Protestantism was born.

Protestantism has truly become the biggest joke on Earth. And I’m not saying that with intent to belittle it but simply because it is truly the epitome of hypocrisy. Protestantism was originally based on the “protest” or rejection of the idea that any mortal man should interpret the Holy Scriptures for other people”. No mortal man speaks for god!

That was the protest that created Protestantism in the first place.

But now look at what Protestantism has become today. Protestant fundamentalists are the most arrogant by far of all the Christians. They are the one’s who demand that only their interpretation is acceptable as the word of god!

They reverted back to precisely that the Protestants originally protested against! Instead of sticking with the idea that no mortal man can speak for God they simply reject the Pope as the ultimate interpreter of scripture and becomeself-appointed paper popes!

And that’s what makes fundamental Protestantism so dangerous, any random idiot can claim to be the Pope!

Here is a direct quote from a Fundamental Protestant Paper Pope that was posted on this very forum:



Clearly she is very passionate about this being the “Word of God” because she repeated the word “ever” three times, and then made her major point in ALL CAPS like it should be CARVED IN STONE as the WORD OF GOD!

Now you come along as yet another Paper Pope and you attempt to declare that you can’t blame Christianity for the Paper Popes who don’t agree with your interepretation of the scriptures, you seem to even be suggesting that there exist some actual correct interpretation, but thus far no one has been able to agree on what that is, including any two Christians!.

The bottom line is that no one agrees on what the Bible is saying, especially the Christians! It’s totally ambiguous, clearly self-contradictive and inconsistent, and it doesn’t even contain a single solitarily word that was actually written by the man who was supposed to be the mortal incarnation of God.

It entirely a book of hearsay that was clearly written at least a half a century after the man who was supposed to be the incarnation of God had died.

The idea that any ‘Protester’ of Catholicism should have a better interpretation of this book than the original Catholic Pope is truly ludicrous. Either the Pope had it correct, or there’s nothing to it!

That should be obvious to anyone. Either Catholicism is true, or Christianity is false. This crap of having radical self-appointed Paper Popes claiming to speak for Jesus is truly the epitome of insanity!

How do you deal with a Paper Pope who claims, “You can not ever ever ever BE A RIGHTEOUS MAN/WOMAN AND NOT BELIEVE IN GOD'S SON.......”

All they are saying to you is that you don’t convert to their interpretation of the scriptures they can never respect you as being a ‘righteous’ person (or ‘righteous nation’) whatever the case may be.

All they are saying to people is, “If you don’t interpret this ancient book they way I do I will forever view you as being an evil person who had no moral values at all , and you are also clearly rejecting our creator and siding as his enemy!

That’s basically what they are saying. How can you live side-by-side with people who have so vehemently voiced the fact that they have absolutely no respect for you!

To claim that someone is an unrighteous and ungodly person is to reject their voice and opinions as being ‘ungodly’.

It’s basically an ultimatum. They are basically saying, “Either convert to my religious beliefs or I will forever view your opinions and actions as being unrighteous, ungodly, and therefore unworthy of consideration!”

Is that Christianity Eljay?

Do you agree with this rejection of non-Christians as being unrighteous and ungodly?

If you do then you are basically saying that non-Christians are unworthy of respect.

After all, how could anyone respect someone whom they view as being unrighteous and willfully rejecting the creator of humanity?

That’s an extremely dangerous view. That’s precisely the kind of view that drove the Crusades, the mass murdering of the Cathers, the Torturing and Burning of innocent midwives, and even contributed to the anti-Semitic views that gave the Catholic Church and German Christians divine permission to go along with an ungodly holocaust.

This religion has to be exposed for the ungodly mythology that it truly is. It just makes no sense to continue to defend it in the face of the atrocities that it supports whether on a national scale, or even on a personal scale of having one person belittling another person for being ‘unrighteous’ in the eyes of “God” simply because they don’t view the “scriptures” through the egotistical lens of a Paper Pope.

All the religion does is create Paper Pope who become deluded into believing that their views are God’s views.

That’s what makes the religion so dangerous Eljay.

It’s just makes no sense to support a religion that denounces the righteousness of anyone based on how they might view our creator, or even perhaps because they are an atheist.

The religion just breeds prejudice and judgment the very things that Jesus himself denounced!

It’s an oxymoronic religion!

Jesus taught not to judge others, yet this is all that Christianity is ever used for! All the Christians do is continually tell people that if they don’t believe that Jesus was God they are unrighteous and rejecting God!

They are using Jesus as an EXCUSE to judge others.

It’s an oxymoronic religion!

It just makes no sense to claim that non-Christians are unrighteous. That just spits in the very face of Jesus!

This crap has got to stop.

And that includes denouncing evolution in the name of God, and same-gender love in the name of God, and rejecting non-Christians as heathens in the name of God.

All Christianity does is allow people to become bigots in the name of Jesus Christ.

That clearly was never the man’s intent, whether he was mortal or divine.

Christianity is the antithesis of Jesus whether he was divine or not.

The religion is a slap in the face to Jesus no matter who he was.

As a “Christian” I denounce the religion!

In fact, that’s precisely what I did! It’s ungodly and it spits in the face of what the Bible even claims that Jesus supposedly taught. People who use Jesus to denounce the righteousness of non-believers are committing blaspheme of the highest order.

True believers in Jesus need to start denouncing this formal religion that stole his name because it’s truly the antithesis of Jesus. It’s a train-wrecked religion. Let it die. Help it die! For Jesus’ sake!

reread his post. that isn't what he said

That's quite amaizing since the Crusades preceeded the bible.

What has the Pope got to do with anything religious? How do you know the Pope is even a christain? Here, I'll answer that - You don't!

Of course God is the same.....imo the only difference is that ot law was more tradition and when Christ died he died for all to come to him..So no longer did the traditions of the OT hold ground.....It was the again men holding up tradition and thinking they were all that in doing do. The trinity is the Father God, the Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.....

Of course, the Ironic thing here is the very church that condemned Galileo, has at the very least acknowledged that Evolution is more than "Just a Theory" for some time now...

Abra;

We've gone over this so many times before. It matters not what any group of people interpret what or how the bible says on any given matter when it comes down to the absolutes of the intent of scripture. How can you not know this - being a self professed former Christain. That tells me you once knew the basic tennets of Christainity - but continuously, your posts show you do not.

You blame on religion the attrocities of those using it as an end to their own means. And more often than not - I have to agree with you. I do not think that the Christain Scientists who refuse to see doctors because of their religius interpretation of the bible are doing themselves any favors, and generally, their blind belief in how Mary Baker Eddy interpreted scripture leads to their committing severe atrocities on either themselves - or heir children. Do you want me to blame God for their blind obedience to a religious mandate? Where would I fnd that as context in scripture? Oh sure - I could use the Abra method of examining the bible and find a passage that appears to point to this as being a "biblically verifyable" interpretation of the bible, but that is going about it all the wrong way, and not demonstratable to having any better understanding of God's intent of the bible than were one to read the first sentnce of a Calculous book and then claiming to have "read the book" - now having a clear understanding of the topic.

We would call that person "delusional". Why? Because they would certainly fall short of our lowest expectations of what would qualify one as understanding the concepts to which they are claiming knowledge. To qualify one as a Mathematician, we would expect them to have a more extensive knowledge than the simple properties of Algebra I. Those of us who have ventured off into Linear Algebra and Advanced Calculous have little reguard for the mathematical opinions of someone with a background of nothing more than basic mathematics. So it is with any topic really.

I've studied Christainity - and numerous religions for that matter - rather extensively. When you engage me in discussion about how people who claim to be adherants of a religion, but through their actions exhibit no more than a pretextual remedial understanding of said religion, and then try to use that as evidence that the religion is wrong - what are you expecting to get for an answer?

You constantly try to use those who abuse a philosophy as evidence the philosophy is wrong. I just can't see that as viable reasoning. The worst evidence for the viability of any philosophy is the many ways that it may be interpreted. Charles Manson saw a select few passages in Revelations as justification of overthrowing the black race - and set about putting that interpretation into actions of atrocities. You would have me think that Revelations is there-by wrong because of Manson's actions. To you, I guess, that's proof enough.

If I say that Hitlers "master plan" of exterminating the Jewish race was based on his interpretation of Darwin's survival of the fittest, and thereby - Evolution is false based on how Hitler interpretated it, you'd be all over me with the same logic I am presenting to you.

I think it's all fine and well that your position on the bible and it infuences are what it is. I can reason out your position based on how you build your argument. But to try and justify your belief that the religion is false based upon the actions of those who abuse it does not demonstrate to me that you've thought this out very well. It's a weak argument with no solid premise to support it.

I expect more from you.

If you will actually read Charles Darwin's "Origin of Species" (as I have)you will see that it is obvious that species have adapted and evolved over time to various enviroments.

If I say that Hitlers "master plan" of exterminating the Jewish race was based on his interpretation of Darwin's survival of the fittest, and thereby - Evolution is false based on how Hitler interpretated it, you'd be all over me with the same logic I am presenting to you.

Its actually a very laymen friendly book. Very approachable. Its available free online here.

http://darwin-online.org.uk/EditorialIntroductions/Freeman_OntheOriginofSpecies.html


Here is the original edition in PDF.
http://darwin-online.org.uk/pdf/1859_Origin_F373.pdf

Another former Christian here and I agree with Abra most of the time.

The problem you have with your narrative here is that ALL religions who claim to be based on the bible are using THEIR INTERPRETATION of what the bible says or is intended to be used for. So no religion is based on the bible at its bare naked face. Why is this? Because no religion could keep parishioners if they followed the bible at face value. This religion would be dictatorial, tyrannic and inhumane just to start and then it would implode from the hypocrisy of the beliefs. If people would put the bible back in context, a compilation of old stories which have been edited and reformulated to fit a certain agenda of the men of that time. It is not timeless, it is not all knowing, it is a prediction for the future. It was men who decided they were the moral judgement of the people and intended to comform the world to fit this "morality".

Not defending anyone here just noticed something and called it.

As always this is my opinion and observation.

And here's why I dont take you seriously Inkracer.

I NEVER said the Crusades predated Christainity - YOU said I did. Another prime example of your critical reading skills. I defy you to find the post I said that and quote me.

I NEVER said the head of the Roman Catholic church is not a Christain. YOU did. Upon closer examiniation of my post, you will see that I asked HOW one knows the Pope is a Christian.

So - until I sense some improvement in your reading skills - I'm always going to consider your posts based on a serious lack of comprehension and merely a spewing of your biased uninformed opinions. That's why you can never respond to my questions with an answer on topic.

That's quite amaizing since the Crusades preceeded the bible. How did they do that? This is a perfect example of how the idea of Christainity and the "acts of religion" get confused and misinterpreted. It's like the example of passing a secret around a room and coming up with something completely wrong. This is what happens when one just parrots what they hear without verifying the source.

What has the Pope got to do with anything religious? How do you know the Pope is even a christain? Here, I'll answer that - You don't!

I don't understand how anyone could read Darwin's "Origin of Species" and "The Descent of Man" and not be convinced that evolution has taken place.

I haven't read either and I'm convinced.

But then again, I studied phsyics, chemistry, and biology, so I understand how it actually works.

As with the other debates about this in other threads tell me how the belief of an invisible man who no one can prove really exist created everything is more credible than the theory of evolution of which a scientist can show me proof us in front of my eyes. Again in my opinion it takes the same type of logic to believe in the tooth fair, Santa clause, or the Easter bunny. I am not going to try to convince any body of changing their beliefs but to me the logic of such beliefs is somewhat childish.

you hit the nail on the head...they are YOUR beliefs. not everyone shares all the same believes you do....some do, some don't

no one can change what others believe. you can't change me anymore than i can change you