nsTeam2RO, nsTeam2RW, nsTeam2_talkRO, nsTeam2_talkRW
13,254
edits
Changes
From the Main Page discussion
{{welcome}}
{{welcome}}
:<big>You can sign your comments by typing <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></big> [[User:Bohdan|Bohdan]] 01:48, 18 July 2007 (EDT)
:<big>You can sign your comments by typing <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></big> [[User:Bohdan|Bohdan]] 01:48, 18 July 2007 (EDT)
== From the Main Page discussion ==
:<small>''These messages have been copied from the Main Page dicussion page so as to continue the conversation here:''</small>
If my world is baised by a non-Christian worldview (keeping in mind I used to be very, very Christian and have been down that road) then yours is certainly biased pro-Christian. You say that on occasion God takes it upon himself to intervene when this is something I, nor anybody I know, has experienced. I cannot directly refute these claims but I cannot accept them based on stories that have been re-re-retranslated and authored by people who's aim was to convey a message rather than record historcal accuracy. I have trouble beliving in a God who would divinely intervene to help the Hebrews slaughter their enemies yet who will not stop the violence in Darfur. Certainly if God had the power to intervene at one time he has not lost that power, and it would certainly be noble to be lent a hand here. I am not saying that the universe is godless (with no originating force nothing would be), but rather I no longer beleive in a fickle God who doles out punishments and selfishly picks the battles he fights while ignoring most of the plight of humanity. I know by people who are religious I will be told that we cannot look to God to solve our own problems but this is an argument that no longer stands; if God at one time was content intervening and leading the Hebrews out of their slavery why cannot he lead all those imprisoned out of their bondage? Is he silently saying that one man is worth more than another? That is a God I cannot believe in.
I think I did give an example of literal to metaphorical: the creation story. At one time it was widely believed as literal but as that view becomes less widespread the story still conveys the imperfection of humanity. The Cain and Abel story, while perhaps not true (as humanity could not genetically have started from just two people) becomes a metaphor for human agression, jealousy and redemption. Stories can and should have meaning beyond their literal texts.
My dates are not wrong. Look them up. The gospels (ceratinly the synoptics) were not written by the men who's name they bear. John is under dispute but it is more accepted that it was not written by the apostle. While it is true the other gospels are not part of the bible, it does not diminish their validity. Try reading Why Christianity Must Change or Die by Bishop Spong. He outlines very nicely how the Christian tradition grew and this is not some crazy off his rocker atheist, this is a man who genuinely believes in God but that a theistic god is leftover from a past when humanity was not okay with its own aloneness. The canon had not been accepted, even the authors of the gospels place Jesus' divinity in different places. Only when John came along as the last gospel was Jesus truly a god. Paul understood that Jesus' divnity was put in place by the ressurrection, the synoptics place it at his birth and John pre-birth, creating Jesus as an ever-existing figure.
And please, my friend, parables are beautiful no matter what you believe. Ghandi, though he did not beleive in Jesus as lord, thought he had a deep understanding of humanity. I think the same. I see no reason that I cannot appreciate his teachings.
{{unsigned|Rollon067}}
I just dont see though how an all loving god could neglect genocide, injustice, rape, muder, theft, exploitation on such grand scales. It is what originally drove me away from a theistic Christian view of God. It seems if God is all loving then an plea in-earnest by anybody would be heard. If God is all powerful it seems to me that the power of this help would have no bounds. These are not my own dreamings but things stated ad nauseam by chruches, both Catholic and Protestant, and if God indeed has such power is omnipresent that it stands to reason that such a God would intervene where true injustice was occuring. That said, it has been a good debate/discussion type thing.
{{unsigned|Rollon067}}
:<small>''End of copied messages''</small>