Christianity ruins families.

[Al B. Sure!]

Don't bring this thread back up... now we have two active threads discussing effectively the same topic.

[Asher]

I'm just immensely amused at the thought of anarchists organizing study groups.

What do you study?

The ones vandalizing small, immigrant-owned, independent shops in Toronto last weekend could sure use some more knowledge.

[chequita guevara]

Most of them in my group actually do study. They're hungry for knowledge.

[Asher]

anarchist study groups

LOL

[chequita guevara]

What Imran felt was not a God, but the sense of community in Church, which has largely disappeared from our culture. Church is one of the few places you can still get it in our crass, consumerist culture, where no one has any connections to each other than cold cash payment. TV, and now the interwebs, have really made it hard for people to have community, as we have the community, without the necessary visual cues and smiles we need.

I work hard in my socialist/anarchist study groups to create that sense of community and good feeling. A couple of weeks ago, one person told me he wanted to give the group a hug. We're hard wired to need community, since without it you die.

[Barnabas]

Ben, yes, everybody in Purgatory will go to heaven, they are not doomed, but they are still in a cleansing/expiation process, and the prayers help them to complete the process.
Purgatory isn't clearly defined in the new testament, obviously the word is not mentioned, the only part of the Bible I know that refers to the concept is when Paul talks about the works that will be tested by fire, and same men whose works were not excellent may still be saved, if by fire.

---

What do you all mean by God created the Bible? It didn't float down to earth in a ray of light or anything, the Church existed for centuries without the bible, and it took centuries to define which books are canonical and which ones aren't. If some late Roman Empire Pope had wanted it too, you would have ended up with the Shepherd of Hermas in the bible.

Luther didn't like the book of James because it unambiguosly denies justification by faith alone, and almost removed it from his Bible. I think he even removed it from some of his early versions.

[giblets]

God's way of thinking is higher that mine or yours. Why not go further and ask why the world isn't inerrant? God is the creator and you are the created. You can't tell God that what he did is an error.

The purpose of the Bible is not for you to look for errors. It's to build a relationship with God. If you seek a relationship with God you will find, by reading the Bible, that God loves you. That's what makes Christianity better than any religion.

What you see as errors doesn't mean a thing.

What a fantastic cop out. You're saying it's okay for God to disseminate false information because we can't understand him. Well, if you want to worship a liar, I guess that's your problem.

[Kidlicious]

Why, then, did Paul give recommandations on its use? He was converted much later than pentecost.

Paul gave recommendations because there is nothing sinfull about speaking in tongues (perhaps I should have said it was a different interpretation instead of saying it was a misinterpretation). My point was simply that we Methodists have a different interpretation of Pentecost. Anyone is free to speak in tongues, but not during the service, because others will feel uncomfortable since they don't believe that it's a spiritual gift.

btw, I've never seen anyone interpret speaking in tongues. I've only seen everyone in a church speaking in tongues, which was for me, as Paul puts it, disorderly and not edifying.

EDIT: Baptism by the Holy Ghost is not in the Bible btw.

Look in Acts before Pentecost. Jesus tells the disciples that they will be baptised by the Holy Spirit.

[Kidlicious]

Why didn't he make the bible inerrant?

God's way of thinking is higher that mine or yours. Why not go further and ask why the world isn't inerrant? God is the creator and you are the created. You can't tell God that what he did is an error.

The purpose of the Bible is not for you to look for errors. It's to build a relationship with God. If you seek a relationship with God you will find, by reading the Bible, that God loves you. That's what makes Christianity better than any religion.

What you see as errors doesn't mean a thing.

[giblets]

Maybe God put mistakes in the Bible because he's a liar.

[giblets]

God created the Bible and every word in it. It's his word. The scriptures have always been the word of God.

Why didn't he make the bible inerrant?

[Kidlicious]

Why, then, did Paul give recommandations on its use? He was converted much later than pentecost.

EDIT: Baptism by the Holy Ghost is not in the Bible btw.

I don't know what you are refering to. I believe that Christ said the disciples would be baptised by fire. He was refering to Pentecost.

[Kidlicious]

Catholics believe that God founded a Church, Jesus came to establish a Church. Jesus didn't hand out bibles, he created the Church (you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church), and the Church created the Bible for Herself. The Church is above the Bible.

God created the Bible and every word in it. It's his word. The scriptures have always been the word of God.

Jesus said to obey his commands, and you will be his disciples. You get his commands from the Word.

Furthermore, the Bible says to put your trust in God, not man.

[Ben Kenobi]

There are some passages that fit purgatory, but none that require purgatory to be explained, as far as I know.

True, they can be interpreted in other ways, but according to the Catholic church, there is scriptural evidence for purgatory, and they refer to the two passages I already quoted.

[giblets]

There are some passages that fit purgatory, but none that require purgatory to be explained, as far as I know.