More Stupid Religion Bollocks!

[Jon Miller]

it was really about the intellectual foundations on which the Christian religion rests, and how they changed over the course of time. it was responding to what you said in post number 86.

i read my post again and i can see how what i said may have been a little unclear.

The intellectual underpinnings of Christianity have always been on Christ living, dying, and living again.

They have never been about the size of a cauldren, whether plants or man was created first, or even that the world was flat/God created the world in 7 literal days.

JM

[giblets]

The intellectual underpinnings of Christianity have always been on Christ living, dying, and living again.

Let me ask a question about this... assuming God is omnipotent, what is the point in going down to Earth, getting killed and then resurrecting himself?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Was done for the peeps down here (fyi, I kinda like the Christus Victor theory of the resurrection).

[Jon Miller]

Revealing Himself to us, causing a rapprochement in the relationship between God and man.

And next you ask, why didn't God just 'snap his fingers' and make it exist. Well, would that be a real revealing, a real communication, or would that be akin to me putting my child into a robotic suit and 'interacting' with the suit?

JM

[Provost Harrison]

He's omnipotent, he can do what he likes...he could have made the Roman Army turn to dust at any point they threatened his son. Now that's what I would call biblical power!

[C0ckney]

Recall that none other than St. Augustine, one of the greatest thinkers in Church history said if our intepretation of scripture and science conflict, we should go back and reinterpret scripture (because they can't and should not conflict and Christians clinging to an interpretation of scripture in the face of science look like fools).

this is true, and i would also add that western critical thought has been engaged since about the 4th century b.c., in explaining, allegorising, restating or rejecting its religious beliefs. however, in the medieval period in europe, thinkers or philosophers would subordinate philosophy to theogly and where conflicts arose they would put 'faith' in place of 'reason'. this was the accepted practice, and the philosophers of the 'age of reason' and 'age of enlightenment' reacted against that. by applying new thinking in logic, mathematics, the physical sciences to religious texts.

[giblets]

Revealing Himself to us, causing a rapprochement in the relationship between God and man.

And next you ask, why didn't God just 'snap his fingers' and make it exist. Well, would that be a real revealing, a real communication, or would that be akin to me putting my child into a robotic suit and 'interacting' with the suit?

JM

Well I'm confused about why so many humans have been allowed to be unaware of God's existence if God wants a relationship with humanity as a whole.

[Elok]

Let me ask a question about this... assuming God is omnipotent, what is the point in going down to Earth, getting killed and then resurrecting himself?

The answer to that question will vary greatly depending which kind of Christian you ask. IIUC, my church's belief on the matter is that Christ's death and resurrection are the natural culmination of His earthly ministry. We think His entire life was redemptive, and if anything was the big focal point of it all, it would be the resurrection, not the crucifixion (I'm told Catholics, at least, place more emphasis on Christ's death than on His rebirth). In descending to Hell and releasing the dead, He opened the door for us to follow, which we can do by following His teachings. If you're suggesting God could have snapped his fingers and fixed everything from a divine barcalounger, you're missing the essential point that we have to actively choose salvation--or at least, so God desires it. You might say the life of Jesus was a brief instructional period, followed by a demonstration: "Do this and you shall live after death...like THIS!" The resurrected body of Christ shows many unusual characteristics not displayed by its previous form; among other things, it appears quite different (disciples He had known for years fail to recognize Him), and He passes cleanly through walls. The Fathers believe this is a preview of the nature of the life to come.

[C0ckney]

john i am completely disinterested in the discussion of genesis going on here, as you may have noticed by the fact that i've not said anything about it...

and i don't really understand your point either. i mean are you saying that Christ living, dying and living again (as a shorthand for His death and resurrection?) are central to Christanity...well no kidding.

[giblets]

The answer to that question will vary greatly depending which kind of Christian you ask. IIUC, my church's belief on the matter is that Christ's death and resurrection are the natural culmination of His earthly ministry. We think His entire life was redemptive, and if anything was the big focal point of it all, it would be the resurrection, not the crucifixion (I'm told Catholics, at least, place more emphasis on Christ's death than on His rebirth). In descending to Hell and releasing the dead, He opened the door for us to follow, which we can do by following His teachings. If you're suggesting God could have snapped his fingers and fixed everything from a divine barcalounger, you're missing the essential point that we have to actively choose salvation--or at least, so God desires it. You might say the life of Jesus was a brief instructional period, followed by a demonstration: "Do this and you shall live after death...like THIS!" The resurrected body of Christ shows many unusual characteristics not displayed by its previous form; among other things, it appears quite different (disciples He had known for years fail to recognize Him), and He passes cleanly through walls. The Fathers believe this is a preview of the nature of the life to come.

Okay, so God decided to let people choose whether they wanna walk through walls and stuff. But that leaves the question of why so many people have gone through life without knowing about Christianity. They don't appear to get a choice. Why do some people get such an important opportunity and others don't?

[Elok]

Okay, so God decided to let people choose whether they wanna walk through walls and stuff. But that leaves the question of why so many people have gone through life without knowing about Christianity. They don't appear to get a choice. Why do some people get such an important opportunity and others don't?

In all fairness, I'm not sure. I believe the church's understanding is that nobody ever actually misses the chance; Christ taught all the dead who never knew Him during His descent. But I'm not at all sure about that. I'll ask my priest, if I can remember and get the chance.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I think that is standard Christian teaching that Jesus, in descending to Hell, allowed for the salvation of those who died prior to his ministry on Earth.

And of course, there are those of us who have a more universalist bent.

[giblets]

What if someone's born in South America in the year 1000AD? They don't exactly have a chance to become Christian, do they? But that's well after Jesus supposedly visited hell.

[Imran Siddiqui]

The answer to that depends on who (or which church) you talk to

[Kidlicious]

The whole creation story is fictional. Both of them.

You don't know what 'metaphorical' means, do you?