Now you see, this is homophobic, and it makes Christianity look bad, and I feel ashamed by association.

[Ben Kenobi]

Atheists attempted to volunteer to work at a soup kitchen to help feed the poor but the religious dip**** running the place refused claiming that atheists are secret agents of Satan. Really? They're turning away willing volunteers because they don't like their religious affiliation (or lack there of)?

Will Planned parenthood turn away prolife volunteers?

[Ben Kenobi]

No it isn't. If your working conditions are so unsafe as to imperil your life, this does not make your job better than no job at all. People are killed at work in factory fires and on construction sites regularly because employers choose to look at profits rather than workers' safety.

And I made the choice to continue working there and earning enough to pay off my school. It was a difficult job - but on the whole, I enjoyed doing it.

So can employers. Except of course laws have had to be enacted to prevent employers from hindering the creation of a safe workplace.

Liberals are quite generous when forcing other people to do things. If liberals wish to improve the working conditions of delivery drivers - tip more.

[Ben Kenobi]

He wasn't a religious fanatic

You're aware he killed Christians because he was a strict Jew?

[kentonio]

Will Planned parenthood turn away prolife volunteers?

Because atheists are obviousy morally opposed to poor people having food.

****ing moron.

[Berzerker]

being a strict jew dont make you a religious fanatic

[Imran Siddiqui]

Did you miss the HE KILLED CHRISTIANS (for heresy) part of the strict Jew-ness?

[DinoDoc]

being a strict jew dont make you a religious fanatic

What color is the sky where you are, Berz? Paul the Apostle before his religious conversion zealously persecuted the early followers of Jesus of Nazareth and violently tried to destroy the newly forming Christian church.

I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, 5 as the high priest and all the Council can themselves testify. I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished. - Acts 22:4-5 (NIV)

And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord’s people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities. - Acts 26:10-11 (NIV)

[-Jrabbit]

It's almost like Paul was on some sort of crusade...

[Nikolai]

Guys, Berz is clearly trolling.

[Berzerker]

I stand corrected, I was under the impression Paul was employed by the state to kill Christians but I suppose a religious fanatic can do that. I'd call the witch hunters religious fanatics and they were bureaucrats too, so religious fanaticism was a life long trend for Paul. His real conversion was political, from statist to anarchist

shhh...

[Imran Siddiqui]

It's like you don't really know what you are talking about when it comes to Paul

[Berzerker]

did he tell women to keep quiet in church and say it was bad for men to have sex with them?

this is your Christian progressive?

[Imran Siddiqui]

So you also want to show you don't read posts as well...

(Short answer - no to both; longer answer, post #178)

[Berzerker]

I did read that post, just didn't see the passages relevant to my question

here

As in all the congregations of the saints, 34 women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. 35 If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.

1 Corinthians 14:34-35

Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”

1 Corinthians 7

I suppose he didn't say it was bad for a man and woman to have sex, just that its good not to. According to the story of Thecla Paul did preach abstinence for women and that was one of the reasons he got in trouble.

[Imran Siddiqui]

So explanation of a passage dealing with a similar issue doesn't mean anything? It's like you think Paul only wrote the 1st Letter to the Corinthians and that's it. Also my references to Paul talking about women to speak on his letters means nothing either.

http://www.fuller.edu/about/women_in_ministry/women_in_ministry__1_corinthians_14_34%E2%80%9335/

It should be recalled that Paul has already indicated in this letter—1 Corinthians—that women did participate in prayer and prophecy with the authority in the church (1 Corinthians 11:5, 10; 14:3–5). This fact alone shows that 1 Corinthians 14:34–35 cannot be a general, absolute, and timeless prohibition on women speaking in church.

(the view of this Professor also indicates some of the context in which Paul is speaking - where women weren't allowed to speak in public at all - and in the aspect of his writing a letter to a specific person for a specific purpose)

The view that seems best to me is to understand the speaking prohibited here to women to refer only to disruptive questions that wives (usually uneducated in the culture of Paul’s time) were asking their husbands. This corresponds precisely with the resolution Paul offers (1 Corinthians 14:35): “if they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home. . . .” Such disruptive questioning was also considered a disgrace in Paul’s day in which it was widely believed that it was morally indiscreet for any wife to say anything on any subject in public. This view of disruptive questioning also fits well the specific context (1 Corinthians 14:26–40) in which Paul is concerned about appropriateness and order, which permit genuine edification (note that 1 Corinthians 14:26 expects everyone to participate). Thus, there are actually three injunctions to silence (1 Corinthians 14:2, 30, 34), although many Bible translations use “silent” only in 1 Corinthians 14:34.

As for 1 Corinthians 7:1, your reading comprehension is abysmal. Read the verse again:

Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”

It is good for a man not to have sexual relations is in quotes... referring to the "matters you wrote about", ie, the person Paul is responding to.

Lets look at the rest of the paragraph, shall we:

2 But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. 3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. 5 Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6 I say this as a concession, not as a command. 7 I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.

One can also look at 1 Timothy 4:1-3:

4 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3 They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.

You also realize if you are going to use the NT apocrypha of Acts of Paul and Thecla, you'll have to acknowledge the fact that Thecla claims she has the right to preach and baptize and Paul does not reprove her or dispute it.