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Deut 18:22 was the key to my freedom from the indoctrination from the cult.
Works for me.
According to Ch 13 of the same book, even a prophet whose prophecies come true is to be stoned if he asks you to follow "other gods". The irony there is that Jesus claimed to be "one with the Father" and that "he who has seen me has seen the Father" and thus equivalent to god, which isn't exactly the same as "let's go follow Thor" but you could argue that he was a miracle working prophet who nevertheless preached heresy by claiming to be god. And I'm sure this is the basis on which there were in the gospel accounts, attempts to stone him, thwarted only by his magical ability to "pass through their midst unseen". "Where'd he go? Where'd he go?"
Also mixed up in all these passages is the concept of group guilt. If a city become heretical by worshipping other gods, it is to be burned to the ground, including all their possessions, and to remain a ruin forever, never to be rebuilt. Otherwise god cancels all his promises to the whole nation and punishes the lot.
In what universe is it just to punish a group for the sins of a minority of individuals?
But it was this notion that "sin", particularly of "unbelief" or wrong belief, was like a cancer that had to be cut out ruthlessly or it would spoil the whole nation, that drives all this kind of thinking, and, I'd add, all the modern thin-skinned pearl-clutchers that pass for the righteous these days.
But it's not unusual for Christians to claim that other Christians are wrong in their beliefs; for example, by "condoning" homosexuality we'll bring god's judgment on the church, or even on the USA. So it just becomes a big race to the bottom, as to who's the "most right" or "least wrong" or whatever.
Nice treadmill for both of us to be off of, if you ask me.
The most freeing thing for me was to be free from guilt of not saving someone else. They called it "blood guilt" in the cult. If a six year old doesn't preach to her classmates then, if they die in Armageddon, it is the six year olds fault. Not a good thing to tell a kid that's already being poured into the codie mold. I'm surprised I got along as well as I did. How annoying!
Next eater? Fits with your whole statement though, lol.
Talk about inconvenient truths.
Mordant, Come on You know I have Keyboard Dyslexicus And I made that point here or elsewhere, Jesus said that he would return within the generation of his disciples
But alas, I am proud because I just got banned from Christian Forums for the umpteenth time !
What gave me away?
I spent the day Cooking BarBQ and ignoring any Christian holiday Instead focusing on the well being of my father who, like the rest of us, spent Easter without my mom.
And being thankful that I am not bound by the chains of Christian myth
And that I am free to think for myself.
Seriously, Easter, has sucked for me since...well....as long as I can remember
Some people say that they hate
Christmas, or that they dislike the 4th of July, or that they refuse to celebrate Valentine's day for whatever reason
For me, Easter is my least favorite of all Holidays. Even less that say Ramadan, which I can respect because some neighbors celebrate it and find meaning in it, or even say Diwali which is mentioned at the Buddhist temple or observed by the people next door....
I will say, and I have said before, though, the worst part of Christianity is Christians. Not that the mythology is unoriginal, or unhealthy, or even defies any sense of reason or logic, but the behavior (or behavior in England) is often bad and more often than not enough to make me never ever to want to be involved again.
Mordant, Come on You know I have Keyboard Dyslexicus And I made that point here or elsewhere, Jesus said that he would return within the generation of his disciples
But alas, I am proud because I just got banned from Christian Forums for the umpteenth time !
What gave me away?
I spent the day Cooking BarBQ and ignoring any Christian holiday Instead focusing on the well being of my father who, like the rest of us, spent Easter without my mom.
And being thankful that I am not bound by the chains of Christian myth
And that I am free to think for myself.
Seriously, Easter, has sucked for me since...well....as long as I can remember
Some people say that they hate
Christmas, or that they dislike the 4th of July, or that they refuse to celebrate Valentine's day for whatever reason
For me, Easter is my least favorite of all Holidays. Even less that say Ramadan, which I can respect because some neighbors celebrate it and find meaning in it, or even say Diwali which is mentioned at the Buddhist temple or observed by the people next door....
I will say, and I have said before, though, the worst part of Christianity is Christians. Not that the mythology is unoriginal, or unhealthy, or even defies any sense of reason or logic, but the behavior (or behavior in England) is often bad and more often than not enough to make me never ever to want to be involved again.
Just curious as to why Diwali is mentioned at the Buddhist temple. But that's cool.
In general I feel similar to what you have posted, although I do love christmas. The other holy days, not so much. But that's because christmas also has a secular meaning for the world. I was quite surprised when I finally moved to Thailand and spent my first christmas there. The malls were decorated far more spectacularly than most American malls! But then again...Thais like pretty much any reason for "sanuk".
Mordant, Come on You know I have Keyboard Dyslexicus
Yeah I was just yanking your chain. And the typo fit so well with your talk of pizza in the same breath. Made me smile.
Quote:
Originally Posted by LargeKingCat
But alas, I am proud because I just got banned from Christian Forums for the umpteenth time !
What gave me away?
I spent the day Cooking BarBQ and ignoring any Christian holiday Instead focusing on the well being of my father who, like the rest of us, spent Easter without my mom.
And being thankful that I am not bound by the chains of Christian myth
And that I am free to think for myself.
Seriously, Easter, has sucked for me since...well....as long as I can remember
Some people say that they hate
Christmas, or that they dislike the 4th of July, or that they refuse to celebrate Valentine's day for whatever reason
For me, Easter is my least favorite of all Holidays. Even less that say Ramadan, which I can respect because some neighbors celebrate it and find meaning in it, or even say Diwali which is mentioned at the Buddhist temple or observed by the people next door....
I will say, and I have said before, though, the worst part of Christianity is Christians. Not that the mythology is unoriginal, or unhealthy, or even defies any sense of reason or logic, but the behavior (or behavior in England) is often bad and more often than not enough to make me never ever to want to be involved again.
Easter would have passed unnoticed by me even as a Christian, were it not for he sunrise service announcement and the singing of Easter-themed hymns on the day. We did not make a big deal of it in my sect like the Catholics with Ash Wednesday in the runup to it and so forth. Christmas was our big day of choice. I never cared for the secular trappings like easter egg hunts and the like either. Just my personality and the luck of the cultural draw, I guess. I'm sorry it is as loathsome to you as some aspects of Christmas eventually became to me.
Next eater? Fits with your whole statement though, lol.
I don't think Eddie's making the point that Jesus is supposed to return at Easter, so much as that it's marking another anniversary of his alleged resurrection and the promise of his return remains unfulfilled, at least in any remotely literal sense.
Jesus is said to have prophesied (falsely) that "some of you present with me here today will not taste death before you see [me] return in power and glory" or words to that effect.
By OT standards, if a self-styled prophet predicts something that then does not come to pass, they should be stoned as a false prophet.
But this just gets a free pass.
Talk about inconvenient truths.
But they DID see Him physically die and be "born again" in power and majesty at the right hand of God at the head of ALL "born again" Human Spirits as the Comforter. He also returned as the Comforter (Holy Spirit) at Pentecost as promised. Our carnal ancestors just did not recognize it.
Our ancestors misunderstood it because they were expecting a physical return, NOT a spiritual one. They have spent millennia waiting for something that has already happened and ignoring His inner guidance in ignorance of its existence. They thought the words "written in ink" were the Holy Spirit. Sad, very sad.
I didn't hear of a single person celebrating a pagan festival yesterday. Do you have any evidence that this is occurring to any significant degree?
It doesn't matter how it started. What matters is what people do with it now.
(Why would anybody cite Bible verses in the A&A forum? )
Christians don't even know that they are partaking in ancient Pagan rites when they hunt Easter eggs, tell stories about bunnies, etc.
They have not a clue and that probably will never change.
You would think if you were going to live your life according to a doctrine that you would know all about it - but I think most of them are like people who just sign contracts without reading regular print, not to mention, fine print.
Christians don't even know that they are partaking in ancient Pagan rites when they hunt Easter eggs, tell stories about bunnies, etc.
They have not a clue and that probably will never change.
You would think if you were going to live your life according to a doctrine that you would know all about it - but I think most of them are like people who just sign contracts without reading regular print, not to mention, fine print.
The ones that are pedant about it are the obnoxious ones IMO. My mom was Catholic before someone knocked on her door and told her these things. She's now been in a cult for 50 years.
If God loved his" son", then there's no good reason why he had to die so young. God could have prevented this of course and no one would have known it, without interfering with human free choices--the Romans. This never made sense to me. If you have one "son" to spread the Word, then why waste him when he was only 26 or something?
Also, if Jesus was his son, then he should have had some super powers, like Dad.
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