Bishop Spong on the existence of hell (myth, church, atheist)

[orogenicman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF6I5VSZVqc&feature=player_embedded

[SeekerSA]

Just read his Wiki article and while his version of making it up as you go along seems innocent, what is the point? When you discard most of the tenets of christianity all you have left is another watered down version to add to the other 30k or so.

He does seem to adhere to the concept morality is not a god given thing nor a church given thing. He probably recognises the concept that most xians are in it for the social aspects more than the religious ones. This bears witness to the fact there are no real differentiations between believers and non believers.

[orogenicman]

Originally Posted by SeekerSA

Just read his Wiki article and while his version of making it up as you go along seems innocent, what is the point? When you discard most of the tenets of christianity all you have left is another watered down version to add to the other 30k or so.

He does seem to adhere to the concept morality is not a god given thing nor a church given thing. He probably recognises the concept that most xians are in it for the social aspects more than the religious ones. This bears witness to the fact there are no real differentiations between believers and non believers.

While I don't subscribe to Christian beliefs, I found it refreshing to hear a member of the clergy admit how much of it is simply made up to control the masses, whch I believe is very true.

[SeekerSA]

Originally Posted by orogenicman

While I don't subscribe to Christian beliefs, I found it refreshing to hear a member of the clergy admit how much of it is simply made up to control the masses, whch I believe is very true.

I agree with that and did not infer you subscribed to xianity. Spong's views perhaps is more Unitarian and taking the good philosophical aspects from many faiths and merging them into a more realistic "doctrine"

The problem with this, there is no real foundation and can in time go awry. Perhaps he is just one of those folk that came to the realisation it is all BS but b/c his position and standing cannot do a Bart Erman and make a 180 deg turn.

Universalists will buy into his POV as it tends to support this questions regarding the hell myth. The problem is that I never really found any tangible evidence to suggest UR is real as in "the way it was back then" and that the UR folk do much what fundies do and cherry pick text to fit their bias (w/o the hell) and allows some agnostic type of belief. Discarding merely hell does not address any other inconsistencies in scripture and these UR folk have many spins on them to still make their bias fit.

I have a lot of UR friends having been one myself and I have not lost any of their friendship coming to atheism.

(sorry I do not watch YouTubes as my connection is too slow) I prefer text and putting down my own thoughts.

[orogenicman]

Originally Posted by SeekerSA

I agree with that and did not infer you subscribed to xianity. Spong's views perhaps is more Unitarian and taking the good philosophical aspects from many faiths and merging them into a more realistic "doctrine"

The problem with this, there is no real foundation and can in time go awry. Perhaps he is just one of those folk that came to the realisation it is all BS but b/c his position and standing cannot do a Bart Erman and make a 180 deg turn.

Universalists will buy into his POV as it tends to support this questions regarding the hell myth. The problem is that I never really found any tangible evidence to suggest UR is real as in "the way it was back then" and that the UR folk do much what fundies do and cherry pick text to fit their bias (w/o the hell) and allows some agnostic type of belief. Discarding merely hell does not address any other inconsistencies in scripture and these UR folk have many spins on them to still make their bias fit.

I have a lot of UR friends having been one myself and I have not lost any of their friendship coming to atheism.

(sorry I do not watch YouTubes as my connection is too slow) I prefer text and putting down my own thoughts.

They all cherry pick, and from my perspective, it is all made up. But then, I'm an atheist, so go figure.