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Because God figured it would be better for the most important words ever written to be obtuse - right?
No, He just created the Bible in such a way that it is an endless well of knowledge and message. It is meant to be mined deeply for truth, not just a quick surface reading. This is how thousands of preachers have preached thousands of unique sermons based on a single book. You can read the same passage all your life and suddenly God will show you a new meaning based on your circumstances.
. You can read the same passage all your life and suddenly God will show you a new meaning based on your circumstances.
Can't this mean you could have lived many years of your life being wrong about what you believe?
Or even wrong your entire life if the 'new' meaning keeps changing?
How can you be sure you got the last and correct one?
Does god sit there and say "Final answer!"
Can't this mean you could have lived many years of your life being wrong about what you believe? Or even wrong your entire life if the 'new' meaning keeps changing? How can you be sure you got the last and correct one? Does god sit there and say "Final answer!"
Very good point. One thing that fundamentalists fail to understand is that the NT effectively ratified ongoing revelation. There was no "amendment clause" in the OT like there is in the US Constitution. Fundamentalists rationalize the NT with inane nonsense about "fulfilling" the OT but in doing so refer to passages in the NT (typically John, Matthew and Romans) for the tenets of the fulfillment! That's the epitome of self-ratifying idiocy - effectively a form of the Petitio Principii fallacy.
So with ongoing revelation effectively ratified, it means that revelations subsequent to the NT are just as likely to be valid and just as likely to be God's word. The Book of Mormon, for example, has ever bit as much legitimacy as the NT. So does the revelations of black liberation theology, expounded by preachers such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. So does the revelations of prophetic voices such as John Murray, the founder of the Universalist denomination in the United States, and Joseph Priestley, the founder of the Unitarian denomination in the United States, and the ongoing revelation that ensued leading to my own, distinctly post-Christian religion. And, unhampered by the internal inconsistency and present-day irrelevancy that fundamentalist Christianity imposes on itself, the reality is that my UU faith is far more likely to be God's word than fundamental Christianity, despite whatever raving denials may ensue.
Regardless, the point is that what you're pointing out here clearly serves as foundation for every internally-consistent belief system to claim supremacy with regard to accurate encapsulation of God's word - supremacy over belief systems rife with internal inconsistencies and other contrivances, such as fundamentalist Christianity.
BillMaher relies on self endorsed smarts ,philosophies and rational thought ( seeing as logical or common sensical) So as you apply or counter with spirituality, the supernatural aspects of scripture prophecy, and inability to dump man's man's wisdom vs God's ol ' Bill ( who I like often) transcends himself as one of the most ignorant persons on earth. Bill then becomes mentally challenged !
Oh sure, there is some lip service given at times. But usually it is because of a group that has been seriously out of whack for some time, such as the Westboro Baptist.
I've condemned them many times on this very board. They are a bunch of inbred nut-jobs. Their theology is horrible, and they are about as "Baptist" as the Pope is.
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We see little Muslim street outrage against their radicals. In fact, often there are demonstrations in support of them, and certainly tacit approval given by a majority as recent Pew polls have indicated.
Recently we've had that outrageous rant by Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty, yet one hears little if no denunciation by mainstream Christian organizations. In fact apologists have given tacit support to this seriously deranged individual.
We've been over this. There is nothing that Phil said that wasn't true. You may not like him...but so what? He's certainly no more offensive than Hitchens or Dawkins have been.
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Why is there reluctance by those that are adherents of the same religions to openly, loudly, frequently and on a sustained basis denounce those on the fringes?
I guess it's a question of what you consider to be the "fringe". I've seen you spout off some hum-dingers. I guess what you consider to be the fringe doesn't seem all that "fringy" to a lot of us.
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If society were to see as strong an effort made to denounce the fringes and the wackos, then perhaps some of the other attempts made by some of those religious leaders could be taken with more credibility.
How about the atheists denouncing their fringe? Be careful...you might just find yourself denounced, based on the silly stuff you've posted here.
How do you then explain the multitude of Christians, even on this board, who not only excuse the Phil Robertson and Pat Robertson rants, but instead endorse them and celebrate them?
Even atheists agree with Pat Robertson on occasion, but more to the point Pat Robertson ranting is miles of difference from Anjem Choudary praising ISIS.
Oh sure, there is some lip service given at times. But usually it is because of a group that has been seriously out of whack for some time, such as the Westboro Baptist.
We see little Muslim street outrage against their radicals. In fact, often there are demonstrations in support of them, and certainly tacit approval given by a majority as recent Pew polls have indicated.
Recently we've had that outrageous rant by Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty, yet one hears little if no denunciation by mainstream Christian organizations. In fact apologists have given tacit support to this seriously deranged individual.
Why is there reluctance by those that are adherents of the same religions to openly, loudly, frequently and on a sustained basis denounce those on the fringes?
If society were to see as strong an effort made to denounce the fringes and the wackos, then perhaps some of the other attempts made by some of those religious leaders could be taken with more credibility.
If you can't get your leaders to denounce these issues loudly and publicly, what are you doing in your church or mosque? You are part of the problem if you can't push your leadership. I don't care if the leaders feelings are hurt, but right is right, and to avoid the issue by being silent you're being complicit in perpetrating the wrongs.
Maybe sometimes we don't know about it. I have no clue what the bolded means. I know there is a show out there called Duck Dynasty with some guys with long beards, and that's about it. I'm not a big TV person. What it has to do with Christianity is beyond me. I will Google it, though.
After 9/11 there was plenty of outspokenness by Muslims against the perpetrators, at least in the NYC area.
It may just be, though, that we don't see these people as "one of us" the way you seem to see these religious groups as some sort of homogeneous lump of sameness. People are individuals. Most churches, I'll warrant, are going about the business of teaching and seeing to the spiritual needs of their own congregations, not worrying about what somebody else is saying or doing.
Last edited by Mightyqueen801; 03-28-2015 at 11:15 AM..
OK, I just read about this guy and that weird story about what if an atheist family was being attacked...
This guy just sounds as if he is NUTS. I'm guessing, therefore, that most people see that he is nuts and just dismiss him as a NUT. I can't imagine any "leader", let's say my own priest, even wasting time having a conversation about this except to say that he's nuts.
Does this TV-show guy have any sort of power that would warrant the attention you think he deserves? Sadly, I'm sure there are people out there who agree with him. I don't know how to fix that.
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