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Considering I'm not a Christian, and don't care about other peoples "sins" unless they are harming someone, I'm not really sure who you are talking to about pointing fingers.
I say live and let live. If you want to live your life based on bronze age writings, go for it. Just don't expect me to.
Bible quotes are not cited with an expectation that one just believe them and not investigate. On the contrary - they are stated as founts of truth - and it is incumbent on someone who hears them to verify the source just as they would any other citation. I think the OP has stated this thread with some presumption. Now, you may disagree with what the Bible claims, and that is no different then holding an opinion on the veracity of some other writing.
A bible quote is an invitation to search the scriptures and reason. God said in the book of Isaiah, "Come, let us reason together". One of the epistle writers exhorted Christians to "always be ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within you" and Paul wrote to Timothy that "all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness".
Now, I have just quoted some Scriptures. Don't just take them at face value - but read the Bible and learn their truth for yourself.
However, I fear that many have prejudice against the Bible and will reject it without even bothering to study. Jesus talks about people like this - he calls them blind and deaf. Open your mind and seek truth.
Jesus also said, "You shall know the truth, and it shall set you free".
Why do people quote Bible verses like it's fact and think I'll simply agree with them?
It kind of reminds me of the time I was watching a Nascar race with my father and before the race started they had a prayer over the loudspeakers. At the end of the prayer the minister said, "in Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen". I turned to my father and jokingly said, "Well, so much for the Muslims and Hindus in the crowd."
But, claiming the Bible as a source to back up an argument is assuming its true and the others believe. To me that sort of reference throws it all out the window. Perhaps they ought to look more at history and real known things if they wish to really make their points.
Just believing in your own religious doctrine does not make it true to anyone but believers in your doctrince, nor does it mean it must be. Keep religion in a private place where it should be.
Yes...basically it shuts down communication. If a Christian is advocating for something such as banning gay marriage and their only argument is quoting the Bible, there's no possible conversation. I don't care if the bible straight up said 'don't marry the homos'...it's not my religion, so why should it matter to me what your book says? How can we have a dialogue if there is no reasoning going on other than quotations from a religious text?
It's like if I whipped out my favorite book, The Book of Sorrows, which happens to be a sort of semi-religious allegory involving self-sacrificing chickens (no, really, it's a great book.) One of my favorite lines is 'everyone cut, cuts back.' If I used that quote to advocate for laws physically punishing criminals and seeking revenge and that single line in a book was my ONLY justification for that belief, everyone would treat me (and rightfully so) as an idiot. They would probably try to bring up actual facts, statistics, and reasoning to refute this idea (or facts, statistics, and reasoning to agree with it). And if I just put my hands over my ears and kept shouting 'everyone cut, cuts back!', sooner or later I'd be left talking to myself.
Yet for some reason some (not all) Christians think similar behavior is a reasoned defense of their beliefs.
Bible quotes are not cited with an expectation that one just believe them and not investigate. On the contrary - they are stated as founts of truth - and it is incumbent on someone who hears them to verify the source just as they would any other citation. I think the OP has stated this thread with some presumption. Now, you may disagree with what the Bible claims, and that is no different then holding an opinion on the veracity of some other writing.
A bible quote is an invitation to search the scriptures and reason. God said in the book of Isaiah, "Come, let us reason together". One of the epistle writers exhorted Christians to "always be ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within you" and Paul wrote to Timothy that "all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness".
Now, I have just quoted some Scriptures. Don't just take them at face value - but read the Bible and learn their truth for yourself.
However, I fear that many have prejudice against the Bible and will reject it without even bothering to study. Jesus talks about people like this - he calls them blind and deaf. Open your mind and seek truth.
Jesus also said, "You shall know the truth, and it shall set you free".
Have you read the religious texts of all other religions?
Yes...basically it shuts down communication. If a Christian is advocating for something such as banning gay marriage and their only argument is quoting the Bible, there's no possible conversation. I don't care if the bible straight up said 'don't marry the homos'...it's not my religion, so why should it matter to me what your book says? How can we have a dialogue if there is no reasoning going on other than quotations from a religious text?
You've just described every gay marriage thread on the entire forum.
Have you read the religious texts of all other religions?
I own copies of the Qur'an and the Book of Mormon. I have read them. I once seriously considered becoming a Muslim.
I have not read the Satanist's Bible.
I also highly doubt that you have read the religious texts of all other religions - there are too many for anyone but a religious studies major to do so.
Because they use the bible as a replacement for thinking for themselves and using logic....all that thinky stuff wears them out
God's ways are higher than man's ways... God knows all, from beginning to end. One is not educated in the spirit if the don't know the word of God. We are more spirit than flesh. It is the Holy Spirit that is the teacher. To not have he Holy Spirit given to them through Jesus Christ the word of God cannot be understood.
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