So, Let Me Get This Straight...

If an alien came down from outer space this is what he may get from the story of Christianity.

CHRISTIANITY IN A NUTSHELL?

There is an Invisible man called God who once lived in the sky, (just beyond the clouds) but now lives so far outside of space not even a space probe can find him... who watches everything everyone does, all the time. This God made everything that ever has existed or exists now. He created everything real out of nothingness and did it all in just six days! That's right, a week! He has rules set up that strangely enough, range from common sense laws(such as don't steal or murder, and treat everyone decently) to out and out spooky ones - bull burning, hair shaving, no other gods, etc. This Invisible man is also everyone's Dad, but there is really only one "Son" of God which happens to be, some how oddly enough, God himself.

This one Son came down to Earth as a man and died to save man from man's sins against God. These "sins"; started when the first man God made ate from a fruit tree that God told man not to eat from, but a talking snake convinced man to do otherwise. Man then became an outcast and became more and more sinful. Finally, God told a certain man who was perfect(?) to build a giant boat and gather up a couple of every living creature in the world to ride in his boat because God was going to make a big flood come and wipe everything out that he previously had made and called Good. So, the man did just that, but it took a long time. But, it didn't matter, really, because everyone lived to be 900 years old back then.

From that point, God developed a relationship with a brutal tribe of vagabonds and named them "his Chosen"; because they are chosen for something, obviously. A few talking donkeys, doomsayers, ten plagues and hundreds of mass slaughters later...

The Son of God came (remember it's really God himself...shhh) and he gathered himself up 12 people to abandon their families and wonder around with him...homeless. So they did because God' Son said to. Finally the Son of God (really God!) was betrayed by one of the 12 guys who hung out with him (but He knew it would happen) and was captured by soliders.

Strangley, the very tribe of vagabonds that God had chosen to be "his Chosen"; a few centuries earlier didn't like this new version of God, so their leaders had Romans hang him on a stake and killed.

So, ironically, God, who had his brutal tribe massacre thousands centuries earlier, now had God himself strung up and killed.

BUT!! That's not all, because God came back. Split himself into three entities (himself 'Dad', the son, and (a new one) a spirit). Now, God uses his book which tells us all about Him, his journeys and his chosen People to convert people to following him. The new wave of God followers came along right after God had been killed by his old "Chosen" people and called themselves "God's New Covenant people". They do miracles such as healing people, speaking in unknown languages and casting out Evil spirits who work for the talking snake (mentioned earlier). Oh yeah, and the talking snake is God's enemy too!

So, today you have to choose sides: THE INVISIBLE SKY DADDY, SKY SON, and SKY SPIRIT (all really just one) or the talking snake.

Or don't serve any of them and you will go to a place where God has prepared for the talking snake full of fire and brimstone where you will burn forever and ever in fire and in agony with no chance of escape EVER. So make the right choice.

And don't forget....GOD LOVES YOU and the talking snake is really a liar.

 

no wonder theres so much confusion

but really probly the only 1 tellin the truth is the snake

what kinda sick fucker waves chocolate cake in the face of a starving man?

why the hell would godfd give ya a fruit that lets u know everuything & not expect u to try a bite?

besides does this book ever even mentionm the tree of knowledge ever even emparting any knowledge?

it was just a tree
god lied
god tricked adam into sinning
all the snake did was say go ahead, its all just a lie, its only an apple tree like every other


oh but u forgot to mention the part about ppl bein made of dirt..well except women who are made of the rib of dirt



why do relatively sane, semi inteligent ppl still choose to believe in fairie tales

 

Ahahahaha, this almost made me laugh!
I say almost because people actually believe and base their lives on this crap, which just makes me loath modern society all the more...

 

Soaring Eagle, I've said that exact same thing myself. What kind of father would allow his worst enemy anywhere around his children (much less alone with them) and then go off somewhere in the bushes and watch the horror transpire?

Would this Dad not be considered a reprehensible atrocity?

Yeah, it would be funny if weren't so sad, Silver Wolf.

 

Damn, Skip!

That makes a lot sense.

"So all that is necessary to bring these religions into the modern world, is just run thru them line by line, and toss out those concepts and warnings that no longer apply.

Things like "don't mix dairy & meat" made sense in the days before refrigeration when they could easily contaminate each other with harmful bacteria. As we well know now, this is not necessary anymore.

Likewise with thousands of other restrictions on behaviors that once made sense in another time and place, but no longer have any relevance.

Dump those stupid, antiquated restrictions, and maybe what's left might make more sense and be acceptable to more people."

 

The weirdest story ever told. It sounds vaguely familiar. I wonder if it means anything.

Peace and Love

 

How about this.
If an alien came down from outer space this is what he may get from the story of Christianity.

Humans have a tendency to seek out meaning in life, call it biological malfunction or primal instinct, it's a well known phenomenon. Some of these humans started to look within themselves for answers to the why, when, and how of human life. What better place to start looking for answers then the source, right? One of these humans, a rebellious fellow from the middle east, came along and tried to share his own insights with his fellow man and woman. They nailed his ass to a tree. The end? No, people found comfort in his ideas and felt they had been exposed to truth so they shared his teachings with others in the hopes they would find comfort as well. Some did, some didn't. Some still do, some still don't. Regardless most went too far and started worshipping the man instead of paying attention to his thoughts. Over time his teachings became distorted and now most likely only hold a hollow reflection of what christianity could have been. There are still nuggets of wisdom scattered troughout Christianity though, as there are in all religions. One thing this fellow grasped but many fail to see is that spiritual teachings can't be conveyed through words, they have to be felt through experience. Words only end up confusing people because they are only empty sounds that can't hold truth, but what other means do we have to convey a message. So he spoke in parables, and those before him wrote allegorical tales such as the story of adam and eve. Maybe one day people will stop focusing so much on the man and start paying attention to his message, or even better seek out their own answers the way he did. If not some new Christ, Buddha, Krishna, Hermes, or Lau Tzu will probably come along with a new message. It's happened before and it will happen again.

 

Are you an alien?

No, actually that makes some good sense. I like it.

 

So sex before marriage is "no longer relavant?"

 

The Mitzvah is "Do not cook a gedi (kid - a young goat) in its mother's milk." Exodus 34:26. There have been many meanings drawn from this. Some of them ARE all about health.

But I think the most important meaning is simply - Do not use cruelty for your sustenance.

There are a lot of very good reasons not to base your (physical, emotional, social, political, spiritual) well-being on cruelty. The best is probably that it simply is not karmically sustainable. Sooner or later, it always comes back around to undo, often disastrously, whatever "good" one may have made of it.

But, believe or disbelieve whatever you will, I am sure you know better. Just read more newspapers and, next time, vote more wisely.

Peace and Love

 

Sex before marriage can cause must destruction physically and emotionally.

In regards to the Bible, every person in the Bible had a flaw except for Jesus. So saying "people in the Bible did it... so it must be right" is not a good example. The people in the Bible did much wrong, just as the people today do much evil.

 

Before marriage, after marriage, at marriage, it matters not. As long as sex is initiated by consenting adults, there's really no problem at all.

By consenting to sexual action, an adult takes all the risks that come with it, whether it be physical, emotional, or both, upon themself. It is their choice.

Can't be more rational than that.

 

Hey Libertine. There is something that I really like about you. You are intelligent and articulate. You also have a good sense of humor, as well as a good way about you. Your post here, gives me reason to believe that you may have been exposed to "fundamentalist" christianity in your development years. I apologize if I am wrong. There are many christians that do not hold the view of life as you have described. Actually, there are many non-fundamentalist christians that believe that every single person will be reconciled to God in the future. If they are correct, that means that everyone that you love will be with you for eternity. I think that is a much better view to hold than believing that we grow old, die, and that's it. I think I would become very depressed if I held that view for my entire life, especially as I began to grow older and older. I think a lot of people, especially those who were exposed to "fundamentalist" christianity as youngsters, are just running from the awful thought of an "eternal hell", when in reality they may actually be running from a lie to begin with so they ultimately miss out on the hope that many non-fundamentalist believers in Jesus possess. PM me if you would like to hear some non-fundamentalist views that may really surprise you with the hope that they convey. Take care man. There really are some believers in Jesus that truly care about you and everyone else who hold some views that are seldom spoken of, but nonetheless are very hopeful for every single one of us. Like I said, feel free to PM me if you are interested in some non-fundamentalist views that are much more hopeful then the fudamentalist views of the future, including the future of you and your loved ones. It is a tough thing standing over the dead body of one of your parents that you love, your mate, your son or daughter etc. and having no hope whatsoever of ever seeing or holding them again. We all have to be in that place sooner or later. In that place, the atheist, has no hope at all.

 

This atheist does not rely on wishful thinking or pipe dreams for hope.

My hope lies in the possibility of human progress and my immortality will be my legacy and my posterity (one or both).

As an atheist, I see life as THAT MUCH MORE precious. I want to spend MORE TIME with my family now that I know we only have so much time left--that makes it even more sacred than any fantasy that I will see them after death.

I have viewed the bodies of loved ones lying in a casket and mourned over the loss, but I also kept in my memory all the good they did and the memories we shared. And I share those memories with my children and so forth and so on.

You see, I do believe in immortality, through what one leaves behind.

Libertine is an online character, but the man behind Libertine is much deeper than any character I could create and this man has a great respect for living life to the fullest each and every day that I have the chance to live it.

 

/** waves hands frantically **/

W ... a ... i ... t ... ... a ... ... m ... i ... n ... u ... t ... e ...

Hold your horsies there Wilbur ...

In another thread you claim that "All Scripture is God-breathed" (post #14) and now you're saying that some of this "God-breathed, All Scripture" is flawed ... well ... except for Jesus ...

Frell ... I guess that don't mean that everything I write is inspired by God after all ...

Shucks ... I suppose that means the Bible is not so "God-breathed" or "inspired" as you claimed it was ... else you wouldn't be making statements that it is flawed ... O.O ... *gasp* ... I guess that means you're saying God is flawed ...

You're contridicting yourself ... and it appears for a reason ... what could that reason be? To refute perhaps, perchance to be right while others are wrong?

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You know, immortality is quickly becomming a realistic possibility for humans to attain. Kurzweil details it in his book, "The Singularity is Near", and is quite convincing. Granted, the book is dense, but it's still a good read.

But, if you're not willing to read it, which is understandable, the short answer to immortality is a combination of the exponential rate of growth of technology and the science of nanotech.