The problem with modern day christians is this.

:cheers2:

 

high five varuna!

 

pineapple08, Geechee, Varuna, I gotta ask were do you come up with this stuff?

Have you been googleing again?

 

I think we came up with it from not being so reticent when someone tells us something.

 

Perhaps you should have been a bit more reticent.

Let’s see.

Well you got the Greece part and the John part right, as for the theory that John was doing drugs well nice try. Do you have any other proof of that, other than you don’t understand Revelations?

Why yes, yes it was.

What in the world? Some proof would be nice.

Here I suggest you try Googleing some reliable sources

Banned books?

First the Bible as not originally written in Latin, it was written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek only.

Also the Bible is one of the most easily translated books known, owing to the fact that it uses many illustrations based on every day life and that the languages although ancient have been the subject of much scholarly attention and are pretty well understood and that understanding continues to improve with new archeological finds.

As for thousands of years ago, are you saying that the people who actually spoke the languages would have problems understanding the languages they spoke and translating them?

As for the Koine Greek that was used, it was an international language of the time and was almost universally known. Even today readers of modern Greek generally have little difficulty reading and understanding it.

This is a general statement repeated by people who wish to dismiss the Bible without looking in to the fact of the matter. That fact is that most contradictions can easily be shown to not be a problem and in fact all can be explained.

As for the rest, archeology continues to find more ancient scrolls of the books of the Bible and when translated there are no substantial differences with what we have today.

 

My information comes from reliable academic sources. They are out there you know, in print.

 

That's one bad fucking trip.

 

The trip beats the bible

 

Let’s see, exactly how were these “reliable academic sources” able to determine that God did not have a hand in the writing of the Bible?

Also maybe you can tell me which one of these “reliable academic sources” was there when Luke wrote Luke so that he knows what Luke’s purpose was in writing Luke, let alone know whether the men who wrote the Bible where more or less blind?

 

I am a bit unclear with your question, what exactly are you asking?

My point was (and still is) simple: Jesus offered a vision of a world, THIS world, where love, respect and creative benevolence are, simply, the way all people treat one another. In this world, injustice and someone else's suffering are never a solution to any problem, injustice and someone else's suffering are THE primary problems to be solved. I believe this is both the practical and the ideal way the world should be.

Instead, people borrow the name of Christianity (actually, all religion) to justify their beliefs. Such as the belief that applied injustice and suffering are, sometimes, the right thing to do. Despite Jesus' instructions to love ones' enemies, to be reconciled with your brother, to be Peacemakers, our "Christian" President and far too many of his "Christian" voters still believe starting a war was the right thing to do, as if destroying the "bad guys" somehow creates a better world. Many of them will continue to vote their unexamined beliefs, and will continue to blame "the evils of this world" on some other "bad guys."

Those who blindly accept and blindly reject "religion" need to wake up and realize what it is they're basing their beliefs upon. That's what "this stuff" is all about.

Peace and Love

 

Why, thank you Varuna.
My statement was a call for more information form the three of you on what you had said. Your response was well stated and even more understandable and I will have to say it was better said than some of my meager attempts to say similar things.

Let the sunshine in,
OWB

 

off topic but..

" To have the power of truth is to have the ability to tolerate. When someone disbelieves us, we usually tend to argue back and try to prove our point to the others. In spite of our great efforts to do that, we are not able to convince them. Along with that is a very simple fact that the more we talk the less we are listened to. And thus we end up being more frustrated. When someone challenges the truth of our words, we need to check within ourselves if there is something that we can correct or learn. When we learn to do this, instead of being stubborn with what we have to say or blaming others, we find it easy to tolerate.


~ Brahma Kumaris, Mt Abu."

Fuck it all, just smoke a blunt and chillax.

 

Thanks to both of you!!! You've brightened my day.

 

Glad I could help out!

Nobody here but us chickens,
OWB

 

This was a well thought out and intelligent post. i like it a lot.

I think the spirit of what Christianity could (dare I say, should) be is summed up when jesus told his followers to take up his burden to follow him. It isn't enough to feel good about your assured salvation, it should be an ongoing state of living, and hard work as well.

 

Thank you.

Yes!!!

Although the hard part is examining and adjusting one's habitual patterns of belief, perception, thought, expression, practice, and relationship in order to realize the vitality of Jesus's teaching (I like to think of it as his Judaism).

Once you've done this, it is actually very easy. You still have your challenges, but that's life.

Peace and Love

 

Your right, the majority of the world including false hypocritical Christian are lying in the power of the wicked (satan) one..1John 5:17..and I didn't even have to look that up..

 

The day you no longer NEED to look anything up, is the day you will understand the message of Jesus.

You become a self sustaining flame.

You can take your finger off the pilot light button.



x

 

Oh well, I looked it up and I was 2 verses off..it was 1 john 5 :19
We know we originate with God, but the whole world is lying in the [power of the] wicked one.

I understand what you are xexon..but I notice in your signature that you have some kind of political sign..one thing Jesus talked about was to "not be a part of this world" and that involves MAN'S politics which is all controlled by Satan.

 

But I don't subscribe to the idea of deity.

Satan is the human mind left to it's own devices. Nothing more. Quite human.

Until the mind has been tempered with spiritual input, it lives an existance through the senses and cold calculation.

Spiritual vision reveals the interconnectivity of all things. The idea of being seperate from anything dissolves away. Including God.

As for politics, to be a spiritual person means you become the ultimate socialist. The sense of "I" is replaced by a kind of hive mentality. You look to serve the hive rather than personal gain.

You can't help but notice all the sleeping people around you now that you're awake.

To wake them without getting nailed to a cross is a skill.

You must point out faults in order to address what is wrong in the world. This often involves tearing up whatever system is prevalent in the modern day.

Politics and religion are fair game for any enlightened being. To disrupt what is in place, is to appear as a rebel. The difference is it isn't for personal gain but for the advancement of humanity as a whole.

An enlightened person is not attached to the action in the way other people are. They can perform it and walk away.



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