I'm converting to Christian fundamentalism! Ask me anything!

[madison2000]

:evilgrin:

[steve2470]

1. God help you. Has God spoken to you this AM ? nt

[madison2000]

2. God spoke to me and told me to try to convert the DU Lounge

God is dreaming!

[steve2470]

3. Maybe He or She knows something we don't LOL

[derby378]

4. Can I have your brain? (n/t)

[madison2000]

6. I left my brain at the door of the church

If its still out there, you can have it.

[TyeDye75]

5. So when exactly did you lose your ming?

[madison2000]

7. My ming- I lost it in the Church basement at age 16

but its been so long I am now considered a ming again!

[TyeDye75]

14. lol oh yeah....my bad

[zippy890]

8. Could you explain to me please

the idea that Christ died for our sins.

I've heard the line, God gave his only son so that we could be

saved, the Saviour after all, but I don't understand how Jesus dying

on the cross 'saved us'-- that we could then be redeemed and go to

heaven.

I would greatly appreciate any assistance in this.

:think:

[madison2000]

9. wow, serious question

In the context of the ancient Jewish world, the shedding of blood as a sacrifice was necessary to atone for sins...hence the common practice of animal sacrifice. Sinfulness keeps us apart from God. But the sacrifice of God's son was a one time deal for anyone who chooses to believe in it to become close to God through Christ and not have to perform animal sacrifices any more. In the Judaeo Christian tradition humans are born sinful and can't draw close to God or holiness without some kind of ritual assistance so, God provided a means in Christ.

[zippy890]

12. Yeah--I see--

its a ritual sacrifice thing.....

WOW!!! THANKS!! THATS THE MOST COHERENT EXPLANATION I'VE EVER HEARD!!!



:P

[zippy890]

10. How about immaculate conception?

That always struck me as science fiction, or maybe Mary was bipolar,

and since they didn't have lithium back then she was manic with some

pychosis or something,

What do you think?

[madison2000]

15. Immaculate conception is a Roman Catholic doctrine

It isn't in the Bible so Christian fundamentalists wouldn't believe in it. Immaculate conception actually refers to the conception of Mary, not Jesus. I guess having an ordinary sinful woman give birth to God poses a lot of metaphysical problems (can you imagine if Jesus had fathered children?!) so they came up with the doctrine of the Immaculate conception, so that Mary was not born of sin.

But most people think that Immaculate Conception refers to the birth of Jesus. As the story goes, Mary was engaged to Joseph but became pregnant by God while she was still a virgin (this is the doctrine of the Virgin Birth). I never really thought of Mary as crazy- she probably didn't come up with the story- it was everyone else who wanted to prove that Jesus was God. (Except for the "magnificat" in which an angel appears to Mary and tells her whats about to happen.) Lots of angels appearing in the ancient world, John the Baptists mother had an angel visit during her pregnancy too. (Hormones?!)

This was an age of massive bodily neurosis, especially about sex.

In the city I grew up in there was a Catholic high school named Immaculate Conception. Lots of girls got pregnant there!

[zippy890]

18. I'm beginning to get it......

Metaphysics, it has to be in the Bible, suffering, sin, pregnant by

God, lots of angels, no sex


THANK YOU BROTHER,(OR SISTER), I'VE SEEN THE LIGHT!!!

I'm goin ta read some scripture......

[El Fuego]

11. Can I have your stuff after you get raptured?

O8)

[madison2000]

16. You mean I can't take my stuff with me?

I'm not sure I want to go...

[El Fuego]

17. Nope! You just disappear into thin air, leaving behind a pile of clothes.

...and maybe some credit cards and cash! :evilgrin:

[Maestro]

13. When is the rapture, please?

I'd like to prepare... And don't forget to visit here: Getting ready for the rapture

[madison2000]

19. In the first century everyone expected Jesus to return

Well, not everyone, just the Christians. They really didn't think they had much time left. (They weren't trying to fuck up the planet so badly that life was unsustainable, like * is.) This belief shows up throughout the New Testament. Its really just about waiting for God to return (a lot of people didn't recognize Jesus as God the first time.) This belief in a messiah who returns is in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible too, but its a lot more muted in Judaism.

But in the Book of Revelation, which is the last book in the New Testament (maybe the last one written) there is a lot of allegory/symbolism about the "end times". A lot of Biblical scholars think this book reflects some real psychopathology, and that it was a big mistake to include it in the Bible! Its difficult to interpret and very dualistic.

Somewhere along the line (maybe 150 years ago) Biblical literalists started using this book to make specific predictions about the return of Christ. And they haven't stopped yet. There are zillions of books on the subject but they've been around for years. There are so called prophecies regarding Israel, wars, earthquakes, etc. As these things are in the news every year now, it keeps the literalists going with the hope that the "end times" are here.

The "rapture" is like a giant rescue where Jesus comes back and scoops up you and all your friends from Church and takes you to the happy place where you don't have to worry about your credit card bills or the world you've polluted, or the Arab civilians you've killed. There are different theories of the rapture- will Jesus come before, during, or after the suffering- this is open to debate. The one thing that is for certain is that if you parrot the right words you will be included in the great escape and anyone who disagrees with you will be cast into the lake of fire.

[HawkerHurricane]

20. How do you justify...

OK, Gawd (the Father) is angry at us for failing to keep his law, so to save us from His wrath, he sends his only begotten Son down to Earth to be brutally executed for his 'crimes against the State of Rome', which means that Gawd the Father cannot punish us because his Son was punished for us, so now we are forgiven our crimes against Gawd...

So couldn't Gawd the Father have just said, "Well, you aren't keeping the law, but I forgive you anyway" WITHOUT sending his Son down to be brutally murdered? What's the point of allowing the Cruxifiction?

[madison2000]

21. Well I can't speak for God

But it seems like there was a lot more to Jesus than his crucifiction. The life of Jesus is shows what God is like- self-sacrifice, love, charity- these give a concrete example of a godly life. I've noticed that very few people are critical of Jesus and the life he lived even though they may think that Christianity is hogwash. There is more to the life of Jesus than than his death, although thats the center of the Christian meaning of redemption. Catholics tend to emphasize Christ's "passion" (suffering and execution) while Protestants emphasize the resurrection. In a Catholic church you will likely see a suffering Jesus on the cross (a la Mel Gibson), but in a Protestant church there is an empty cross.

I think you're getting close to the problem of why God allows suffering. Nobody has an answer for this that satisfies the heart. If God is all knowing and all powerful then why does God allow suffering? The standard answer for this is that suffering is permitted because God wanted humans to have free will and make choices, rather than making us automatons.

Its a strange idea - taking the only "guiltless" person who ever lived and punishing him for the sins of everyone else who has ever lived. Its a strange idea that a loving God would allow so much suffering in the world he created.