The Power/Reality Of Demons And Supernatural Evil.

Over the last few weeks you've turned from a nice if overly-Christian guy a bit confused about life the universe and everything to an unlikeable, aggressively pious, bullshit preaching idiot.That's all, no humour, no irony.

But alas you and no one else has ever presented any contemporary, historical evidence for this christ character. There is no evidence he existed so why would I put any credence into stories about him.

I don't know. My mother read it through once a year or so, but I don't think she paid much attention to doctrine. My father certainly read it through and knew it well. (He may have had the same memory for trivia that I do. ) What bugs me is that they tend to think the "overall context" overrides the local context. That gives them leeway to impose their "overall" interpretation on anything.

Let me try and find the transcript for you, ringo. Dont you have an overall interpretation of your own? Dont you often use scriptures to support your overall interpretation? I know jar has one. Im going to combine the two of you and call you Jingo!

No more than I have an overall interpretation of the library. I do point out where the scriptures get it right and where believers get it wrong.

Fair enough. And you know that it is right because....A) The Book says so.
B) Logic, reason, and the reality of human morality say so.IF B, then:
1) Humans don't need God. We have an intuitive knowledge of right and wrong without Him.
2) Occasionally, the Bible points out wisdom that we already intuitively knew.IF 2, then:
a) We were born with knowledge of the right intuition.Finally, if so, and if God is limited to a human derived book, where did we get our intuitive knowledge of what is right?

Sheesh. Phat, there are no moral or ethical observations or recommendations or commandments in the Bible stories that did not also appear even earlier in other religions and social systems.Study the writings of Mencius or Confucius or the sayings of the Buddha or Taoism or any of the thousands of religions that existed before Christianity. Almost. The Bible points out wisdom that was also common to many social systems. There is nothing "intuitive" about it; it evolved through experience and mythos that was passed down generation by generation, society by society. But the evidence show we are NOT born with any "right intuition" but rather it develops over time and experience.

You could claim that Hammurabi's law preceded the Biblical commandments but all the rest you list didn't appear until the fifth to seventh centuries BC. Moses died in the 13th century BC. Christianity builds on the Old Testament.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

The Buddha taught everything Jesus taught and hundreds of years before Jesus lived. The Hindu Vedas predate the Old Testament and many religious system predated the Garden of Eden.The point is that there is nothing in the Bible that was not also developed independently in many other cultures.

There are plenty of MORAL similarities, which only shows that the universe is in fact governed by moral law, which both the Bible and Buddhism maintain. I'm not sure about the others but my guess would be they all acknowledge a universal moral law. But Christianity is about our salvation from the consequences of that moral law, which is absolutely unique.

Nothing is true because any book says it is. Sometimes, what a book says is true but we had to know it was true before the book was written. God is not doing what humans need done, providing food, shelter, etc. Jesus acknowledged that when He told us to do it for each other. That's what Paul said: "For when the gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves...." (Romans 2:14). It isn't so much what is "right". It's what works best in a social species. It's part of our evolved social behaviour.

Yup, the "get outta responsibility Christianity" is certainly easy to market, disgusting and pitiful.

Since it is extremely rare, if it really occurs at all, for a person to be able to undo his own moral debt, or karma as it is called in some religions, and therefore has to go to that religion's version of Hell, or get reincarnated as a cockroach or other animal form through many lives until he finally figures out how to undo his karmic debt, I would think there might be a little gratitude for God's provision of a way out of all that.

If you were in Episcopal church reciting a liturgy or the BCP, it would be inappropriate for any random congregant to stop the service and voice their own opinion. At the time of prayer and communion, the agreement is shown through the act itself. There are always times to ask questions and voice opinion later. They can be. They need not be. Im assuming that you label yourself a True Skeptic, or a True Questioner. Which is fine. Obviously God has other plans for you.

Correction. Hundreds of years before Jesus was "made man". Jesus existed eternally and always will exist. The Buddha is not in the same category. You will argue that humans created all of the religions and all of the characters, but if you really are a Creedal Cradle Christian you would at least acknowledge that He existed long before Buddha.