And his use of “God” as an excuse for war…
“Know this, my dear brothers: everyone should be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, for the wrath of a man does not accomplish the righteousness of God.” - James 1:19-20
How quickly many Christians forget this.
Some of you who know me well, might be surprised to know that I’ve recently converted back to Christianity… heh.. those that know me REALLY well might assume it’s because I want to show them how it’s done… however, it’s because I’ve found a Church that doesn’t espouse hatred, that teaches acceptance, and doesn’t force their belief on others.
Bleah. I might be ashamed to be Christian because Bush claims to be one, but I’m not. Why? Because that’s his loss, not mine, when the time comes.
Posted in General |
*sigh* I keep meaning to re-read the bible, but I get stuck in the chapter that says ’so and so begat so and so who…’
Just avoid the fundies and you’ll be alright!
This reminds me of a dinner I had once in Rochester NY with one of the attendents in my best friends wedding. We were talking politics and she described herself as a New York Liberal. We got to talking about religion and she said that she just didn’t understand how anyone could be a Republican and be a Christian. I laughed and told her that my Mother-In-Law had said just the reverse just a few days prior.
The moral of that is that God can be used to justify terrible things, and that also conveniently forgotten when it is inconvenient. To a Conservative allowing abortion…to a Liberal allowing poverty…to a radical Islamic spreading the corrupt western decadence. It all goes around and in the end is semantically null.
Due to a separation of church and state, using God in any of his motives as president would be a violation of one of the principles this country was based on. I may be over sensitive to the number of God references our presidents (past and present) make because I am an atheist. I don’t think that makes this any less wrong though.
Some of you who know me well, might be surprised to know that I’ve recently converted back to Christianity…
What church are you going to now?
Well, it’s a little weird. My church was kicked out of the SBC (Southern Baptist Convention) for not agreeing with some of its many boycotts. So.. it’s “Second Baptist”
I can respect being an atheist wholeheartedly. I personally think that everyone should be allowed to believe whatever they want. If they’re right, hooray for them. If they’re wrong - well, they kinda asked for it, yanno?
The only difficulty I have with the way my religion appears to be practiced is a both simple and complicated. I find it hard to wrap my mind around the idea that a genuinely good person who’s never done anyone wrong will burn in hell (or spend eternity in purgatory a la Catholicism), whereas someone who’s killed someone can gain forgiveness through repenting of their sins.
I approach it with a simplistic point of view:
There’s 10 basic rules, try not to break them.
If ever the rules become more important than the people, re-evaluate.
Someone, whether God’s son in the “biological sense”, “metaphysical sense”, or the “metaphorical sense”, suffered greatly and later died, believing that his suffering would save everyone from a horrible end.
Never, ever, believe that you’re infallible when it comes to your beliefs.
I don’t so much mind someone doing things “in God’s name”, as long as it’s not blatantly doing something *against* the basic rules He laid down, and not meant to imply that they *know* what God wants.
Cool… I was christened into the Methodist faith. When I was older, I chose to be baptised into the American Baptist faith. Recently, I joined the Unitarian-Universalist church. I feel a lot more comfortable there. The only thing I feel it’s lacking is a dedication to the Divine. But it’s good to hear you’ve found something to believe in.
Wow… a back to Christianity conversion.
I could see myself doing that, aside from the entire “accepting Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Saviour” thing.
IMHO, the “personal Lord” part isn’t necessarily needed. After all, it would conflict with the First Commandment in a way.
What many Christian denominations do is try to explain that with “Jesus is God.”
I’m not sure on that either. My personal belief? We’re all sons and daughters of God. We were created by God, therefore we’re all Divine. I’m not saying we’re gods, in the least. Just saying that a little logic goes a long way, even in Christianity.
And his use of “God” as an excuse for war…
“Know this, my dear brothers: everyone should be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, for the wrath of a man does not accomplish the righteousness of God.” - James 1:19-20
I’m kinda fond of “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” - John 7:7
After all, our President has never done anything wrong personally, he’s never done drugs (which supports the cartels which support the terrorists who are trying to destroy God’s righteous people of America…)
Yeah, whatever. I’m just waiting for November.
But isn’t the view of Jesus as God the fundamental tennant of Christianity? I would say that I hold true to some fundamental truths that are largely supported by the christian faith, but I don’t believe in the Jesus stuff (other than him being a man that people liked and wrote about). It’s that entire son-of-God thing.
So if you’ve found a way to reconcile that, then by all means, have at it.