Ask a Christian Theologian

[CameronU2fan]

Don't be an idiot. The bible doesn't condemn contraceptives (none even existed at the time of its writing), that was something the catholic church invented, along with several other inventions (like praying to saints, not being able to talk to God but being forced to go through a priest, the deification of Mary, weird prayer beads etc).
Selling people was done back then since it was a bartering culture. People didn't have money, they sold their belongings, and some people who were evil enough sold unfavourable children, which is something God condemns. If you've read the bible (which you likely haven't and instead have chosen to believe what other people SAY about the people rather than reading and interpreting the King James version yourself), you would know that the laws written for the Jews in the book of Leviticus no longer apply, because those laws were made to keep the Jews in line. They were absolutely crazy, and would worship their own creations (idols) and were living with so much sin that God needed to keep them in line if they were going to ever live a healthy sane life or even do anything productive. Jesus came to this earth not to destroy the law but fulfill the law, meaning He wanted people to start following the law, which very few people were doing.

 

[Amnestic]

Spoiler: Condensed Quote Tower

I am a reformed, evangelical, conservative Christian. (aka bible based)

With this in mind, what's your opinion on the conflicting literal interpretation of the Genesis Universe starting story and scientific evidence such as Carbon Dating and the like?

Essentially, I'd like to state that if you look at the writing style of Genesis 1, you'll find that it is epic poetry. Genesis 2 then kicks off into historical chronology. With this in mind, there are no major contradictions. I believe that the writer of Genesis 1 (Moses) used this style of writing and the 7 days in order to communicate to an ancient people the fundamental process of the creation of the universe.

Now hang on Genesis 2 [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%202&version=9;] specifies 7 days within the first two verses.

I don't really have a question, but this thread makes me think that we could do a mod-supported "Religion Thread," where all the Escapists of various religions (right?) can answer questions directed at them and such, sort of like that fiasco with everyone asking about opinions on Australia and such.

Not really, because it will be a disaster.

A lot of people believe religious followers should conform to their way of thinking and give up religion, all I can say is good luck with that, future tyrannical dictators.

Oh come on. You can't say that honestly without recognising that some people who follow religions are often the same.

Sorry but all the Christians I've met try to live a life of peace, I don't think it's right to be cynical about someone who supports a righteous cause.

Well then I call into question how many Christians you've met I'm afraid. I attended a Christian Private school from 4 to 18 and I met numerous throughout my years there. A great number of them were of the opinion that I should believe what they do. Some did not, and those I gave a modicum of respect for equally respecting my views, but you cannot deny that some Christians, just as Atheists, Muslims, and a myriad of other religions, believe that other people should believe what they do. Denying such a thing is denying stone-cold fact.

That's not the way of Christianity, Jesus held sermons and if people wanted to listen they came, he didn't knock door to door preaching to people who didn't want to listen trying to save their souls.

You stated the following:

A lot of people believe religious followers should conform to their way of thinking and give up religion, all I can say is good luck with that, future tyrannical dictators.

This isn't the 'way' of Atheism, as we don't have a 'way'. Yet some Atheists do it. Just because it isn't the 'way' of your chosen group doesn't remove the blemish that some of the members of your group do the very same thing. I'm sorry, it doesn't work that way. If we're not allowed to denounce the fanatical atheists who are the 'future tyrannical dictators' then you can't in good conscience denounce those who are similar but are Christian.

 

[Gahars]

Spoiler: Condensed Quote Tower

I am a reformed, evangelical, conservative Christian. (aka bible based)

With this in mind, what's your opinion on the conflicting literal interpretation of the Genesis Universe starting story and scientific evidence such as Carbon Dating and the like?

Essentially, I'd like to state that if you look at the writing style of Genesis 1, you'll find that it is epic poetry. Genesis 2 then kicks off into historical chronology. With this in mind, there are no major contradictions. I believe that the writer of Genesis 1 (Moses) used this style of writing and the 7 days in order to communicate to an ancient people the fundamental process of the creation of the universe.

Now hang on Genesis 2 [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%202&version=9;] specifies 7 days within the first two verses.

I don't really have a question, but this thread makes me think that we could do a mod-supported "Religion Thread," where all the Escapists of various religions (right?) can answer questions directed at them and such, sort of like that fiasco with everyone asking about opinions on Australia and such.

Not really, because it will be a disaster.

A lot of people believe religious followers should conform to their way of thinking and give up religion, all I can say is good luck with that, future tyrannical dictators.

Oh come on. You can't say that honestly without recognising that some people who follow religions are often the same.

Sorry but all the Christians I've met try to live a life of peace, I don't think it's right to be cynical about someone who supports a righteous cause.

Well then I call into question how many Christians you've met I'm afraid. I attended a Christian Private school from 4 to 18 and I met numerous throughout my years there. A great number of them were of the opinion that I should believe what they do. Some did not, and those I gave a modicum of respect for equally respecting my views, but you cannot deny that some Christians, just as Atheists, Muslims, and a myriad of other religions, believe that other people should believe what they do. Denying such a thing is denying stone-cold fact.

That's not the way of Christianity, Jesus held sermons and if people wanted to listen they came, he didn't knock door to door preaching to people who didn't want to listen trying to save their souls.

Well it's the way of Christianity, and many other religions now, and you have to face that fact.

 

[maximilian]

Two questions.
First one, why is the Christian Sabbath on Sunday rather than Saturday? Why did they change it?

Essentially, someone put down the day and then the names for those days developed around them. Sabbath was never a Saturday, it was just a "day of rest". A lot of Christian ministers I know have a Friday sabbath. However, Sunday has just sat due to the build up of traditional church going and the development of the working week.

Second one, what happened to Jesus after he was ressurected? Did he vanish and we only have the word of those who saw his empty grave, did he appear before his disciples and make one last sermon and then vanish, did he ascend to heaven on a big shaft of light...? I have absolutely no idea.

He basically appeared to his disciples and approximately 600 or so different people. He gave one last sermon (it's at the end of Matthew) and then ascended to Heaven in light.

 

[maximilian]

How old do you believe planet Earth is?

I need to look this one up and form my own opinion. It's a tough question due to Biblical interpretation of Genesis 1 (see other posts as to why). I'm inclined to an old earth theory though (as in, billions of years).

 

[CameronU2fan]

Okay, so I get the whole anti-contraception thing, and the anti-gay thing, as they're written in the bible and it's the unchangeable word of god etc etc.

My question is thus. When my father goes to sell me as sanctioned by Exodus, what's a fair price to ask in this day and age?

Don't be an idiot. The bible doesn't condemn contraceptives (none even existed at the time of its writing), that was something the catholic church invented, along with several other inventions (like praying to saints, not being able to talk to God but being forced to go through a priest, the deification of Mary, weird prayer beads etc).
Selling people was done back then since it was a bartering culture. People didn't have money, they sold their belongings, and some people who were evil enough sold unfavourable children, which is something God condemns. If you've read the bible (which you likely haven't and instead have chosen to believe what other people SAY about the people rather than reading and interpreting the King James version yourself), you would know that the laws written for the Jews in the book of Leviticus no longer apply, because those laws were made to keep the Jews in line. They were absolutely crazy, and would worship their own creations (idols) and were living with so much sin that God needed to keep them in line if they were going to ever live a healthy sane life or even do anything productive. Jesus came to this earth not to destroy the law but fulfill the law, meaning He wanted people to start following the law, which very few people were doing.

 

[Hunde Des Krieg]

If God forgives all, why do you burn in Hell for not believing in Him? That's not free will; that's a Hobson's choice.

Oh, and why'd he murder so many innocent people with the flood and the whole Sodom and Gomorrah incident? Not everyone was corrupt.

Why do Christians see fit to oppress a minority? God loves everyone, right? Oh, except for the gays. They don't choose to be gay, so it's akin to sanctioned racism.

Why do you justify acts of cruelty with a 2000 year old book written by prejudiced old men?

Basically, why is God such a dick? And why do His followers take after Him so well?

that's flame bait... but Christians don't believe that homosexuality isn't choice, and they believe the Bible to be written through men by God.

 

[Alex_P]

I am a reformed, evangelical, conservative Christian. (aka bible based)

Personal question, then: What exposure have you had to PMD evangelical Christianity and what do you think of it?

-- Alex

Sorry, what is PMD? I'll either have heard of it or can do some research and then reply.

Premillenial Dispensationalism, which is a branch of America's conservative evangelical movements. Its eschatology plays an important role in popular culture and is often described as a "literal interpretation of the Bible" by believers and the media.

(If you don't feel you have the information to answer the question, that's okay. I'm mostly interested in how someone who describes himself as conservative, evangelical, and Bible-focused views the particular set of beliefs.)

-- Alex

 

[maximilian]

Chris Hedges, a graduate from Harvard divinity school, said in his book American Fascists that the bible contains enough information that the careful reader will learn morality. Yet, there is also enough bigotry and corruption contained within it to justify all the evil in the world. Do you agree?

Also, do you believe that the bible is the literal word of god, or do you believe that some sections are flawed because it was transcribed by humans.

To an extent. I think that the Bible contains scenes of bigotry and corruption in order to show the positive from that negative (ie. sin). E.g. a biography of Winston Churchill that highlights the evil of the Nazi's doesn't mean that Winston Churchill IS a Nazi. It also depends on how the text is interpreted. I do believe it runs the gamut from evil to good.

Yeah, I believe it's the literal word of God. I believe this after looking at the hermeneutics (the way it's understood in the written context). The problem is if I believe that a *part* of the Bible is flawed, then what claim can I make to any understanding? Essentially, to have faith integrity and intellectual integrity I must take it literally.

 

[maximilian]

what the hell's up with that kill the infidels stuff. wouldn't god tell them to live and let live and let him judge when the time comes?

Ding, ding, ding. You're absolutely correct. The "kill the infidels" teaching is a direct emulation (completely incorrect) of the Old Testament attitude towards anyone who threatened the Jewish nation. The *idiots* (largely ignorant of the actual scripture due to the Catholic church segregating the Bible in Latin) justified their land grabs/own greed with "Christianity.

 

[Artic Xiongmao]

What do you think of the people -men, women and kids- burnt in the era of the Spanish Inquisition because of religion? I could go on, but I'm not going to convince anyone who "have faith", so I'll just shut up...

 

[ThePlasmatizer]

*sigh* You've lowered the credibility of this thread Nimbus.

An American Slaver in history construes freedom as freedom for everyone except foreigner's, would you be happy to be labelled as an tyrannical slave master because someone else misconstrued your beliefs?

@ Amnestic adn Gahars:

I've already told you that it's not the Christian way, how many people have you heard say this because chances are they are in a minority, in case you didn't know there are billions of Christians and you're basing your arguement on a handful.

 

[Di22y]

How old do you believe planet Earth is?

I need to look this one up and form my own opinion. It's a tough question due to Biblical interpretation of Genesis 1 (see other posts as to why). I'm inclined to an old earth theory though (as in, billions of years).

Do you see yourself as a Christian?

 

[maximilian]

If God forgives all, why do you burn in Hell for not believing in Him? That's not free will; that's a Hobson's choice.

Yeah, popular misconception. God doesn't forgive everybody. He only forgives those who ask for it.

Oh, and why'd he murder so many innocent people with the flood and the whole Sodom and Gomorrah incident? Not everyone was corrupt.

Bible tells us they were. We believe it.

Why do Christians see fit to oppress a minority? God loves everyone, right? Oh, except for the gays. They don't choose to be gay, so it's akin to sanctioned racism.

No, God hates sin. It's pretty pointless to persecute gays because by that logic all non-Christians should be persecuted. Basically, God says that homosexual relations are sinful. As Christians we don't really care until it fringes on our institutions (see prop 8 thread). At this moment in time I'm actually staying with some gay friends. I don't hate them and God is sending them to hell (take it or leave it) only because they ARE NOT CHRISTIAN. Being Christian and gay is another matter.

Why do you justify acts of cruelty with a 2000 year old book written by prejudiced old men?

Basically, why is God such a dick? And why do His followers take after Him so well?

Yeah, nice, respectful question. Chances are I wasn't the Christian "dick" who was at one time unkind to you. Please have less insane bias. See original post.

 

[Amnestic]

@ Amnestic adn Gahars:

I've already told you that it's not the Christian way, how many people have you heard say this because chances are they are in a minority, in case you didn't know there are billions of Christians and you're basing your arguement on a handful.

Perhaps they are the minority. Unfortunately as you are, I'm going with my own experiences and my own experiences show that it's the majority of Christians act in the way I described: As those who believe I should convert. There are millions/billions of Atheists, and yet you were basing your argument on a handful. I'm not arguing that all Christians are trying to convert me, I was just pointing out the hypocrisy in your comment that implied Atheists try to convert whereas Christians do not.

Oh, and you can't define "The Christian Way." thanks to the number of denominations and metaphorical interpretations of the teachings of Jesus. Thanks to the subjectivity of the whole book most of them you can't define as 'wrong' either so saying that they're not following it is somewhat a moot point.

2000 year old book written by prejudiced old men?

Basically, why is God such a dick?

Yeah, nice, respectful question. Chances are I wasn't the Christian "dick" who was at one time unkind to you. Please have less insane bias. See original post.

Despite Sorrow's rather vulgar way of addressing the question it is a good one. How can you justify the sorrow (heh) that people go through daily when a supposedly omnibenevolent God created us? Basically I'm asking how you deal with the problem of evil [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_problem_of_evil]

 

[maximilian]

Okay, so I get the whole anti-contraception thing, and the anti-gay thing, as they're written in the bible and it's the unchangeable word of god etc etc.

Thought to add in that contraception isn't unbiblical, it's Catholic heresy designed to create prolific Catholic congregations.

 

[ThePlasmatizer]

@ Amnestic adn Gahars:

I've already told you that it's not the Christian way, how many people have you heard say this because chances are they are in a minority, in case you didn't know there are billions of Christians and you're basing your arguement on a handful.

Perhaps they are the minority. Unfortunately as you are, I'm going with my own experiences and my own experiences show that it's the majority of Christians act in the way I described: As those who believe I should convert. There are millions/billions of Atheists, and yet you were basing your argument on a handful. I'm not arguing that all Christians are trying to convert me, I was just pointing out the hypocrisy in your comment that implied Atheists try to convert whereas Christians do not.

Oh, and you can't define "The Christian Way." thanks to the number of denominations and metaphorical interpretations of the teachings of Jesus. Thanks to the subjectivity of the whole book most of them you can't define as 'wrong' either so saying that they're not following it is somewhat a moot point.

I didn't say that there weren't people who don't try to convert others but it's actually demonstrated by Jesus that people need to decide for themselves to come to the church there's no room for misinterpretation there.

It's fine if you want to believe all Christians are the same, I'll won't be following your example though and instead believe most Atheists respect others but choose to live differently despite a lot of harassment I see against Christians here.

 

[XzarTheMad]

I have a few...

From personal experience I have a friend who will write off most things I would call either luck or personal achievement to God's grace/God's favor. Do you do the same? As in, my friend got a job and thus thanked God for it, but didn't thank herself for actually being good enough to get the job. Isn't this sort of self-destructive? Likewise, if you were to get an A+ on a test (assuming you're studying), would you write that off as God's will of you having an A+, or your hard work paying off with no regard for God whatsoever?

How do you feel about people like Richard Dawkins? Or rather, do you believe that you, as a religious person, requires special treatment because of your beliefs? In the society I currently live in, discussing religion is almost taboo because anyone saying anything but "people should have their own beliefs" or "it's good to have something to believe in" will be shunned. I'm not saying I feel like bashing religious people, but I do wonder if you share the feeling of "persecution" from people like Dawkins, who refuses to adhere to political correctness just for the sake of not angering people.

On that note, how do you feel about the people saying that the stigma against Christianity is somewhat justified because it could easily be viewed as the most "zealous" religion, with many members trying to convert people they know or meet? Speaking from my own experience I have met many christians unable to personally accept my inability to believe in a higher power, and tried fervently to convert me, and the christians who are downright offended by Atheists, as if it is a personal offense to them that people either cannot or will not believe in whatever entity they choose to believe in.

Furthermore, do you believe that "faith" is a strictly christian phenomenom? I've heard this claim that christians see "faith" as a christian thing, and that all other religious, non-christian people simply "believe". How do you feel about that?

I would appreciate any of my questions to be answered, as I find this a very interesting opportunity. :3

Oh, and finally.. I know this may sound terribly insolent and as flame-bait, but it's a question I simply, for the life of me, cannot, honestly, find any logic in. Do you actually believe that there is a surpreme being that watches over every move that you do? Or is it more the fascination of the concept, or the comfort you take in the thought of divine guidance, on a level of "moral support" rather than "divine intervention" that makes you call yourself Christian?

Which actually bring me to my final (promise) two questions; When is one a Christian? And could it not be argued that organized religion such as Christianity or Islam often does more harm to the global community than it does good? My doubt lies in this: My girlfriend's sister had her "faith" in the christian god confirmed at age 13, as is costumary in my country.. but mainly because she wanted a party, and that she "believed in something". Does "believing in something" make on christian? Or how much of the bible must one actually adhere to/believe in to be considdered christian? Isn't it simply an umbrella term for people seeking social acceptance while believing something that could, for all points and purposes, be different religions, only they call their gods the same and go to the same place to worship their diety of choice? And, while I do agree that religion often can help individuals or small groups, it seems to be doing more harm than good in larger assemblies, such as when large groups of Muslims protest drawings they've never seen of their prophet, or incidents like Jonestown. Even middle-large assemblies or groups, such as the people of Kansas rallying for Evolution to be taught in science class, of all places. I'm just wondering if religion should be kept as a personal thing for as much as possible to avoid the large-scale stupidity that is crowds (to which religious zeal does add a dangerous edge if you ask me) while keeping the individual helping-supporting-feeling-good thing that religion does. Maybe that's just me?