logo Sign In

Religion — Page 3

Author
Time

Jennette McCurdy Wikipedia Article said:


She gained interest in acting after watching Harrison Ford in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope right after her mother recovered from breast cancer.


Now I really want to tap her, regardless of her nasty bleach job.

Author
Time

Creepy obsessed Star Wars nerds, all of you!!

Author
Time

I want to clarify something here.  Though I had a nasty outburst elsewhere in relation to what was said here, I want all to be aware that it had nothing to do with the intelligent responses given by twooffour.  He had one of his best posts (at least that I've seen) in this thread, and I looked forward to responding to it.  But as I read further on the thread, I become very annoyed at how things were heading.  I foresaw another "I got the last word" thing going, and as twooffour often perpetuates that sort of thing, I lashed out at him.  I want to apologize here for not being able to take the time to respond, because now I am ignoring him and don't remember what he said.  Once again, however, I really liked the points he'd made, and I did look forward to continuing the debate.  My lashing out had nothing to do with his argument, which was both well composed, but also to which I was preparing rebuttals.  However, I simply cannot handle his style and the contention that seems to shadow him everywhere.  I really am sorry for how I treated you, twooffour, and I hope you continue to make good posts that others with more patience than I can respond to.

Author
Time

Well, I'm glad to see that people (at least to my knowledge) aren't arguing over religious beliefs here.  It seems they are instead talking about which actresses they would have sexual relations with and the legality of those relations.  This is...hmmm...definitely not how I expected things to go so quickly.

Author
Time

Mrebo said:

Ziggy Stardust said:

darth_ender said:

 ...Even if I were not Christian (yes, Mormons are Christian)....

I don't really know much about Mormonism. Besides the fact I went to see the jail they put Joseph Smith in a couple of weeks ago.

Wiki is somewhat cryptic on this point:

"Most Mormons self-identify as Christian, though some of their beliefs differ substantially from mainstream Christianity."

More research on Wiki says that like Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons apparently don't believe Jesus is God. While Wiki talks about early debates on the nature of Jesus as God or not, nowadays if a religion does not believe Jesus is God most people would say they're not Christian. While there is a historical link, Mormonism is very different theologically from the what is broadly recognized as Christianity. I guess another question is what does it matter whether we call Mormonism a Christian religion?

 Ahh...Wikipedia.  I refer to it often, but whenever I source it, I usually make some sarcastic disclaimer.

Won't go in depth into every aspect of this topic, but I will touch on a few points.  First, what is termed "mainstream Christianity is really the evolution of the Christians' understanding.  Prior to the Council of Nicea in AD 325, there existed a group known as the Arians (not the Nazi Aryans).  These subscribed to the idea that God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son were two separate beings, and named after their most prominent and influential teacher Arius.  That council determined much of what now is represented as Trinitarian doctrine as absolute, and all who disagreed better come around quick or else they'd be branded as heretics and excommunicated.  Several subsequent councils further refined the official nature of God and therefore led to more excommunications.  Even the various modern "mainstream" Christian groups still differ greatly on the exact nature of God.  Just because something is commonly accepted as THE way today does not make it so.  It was a huge debate in the good ol' days, and yet those ancient heretics still deserved to be called Christians.  But this basic historical synopsis should at least give some perspective.

Second, Mormons do believe that Jesus is God.  However, we do not believe he is of "one substance" with the Father.  We hold that they are distinct beings, God the Father and God the Son.

Third, the question then arises whether we are monotheists or polytheists.  Well, I guess that depends on your definition, because we do clearly believe in more than one God right there.  However, the primary person of our worship is the Father, and as we worship the Son, we continue to adore the Father above him and through him.  However, if you see it our way, we see the Father and Son united in a perfect bond of like-mindedness.  Much like how the Bible tells us that husbands and wives should be one, though clearly this was never intended literally as "one substance," a similar principle applies here.  The Father and Son are perfectly united in their goals, minds, and purpose.  So looking at it from two ways, we are monotheists, as God the Father is ultimately the one God we worship, or if you count the Son (and I'm not even touching on the Holy Spirit, though the same principle applies here), we are worshipping three beings acting as one.  Make sense?

Remember, Jesus' claims in the New Testament that he was the Son of God infuriated the religious leaders of his day who taught that there was only one God, and his claim to be the Son of God was polytheistic and blasphemous.

To answer your final question, if folks don't feel like calling me Christian, than that's their prerogative.  However, I would never hesitate to state that I am a Christian, even if my criteria of what defines a true Christian differ in some aspects from what other faiths consider valid Christianity.  I believe that Jesus is the Messiah, that he is God incarnate, that he suffered for our sins, died on the cross, and was resurrected.  To me, that is the essence of Christianity.  I don't care what exclusive games others choose to play.  You are right, then.  What does it matter what others call us?

Author
Time

(An unrelated post about something I'd just thought of:)

The "problem" of the Trinity never really bothered me that much, to be honest.
A person could be said to be "split" in a way, whenever there is a change in attitude, personality or whatever the person happens to remember at the given moment.
Then there are actual multiple personality disorders, as well as lots of SF thought experiments about "hive minds" etc..


Simply never bothered me as that Great Mystery or Great Absurdity, as it does some.
But whatever.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

bumped, cos important after swallowing it, I mean biting it, we be happy soul!

Author
Time

twister111 said:

 

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/6273/2w23a79.jpg
^Interestingly search terms I used to find this image were "didn't want "bath"" :D

 

LOL I made that picture a while back and Frink commented that it looked like they were taking a bath (because of my mspaint skillz).  The internet knows all...


Author
Time

I pick and choose the best parts of each. 

Like a religion gumbo.


Author
Time

Among other things, I believe in the force, and fsm. What a good idea for a topic, darth_ender.

Screen grooming.  A most underrated activity. - hairy_hen

 

The mic was in picture!

^_^

Author
Time

The Force is a Lie by Sinking Spaghetti Monstrosity. Please, my friend, don't fall for it!

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Not quite sure what you're getting at, Compy.  It is an important topic.  And this is not just the defense of one's own faith.  If someone simply wants to discuss something interesting about Roman mythology, this would be a good place to do it.

Author
Time

Hey, just something I'm very curious about:
Does anyone know of any religious group, or public thinkers, or anyone of that sort, who believe in the Bible or elements of the Christian worldview (alternatively, Muslim), but condemn the immorality displayed by God?

Would be lots of fun to see the Hitch debate that one... LOL.

But that's probably just my fantasy :D

Author
Time

So I thought since some might think religion to be a silly topic, I wanted to include some interesting information, and perhaps it could spark some discussion.  Religion reveals a great deal about a culture, and I love learning about others’ beliefs.  Here are three interesting Western Religions you may not know much about.  Perhaps such chit chat could spark some discussion.

Samaritans are an ethnic group related to Jews.  They mixed with non-Israelites following the conquering of the northern Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrian Empire.  The religion was also changed, with their holy mountain no longer being the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, but Mt. Gerizim in the region called Samaria.  There has historically been a great deal of mutual antagonism between the Jews and Samaritans, making the story of the Good Samaritan of greater significance than many realize.  Now the clincher: there are around 700 Samaritans still in existence!

Many think of Judaism in its earliest form was the first monotheistic religion.  However, many are unaware that another monotheistic religion likely developed sooner, called Zoroastrianism after the Greek name of its founder/prophet, Zoroaster, but usually called now Zarathustra.  There are around 210,000 adherents today.  Some believe that many concepts central to Judaism, such as resurrection and angels, are attributable to influence from Zoroastrianism.  The Wise Men who visited baby Jesus were likely Zoroastrians.  The religion began in the Persian Empire and remained the state religion until Islam took over.  In spite of present day Persia’s (Iran’s) suppression of most non-Shia Islam, they are more tolerant of Zoroastrianism due to its cultural and historical significance.

The Bahai Faith is one of the most recent monotheistic religions that could potentially be listed among the “Great Religions” (based on population).  It also began in Iran when a man who called himself the Bab (which means gateway) began preaching that a new prophet would come after him, much in the same way John the Baptist preached.  He was martyred, and shortly thereafter another man who called himself Baha’u’llah preached that he was this prophet.  The teachings of this group are interesting in that they validate the other great religions, teaching that they are true, but that the message with each succeeding prophet is more complete.  So Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all are steps to what is now considered the most complete revelation from God, the Bahai faith.  Unlike Zoroastrianism, this faith is heavily persecuted in Iran.  There are about 6 million believers in the world today.

Author
Time

Did you know that 390,000 English and Welsh residents reported in the 2001 UK census that their religion was "Jedi"?  Cool, huh?

Author
Time

Well, I can't disagree.  I just was trying to get some more comments here.  It worked, didn't it?

Author
Time

I was a Jawa for Halloween in the 4th grade.   That was enough for me.