free will is not based on fear, it is inherent in us as humans. In other words, no one is forcing us to do anything. True faith is not based on fear of hell, but in love. As an aside, surely the concept of punishment of evil makes sense to you. It must.
"Even to the death fight for truth, and the LORD your God will battle for you".Sirach 4:28
are you a freemason? You sound like jefferson who on his deathbed fretted over "breaking the chains of monkish superstition". To him, the moral law of God was impeding his idea of 'liberty'.
"Even to the death fight for truth, and the LORD your God will battle for you".Sirach 4:28
why are you swallowing dogma that cripples your mind?
What dogma would this be? You seem to be "crippled" from your experiences because you went to others to think for you and now you feel that you are a "victim" from what they "taught" you about religion. I don't suffer this affliction.
" If you cannot govern yourself, you will be governed by assholes. " Randge, Poet de Forum, 1/11/11
"Life's tough, and even tougher if you're stupid." --John Wayne
why are you swallowing dogma that cripples your mind?
A mind can only be crippled if it thinks it can be crippled. Not only do you see or think yourself as having been crippled, but now you see crippled minds EVERYWHERE...even where they do not exist. You suffer weak thinking, but I don't have this affliction. : )
Change your thoughts lead.and.lag......and change your world. Your world is crippled. Mine is strong, vibrant and healthy. Are you going to answer my question about reality? How about dogma? Your diversion is duly noted.
" If you cannot govern yourself, you will be governed by assholes. " Randge, Poet de Forum, 1/11/11
"Life's tough, and even tougher if you're stupid." --John Wayne
women are supposed to be illogical, flighty, inconsistent thinkers... why are you confirming the stereotype?
why are the male believers conforming to the female stereotype?
You are comical......a victim of religion who sees the world in shades of blame offering his weak and fragile commentary on genders.
Do you ever answer any questions for yourself or do you just keep spewing them ad nauseum in an attempt to divert from your own intellectual inadequacies?
" If you cannot govern yourself, you will be governed by assholes. " Randge, Poet de Forum, 1/11/11
"Life's tough, and even tougher if you're stupid." --John Wayne
This is actuallly a funny thread. The references to being 'mistreated' in Sunday school reminds me of those books by Bradshaw all about 'the inner child' & the hell on earth many shackle themselves with from memories years past. Eegads.
"Even to the death fight for truth, and the LORD your God will battle for you".Sirach 4:28
I agree with you that fear, particularly fear of demons & hell, is no way to introduce children to Christianity. That is a very wrong tact & is not what Jesus did. I am sorry if that is what you experienced.
"Even to the death fight for truth, and the LORD your God will battle for you".Sirach 4:28
Christianity certainly shouldnt terrorize anyone.One can believe that hell exists without exploiting it to scare kids to death. If i can ask, what religion were you raised in? That may help me to understand your position better.
"Even to the death fight for truth, and the LORD your God will battle for you".Sirach 4:28
christianity is based more on terrrorism than love, and you just cant get around that fact.
No they did not. As I stated before, you find the word hell NINE times in the NT. Love is mentioned twice as much. lol
You can find hell many more times in the Koran.....the Vedas.......the Devaduta Sutta is page after page of hell, hell, hell. Jainism describes seven levels of hell. How can you continue to do comparative religious discourse without having any knowledge of hell beyond what you found in Christianity?
There is no more exploitation in Christianity than in any other religion. You will have to go Taoism to avoid the concept completely.
" If you cannot govern yourself, you will be governed by assholes. " Randge, Poet de Forum, 1/11/11
"Life's tough, and even tougher if you're stupid." --John Wayne
The reason I asked what religion you were was to determine who exactly taught you that way.If it were a protestant, where did he get his 'credentials', etc. Probably minimal, which is why there are not really 1000's of Christian sects.Only one true church
"Even to the death fight for truth, and the LORD your God will battle for you".Sirach 4:28
If one believes Jesus is the Son of God & came to establish His church, it would not make sense to have 1000s of sects disagreeing on everything.Thats not logical. Jesus established one Universal Catholic church. Luther went astray.
"Even to the death fight for truth, and the LORD your God will battle for you".Sirach 4:28
true, God (our Creator) gave us a conscience. We have free will to choose good or evil. Faith in the Messiah Jesus Christ is a gift which many do not understand. Pride & ego deludes them into believing that there is no Sovereign God of the universe.
"Even to the death fight for truth, and the LORD your God will battle for you".Sirach 4:28
(contd) conceded even by early writings of protestant leaders). Luther may have had some legit beefs, but the when Jesus told Peter he is the rock upon which I will build my church, the 1st Papacy was established.EVERY priest can be traced directly to him
by asking 'is that biblical' presumes "Sola Scripture" (google it) which means that the Bible alone is the source of truth. (a protestant view). Since the Catholic church was established before the Bible & the Church gave us the Bible, (a point conceded e
"Even to the death fight for truth, and the LORD your God will battle for you".Sirach 4:28
we dont need religion because we all have a conscience.
What you are not grasping is that most people do not go to church to grow or to find a conscience.......they go for companionship, support, to fulfill social "needs" and for cookies.
" If you cannot govern yourself, you will be governed by assholes. " Randge, Poet de Forum, 1/11/11
"Life's tough, and even tougher if you're stupid." --John Wayne
I realize that my protestant pals here will disagree,but if one thinks about it, How could the 'preechers on the corner' all have such variant views (the rapture for example)&be of the true Christian church? That seems to be disorder of the highest order.
"Even to the death fight for truth, and the LORD your God will battle for you".Sirach 4:28
Jesus told Peter he is the rock upon which I will build my church,
Then why did the church omit the Apocalypses of Peter in lieu of John's Revelations? It was a close match and early Christians really liked the Apocalypses of Peter. No gospels from the rock doesn't make a lot of sense, especially when Peter is deemed as more important than John in Apostle position for the Catholic Church.
" If you cannot govern yourself, you will be governed by assholes. " Randge, Poet de Forum, 1/11/11
"Life's tough, and even tougher if you're stupid." --John Wayne
No it isn't. Animals survive without what humans consider a "conscience" and put far more emphasis on FEAR as a survival mechanism. Serial killers and sociopaths are deemed to have no conscience.....yet they survive while their prey does not.
Completely BASE people with very little conscience survive all the time all around you. They would tell you that a conscience is a mechanism that subverts survival. Knowing the difference between right and wrong isn't a "survival mechanism" at all. A poor kid who steals to eat may know that it is "morally" wrong but that will take a back seat to his understanding that FOOD will keep him alive.
You are confusing apples and oranges.
" If you cannot govern yourself, you will be governed by assholes. " Randge, Poet de Forum, 1/11/11
"Life's tough, and even tougher if you're stupid." --John Wayne
PS.....every time you send an SOS for others to read your posts and rally your cause, it is right after you type words that aren't worthy of the attention you wish to bring to them. : )
" If you cannot govern yourself, you will be governed by assholes. " Randge, Poet de Forum, 1/11/11
"Life's tough, and even tougher if you're stupid." --John Wayne