On Oct 21, 2009, at 10:11 PM, Mary Jo Sminkey wrote: > >> 5:14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, >> Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come >> unto >> thee. >> This is the book you're getting your morality from? Jesus is >> accusing >> the man of having sinned so that why he was handicapped? > > One has to look at the overall teachings and not make wide > assumptions from one passage. The teachings of Jesus (and the bible > as a whole) clearly state that we are never to assume that someone's > sufferings are due to sin. That does not however mean that a > person's individual suffering is not due to their own faults and > sin. In this case, earlier the man tells Jesus that no one would > help him down to the pool to be healed. One can only guess at what > about this man has made others so unwilling to help him. So it's > easy to infer here that Jesus is warning him against further > activities that will cause him pain in his life. > > but unfortunately, the bible is full of passages like this.
>> bah...the bible bounces back and forth from a loving god to one that >> will abandon you if you don't worship the right way. > > Again, you obviously have not studied the Bible very well, as this > is quite the opposite of its teachings. God never abandons us, it is > we who are always the ones that break away from him. > I had a hard enough time reading it through once. > >> If your son or daughter f's up bad, severs all ties to you >> and acts like a general p.o.s. what are the chances you'll say "Oh >> well, I tried"....probably minimal. You're going to keep trying to >> get you kid back on track and find them help. > > And that's exactly the God described in the Bible. > Again, there may be parts that do describe him like this, but on the other hand, there are downright wicked descriptions of what happens when you don't worship him. > >> on a related note....this part of the story has never made any sense >> to me. If god is so great and powerful, why the heck didn't he make >> us have everlasting life to begin with? Then, since he didn't, why >> would he have to sacrifice his son to give it to us? Who was he >> sacrificing to? There's not supposed to be anything greater than >> him.... > > Well, I'm not sure I want to get into this serious of a theological > argument. But first, God *did* give us everlasting life to begin > with. We introduced sin into the picture and broke his original plan > for us. > > To explain the sacrifice and why it was needed is something others > probably are far better at doing than I am. But basically, when a > wrong has been committed, someone always pays, or the relationship > is never mended. Let's say someone has hurt a family member of > yours. You have two choices....to either make the other person pay > for it or to try and forgive them. Is there not a painful sacrifice > to make in deciding to simply forgive? It is heart-wrenching, > painful and difficult to do. It's important to remember that the > Christian theology is not that God sacrificed his son...Jesus was > God incarnate. Thus God was sacrificing himself...just as a parent > might sacrifice themselves to save their children of having to go > through the pain themselves. It's one of the central tenants of > Christianity and certainly one that is both challenging, and awe- > inspiring to understand. > Sometimes I think the bible is like modern art. One person can look at painting and say this is nothing but paint splotches. Another person can look at it and say, "I see the artist's anger and pent up frustration striking the canvas in waves of energy". I tend to see splotches. :) > --- Mary Jo > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:306267 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
