Nicely argued, Steven. Unfortunately Christianity is so filled with
such obvious conflicts with logic and even with statements in the
Bible, that a person could spend years trying to make sense of the
religion, as some scholars have attempted to do. Unfortunately, the
general public does not make much of an effort, being content to
believe many harmful ideas. Logic and facts have no effect on such
beliefs. Nevertheless, I enjoy reading your efforts.
Ed
On Feb 25, 2009, at 10:17 AM, OrionWorks wrote:
Hi Thomas,
You have stated most succinctly that in order to be accepted in what
seems (at least to me) to comprise a very exclusive membership for
acceptance to The Rapture one must:
Believe, be baptized, follow the 10 commandments, love your fellow
man
as your self. That is the minimum.
Another distinguished Vort member, Leak, has already responded with
what Jesus had to say on this subject.
As for my personal thoughts on the matter I would like to point out a
few things you previously stated:
A Holy G-d is obligated, because he is holy, to bring about
the expiation of sin from the world. I'd love to do something
about this, but it's not my place. More to the point, this
expiation will require blood shed, if I were to do that, I
would be a bigger murder than Joseph Stalin. I assume that
Joseph believed that he was making the world a better place,
ditto for Hitler, Mao, Pol Pott, Castro.
Perhaps I misunderstood your use of the wording here because I find it
odd to claim G-d is "obligated" to do anything. If he/she is
omniscient why in all the infinite heavens above would such a powerful
being feel any sense of obligation whatsoever. If it is presume She
created all the rules that run our miraculous Universe, who is She
beholding such an "obligation" to??? Someone higher up the chain of
command? And who might that be?
But that's really not what I want to discuss. You state: "... this
expiation will require blood shed, if I were to do that, I would be a
bigger murder than Joseph Stalin."
Those are heavy words, Thomas. Such a statement causes me to wonder
how you are able to personally reconcile what is considered to be one
of G-d's most important commandments, which you clearly state is,
"love your fellow man as your self?" along with what I gather you seem
to perceive is the ultimate requirement of "blood shed" in order to
set things right in this world. Is it the point that you obviously
know it would be wrong of you to personally carry out such "blood
shed" - such as what the Nazis attempted to do to the Jews during
WWII? If this is a fairly accurate assumption on my part I find myself
wondering how you seem to presume that G-d CAN get away with
committing such "blood shed", but not only that, that such "Divine"
action would not be called an atrocity? Is it because He is the
ultimate Boss, and what the Boss sez and wantz ...the Boss getz?
The way you seem to be describing G-d's mysterious ways, I can't help
but point out something obvious: What kind of example is G-d setting
for his beloved creations if it is so written that he so commands his
subjects to "Love thy neighbor as thyself", but then, G-d is allowed
not only to ignore but blatantly break his own rules and perform the
necessary "...blood shed" himself - presumably to set things right in
this world.
To me, such divine privilege does not come off as a perception of an
all-knowing, wise, and loving G-d. Certainly NOT a Role Model to
emulate! Rather, it seems more to be the perception of egotistical
hypocrite known to have proclaimed: "BELIEVE IN ME!!!! And while you
are believing in me: Do as I say, not what I personally do."
Jed, I ain't no atheist myself, but right now I do think I would
prefer the company of a gathering of atheists. Would you please put in
a good word for me? ;-)
Regards
Steven Vincent Johnson
www.OrionWorks.com
www.zazzle.com/orionworks
