cybrsage
Lifer
- Nov 17, 2011
- 13,021
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I wasn't belittling the religion, sorry if I came across that way.
How else do you think this phrase could be taken?
...their bearded sky fairy
But fair enough, lets just move on and drop it.
What I do question/belittle is the need to create a physical manifestation from the ideals and principles of a particular belief system. Example: does a Christian truly believe in transubstantiation; that when they take a communion wafer into their mouth they are consuming the flesh of Christ or that when they take a sip of wine that they are drinking his blood. Most Christians I have talked to do not believe that, they see it as symbolic. Likewise, the life, death and resurrection of Jesus are symbolic. Like I previously posted, the Bible is a collection of parables, not meant to be taken as factual accounts. Ascribing a physical manifestation to Jesus and others in the Bible is a tool used to help believers feel more connected to the principles being taught.
The Catholic Church has many failings, mostly due to Emperor Constantine's hate for Jews. He actually made it illegal to NOT work on the Sabbath Day and then said the day which was holy to the god of the sun is now the new Sabbath Day (as if Constantine had the power to override God in this).
Due to Constantine and the removal of Judaism from Christianity, they lost a lot of understanding about what the items in the New Testament meant. When Jesus broke break, he was doing what was done for thousands of years by Jews during the Passover. It did not turn into chunks of human flesh for the people to eat - humans are treif and therefor forbidden to eat. The devout Jews, of which Jesus was one, would never have eaten human flesh. The win also never turned into blood, for blood is clearly treif as well and cannot be consumed. The Council of Jerusalem even gave that prohibition to the new Christians who were not Jewish.
Some places in the Bible are parables, but others are not. It is usually quite clear when a parable is used.
EDIT: The biggest problem with discussions about religion is that it is faith based. If you (generic you, not personal you) want to discuss finer points of a religion, you have to assume the god of that religion exists and that the holy books are given by that god (if that is what the religion claims) as a starting point. You do not have to believe it, just accept it as a starting point for the discussion. If you do not do that, then no finer point discussions can happen, for you are still at the "it is entirely not true" stage.
Actually I see quite a number of people committing moving violations; sometimes getting away with it because of the lack of police on the road, sometimes receiving a ticket at the side of the road. You are semi-correct about people doing what will benefit them the most: I drive the posted speed limit not out of fear of getting a ticket but because experience has taught me that I get better gas mileage when doing so. When entering a highway I yield to traffic on the highway, again not out of fear that I will get a ticket but to decrease the chances of causing or being involved in an accident. Lots of things I do while driving benefit not only me but other people in my vehicle and the other drivers on the road; so I do have regard for others in the driving group.
There will always be some people, like you, who do the right thing because it is the right thing. A vast number of people do not, though, and that is why we need laws with punishments attached to them.
For example (to use an far out there one), some people actually see no problem with having sex with 13 year olds. Assuming the 13 year old consents, what is wrong with it? The vast majority of people believe this is morally repugnant, so it is illegal. Without laws and punishments to try and stop this from happening, it would be happening far more often. The Bible gives no age limit on marriage, so this law is not based on the Bible.
Basically, humans need laws to ensure society functions properly. Without them, we turn to anarchy. Humans are selfish, but most creatures are.
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