General

[quote=TehRaygunicorn]Hahahahahaha alrighty

Anyway, here's another little Bible 101 snippet for ya.
Culture is contextualized through literature; despite being the Word of God, the Bible is also a work of literature
The culture that is portrayed in the Bible existed at one point, and was nothing similar to that of the world today
Roman and Greek cultures, for example, participated in various activities we might find to be barbaric today
Therefore, it's no surprise that much of what is written in the bible doesn't make sense to ignorant individuals who have not been exposed to some sort of advanced academia regarding theological works *coughcough*
Obviously it's wrong to us today; we live in a different world, bud.
And that's yet another reason why we Catholics don't read the bible literally
Anyway, I've got to go do some homework now; peace out, hope anyone who reads this learned something about how nice it is to be a Catholic because damn I love myself and my brainz too
#CatholicSwag[/quote]

Good luck on your homework

At least you're defending your views instead of blindly following them, so I can commend you for that.

[quote=TrueAtheist]So your argument is basically "the bible is too complex so all the bad stuff in it must have some hidden meaning that justifies it being there"

Okay, let me know when you guys figure it out, you've had a couple thousand years to, I'll be waiting.[/quote]

Hahahahahaha alrighty

Anyway, here's another little Bible 101 snippet for ya.
Culture is contextualized through literature; despite being the Word of God, the Bible is also a work of literature
The culture that is portrayed in the Bible existed at one point, and was nothing similar to that of the world today
Roman and Greek cultures, for example, participated in various activities we might find to be barbaric today
Therefore, it's no surprise that much of what is written in the bible doesn't make sense to ignorant individuals who have not been exposed to some sort of advanced academia regarding theological works *coughcough*
Obviously it's wrong to us today; we live in a different world, bud.
And that's yet another reason why we Catholics don't read the bible literally
Anyway, I've got to go do some homework now; peace out, hope anyone who reads this learned something about how nice it is to be a Catholic because damn I love myself and my brainz too
#CatholicSwag

I am Christian, but no opinion but I am too scared to ever go to one.

[quote=WrongSections]@trueathiest why do you take everything so literally? In your eyes its murder but in mine its a call to action. As i said before, you shouldnt criticize it if you know nothing about it.[/quote]

In my eyes? No, I'm telling you what the bible says. I'm pretty sure killing someone is the definition of murder. So you can either A) Disagree with the bible or B) Change the definition of murder.

You can't have it both ways.

[quote=TehRaygunicorn]Dear TrueAtheist who ignored my very clear post on the previous page,

THE BIBLE SAYS YOU SHOULD DRINK TWENTY SHOTS BEFORE YOU HIT THE BARS BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T THEN YOU A WIMP

DO YOU AGREE WITH ALL OF THAT?

Now unless you're an expert theologian who has studied the Bible for years (granted most Theologians only focus on small parts of it for their entire lifetimes since it is so complex), I suggest you stop making such simpleminded conclusions about a book that has been studied for hundreds of years which you clearly know [i]very little about[/i]. Take your googled, recycled arguments & have a pleasant day[/quote]

So your argument is basically "the bible is too complex so all the bad stuff in it must have some hidden meaning that justifies it being there"

Okay, let me know when you guys figure it out, you've had a couple thousand years to, I'll be waiting.

Dear TrueAtheist who ignored my very clear post on the previous page,

THE BIBLE SAYS YOU SHOULD DRINK TWENTY SHOTS BEFORE YOU HIT THE BARS BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T THEN YOU A WIMP

DO YOU AGREE WITH ALL OF THAT?

Now unless you're an expert theologian who has studied the Bible for years (granted most Theologians only focus on small parts of it for their entire lifetimes since it is so complex), I suggest you stop making such simpleminded conclusions about a book that has been studied for hundreds of years which you clearly know [i]very little about[/i]. Take your googled, recycled arguments & have a pleasant day

[quote=WrongSections]@moot123 what?
@trueathiest well neither of them say that sooooo.
What they both have in them are writings from a disciple of their god that people outside of that religion shouldnt criticize. If either if them did say to kill then yes i would agree with you but luckily they dont[/quote]

Do you have any idea how many sexist verses there are in the bible which say women are men's property and should obey them?

Do you also agree that women should have no basic rights?
Do you agree that homosexuality is a sin and that they're going to hell?
Do you agree that rebellious kids should be stoned to death?

Because the bible says all of that.

"Luke 19:27 "And if they shall not bow down to me as their king. Bring them to my feet and slay them."

^Do you agree that anyone who doesn't accept God as their king and bow before him should be murdered?

Lol this true atheist is truly persistent
@WrongSections Despite what people may say about your beliefs, they are your own and should not be affected by the opinions of others. And what better way to strengthen your belief or faith in something than to defend it from outside forces?

[quote=WrongSections]@tehraygunicorn i do agree with that to an extent but trying to do it to a religions sacred text is something i just dont like
It wouldnt be right to walk to a muslim and say that the Quran is false. Right?[/quote]

So if the Qu'ran or Bible said in it "You should kill gay people because they're the same as rats".

You don't think someone should be able to tell them that's wrong?

[quote=WrongSections]Why must people keep trying to disprove the bible if they dont even care about it. Its getting really annoying[/quote]

Like an old theology professor once told me, "The unquestioned faith is not worth believing"

[quote=askmiller]@RiriArchMage: I really want to know what crazy priest told you that. o.o

How would that be against your religion at all? That just sounds to me like he's just being overly sensitive. The only thing I can think of is it MIGHT be considered mocking the idea of like Jesus dying and resurrecting with like zombies or ghosts or something, but it really isn't. Many haunted houses incorporate more than just death and ghosts anyway.

When you go to a haunted house, you're not looking at something like ghosts and specifically saying something along the lines of: "I believe in ghosts" You more or less are just going there to have fun with friends or something. I wouldn't be amazed if that priest is the type of person who thinks it's offensive to watch any type of documentary about Jesus because it has an actor portraying Jesus..[/quote]

My mom disagrees what my priest said. When i asked her she said "No, maybe because he wasn't really acting like a child back then when he a kid"

I used to be Catholic and the priests I encountered never said anything like that. Your priest is crappy TS.

[quote=TrueAtheist]So you're admitting that the bible is not the word of God then?

That's exactly my point, if the bible makes a claim, and you use your human rationality and/or science to disprove and discredit that claim, then that claim is WRONG. Therefore the word of God is wrong.

The only way you would escape from admitting the word of God is wrong is to admit that the bible is not the word of God.

And if the bible is not the word of God, then I ask you - where do you get your beliefs from? How do you know the God you're "connected" with isn't Allah or Zeus?[/quote]

Listen, you can read the Bible two ways:
You can interpret it as infallible truth based specifically on what is written, or read more deeply into it to arrive at some deeper truth.
I myself, and most Catholics, use the latter method of reading.
Accuse me all you want of "not believing the Bible is the Word of God" because you clearly don't understand the theological processes I'm talking about here lol

[quote=TehRaygunicorn]Our Church dogma is based on the Bible
It is also not infallible, changes are constantly made via Vatican councils
Our Church is HUMAN and we acknowledge all of that; there is no perfection outside of the Holy Trinity
We don't "follow" the Bible; we follow God. And as I said before, that's an entirely personal journey that we believe we can only encounter ourselves and then thrive in together as a community, hence our devotion to the Church.
To say that the bible shouldn't be open to interpretation is to deny the rational capacity of the human being; as a "TrueAtheist" I'm surprised you would even bother making such a claim. Or if you made it out of spite/arrogance/sarcasm, know that not all believers are "blind followers of something written down by mankind in a book"[/quote]

So you're admitting that the bible is not the word of God then?

That's exactly my point, if the bible makes a claim, and you use your human rationality and/or science to disprove and discredit that claim, then that claim is WRONG. Therefore the word of God is wrong.

The only way you would escape from admitting the word of God is wrong is to admit that the bible is not the word of God.

And if the bible is not the word of God, then I ask you - where do you get your beliefs from? How do you know the God you're "connected" with isn't Allah or Zeus?

[quote=TrueAtheist]If the bible is open to interpretation then what's the point of following it if everyone interprets it differently? Isn't the bible suppose to be the word of God? It shouldn't be open to interpretation it should be absolute and timeless.[/quote]

Our Church dogma is based on the Bible
It is also not infallible, changes are constantly made via Vatican councils
Our Church is HUMAN and we acknowledge all of that; there is no perfection outside of the Holy Trinity
We don't "follow" the Bible; we follow God. And as I said before, that's an entirely personal journey that we believe we can only encounter ourselves and then thrive in together as a community, hence our devotion to the Church.
To say that the bible shouldn't be open to interpretation is to deny the rational capacity of the human being; as a "TrueAtheist" I'm surprised you would even bother making such a claim. Or if you made it out of spite/arrogance/sarcasm, know that not all believers are "blind followers of something written down by mankind in a book"

@LightCuber; Look at it this way, in the Old Testament the Bible says that people lived for hundreds of years. You expect me to believe that God created the world in seven days? The Bible is beautiful to me because it emphasizes the imperfections of mankind... I can't bring myself to literally believe everything that is written in it. I see it more as a rhetorical device that is trying to touch base with some deeper moral truths that have shaped me to be the man that I am today; that is what I believe. I'm open to the possibility of demons and whatever existing, just as I believe there might be aliens. However, I have not yet encountered demons or felt the urge to believe that they exist and as such I do not worry about it at all. All of this despite what others may have experienced or believed; because for me, my faith is my own personal journey and I happen to align myself with Catholic teachings. And I'll tell you this right now, I am no perfect Catholic ahaha

@TehRaygunicorn: Then what [i]is[/i] your stance on this particular topic, besides the fact that you believe they don't exist? Wouldn't that mean all of the apostles, moses, noah and his entire family, and all of judea believed in something that doesn't exist? And it was recorded in the "inspired word of God?" Perhaps now I'm just putting words in your mouth and assuming you believe certain things that you might not actually believe.

[quote=TehRaygunicorn]Yeah, but for us the Bible is open to interpretation. =P
We believe that what is written in the Bible shouldn't be interpreted as direct truth.
Granted most of us tend to believe the derived analyses of experienced Catholic theologians...
I myself attend a Jesuit university and find my own beliefs to be rather skewed toward their particular readings of the Bible[/quote]

If the bible is open to interpretation then what's the point of following it if everyone interprets it differently? Isn't the bible suppose to be the word of God? It shouldn't be open to interpretation it should be absolute and timeless.

[quote=TehRaygunicorn]Are you in the Philippines?
I lived there for a few months earlier this year and couldn't handle the priests there.
The Philippines is an insanely conservative Catholic country (I'm a liberal Catholic, a.k.a. Jesuit) and you can especially see that with the trouble the government is having in passing its new reproductive health bill..[/quote]

No, i live in USA. But i am Full Filipino.

[quote=RiriArchMage]Why? what about mexican's churches?[/quote]

Are you in the Philippines?
I lived there for a few months earlier this year and couldn't handle the priests there.
The Philippines is an insanely conservative Catholic country (I'm a liberal Catholic, a.k.a. Jesuit) and you can especially see that with the trouble the government is having in passing its new reproductive health bill..

They're just scared of ghost, BOO-GA-LOO-GA-LUU!

@RiriArchMage Your priest sounds very ignorant and closed-minded. I would stop going there.

[quote=Demerol]You think that's bad? Try going to Mexico's churches.[/quote]

Why? what about mexican's churches?

[quote=LightCuber]@TehRaygunicorn The reason I asked is because I did a quick internet search and found several references to witches/wizards in Exodus and Deuteronomy and at least 76 (the number on the screen) references to demons in the new testament.[/quote]

Yeah, but for us the Bible is open to interpretation. =P
We believe that what is written in the Bible shouldn't be interpreted as direct truth.
Granted most of us tend to believe the derived analyses of experienced Catholic theologians...
I myself attend a Jesuit university and find my own beliefs to be rather skewed toward their particular readings of the Bible

[quote=askmiller]well it's very odd. If you go to a Haunted House for entertainment, I highly doubt many religions would have a problem with that. I'm pretty sure just about everyone knows that they are fake and solely for entertainment.

If you're talking about those things you see on tv about like the most haunted places in america or w/e, some religions do have a problem with them.[/quote]

He literally meant about the Haunted House that's for entertainment, he also said this "If your friend invited you to go to the Haunted House, say No not just because you're scared just say that it's against my religion"

I was literally shocked when brang that up.

@TehRaygunicorn The reason I asked is because I did a quick internet search and found several references to witches/wizards in Exodus and Deuteronomy and at least 76 (the number on the screen) references to demons in the new testament.

[quote=TrueAtheist]So in other words your religion is a big "get out of jail free card". Doesn't matter if you go around killing people, God died for your sins so you're forgiven.

No wonder it attracts so many people, it completely disregards personal responsibility for your actions.[/quote]

A typical perception of our religion, you're reading too simply into my words
True forgiveness requires true repentance; obviously this is a silly example because as the first poster stated, haunted houses are nothing to fret about
The consequences of your actions on this world [b]cannot be changed or controlled by God[/b], but feeling forgiven as a result of truly being sorry for what you have done is another matter altogether. For us Catholics, it's more about our relationship with God because he's like our bro and we want to make sure we're cool, ya feel?
So you're wrong, there's no "get out of jail free card" for us Catholics. If you kill someone, you deserve to be punished and most likely will be. But the possibility exists that you can make amends with God and you can find yourself saved in a way most people will never comprehend; in fact, [i]no one[/i] will ever comprehend because what happens between you and God is your own personal journey and irrelevant to the rest of the world

At least, that's what I firmly believe at this given point in my life

@cr380rjr We "shouldn't" believe in anything because we're given the option to believe anything besides [url=http://www.divinesacredheart.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=192]this right here[/url] & there's nothing about demons in our creed~

[quote=TehRaygunicorn]I'm Roman Catholic and do a ton of things I "shouldn't" be doing

The beauty of our particular faith is the emphasis on human imperfection and God's constant desire to love us despite what we may do to distance ourselves from him

I like haunted houses, I will go to haunted houses, I will enjoy haunted houses; I don't believe in ghosts, witches, zombies, or demons, therefore I do not feel the need to feel bad for liking, attending, and enjoying haunted houses. That being said, I feel no need to be forgiven for that particular aspect of my life and as such my life will go on

If someday I feel a huge moral obligation to pray for forgiveness for being into haunted houses, then I will do so and God will forgive me, and then too my life will go on

yay catholicism[/quote]

So in other words your religion is a big "get out of jail free card". Doesn't matter if you go around killing people, God died for your sins so you're forgiven.

No wonder it attracts so many people, it completely disregards personal responsibility for your actions.

[quote=LightCuber]@TehRaygunicorn You're Roman Catholic and you don't believe in witches or demons? How does that work? I apologize if I sound rude; I'm just curious.[/quote]

I personally don't believe in any of that, but that's just me. Disregard the fact that I'm terrified of exorcisms and such things since I was [i]raised[/i] Catholic, so some part of me certainly acknowledges the possibility of it existing. The concept of demons and witches is insignificant to me and my faith life, so I simply disregard it. The Catholic faith has a more sacramental and traditional emphasis than most other religions; as far as I'm concerned there's nothing written about demons and all that jazz ahaha

Three words:

[b]All Saints Day[/b]

@TehRaygunicorn You're Roman Catholic and you don't believe in witches or demons? How does that work? I apologize if I sound rude; I'm just curious.

I'm Roman Catholic and do a ton of things I "shouldn't" be doing

The beauty of our particular faith is the emphasis on human imperfection and God's constant desire to love us despite what we may do to distance ourselves from him

I like haunted houses, I will go to haunted houses, I will enjoy haunted houses; I don't believe in ghosts, witches, zombies, or demons, therefore I do not feel the need to feel bad for liking, attending, and enjoying haunted houses. That being said, I feel no need to be forgiven for that particular aspect of my life and as such my life will go on

If someday I feel a huge moral obligation to pray for forgiveness for being into haunted houses, then I will do so and God will forgive me, and then too my life will go on

yay catholicism

[quote=ZOMGitjon]priests are crazy
back in 2004 my priest said the tsunami happened because people there stopped praying[/quote]

lol, when the priest said haunted house were against my religion i was like O____O

priests are crazy
back in 2004 my priest said the tsunami happened because people there stopped praying

They don't believe in ghost, witches and etc. They believe anything that has to deal with "magic" is trying to be a God, therefore it should be condemned and burned on a cross.

That's somewhat common heavy roman catholic priest. They will try to demonstrate their dominance over you, trying to tell you what you shouldn't or should do to please his God. I'm pretty sure it states somewhere in the Bible that you should know what's right or wrong. It's based on his opinion, not the bible or your God. Just remember that witches, ghouls, vampires, etc are not real, then your fine.