‘Sin’ is meaningless. The ‘word of ‘God” is meaningless. If you expect a dialogue on this blog you’ll have to take a chance and actually avoid proselytising. Your picture language may work for you, but our frame of reference is based on what there is, not what we choose to imagine.

Peace my friends as long as you have breath in your lungs and a beat in your heart… for this is the beginning of eternity, if the word of God is true?

malachi

It’s not my place to tell someone they can’t believe in something, though I will challenge it when I feel it’s wrong. Likewise, I would expect someone to be able to provide a reasonable argument other than “it says so in the Bible so it must be true”. There’s a lot of things said in the Bible or other holy texts, and there’s a lot of contradictions within those texts.

Your book, the bible, has led you to believe that this life and world you live in is pointless and meaningless and that the only thing that matters is making sure that you get into the next world properly. This allows you to deal with suffering by creating a goal that cannot be touched by pain or sorrow. Over the past two millennium, christians and muslims have tried to define human morality from the texts their forefathers passed down. Often the emphasis and belief systems have changed. Currently in the united states alone we have over 16,000 denominations of Christians, each teaching a different version of the “holy” word. Logically speaking, if a god did write this bible his entire purpose must have been to make a general outline that anybody could find something in to follow and believe in. If strict adherence was required either everyone is going to hell or no one is.
Gays see much of this from a different perspective even though many of us were born to christian families and raised the exact same way as our straight brothers and sisters we came out gay. That being the case many of us become deeply skeptical of a text that says we are abominations and should be killed. Or even ones that say we did this intentionally and it was a choice. Regardless of how much you quote from that book of yours it does not change the facts of our lives one iota. We’ve already heard all the arguments in fact many of us were good little christian boys, which made being gay that much more confusing at first. after all why would god punish us, we were only children?
if you are trying to proselytize one should keep one’s audience in mind.

Except that’s meaningless hysteria. There’s no other reasonable spin to put on it. Comprehending truth doesn’t involve brainwashing, group hysteria or subscribing to cult-based and not real-world based notions of morality. If you need a book to figure it out, you’re doing it wrong basically. Spiritual darkness? Utter bilge. Word of God? Meaningless – all that exists or has ever existed is the word of man – the concept of a ‘word of ‘God” is so vain it barely bears thinking about.

If I have ever said anything to any one on Word Press that has offended I would be the first to apologize, unless it was the Word of God… for that I can not apologize, for it is truth.

Oh what an arrogant cop-out that is. ‘Oh it’s not me, God said it and you can’t criticise God’. Give me a break and take responsibility for your place in the world you intellectual coward.

The only deliverance from such spiritual bondage my friend is to be born again.

Until a man is born again he is spiritually ignorant and can not comprehend truth, even when it stands before them. It’s like the Roman solider that smote my Lord while He was blindfolded and then mocked, “if thou be the Son of God, tell me who smote thee?” or the religious leaders that walked by the foot of the cross and mocked the Son of God dying for their sin…

Spiritual truth can not be comprehended by those who are bound in spiritual darkness. If I have ever said anything to any one on Word Press that has offended I would be the first to apologize, unless it was the Word of God… for that I can not apologize, for it is truth. The world can not comprehend it so there is a good chance it will offend. Christ told us this.

Can I ask you Dave, does it offend you when I quote scripture?

malachi

Can I ask, though, why do you single out the Folsom fair’s depiction of the Last Supper in particular? I would assume, though I could be wrong, that you have seen some of the many others.

I can understand why people may be offended, but I don’t understand why they feel that only they have the right to be offended.

The purpose of the name is strictly about the message Tim. If you study Malachi’s message to the people of God in his day you will find an uncanny resemblance to the need for the same message today for the church in America. Nothing to do with presumption and pride my friend.

Question by Tim-
“Thinking that your understanding is as great as a prophet?”

The prophet was nothing more than a man who spake or wrote as they were moved by the Spirit of God. It is true today Tim. When an individual trust in Christ and is born again, it is this same Spirit.

Question by Tim-
“Why wouldn’t someone try to love the world, the people that made them and the land that fed them? seems more logical than hating it because of a presumed flaw put in there by the creator”

I wholeheartedly agree. I do love you, James and even cosmodaddy… You had a problem with malachi…. do you have a problem with the name ‘cosmodaddy’ does it exude presumption and pride? Or is not about the name and you really just don’t like me?
Just kidding.

Your logical thinking concerning “presumed flaw put in there by the Creator” is not a sufficient defense to continue in an action that is against Him. Like the woman taken in adultery, he exhorted her to go and sin no more. He did not condone her sin for that was what he was to die for. Homosexuality is not anymore a act of condemnation that that of a murderer, thief, an extortioner, a fornicator or an adulterer. But God no longer winks at the error as Christ gave His life for all of the sin.

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. AND SUCH WERE SOM OF YOU: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

Comment made by cosmodaddy-
“‘Sin’ is a meaningless concept, the same as ‘blasphemy’ – both presume some form of wrong against what is, after all, an imaginary concept.”

Bless your heart cosmo.

Statement by cosmodaddy
“The days where those had any relevance are long gone, and I shan’t debate them because of it.”

Nor will I cosmo. But just because I tell you what the word of God says does not mean that I hate you or anyone else.

James I have never read the book, but if I understand the premise, I can think of a couple of reasons why people project a seeming spirit of hate while supposedly standing on the Word of God.

The first is what we see when the religious leader brought the above woman mentioned who had been taken in adultery and wanted the Lord to condone her stoning. It was easy for them to see the error of the woman, which was in fact sin, while overlooking their own. Christ did not say don’t stone her, he said “he who is without sin, cast the first stone”.

None of us could have picked up a stone and commenced the process, except of course one man that was present… Jesus. He knew no sin and became sin for us, so he did not come to stone a woman or any of the religious leaders, but to die for their sin. He did not come to condemn but to save.

Another reason some people get angry is that what was in the video by the sisters of perpetual indulgence in San Francisco.

http://bromalachi.wordpress.com/2008/07/04/whatever-happened-to-the-spirit-of-tolerance/

We have seen Muslims kill for much less than that. Wonder why they don’t do a day on ‘hunky Mohammad’. I bet it ain’t hard to figure it out. They will probably end up with their head separated from the torso. Do you imagine my friend. But forget all of this hatred speech, can you justify the video? Can you understand why some Christians are seriously offended, or does it even matter?

You see some people see this and when they attempt to convey the truth of God’s word the truth is flavored with a bitter and angry spirit. I think that is what we see all to often from both sides of the aisle.

Concerning common sense….. His thoughts are not our thoughts, nor our ways liken to His. Human intellect will never get there James, no matter how hard it tries.

Peace
malachi

Anyway, one of the most stand out bits of the book is…..

“Faith is the very antithesis of reason, injudiciousness a critical component of spiritual devotion. And when religious fanaticism supplants ratiocination, all bets are suddenly off. Anything can happen. Absolutely anything. Common sense is no match for the voice of God . . . ”

Says it all really.

Here’s the link to the book if anyone is interested.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Under-Banner-Heaven-Story-Violent/dp/0330419129/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215422349&sr=8-1