"A free thinker is Satan's slave"

[Dragon]

That's a billboard making the rounds, allegedly put up by various churches. I can't verify that it isn't a hoax and it may be. But whether or not any churches have actually displayed that billboard, that IS the thinking of many conservative Christians. I've seen it expressed by certain posters here.

In fact, I think we can take it a bit further: traditional Christianity and freedom in general are enemies. Freedom is a value that's antithetical to traditional Christianity. Not to the teachings of Jesus, mind -- but to traditional Christian teaching.

To a traditional Christian, there is a very, very narrow range of thought, feeling, and action that are permissible. To think freely is to be a heretic or an unbeliever. To feel freely is to lust, to desire, almost certainly to be an adulterer or fornicator in one's imagination, and in some cases to be a homosexual; it's to be angry at times, to long for what traditional morality says should not be yours, to envy and resent.

Freedom means nothing if it is not freedom to sin. Traditional Christianity is opposed to sin. Therefore, traditional Christianity is opposed to freedom.

 

[jodylee]

The free thinking man that discovered fire and learnt to cook food, the free thinking hunter that used his magnificent brain the create tools, the free thinker that decided to settle down and farm crops and keep live stock, thus creating civilisation, ALL SATAN'S SLAVES,

 

[nitroz]

found it on reddit.

 

[Skull Pilot]

Of course the power hungry control freaks that are religious dogmatists are against free thought.

DUH!

 

[Mr. President]

Well dragon you tried to prove a point but you lost me at the end. Freedom can and does coincide with rules. Freedom to break rules/sin is there however the same freedom that allowed you to break the rules/sin is the same freedom which serves as the conduit through which the consequences of said decision are arrived at.

 

[TakeAStepBack]

Freedom means nothing if it is not freedom to sin. Traditional Christianity is opposed to sin. Therefore, traditional Christianity is opposed to freedom.

Seems counterintuitive. For some "sins" rob others of their freedom, right down to their life. If freedom means nothing unless I can by force, take your life, are any of us truly free?
There are established rules and code in order to maintain everyones freedom, or liberty to be in pursuit in the USA.

Christians may believe that free thinkers are sinners, but there is no established laws within our nation that allow the church (of any religion) to make commanded rules based on belief.

I see what you're saying, but it doesn't really add up in the end.

 

[Dragon]

OK, I guess I need to clarify.

If the concept of sin or wrongdoing is reasonably narrow, and the category of acceptable behavior sufficiently wide, then freedom doesn't have to be the freedom to sin. But in traditional Christian thought. it's the other way around; the range of acceptable thought, feeling, and behavior is extremely narrow while the category of sinful behavior includes almost everything. God lays down rules for us to follow governing every aspect of our lives, right down to the activity of our brains, and there is precious little wiggle-room. It is that narrowness that is anti-liberty.

 

[koshergrl]

It's called character..also known as self control.

Character is NOT anti-liberty.

Most cultures have historically viewed self control and strong character favorably.

 

[koshergrl]

PS, you ignoramus..."Freethinker" is a term for "atheist".

Atheists are Satan's slaves, and anyone who has read Dragon's drivel knows it.

 

[TakeAStepBack]

I wonder where an agnostic falls on the chart.....

 

[koshergrl]

Slave.

 

[Mr. President]

Hells Janitor

 

[TakeAStepBack]

Hmmmm....interesting. Slave to what exactly?

 

[High_Gravity]

Radical Islamists think the same way, free thinking is dangerous and needs to be put down.

 

[uscitizen]

PS, you ignoramus..."Freethinker" is a term for "atheist".

Atheists are Satan's slaves, and anyone who has read Dragon's drivel knows it.

And just who maligned the term freethinker into atheism?
And why?

 

[FuelRod]

Jesus was a bit of a free thinker.

 

[ABikerSailor]

OK, I guess I need to clarify.

If the concept of sin or wrongdoing is reasonably narrow, and the category of acceptable behavior sufficiently wide, then freedom doesn't have to be the freedom to sin. But in traditional Christian thought. it's the other way around; the range of acceptable thought, feeling, and behavior is extremely narrow while the category of sinful behavior includes almost everything. God lays down rules for us to follow governing every aspect of our lives, right down to the activity of our brains, and there is precious little wiggle-room. It is that narrowness that is anti-liberty.

Absolutely correct Dragon. The only things that I can think of as actually being "sins" are those that are laid out in the 7 Noahide Commandments or those that are laid out in the 10 Commandments (which both basically say the same thing incidentally).

However, it seems that Christians are so busy trying to "out purify" each other that they deem anything that they have either had trouble with, or things they think are against their particular "morals" as sins also. Case in point, the current Santorum war on pornography, saying that being gay is a sin, or drinking alcohol even.

Porn, being gay and drinking AREN'T "sins" they're actually vices, and if left unchecked, can lead to behavior which would cause one to sin.

Incidentally, I'm wondering why the good Christians of the GOP continually ignore God's command to mankind to take care of the earth? We're told to be stewards of the planet, yet they are more interested in strip mining and destroying the environment.

 

[ABikerSailor]

Jesus was a bit of a free thinker.

Yes He was.

 

[koshergrl]

PS, you ignoramus..."Freethinker" is a term for "atheist".

Atheists are Satan's slaves, and anyone who has read Dragon's drivel knows it.

And just who maligned the term freethinker into atheism?
And why?

Oh. My. God.

" one who forms opinions on the basis of reason independently of authority; especially : one who doubts or denies religious dogma"

Freethinker - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary

the free thinker..."the voice of atheism since 1881"

The Freethinker

 

[koshergrl]

Jesus was a bit of a free thinker.

Yes He was.

No, he wasn't. He didn't reject religious dogma. He stated he wasn't there to challenge it, or to reject it, but to fulfill it.

You guys really need to bone up on your vocabulary, and while you're at it, it couldn't hurt to take a history class or two.