Antoher "FUN" Theological question!

[violet]

I'd take interest in thier rituals but not participate as a believer and explain my beliefs. I wouldn't be anti social but I wouldn't insult them by pretending to worship their god.

 

[Old_Liberal]

However if we're talking about the sin of worshiping idols, then we are referencing the Jews and the OT.

Yes, they worshiped idols. They worshiped something that was not the living God. They worshiped an image.

Yet Christ clearly says that we worship God in spirit. There is no bowing, no groveling of the body. True worship is done on a spiritual level. Which means it occurs in our consciousness.

Yet Christ told us that with the death of he self, the rebirth allowed God to dwell in you, in this temple of flesh. Now think about worshiping God on the spiritual level as spoken of by Christ.

What place does this idea of Christ have in worshiping God in spirit, while God is dwelling in your fleshy temple? Where does He come in?

Now imagine yourself worshiping God in spirit, while He is residing in your temple of flesh. And remember, the self, the ego that died, is not the one worshiping God. The self is not fit to worship or even share the same space as God. When the self is, God isn't. When God is, the self isn't. Now fit in your idea of Christ as you have been taught by other men. Where does He figure in here?

Christ was nothing more than a man who was telling the world the reality of existence. He was the example that God could indeed inhabit this temple of flesh, and goodness could shine into the world. So he came and he taught the truth of reality, showed us how to be one again with the Creator, that was lost in Eden, and stuck by his guns to suffer death for his teachings. He would not have been believed if he had fled away and turned into a coward in that culture. His destiny was already written, in the Torah. So he died, and imperfect men created a religion around this man called Jesus. Yet that was not supposed to have happened, if the will of christ had been fulfilled.

Yet we have turned him into an idol, with him hanging there on the cross, dying for the world. We do not do as he told us to do. Instead we worship him, the ego, or the self worships him. And we are worshiping nothing more than an idea, an idea created by theology. That the self is doing the worshipiing is proof that no real worship is occuring.

Ok, I give up. Obviously your brain is thoroughly washed.

Yes, the mind has been washed of tradition and the understanding of other authorities that you hold in high esteem. Once you see that they only inhibit true seeking, you drop them rather quickly.

Which reminds me of a good story. One day the devil and one of his cohorts were walking along a road. They both noticed that up ahead a man had stopped and picked up something off of the ground. The man immediately beamed and looked so happy, walking away with a bounce in his step. So the cohort wonders what in the world could that man have found to cause so much happiness? The devil replied and said that man had just discovered the Truth." Well, isn't that rather bad business for us, the cohort asked"?
"No, not at all" replied the devil. "We shall help him organize it!"

And that is the story of Christianity as we know it.

 

[koshergrl]

Good grief.

 

[eots]

If you were stranded on a deserted island filled with people that worshipped an idol, would you break the idol?? Would you tell the people to stop worshipping it? Would you stand aloft from the people? Or would you join them in their hunting, rituals and fun??



I would join in and not make a big scene about their stone gods. Even though I would not believe in such a thing, I would not mind being social with the natives. Of course, I would question them why they believe in a rock and express my opinion on the matter(although I hwould have to be careful in terms of stating my opinion, now won't I?).

How about you guys?

(That was suppose to be "another" in the title)

I would claim to have seeing stones and golden tablets and start my own religion In which I could have a bunch of subservient young wives and everybody would have to give me a portion of their income.. cause god said so

 

[ABikerSailor]

However if we're talking about the sin of worshiping idols, then we are referencing the Jews and the OT.

Don't you mean the Hewbrews at the base of the mountain?

Jews do not worship golden calfs, their ancestors played around with them from time to times.

Which tend to suggest that the ancient Hebrews also knew religious stories of other cultures. I wonder what they did with those stories?

I didn't say they did worship golden calves. I said the Jews (ok Hebrews) worshipped the golden calf one memorable time.

Actually, you may wish to read Judges sometime. The Hebrews lived in and around idol worshippers and allowed them to exist alongside them. Eventually, they started to observe the worshipping of the local idols (even built an altar to one), which in turn upset HaShem, and He withdrew Himself from the Hebrews and left them without protection.

Wasn't good to see what happened there either.

No idol worshipping, no idols allowed around me.

 

[koshergrl]

point is, they were told not to.

And when they do they get into big trouble.

 

[The Irish Ram]

However if we're talking about the sin of worshiping idols, then we are referencing the Jews and the OT.

Yes, they worshiped idols. They worshiped something that was not the living God. They worshiped an image.

Yet Christ clearly says that we worship God in spirit. There is no bowing, no groveling of the body. True worship is done on a spiritual level. Which means it occurs in our consciousness.

Yet Christ told us that with the death of he self, the rebirth allowed God to dwell in you, in this temple of flesh. Now think about worshiping God on the spiritual level as spoken of by Christ.

What place does this idea of Christ have in worshiping God in spirit, while God is dwelling in your fleshy temple? Where does He come in?

Now imagine yourself worshiping God in spirit, while He is residing in your temple of flesh. And remember, the self, the ego that died, is not the one worshiping God. The self is not fit to worship or even share the same space as God. When the self is, God isn't. When God is, the self isn't. Now fit in your idea of Christ as you have been taught by other men. Where does He figure in here?

Christ was nothing more than a man who was telling the world the reality of existence. He was the example that God could indeed inhabit this temple of flesh, and goodness could shine into the world. So he came and he taught the truth of reality, showed us how to be one again with the Creator, that was lost in Eden, and stuck by his guns to suffer death for his teachings. He would not have been believed if he had fled away and turned into a coward in that culture. His destiny was already written, in the Torah. So he died, and imperfect men created a religion around this man called Jesus. Yet that was not supposed to have happened, if the will of Christ had been fulfilled.

Yet we have turned him into an idol, with him hanging there on the cross, dying for the world. We do not do as he told us to do. Instead we worship him, the ego, or the self worships him. And we are worshiping nothing more than an idea, an idea created by theology. That the self is doing the worshipiing is proof that no real worship is occuring.

If you are worshiping God in the spirit, you are tapping into the power of God, or the Holy Spirit. The third part of the Trinity. The conduit. The more you pray in the Spirit, and read the Word, the larger your piece of the Holy Spirit gets. It is the same Spirit that indwelled Jesus at His baptism.
Elijah's spirit grew to the point where it began to overwhelm his mortal body. He actually developed spiritual eyes, and could visualize other dimensions that we are just now acknowledging exist. When Elijah's servant asked God for twice the spirit Elijah had, God said, "I don't think you can handle twice the spirit......!".
But the spirit of man, or self, or human/flesh spirit can peacefully co-exist in one body or temple. A good example is Elijah.

Good and Evil cannot though. For instance, praying without ceasing, keeps Satan at bay unceasingly. It's one or the other. Darkness flees when light enters. It has no choice.

You need to ask for the spirit to receive it, it is not handed out at conception or birth, and if you receive it and don't feed it, it will remain small and ineffectual. Scripture says to feed it milk at first, like you would a baby, then move on to the meat. We cultivate the spirit we are given.

Signs and wonders were for a time, and their purpose WAS to create a church. Christ's Church. The one he's coming back for. His bride. You won't find it in the yellow pages, or on a corner.
What man did do was disagree over dogma and splinter, and splinter, and splinter, till now, just pick your dogma, there's a church out there for everyone. Bongs for Jesus.

 

[Obamerican]

I love reading threads where different denominations of Christianity start telling each other the "RIGHT WAY" to believe!! Some funny shit. You all think you're right. In REAL life you're probably ALL full of shit.

 

[The Irish Ram]

I love reading threads where different denominations of Christianity start telling each other the "RIGHT WAY" to believe!! Some funny shit. You all think you're right. In REAL life you're probably ALL full of shit.

And if we're not ?????
See, if we are wrong, then no biggie. Dust to dust.
If we are right, uh o, you're toast.

 

[Wolverine1984]

I love reading threads where different denominations of Christianity start telling each other the "RIGHT WAY" to believe!! Some funny shit. You all think you're right. In REAL life you're probably ALL full of shit.

And if we're not ?????
See, if we are wrong, then no biggie. Dust to dust.
If we are right, uh o, you're toast.

Well ,if you are right ,this means there is only one sect of Christians are right, and not all Christians.Plus, God is all forgiving and loves all his children , doesn't he ? So if you are right so for us it's no biggie.

If you are wrong, than you(not you specifically)are wasting a big portion of your one and only life to appease an imaginary friend. Which is unfortunate.

 

[koshergrl]

I love reading threads where different denominations of Christianity start telling each other the "RIGHT WAY" to believe!! Some funny shit. You all think you're right. In REAL life you're probably ALL full of shit.

Can you point out where this is happening?

I think perhaps you're full of shit. Sharing varied interpretations of the bible isn't exactly telling each other how to believe, you know.

 

[koshergrl]

I love reading threads where different denominations of Christianity start telling each other the "RIGHT WAY" to believe!! Some funny shit. You all think you're right. In REAL life you're probably ALL full of shit.

And if we're not ?????
See, if we are wrong, then no biggie. Dust to dust.
If we are right, uh o, you're toast.

Well ,if you are right ,this means there is only one sect of Christians are right, and not all Christians.Plus, God is all forgiving and loves all his children , doesn't he ? So if you are right so for us it's no biggie.

If you are wrong, than you(not you specifically)are wasting a big portion of your one and only life to appease an imaginary friend. Which is unfortunate.

Where do you get that only one *sect* of Christians can be right? Most Christians absolutely don't believe that.

And what you don't understand is that serving God brings JOY. If I were to find out tomorrow that God wasn't real (which of course will never happen) I would continue to live as if He were, because doing so brings happiness and joy.

Which of course just further strengthens my faith...we were designed to serve God, so of course we are most happy when serving him. It is our nature, and the Holy Spirit drives us to do it. It's when we don't that we are unhappy and empty.

 

[Foxfyre]

And if we're not ?????
See, if we are wrong, then no biggie. Dust to dust.
If we are right, uh o, you're toast.

Well ,if you are right ,this means there is only one sect of Christians are right, and not all Christians.Plus, God is all forgiving and loves all his children , doesn't he ? So if you are right so for us it's no biggie.

If you are wrong, than you(not you specifically)are wasting a big portion of your one and only life to appease an imaginary friend. Which is unfortunate.

Where do you get that only one *sect* of Christians can be right? Most Christians absolutely don't believe that.

And what you don't understand is that serving God brings JOY. If I were to find out tomorrow that God wasn't real (which of course will never happen) I would continue to live as if He were, because doing so brings happiness and joy.

Which of course just further strengthens my faith...we were designed to serve God, so of course we are most happy when serving him. It is our nature, and the Holy Spirit drives us to do it. It's when we don't that we are unhappy and empty.

Actually I don't think any of us have the corner on who and what God is or how to worship Him. If the likes of us couild figure out and explain God that easily, He would be a much lesser God than what I believe He is. As the Apostle Paul put it, now we see through a glass darkly but then face to face. I think when we are able to meet Him in person, we will find that he isn't that impressed with our theology and will be much more interested in who we are as people.

After some pretty intense study spanning a couple of decades, I am convinced that ALL religions have pieces of the truth, some more than others, and none know everything there is to know. I am Christian because after stripping away all the paraphenalia of religion, all the pomp and ritual and ceremony and rules, etc. etc. etc. I am left with a reality of the person of the Christ that I can neither explain away nor deny. And I now know that anybody willing to humble themselves and allow it, can know that Person.

Anyhow, I think we're getting way more serious than was the more whimsical intent of this thread. Would I worship the graven image of the Islanders' god? No. But would I disrespect their religion? No I would not. I would hope that I could live my life in a way that they could become interested in why I worship the God I worship. And then maybe I would have an opportunity to tell them.

 

[amrchaos]

I'd take interest in thier rituals but not participate as a believer and explain my beliefs. I wouldn't be anti social but I wouldn't insult them by pretending to worship their god.

It is possible that they may become insulted if you did not offer something to their god out of respect for him/her/ok, posssibly an it.

Kind of a sticky situation if the natives become angry with your idea of respect?

 

[amrchaos]

I love reading threads where different denominations of Christianity start telling each other the "RIGHT WAY" to believe!! Some funny shit. You all think you're right. In REAL life you're probably ALL full of shit.

Actually, the thread is not along such a line.

I think you are taking KG and OlL's conversation as the point of the thread. They are off on a tangent discussiong Christianity which is not the subject of this thread.

Such conversations occur from time to time. C'est La Vive!

 

[ABikerSailor]

And if we're not ?????
See, if we are wrong, then no biggie. Dust to dust.
If we are right, uh o, you're toast.

Well ,if you are right ,this means there is only one sect of Christians are right, and not all Christians.Plus, God is all forgiving and loves all his children , doesn't he ? So if you are right so for us it's no biggie.

If you are wrong, than you(not you specifically)are wasting a big portion of your one and only life to appease an imaginary friend. Which is unfortunate.

Where do you get that only one *sect* of Christians can be right? Most Christians absolutely don't believe that.

And what you don't understand is that serving God brings JOY. If I were to find out tomorrow that God wasn't real (which of course will never happen) I would continue to live as if He were, because doing so brings happiness and joy.

Which of course just further strengthens my faith...we were designed to serve God, so of course we are most happy when serving him. It is our nature, and the Holy Spirit drives us to do it. It's when we don't that we are unhappy and empty.

Of course each denomination of Christianity thinks it's the only right one. They're each trying to "out purify" each other by telling them that their interpretation is the right one.

Ever listen to a Northern and a Southern Baptist argue?

 

[koshergrl]

Arguing about the meaning of the bible is not the same as telling others what to believe.

Intelligent debate is the hallmark of scholarship. Of course each person thinks he's right, regardless of what he's discussing. But as I said, I've met very few Christians who believe they've cornered the market on salvation.

 

[amrchaos]

Arguing about the meaning of the bible is not the same as telling others what to believe.

Intelligent debate is the hallmark of scholarship. Of course each person thinks he's right, regardless of what he's discussing. But as I said, I've met very few Christians who believe they've cornered the market on salvation.

But KG

Is not arguing over the interpretations of the bible the basis for the denominational split in Christianity?


Maybe God should take cues for Barack Obama(The Leftist Messiah). God should have presented the Bible at an 8thgrade reading level!

(Look up the reading level of the Bible and be amazed!)

 

[ABikerSailor]

Arguing about the meaning of the bible is not the same as telling others what to believe.

Intelligent debate is the hallmark of scholarship. Of course each person thinks he's right, regardless of what he's discussing. But as I said, I've met very few Christians who believe they've cornered the market on salvation.

Actually, most Christians DO think they have the market cornered on salvation. They state you HAVE to accept Yeshua as God (they're not the same individual btw) or you won't get into Heaven.

Pretty much leaves out the Jews, the Buddhists, Hindus, etc.

 

[Foxfyre]

Arguing about the meaning of the bible is not the same as telling others what to believe.

Intelligent debate is the hallmark of scholarship. Of course each person thinks he's right, regardless of what he's discussing. But as I said, I've met very few Christians who believe they've cornered the market on salvation.

Actually, most Christians DO think they have the market cornered on salvation. They state you HAVE to accept Yeshua as God (they're not the same individual btw) or you won't get into Heaven.

Pretty much leaves out the Jews, the Buddhists, Hindus, etc.

I think the anti-Christians WANT you to believe that is what most Christians believe. I can assure you that most Christians do not preach other people into hell despite what you've been convinced to believe. Some do yes, just as there are members from all those other groups who blast Christianity as a false faith and dismiss it as a false religion.

Nor is the reading level of the Bible at issue. I am also reasonably convinced that most people have never really studied the Bible--it's origins, the people who contributed to it, their language, culture, beliefs, etc.--and would refuse to do so if given an opportunity lest their firm convictions about what the Bible says and means be challenged.

I believe that God is every bit as much with the hypothetical Islanders in the OP as he is with the most devout Christians. The only difference is that the Christians are aware of it. The Islanders not so much.