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Originally Posted by mrklixx
A recent post by a member about "finding god" elicited a slew of responses by several self-proclaimed Christians. Now some of these people also frequently post expletive laden posts, hateful/angry posts, pornographic/sex posts, about being drunk/doing drugs, etc, etc.
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I would be interested in seeing links to those posts.
I'm not saying that they don't exist, but I don't recall any off hand.
As for myself, I admit that I occassionally put a "hell" or a "shit" into a post, but I don't know if this qualifies as "expletive laden".
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Originally Posted by mrklixx
So I have some questions about this.
1) Now I have been made aware (with a bit of hostility) that some "Christians" here believe that the Bible is not an accurate representation of the facts. So this may contribute to a different view of "sins" than mainstream Christianity holds. If this is so, why identify onself as part of a group that the general populace believes has a different set of standards and rules than what you believe? Is there such an overwhelming need to be a part of an established "name"?
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First, I feel a need to examine this phrase,
"with a bit of hostility"
I will make the assumption that you are refering to
THIS THREAD when you say this. After re-reading the thread, I still don't see that anyone replied to you "with a bit of hostility", but whatever. If anything, when people say things like,
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Originally Posted by mrklixx
I'm just trying to have a discussion, and allow Christians the perfect opportunity to follow the great commission to reach out and answer some questions about their loving creator.
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Originally Posted by mrklixx
That's an interesting philosophy for a "discussion" board, to throw out statements and then not be willing to discuss or field questions about them.
Especially something like Christianity, whose sole purpose is to convert as many people as possible. But I guess that's another one of those "optional" bits.
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and "some 'Christians' here" with "Christians" in quotes, well, that indicated someone with some hostility of their own.
Then there is the question of this:
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Originally Posted by mrklixx
I do find it amusing that in a thread that you say is about free speech, that I'm getting slammed for asking questions.
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Originally Posted by mrklixx
This whole 'the Bible is just a storybook' from a self proclaimed Christian is a new one for me, and bring up a whole new set of questions that won't be answered.
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When I specifically said,
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Originally Posted by lebell
If you are interested in hermeneutics, please mossy on over to "Tilted Politics" and do some searches on "Bible".
If you don't find something that answers your question, then feel free to start a thread.
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And
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Originally Posted by lebell
mrklixx,
I am avoiding hijacking the thread.
I don't see that it's an unreasonable request to ask you to take it to "Philosophy" and your own thread, or, as it's been pointed out, do a search and read the several threads that have already been done on the topic.
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To which you never replied, to be telling.
The fact is that it is generally considered rude to thread jack and while I've been guilty, I avoided doing so in that thread and pointed you to the proper forum to answer your question.
Now to the question.
It is simple fact that the Bible is a collection of stories, both from Hebrew and early Christian tradition which was collected together by consencious at the Council of Nicea in the 4th century.
Since that time, Christians everywhere have been struggling to understand them.
The liberal hermeneutical view that some stories (Adam and Eve, Noah, etc) probably did not happen
literally but were part of the collected Hebrew creation myth also is not a recent development.
But whether these stories are literal or not has no bearing on what it means to be "Christian", which seems to me to be the source of your question #1.
So long as a person believes in the Gospel of Jesus, then I will call them "brother", even as I may disagree with some of their politics.
As to Fred Phelps (and some others), I personally feel that he ignores and twists the teachings of Jesus, and in doing so, is sinning greatly.
Or in other words,
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Originally Posted by Mt18:6
6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
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and
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Originally Posted by Mt7:15-16
15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles?
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As for myself, I believe Jesus is the prophesized Christ, who was born among us, died and rose again.
The beliefs on homosexuality that Fred Phelps's and others who call themselves "Christian" aside, what else but "Christian" should I call myself?
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Originally Posted by mrklixx
2) In this "anything goes" Christianity, is there anything at all about your actions that sets you apart from the "heathens", other than professing to be a Christian?
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I answered this previously, but I will answer it again. First of all, if you choose to call someone "heathen", that is up to you, but I would NEVER deny that anyone who calls themselves "Christian" is a Christian.
Nor do I feel any great need to defend my calling myself Christian to you or anyone else.
Calling myself such hinges solely on what I stated above.
As to my actions, I attempt to put them in line with the two greatest commandments that I referenced in the previous thread.
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Originally Posted by Lk10:27
And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."
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Like all Christians, sometimes I am more successful than others.
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Originally Posted by mrklixx
3) For those that do believe in a more literal translation of the Bible, how do you justify regular participation in topics that, at the very least, are extremely un-Christ-like?
P.S. Before somebody says "Do a search, this topic was already discussed", I am not interested in what somebody had to say about this a year ago, I want to know what they think today.
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I don't understand why you are reticent to do a search if your purpose is indeed to learn different viewpoints on the subject.
I assure you that many of my thoughts from a year ago will remain true today. I may not however, have the inclination to make another megapost about the topic such as this.