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Originally Posted by Phage
Fortunately, it is not for you to decree what makes someone a Christian. I am not going to argue each of those points because the mere idea that you can remove their right to follow their faith because you disagree about interpretation shows you to be massively mistaken, militant, and dare I say mentally damaged. These people can practice their religion without seeking legitimacy from you.
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like I said, people are free to believe in what they want. But Mosiac law is rather clear (and I would add close to impossible for a modern person to follow) - if you use the Bible as your guide, that means you must follow the law.
If on the other hand, you choose to believe in the general truth of Yahweh/Jehovah/Allah as a God, pr Yeshua/Jesus/Isa as a prophet or God, without taking the bible literally... then thats fine and I wouldnt myself say it was an unreasonable world view at all. But it is a deviation from biblical law, and it is a deviation from what the bible says about Jesus.
Of course, we all, whether as a church or an individual have the power to do as Paul, and say "actually Jesus didnt mean these things which are written down" and claim to have developed a more true understanding through divine inspiration of some kind - whether this should properly be allowed to claim the title of the original religion, I am not sure. For myself, they can call themselves what they want - but it is rather confusing if so many people call themselves Christians and believe findamentally different things.
I guess the only part I do find rather hypocritical, and rather unworthy, is for an organisation to claim Leviticus as an inspiration for one thing (such as the discrimination against homosexuals), but to ignore other commands of the bible. I would find it hard to respect the opinion of someone who says homosexuality is wrong because the bible says so, but who eats pork, for example.
For myself, I eat pork, support people's right to chose whatever sexuality that they want, and do not believe homosexuals should be killed (as the law states) - but I still believe that Yeshua was a prophet (although I do think that Paul rather misrepresented him in the gospels) - and I dont call myself a Christian, but I probably believe in the same God that they do.... I just dont think that the Bible is the literal word of God. But the point is, if you ARE going to claim the Bible is the word of God, you have to follow it all, not just the parts that you like the look of.
In regards to this school, I would agree that the school officials should not face criminal charges in this case, however I think it would be appropriate for the state to withdraw any and all support to make it hard for this organisation to exist. They have the right to discriminate, and so do we. They may discriminate against a young girl because she has two mom's, and we may practice non-violent discrimination against them because we find these actions unacceptable.