REALLY interesting post, AVOR. I have a couple questions (or maybe "quibbles" is a better word).
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Originally Posted by AVoiceOfReason
And where do you find in the Bible that supporting "big greedy corporations is just as evil" as homosexual acts? It may be there, but I can't call it to mind and would like to know more on this point.
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I don't know about "just as evil"--is there a scale of sins?--but it definitely seems to me that some big business behavior is a form of coveting. Wouldn't you agree? Seems to me that if gambling is coveting, then the stock market is coveting, and most business is coveting.
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Originally Posted by AVOR
I am a young Earth creationist, because I believe the physical evidence we have points toward such. And why couldn't the God that spoke us into existence do so in six days? While I'm at it, do you have a passage in mind where the Bible uses "day" as it is used in Genesis ("the morning and the evening" constituting a "day") and it does not refer to 24 hours?
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I assume by "young Earth creationist" you mean that you believe that the earth was created in its present form and is circa 6000 years old? What physical evidence is there of that? That belief seems patently at odds with all the physical evidence I'm aware of.
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Originally Posted by AVOR
The problem with your example is that Jesus Himself spoke of the Jonah episode as fact. Matt. 12:39-40.
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Originally Posted by Matthew:12, KJV
38 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.
39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
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I don't see Jesus saying, "You remember the story of Jonah? Dude, that totally happened." It's a metaphor. Guy taught in parables. He told stories to illustrate what he wanted to teach. I don't see any reason to think they're not made up, or that he might not draw on the mythological history of his people in his teachings.
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Originally Posted by AVOR
We'd agree that it is unnecessary to say that under those circumstances. But to judge the teachings of the Bible and fundamentalist Christianity from the failings of the adherents is unfair. What you're saying is that an individual, or group of people, didn't live up to the standards. Good--you recognize both the standard and where the follower has gone astray. It does not logically follow that one would therefore reject the standard.
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I think this may be the first time I've heard a Fundamentalist Christian talk that way. Thank you for acknowledging that people sometimes fail at applying their faith in the real world. I'm basically an atheist, and I've had a lot of bad feelings toward more strident (and non-Christ-like) Christians. What you've said here allows me to forgive them, and actually appreciate that they mean well, though they may not be doing well. So thank you for that.