Philosophy, with a little Judaism thrown in to make things interesting. A side of Zen light on the dressing.

Well, at least you are a very interesting person.

Here's to you:

I've been reading some of your posts, you sir are certainly an interesting fellow.

What a great idea... if some cannot help acting like children- treat them like children!

If we can only find a way to make the misbehaving ones go sit in a corner and take a time out!

((((((((DJ!)))))))

I like your waterfall... you look beautiful.

Happy New Year. Hope all is well with you and yours.

None of us is a perfect anything. Which is really nice... perfection is so unbeautiful.

You're young. Enjoy the shock value now and for as long as you can... how much better than to be jaded and bored.

And it is so nice to see your religion bringing joy to your life.

Thanks!

Your welcome.

There are problems with my idea of jumping through my computer screen with a wooden spoon and a beat down on my mind. I haven't quite worked out the bugs, I'll let you know when I do.

It's so refreshing not to be judged. You are awesome.

Not being judged is always a nice feeling, isn't it?

I'm a CathiPresbyBaptist....mother is catholic, i was baptized catholic, dad was presbyterian, and i go to a Baptist church now. I am enjoying reading all the different points of views in this thread. It's been pretty interesting to say the least.
Becca

First off, I commend all the regular posters. I've never seen anything like this: relative calm, educated conversation with scary words like satanism, witch, Asatru, and Christian so close together! I've actually learned and re-learned a lot by reading all your posts.
Personally, since I think this room has gone beyond the literal definition of religion, I'm kind of a Pantheistic Christian... The best metaphor I have for my beliefs came from a Taoist though I've changed it alittle. Think of the truth as a pool of sourts or a lake. You cannot really transfer it from where it is to another person, you need a vessel (which I think of as words though religion or science work just as well). People tend to look at the vessel and think of it as the truth itself("bible- thumpers *cough*) and of corse once truth is taken from it's larger source it picks up dirt from said vessel or parts of the vessel soluvate(lol sorry no other word came to mind) and mix in with the truth.
I know... I'm still working on my beliefs... Figuring a little out every day =) though you guys have helped a lot, thanks!

I believe that a person should not be judged by their religion, yet Christians seem to judge easily. People fear what they do not know. If you are going to post replies in this thread then you should respect others choices on religion and not be hateful.

Adventist

God is perfect. Men and women are imperfect. As a result mankind can only create imperfect religions. That means that all man-created religions are imperfect and have common characteristics. This makes the one religion created by God unique, because it has characteristics only God could give it.

Christianity, because it was created by God, is a unique religion - with aspects central to Christianity that are different from all other religions.

For example:

In Christianity salvation is a free gift given to us by God. In all other religions you achieve salvation through your works or good thoughts.

In no other religion does the leader of that religion die so that his followers may be saved, and then return after death--demonstrating the eternal life we all can have.

Christianity is the only religion in which love, including love for your enemies, is the central theme.

Only Christianity offers absolute assurance of heaven and eternal life.

In no other religion do we find God personally suffering with the people.

You can be born Jewish; born Buddhist; born as a Hindu -- but it not possible to be born a Christian. (Being born into a Christian family does not make you a Christian.)

I also apologize for any critical comments I may have made earlier on this post

Hokay, this is gonna be a novel...

I agree. It's unfortunate to have to say, but American Christianity has largely (not entirely, but largely) become the very thing Jesus preached so fervently against.

Pastor Rob Bell says it far better than I can:

"Different rabbis had different sets of rules, which were really different lists of what they forbade and what they permitted. A rabbi's set of rules and lists, which was really that rabbi's interpretation of how to live the Torah, was called that rabbi's yoke. When you followed a certain rabbi, you were following him because you believed that rabbi's set of interpretations were the closest to what God intended through the Scriptures. And when you followed that rabbi, you were taking up that rabbi's yoke.

One rabbi even said his yoke was easy.

The intent then of a rabbi having a yoke wasn't just to interpret the words correctly; it was to live them out. In the Jewish context, action was always the goal. It still is.

Rabbis would spend hours discussing with their students what it meant to live out a certain text. If a student made a suggestion about what a certain text meant and the rabbi though the student had totally missed the point, the rabbi would say, "You have abolished the Torah," which meant that in the rabbi's opinion, the student wasn't anywhere near what God wanted. But if the student got it right, if the rabbi thought the student had grasped God's intention in the text, the rabbi would say, "You have fulfilled the Torah."

Notice that what Jesus says in one of his first messages: "I have not come to abolish [the Torah] but to fulfill [it]." He was essentially saying, "I didn't come to do away with the words of God; I came to show people what it looks like when the Torah is lived out perfectly, right down to the smallest punctuation marks."

"I'm here to put flesh and blood on the words."

Most rabbis taught the yoke of a well respected rabbi who had come before them. So if you visited a synagogue and the local rabbi (Torah teacher) was going to teach, you might hear that this rabbi teaches in the name of Rabbi So-and-So. If you were familiar with the yoke of Rabbi So-and-So, then you would know what to expect from this rabbi.

Every once in a while, a rabbi would come along who was teaching a new yoke, a new way of interpreting the Torah. This was rare an extraordinary.

Imagine: A rabbi was claiming that he had a new way to understand the Scriptures that was closer to what God intended than the way of the rabbis who had come before him. A new take on the Scriptures.

The questions would immediately be raised: "How do we know this is truth? How do we know this rabbi isn't crazy?" One of the protections for the rabbi in this case was that two other rabbis with authority would lay hands on the rabbi and essentially validate him. They would be saying, "we believe this rabbi has authority to make new interpretations." That's why Jesus' baptism was so important. John the Baptist was a powerful teacher and prophet who was saying publicly that he wasn't worthy to carry Jesus' sandals.

"And a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.'"

A second voice affirmed Jesus' unique calling. The voice of God.

Amazing.

A Jewish audience reading Matthew's account of Jesus' baptism would pick up right away on Jesus' getting the affirmation of two powerful voices.

Which leads to an interesting scene: In the book of Luke, what is the one question the religious leaders keep hounding Jesus with?

"Where did you get your authority?"

Jesus' response? "You tell me, where did John get his?"

Now imagine if a rabbi who had a new perspective on the Torah was coming to town. This rabbi who was making new interpretations of the Torah was said to have authority. The Hebrew word for "authority" is "shmikah." This might not even happen in your lifetime. You would hike for miles to hear him.

A rabbi who taught with /shmikah/ would say things like "You have heard it said..., but I tell you..."

What he was saying is, "You have heard people interpret that verse this way, but I tell you that this is what God really means in that verse."

Now the rabbis had technical terms for this endless process of forbidding and permitting and making interpretations. They called it "binding and loosing". To "bind" something was to forbid it. To "loose" something was to allow it. So a rabbi would bind certain practices and loose other practices. And when he gave his disciples the authority to bind and loose, it was called "giving the keys of the kingdom".

Notice what Jesus says in the book of Matthew: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on hearth will be loosed in heaven."

-Pastor Rob Bell, "Velvet Elvis" (c)2005

What he is doing is significant. He is giving his followers the authority to make /new/ interpretations of the Bible. He is giving them permission to say, "Hey, we think we missed it before on that verse, and we've recently come to the conclusion that this is what it actually means."

And not only is he giving them the authority, but he is saying that when they do debate and discuss and pray and wrestle and then make decisions about the Bible, somehow God in heaven will be involved."

All that to say...CHRISTIANS SHOULD BE THE MOST OPEN-MINDED PEOPLE ON THE PLANET!

Mindlessly following dogma is not what was intended. We were meant to wrestle and question and think and debate...true Christianity is a Great Conversation, not a life of unbending rules.

[/sermon]

too square to get a round

Well Put Mars... And by the way Velvet Elvis is a great read.