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Right on saul_relative
That is a very well articulated extension of the point I was making in this posting. It is indeed arrogant to assume that every living being must accept a certain set of beliefs. A notion that would take almost childlike reasoning to reconcile with such large portions of the human populace that obviously believe differently. For example: are all moslems to reject Allah in favour of Jesus upon this supposed day of reckoning?
posted by
gomedome
on April 24, 2005 at 6:54 PM
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Although, gomedome,
my set of experiences are completely different from your own, I share a belief structure akin to your own. As I stated to someone earlier: my motto is "advocacy for the truth in all things". The biblical set-up of the world is extremely limited in scope, as is it's view of god and his omnipotency. Beleiving the literalness of the bible is something I'll never understand.
Your point of god or the son of god saving the souls of everyone present as well as those past is very good one. I've asked this question of others and mulled it over myself. I have had some tell me that everyone ever born will be given the chance to accept Jesus as their personal savior on Judgment Day. Where that is in the bible, I cannot say (maybe someone better versed in biblical verse can help me out), if it is. My question to this is: given all the religions of the world, past and present, how can an omnipotent god (or son of god) expect mortals with subjective belief systems to entertain such a concept? A pre-Columbian Aztec accepting Jesus as his personal savior? A Maori warrior? A member of the Ming Dynasty? Socrates?
The arrogance of Christianity...
posted by
saul_relative
on April 24, 2005 at 9:59 AM
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Experience -- you've lost me here
I only touched on the story of creation, suggesting that the story itself was dismissed in my thinking. This does not suggest anything about the existence of, one way or another, of the omnipotent creator that you believe exists.
posted by
gomedome
on April 22, 2005 at 9:41 AM
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Thank You
Also thank You for your advice on my post as well.
posted by
Experience
on April 22, 2005 at 8:05 AM
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Eternal God
The Eternal God of all who created every creation is the only God. What makes up this God . Is it one entity or a group of Angels and higher knowledge than humans could understand. Nevertheless God the Creator is the giver of all and the creator of all. So if I must worship or believe in a Creator I would rather believe in the Creator of the Highest than the Lowest.
posted by
Experience
on April 22, 2005 at 8:05 AM
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Interesting response...thank you.
posted by
Entrepreneur_Maker
on April 21, 2005 at 7:06 PM
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Gome, thanks for sharing your story here. Sounds like we had the same
experience with Santa.
posted by
Ariala
on April 21, 2005 at 7:04 PM
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DarrkeThoughts -- as I said here in this posting: everyone is different in
that regard.
posted by
gomedome
on April 21, 2005 at 6:54 PM
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Very intersting post, thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences. I suppose I am more of a "beliver" in that it has taken me nearly 40 years to allow myself to ask the questions you were asking as a child.
posted by
DarrkeThoughts
on April 21, 2005 at 5:14 PM
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empty_handed_painter -- realizing how it has all been constructed and
some of the reasons for it over history can be a real eye opener. For example; celebacy amongst the clergy of the Roman Catholic church was added to church doctrine in the 1500's, most people do not know why it was added. Clergy back then held a very high place in society, above reproach and did not live in poverty. They had wives, commonly had numerous mistresses and just as commonly had numerous bastard children. They were becoming a threat to the financial empire that was being assembled in Rome for a number of reasons but mostly centered around the cost of providing for their huge extended familes. In other words what we are told today in that celebacy is a oneness with God was only put into place because the funds flowing to the Vatican were beginning to dry up to support the lifestyles of the priests....go figure.
posted by
gomedome
on April 21, 2005 at 3:01 PM
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consider the source
a medieval mindset
almost all of Christian philosophy has been changed and filtered almost from the beginning.
many Christians believe in Heaven
Yeshua talked about spiritual realms
there is a difference.
in essence no one knows the afterlife
posted by
Xeno-x
on April 21, 2005 at 2:35 PM
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avant-garde -- there is no doubt that I myself went through a period of
youthful rebellion against the church I was brought up in. It festered into a full blown hatred but has dissapated dramatically over the last 3 decades. Now I try to look at things objectively but that is easier said than done. We must all try to keep our inherent prejudices in check concerning these things. As for the psychiatrist's assessment you refer to I agree that the outcome of a force fed indoctrination may be adopting an extreme but one cannot overlook the individual's own predisposition or the type of mind they possess.
posted by
gomedome
on April 21, 2005 at 2:16 PM
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gome
i read what a psychiatrist wrote once about having religion shoved down your throat: 'you'll either turn into a militant atheist, or a fanatic when you reach adulthood.' it's about extremes, really. i said that santa claus had 'cotton on his cheeks and a pillow under his shirt' when i was three years old. some of us come here hard wired to find the truth in everything.
posted by
avant-garde
on April 21, 2005 at 1:25 PM
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