OmegaVegeta wrote:
you're too opinionated to entertain the fact that someone else might be right
Bullsh*t. I fully held the view in the past (just like you) that whomever tried to tell anyone else that they are right beyond a doubt must automatically be wrong because (like you) I believed that "God" must be whatever anyone could possibly think He could be.. a universal wild-card.. because I never considered that any physical WORDS could be from any God.. But I shook myself from that stupor because I realized that I was being just as opinionated as anyone else by bashing certain viewpoints simply because they didn't bend down give some leeway that they could be wrong and I actually decided to read the Bible for myself
(actually I listened to it on CD in my car while commuting) with an open mind rather than just looking for whatever I could find in it to justify my viewpoint and I realized that most of the arguments that I used against it were unfounded and out of context and that I had actually been the one
"drinking the kool-aid" by just parroting the same old arguments without searching for the Truth myself. You think I don't know what this looks like? At least before when I would try to explain and argue my pagan belief I always tried to make it subjunctive by adding
"or I might just be crazy". You are the one judging unfairly because you have not studied the facts honestly and like most people
(including myself); you approached the subject with the presupposition of a false a priori; beginning every thought on the subject matter already believing that it is a lie; you are lying to yourself and now you find yourself locked into a position where you have already convinced yourself that you are right without exploring properly and anything that challenges that you have to meet with hostility because you are too proud of yourself to allow yourself to second-guess and to admit that you possibly might be wrong about something that matters so much. You have painted yourself into an emotional, intellectual, and spiritual corner. It was surely not easy for me to accept that I even believed all this stuff once I realized that there was a chance that I was wrong about it.. it took quite a while for me to come to grips with it and now that I have.. well.. here we are.. and arguing with people like you, intelligent and passionate, is like arguing with myself 2 years ago. That is why I am here.
Omega wrote:
It's akin to having a debate on whether or not a Vampire could kick a Werewolves ***.
heh; good analogy and I agree. If I actually thought that you believed in any of it I may be inclined to try to show you; but other than that it is akin to what you say. I get to pick and choose because the Bible says I do. It says that you will know false teachings by their results.. Why did you reject it?
Most ex-Catholics seem to have difficultly accepting that the Catholic views that they have been taught are actually not the Christian views. When the Catholic church got into full swing they didn't even ALLOW peasant to read the Bible; hardly anyone knew what the truth was.. and I would even go as far as to blame the dark ages on the Catholic Church.. but I really try not to judge the actions of man.. I do.. yes it i not for me to judge.. but I will call it like I see it and not hide it. My real opinion is the Catholic church was just Satan hi-jacking Jesus' real teachings and trying to run it aground.
And here you are defending it.. you defend it and you don't even believe in Jesus.. so what are you defending?
You will claim that you are merely defending people's right to have an opinion that that your hostility towards me is simply you trying to put me in my place.. sure. yet you choose what fact that you want to ignore because that which I am talking about still has some place in your heart so you feel the need to strike out in passion and anger when someone sparks that flame. I can appreciate that. I really just find it rather astounding that you think that everything can be and should be correct and that because there is something that I do not agree with and that I actually am presenting a reason that I do not agree you get totally belligerent.
Think about that.. calm down, meditate or something.. soften your heart and think about it.
Quote:
When dealing with an all powerful all knowing omnipotent supernatural deities- It'd certainly be in the realm of possibility that everyone is "right" (or wrong): from the Catholics to the Christians to the Discordians to the the Pastafarians.
What's that you were saying about vampires and werewolves?
May I ask if you take the Humanist viewpoint of God?.. in that God is just an
absentee land-lord and doesn't care about the things that he created and takes no part in them... Doesn't it seem in the least bit unlikely to you that an omnipotent and all-knowing Creator created us for no real reason and with no real communication or message? I suppose you answer would be
"well it could if it wanted" but that makes absolutely no sense at all and believing that is a shortcut to blind denial. It is pure anthropomorphizing. Limited human beings may do things that have no meaning and that they forget about.. but by definition anything omnipotent would never do such a thing; EVER.
However, I can understand how it would be comforting to believe that because it gives you a way out of believing that there actually is a reason for things and that our thoughts and actions actually do matter.. because the only alternative is that God is real and that God does care; and to some people that thought is more horrifying than any form of materialism.
I suggest that you redefine your qualifications for historical facts. That link that you provides are a glorified advertisement for a book written by an ardent anti-Jew and anti-Christian named Moustafa Gadalla. He is clearing pushing his particular agenda, bending and twisting history to suit what he is selling and pulling so-called facts out of his ***. You will find that he has as much true credibility as the Naked Archeologist; though I admit that he has quite a following.. however most that take him seriously are those that like to have their own views validated by whatever tripe they can find.
It is the same type of lies that are used to say that
Jews have no historical claim to Jerusalem. Quote:
Nah, the Aramaic name of Peter meant Rock.
You seem to using a defense for an argument that I did not make. I am not denying that Peter was called "Rock" and I am not claiming that Jesus was speaking Greek using the masculine and feminine forms for Rock (which is what I think is what your link is contesting). I am saying that Peter was probably called Rock because he was hard-headed (though he one of my favorite disciples for this reason). Peter is absolutely a nick-name. His actual name was
Simon Bar-Jonah.
Ask your priest why in Acts 8:14 the Church council sends Peter out to teach. If Peter was Pope shouldn't he be sending people out? Why does Paul refer to himself as equal to Peter in 2 Corinthians 12:11? How is it that Paul publicly rebuked Peter in Galatians 2:11? Is that what people do to popes? The church is founded on Christ, not Peter.
Ask your priest (who is probably called Father) how he accounts for
Matthew 23:9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. ASk your priest how he accounts for all of the statements
rebuking the following of the traditions of men as doctrine and
vain conceits?
The Catholic church is a reincarnation of the pagan Roman religious institutions.
Quote:
Until God comes down & tells us otherwise
God did come down to tell us otherwise and we murdered Him by nailing Him to a cross.
Edited, Dec 16th 2011 8:48am by Kelvyquayo