I believe that this is judging a situation without having all the facts. We are in the midst of a book that is still being written. True, these things could be disturbing if that is all that mankind had to go on.
At the present time this is all we have to go on. A nonsensical book that isn't finished yet - and based on that we are supposed to put all our faith and hopes and dreams and desires in the hands of a God who leaves his very existence in doubt. Worship him without any evidence that he is there or listening if he is there. And know that there are thousands of gods and religions on this planet, and if we choose the wrong one - oops sorry, you're an infidel and must be destroyed - no matter how well you lived you life.
Poor Alan F. I think it's clear what the "F" in your name stands for. Lol...
If you get your diaper in a wad this quick over a discussion about the sacrifice of Christ, I can't imagine what you would do if somebody cut you off in traffic. I'm sure you were the classic toe the line JW. Too bad you didn't check your militant JW attitude at the kingdom hall door when it hit you on your ass on the way out. You have an obvious chip on your shoulder. But go ahead and vent away your bitterness if you want. It's not a dead issue with you no matter how much you whine that it is. It still bothers you ... badly. Why do you want to be a militant anti-religious jerk? You can be anti-religious and logical at the same time. That's no way to live your life, son. Take some needed advice... and chill. You'll enjoy your life a lot more that way.
I have a family to spend my lifetime loving and caring for. That one thing is better than anything I can find in a church.
I spent a long time worshiping God and it got me nothing but heartache and disappointment. Sure I worshipped with the JW's, but my faith was just a strong as any person in any other religion, and when it broke my desire to 'serve' god went with it.
I don't mean to butt heads, and I certainly don't fault anyone with the courage to move on to another faith after the Jdubs, but for me once was enough. I don't think I could take it if I put my faith into another religion and found it lacking as well. Far better (for me) to put my love and faith into my family and see the fruits of my labor in their eyes.
Once again, Megadude, you show the cowardly nature of the Christian Fundy -- afraid of real arguments. And of course, to cover your tracks you engage in pure ad hominems. I'm sure your God is real proud of you.
I admire you for putting your time and energy into your family. I could never condemn someone just for believing different than I. Thus, I wish the best to you and your family. I'll look forward to sharing in further discussions with you in the future.
if you could drop the attitude, I would like to have a serious discussion. I'm not here to be recipient of your obvious anger at cultic religious organizations or fundy organizations. I detest and loath them also. Atheists and agnostics can be just as big a jerk as a militant fundy. There's no exclusivity on that in either group. From the intensity of your posts, your breaking away from fundy religious teaching, be it Watchtower or otherwise, was costly for you. It was costly to me in more ways than one. I'm not anxious to repeat it in guise of another religious organization, Christian or not. If you have something to teach me, I'm willing to listen. But drop the emotional intensity. It obscures the meaningful content that your posts have.
This subject was always in the back of my mind when I was an active witness. The whole death/sacrifice thing just never made sense to me on so many levels, not the least of which was the idea that physical death would mean nothing at all to an entity that had (if you buy into it) full knowoledge of his life pre-human, and a full assurance that he would go back there lickety-split after this human business was done with. He didn't give up anything by dying as a human.
And let's face it; assuming you believe this all to be true, and that he was able to raise the dead and cure the lame, why wouldn't he also have power over his own pain if there was any to begin with?
Jesus' experience of human death seems no more significant than it would be if the CEO of some large company decided to "slum" and see how the other half lives, by getting a minimum-wage job at McDonald's for a week, get fired, and go back to making 7 figures the next day.
The whole concept is that Christ bore the weight of the sins of the world, past and future all at that moment, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Can't you understand the physical suffering and the humiliation that our Lord endured for our sakes, fully knowing this from before the 'foundation of the world' and yet willingly going to the cross? He, being God in the flesh, had a choice. He was in His humanity, yet still lived a life that never veered from His destiny. You aren't much on theology, are you Alan?
Whining weasels like you, Black Man & Cygnus the Sick couldn't (and wouldn't) take 1% of the abuse meted out to Christ. Just like the rest of the callous fools, you prowl the internet with depravity and poison seeking to mire them in your own personal misery. Rex
Many of you need to see the movie "The Last Temptation of Christ." Judas didn't want to betray Jesus. Jesus consoled him when Judas said, 'I don't want to do it.'
I understand the romance of Jesus' Passion. It makes for a great story. One of the greatest stories ever, in fact. One thing I can buy from Trinity believers is that the gospels were written in a way to teach the relationship between God and man. When Jesus prayed, acted in certain ways, he was demonstrating how a human being should have faith in God. That's great. Except that, if I had penned the New Testament, I would have had Jesus hanging Satan on a cross, not the other way around.
