Posts by Greenpalmtreestillmine

41

JOHN - The Lazy Apostle ?

by Lampokey in

from the gospel according to john , 21:25 new world translation :.

"there are , in fact , many other things which jesus also did , which , if ever they were written in full detail , i suppose , the world itself could not contain the scrolls written.".

well , john , here you are , charged with the responsibility to relate the life and times of jesus , and you do not tell us what these "many other things" are.. why not ?

The Gospel of John is more a Gospel for today's Christians rather than the Christians of the 1st or 2nd centuries, imo. The freedom of women in that Gospel is extraordinary for its time. Many of the so called fathers of the church had poor opinions of women and of their place in the church. Women were not given the dignity of their own mind. Disgusting really.Very dark. When it comes to the typical treatment of women in those days the Gospel of John is like a great light shining in a very dark place. Also, the superior argumentations and symbolisms as, for example, those used in the Samaritan woman at the well story are not 1st century things but things of today and for today imo.

The Bible is not stagnant it was written and compiled in such a way that it would have up to date relevance and usefulness even 2000 years later. The treatment of women in that Gospel is way beyond its day and even still to an extent beyond our day where in many churches Christian women are still restricted to receiving spiritual food not providing it. Rather than be vocal witnesses before the congregation of men and women as the Samaritan woman and Mary Magdalene were many Christian women today are, in the congregation, in effect still covered in a religious burka. In the Gospel of John they are not.

The Samaritan woman introduced the men of her city to the Christ. She worked through no third person. The Christ spoke to her directly told her things he had not openly told others and then she herself brought the men of the city directly to the Christ.

Mary Magadalene brought the news of the risen Christ to his male disciples. She was in fact "sent forth" by the Christ himself.

Martha and her sister Mary enjoyed great ease of conversation with the Christ himself. No barrier did he put up before them because they were women. They asked questions of him, they complained to him, they spoke freely and openly to him and were not told to be silent.

In this respect and many others the Gospel of John is a Gospel for today. A modern Gospel for modern Christians.

Sabrina

71

Stupid questions require stupid answers

by Norm in

christians always tell us how loving, caring and just god is, how he never ?forgets?

they also claim that god is omnipotent and everything that happens is his will and that it has a ?purpose?.

lets pay attention to what the watchtower say next as we will come back to it later:

Greenpalmtreestillmine

Hi Norm,

You are a good person, Norm. Please don't get upset okay? Just let this stupid believer have her little say. (By the way, AlanF is right, I'm not that good at this debate stuff but I will never admit that to him. ) There are many kinds of "brothers", some fleshly, some religious, some racial, and so forth. But there are also those who can be thought of as "brothers" just because of respect for one another or just because an accord has been reached. Well, Norm. That's how I feel about you. So if you don't mind just this one time in this one post, I will call you brother.

Much love and respect to you brother. You too take care.

Sabrina

41

JOHN - The Lazy Apostle ?

by Lampokey in

from the gospel according to john , 21:25 new world translation :.

"there are , in fact , many other things which jesus also did , which , if ever they were written in full detail , i suppose , the world itself could not contain the scrolls written.".

well , john , here you are , charged with the responsibility to relate the life and times of jesus , and you do not tell us what these "many other things" are.. why not ?

Greenpalmtreestillmine

Hi Lampokey,

The Bible does not give full details about almost everything. It gives us what we need to know that's all. It's the essence not the full story.

Sabrina

71

Stupid questions require stupid answers

by Norm in

christians always tell us how loving, caring and just god is, how he never ?forgets?

they also claim that god is omnipotent and everything that happens is his will and that it has a ?purpose?.

lets pay attention to what the watchtower say next as we will come back to it later:

Greenpalmtreestillmine

Hi Norm,

Wow! Christians always tell us that God is just, caring, loving. But now you come clean here and show us this apparently new side of God which according to you "doesn't give a damn" about what happens to us. Well, we already knew that from merely observing the world around us.

Well, you see! We do have common ground here, we finally found something we agree on. I'm glad about that.

You seem to have gotten into your head that asking you simple questions about God which you claim to believe in somehow amount to whining.

I think that's probably due to the small reasoning ability AlanF so kindly pointed out to me.

I understand that you find it frustrating and quite a nuisance to answer, because you haven't got a leg to stand on.

Well, I could joke and say, "you're right Norm I haven't got a leg to stand on I have two (God and his Son) but that would be tacky and childish so I won't say that. (sorry I couldn't resist)

From my position the questions are asked because I hope that it will make you think about it all, and the impossible position you are in. I guess your latest post here really demonstrate that with thundering clarity. it surely didn't make much sense. But that's exactly what religion and faith is all about Sabrina, it doesn't make any sense at all, that's why you just have to have blind faith.

Norm, I don't know if you will believe me or not when I say this, but I truly do appreciate with all my heart your sincere efforts to help me. Ironically, again we are on the same path. I know to you I don't make much sense. I can't Norm. I believe, you don't believe. There is a divide that may never be crossed there. I can never leave God, that is an impossibility. You may never leave your disbelief that could also be an impossibility. But I say this again, I truly appreciate your efforts to do what you believe is right. I respect that.

Good day to you, Norm.

Sabrina

71

Stupid questions require stupid answers

by Norm in

christians always tell us how loving, caring and just god is, how he never ?forgets?

they also claim that god is omnipotent and everything that happens is his will and that it has a ?purpose?.

lets pay attention to what the watchtower say next as we will come back to it later:

Greenpalmtreestillmine

Narkissos,

I don't really understand why you are reluctant to say "God limits himself" (even temporarily), which afaik is the classical Christian stance on theodicy.

I cannot say God limits himself because I don't think that is the most accurate way to express it. I would say, "God chooses, and among his varied choices are: to intervene or not intervene or to partially intervene or a number of other things I suppose. I am not a spirit person and so am not aware of all the choices that may be available when it comes to intervention in human affairs by God, his Son or his angels.

You mentioned Paul. Just for the record, I posted recently that I believe Paul's law was just as liable to be put on the obsolete list as the Law of the Moses was. If the Law of Moses reached it's end and applicable usefulness so can the Law of Paul. It served its purpose. In my opinion, the only law is the teachings of the Christ. Just trying to make clear where I stand on Paul. A good Christian to be sure but in the 3rd millennium, the 3rd day since the death of our Lord, the time has come for a return to the teachings of Jesus alone unfettered by Paul's. imo

I enjoy reading your posts Narkissos though I don't mind admitting that I have to read them several times and with great care. But I'm trying to understand as best I can. When you post, I read. School time maybe?

Great knowing you, Narkissos.

Sabrina

71

Stupid questions require stupid answers

by Norm in

christians always tell us how loving, caring and just god is, how he never ?forgets?

they also claim that god is omnipotent and everything that happens is his will and that it has a ?purpose?.

lets pay attention to what the watchtower say next as we will come back to it later:

Greenpalmtreestillmine

Hillary_Step,

At this stage I think we can assume that you have not just lost the argument but also your faith.

I'm afraid you misunderstood me. When I said I suppose sometimes God doesn't give a damn I did not mean that in a negative sense at all. Sometimes we ourselves can hear of such awful things committed by some groups that we can easily say in our hearts, "I don't give a damn about those people." If God sometimes doesn't give a damn I don't blame him in the least. We are really awful bastards sometimes and downright evil other times. My faith is intact, thank you.

Why is that that the more committed a person is to their religious ideology the harder it becomes for them to say, "I just do not know the answer to that question"? Don't you think that this is a more honest station from which to defend a God?

I said, "Well, I suppose the answer to all of the above is: God sometimes just doesn't give a damn, Norm." If you will please note, that was a suppostion. It also was a sarcastic answer to the very tiring habit some have of constantly whining about God. Why does God allow this? Why doesn't God fix that? Yada, yada, yada..... You know I'm a Christian and all but after a while I too get a burr up my ass sometimes and that whining stuff is just the thing that does it.

Well, have a happy day and all, HS.

Sabrina

P.S. Thanks for not ridiculing my lack of reasoning ability and/or any other personal fault I surely have.

71

Stupid questions require stupid answers

by Norm in

christians always tell us how loving, caring and just god is, how he never ?forgets?

they also claim that god is omnipotent and everything that happens is his will and that it has a ?purpose?.

lets pay attention to what the watchtower say next as we will come back to it later:

Greenpalmtreestillmine

AlanF,

Sabrina, it's obvious that your powers of reasoning are small, and there's no sense trying to discuss anything intelligently with you.

If it makes you feel good AlanF to insult another person's intelligence go right ahead. Feel free to massage your ego whenever you get the urge to do so. You must get a jab in cause if you don't you'll die or something. Let me not be the cause of your ego death, go right on with your insults it's mother's milk to you.

Sabrina.....of the really, really hurt class.

71

Stupid questions require stupid answers

by Norm in

christians always tell us how loving, caring and just god is, how he never ?forgets?

they also claim that god is omnipotent and everything that happens is his will and that it has a ?purpose?.

lets pay attention to what the watchtower say next as we will come back to it later:

Greenpalmtreestillmine

Norm,

Does this mean that God could have stopped 9/11 and the Tsunami disaster?

Yes.

He obviously didn't, why didn't he?

Why didn't he stop the Iraq war? Why didn't he make Saddam be a good boy instead of a bad one? Why didn't he prevent the Spanish Influenza? World War I? Why doesn't he make people stop having unprotected sex? How about the hungry children? Why doesn't he make the big fat corporations of the world feed them? Why didn't he stop the Florida hurricanes? Why doesn't he just make all religions behave really, really good. And make all governments do the same? How come he doesn't make the U.N. be the best it can be? Why didn't he stop those Catholic priests from molesting children? How about Bill Clinton, why didn't he stop him from making a fool of himself and the office. Why didn't he stop Europe from trampling here and there colonizing and taking over practically whatever they wanted? Why do planes crash? Why doesn't he stop parents from killing their children and children killing their parents? Why doesn't he stop up all volcanos?

Hey, why doesn't God make us all just get along and stop fighting altogether. Why didn't he make the oceans more resistant to pollution? Why didn't he make the atmosphere much more self-cleaning so we wouldn't have to be so careful with our emissions? Why didn't he make us like the animals who forage for their food and are naturally better equipped than we are to cope with the seasons and the weather? Why did he make it so damn hard to get a man in space? Why did he allow the Dark Ages? Why did a teen who lost her whole family in the Tsunami suffer a gang rape afterwards? Why are some of the so called untouchables in India being put out of shelters and not given their fair share of the Tsunami relief by their upper caste fellow Indians simply because they are untouchables? Why is child trafficking already occurring in the Tsunami area?

Well, I suppose the answer to all of the above is: God sometimes just doesn't give a damn, Norm. Is there some reason why he should? Mankind is the most filthiest of creatures. I really don't think we deserve to complain, Norm.

Sabrina

26

C'mon were going to be late!!

by Released in

......for field service........ .

ahhhhh......the memories.

nothing like facing regecton early on a satirday morn

Greenpalmtreestillmine

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES! NOT!

Sabrina

71

Stupid questions require stupid answers

by Norm in

christians always tell us how loving, caring and just god is, how he never ?forgets?

they also claim that god is omnipotent and everything that happens is his will and that it has a ?purpose?.

lets pay attention to what the watchtower say next as we will come back to it later:

Greenpalmtreestillmine

Narkissos,

I don't think God is limited to staying out of our affairs because of a freewill thing. He does what he wants. No, he does not cause all things. Yes, he can stop all things. The rape example was in the God does not cause all things category, but that does not mean God limits himself or in other words always allows the will of others to take precedence over his purposes.

If a Dad does not break up a fight between his two sons that does not mean the Dad has limited himself to always allowing them to fight it out. It just means that sometimes he allows it and sometimes not. The Dad is not limited, he does what in his opinion is necessary at the time.

If I'm misunderstanding your meaning please be patient with me.

Sabrina