but i'll just say this.
beck will be frenching that guy in the green room.
.
Gee, I thought the John Burke Society had pretty much had its heyday in the 50s.
And yes, encouraging people to eat their veggies is so insidious. As a child, I believed my mother was involved in some horrible conspiracy to get me to eat beets by mentioning those awful, starving Communist kids in China.
i started following thread when it was first posted, got busy, and then came back it was 12 pages long...so i'm starting a new one.. last night in my psych of religion class (which is incredibly fascinating, btw), i learned this:.
"fundamentalism" is a 20th century phenomenon.
it means that the believer has boiled down his beliefs to 5 fundamental beliefs:.
There are plenty of Christians, or at least those who define THEMSELVES as such who would not accept ALL the fundamental tenets listed above.
I've seen plenty of online debate about substitution, for instance, on Christian discussion sites like "Ship of Fools" for instance, all by various members of different faiths.
I live in what people call the Buckle of the Bible belt in the US and even here, where fundamentalism is both a return to literal interpretation with out higher criticism or comparitive religion, and a political stance, you will still find religious debate on some of those fundamentals by Christians.
I guess some of you who think most Christians believe fundamentalist tenets have never met Unitarians or Universal Unitarians, many liberal Lutherans or Presbyterians, and Episcopalians, all of whom indeed deem themselves "Christian"?
Why do you think there are so many sects of Christianity in America?It's because at some point, they have parted ways on some doctrinal matter, no matter how slight to someone for whom it seems inconsequential.
Baptists and Methodists may seem much the same to someone not in the faith, for instance, but a Methodist does not hold with the idea that total immersion baptism is necessary for salvation.
according to the latest statistics published by the ncc in its yearbook of american and canadian churches, the jehovah's witnesess had the highest growth rate, in 2010 growing 4.37%.
this is, i believe, is the 4th year in a row, that the witnesses had the highest growth rate.
roman catholics grew by less than 1%, as did most of the other churches listed.
I keep hearing the Mormons are...from Mormons.
i've been thinking alot over the past few days on what makes a christian a christian, and i'm coming to some different conclusions than i ever have.... the watchtower likes to use the term "true believers" or "true christians".
i'm at a loss here lately.
you are either an atheist or you are not.
Defining yourself as a "true" anything is tricky.
A "true" American to one person can be someone who salutes the flag, and to another with equal conviction, one who burns it in protest.
i started following thread when it was first posted, got busy, and then came back it was 12 pages long...so i'm starting a new one.. last night in my psych of religion class (which is incredibly fascinating, btw), i learned this:.
"fundamentalism" is a 20th century phenomenon.
it means that the believer has boiled down his beliefs to 5 fundamental beliefs:.
I know what fundamentalism was originally based on in the early 1900s, but it's become more of a word to describe a political stance as much as a religious one anymore.
Part of that is to not question literal interpretations of the Bible, which can be quite dangerous. It's always dangerous not to question.
And yes, religion is often about "looking for group" as it's called on the internet. People want to belong to groups with similar values, beliefs and social status and religions have often been a good way to do that, especially in the past.
Perhaps as other social ways of finding group replace that, religion may be less chosen as a social facilitator. It already is, actually, according to some studies.
mark 9:.
38 teacher, said john, we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.. 39 do not stop him, jesus said.
for no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me,40for whoever is not against us is for us.41 truly i tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the messiah will certainly not lose their reward.. .
Sorry, not a "either/or" thinker. Which is why I made a lousy JW.
i've been called a "fundi" many times in my discussions with people on the board, and i'd like to know what your definition is of a "fundi".
don't google it.
i just want to hear your personal definition.. i find it interesting because i don't go to any church.
Someone called PS an atheist? LOL
That's the definition of a Fundamentalist, pretty much, someone who thinks anyone who isn't as "in" with God as they are is an atheist!
People who are cock sure of everything are pretty much misled about the nature of the universe AND God. If to know the nature of the universe is to know God, then they haven't learned much about either.
The universe on any level is changed by our very observation of it, and our interaction with it. That means rules(which are mostly just stuff we make up to pitifully try to make sense of chaos) and concepts can change over time and with knowledge and if you believe God made it all, he intended that.
And plain English please...it doesn't make any of you seem more spiritual to talk like an 18th century English vicar about to serve me cake or death, for heaven's sake!
but i'll just say this.
beck will be frenching that guy in the green room.
.
Ew, why do you want to make a comment to that guy?
I wanted to kick him in the balls when he said he families of 9/11 victims were "whining" but then I realized anyone who would say that has none.
Does he say this crap just for ratings or does he really believe the puke that spews from his upper orifice?
mark 9:.
38 teacher, said john, we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.. 39 do not stop him, jesus said.
for no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me,40for whoever is not against us is for us.41 truly i tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the messiah will certainly not lose their reward.. .
Since the "sin against the spirit" is the topic of the second passage, Jesus is using the same phrase in a different context, seems to me.
The sin against the spirit seems to be not the enemies of Christ denying him so much as denying the supernatural power or miracles he exhibited through the spirit.
Being against Christ in that human form wasn't his concern, apparently. Being unwilling to be open to the spiritual side of existence he was trying to open people's minds to was far more serious for them.
some of my christian co-workers have related to me how jesus has spoken to them.
one of the comments that i remember specifically, was this:.
"jesus put it on my heart to [take a certain course of action].
OMG, I've only heard voices when in the grip of manic psychosis.
Believe me, it wasn't Jesus. LOL
Spirituality of all sorts feels it lends to a greater awareness of the metaphysical realm. If you call that "Christ talks to me" by leading you by holy spirit, then that's how it works for you.
I've experienced it in several different ways, including that one. I've also experienced it during Buddhist meditation, a session with a psychic, a shaman, during a Tong Ren healing class, and during hypotherapy.
Rationalists might call that being nuts, but hey... I have an official diagnosis, I don't need you to tell me that. LOL
