Away From My Desk
Dearest readers -- I have been away on travel and won't be back for a couple of weeks. I'm going to do my best during this time to keep the site updated with words of wisdom and tales of the Devil's trickery, as well as respond to all of your comments, but you may find the site lacking its usual depth of divine inspiration. As a result, I suggest you all comment between yourselves and answer a few questions I've been meaning to ask you all (don't feel like you need to answer all of them):1)do you accept the fact that the Bible is Word of God?
2)do you believe Jesus Christ is the son of God?
3)if you don't believe 1) but believe 2), how do you reconcile the two beliefs?
4)do you believe in Heaven and/or Hell, and what do you think they're like (assuming you believe in them)?
5)in the alternative to 4), what do you think happens to us after death?
6)if you don't believe in the Bible, God, Jesus, and/or the Devil, how do you define good and evil?
posted by Nathaniel at 3:52 PM
7 Comments:
1)do you accept the fact that the Bible is Word of God?
I accept that Christians believe what was written long ago was the word of God. Myself, being pretty much an atheist, don't believe in any one deity, so I can't truthfully say that the Bible is straight from God's mouth.
2)do you believe Jesus Christ is the son of God?
Again, hard to say. Historians believe he was a real person, and a very good person for that matter. Whether or not he was the son of God, though, is up in the air for me. Christians certainly believe so, and he was pretty selfless to die for people, but I wasn't around 2000 or so years ago, so I can't really judge.
3)if you don't believe 1) but believe 2), how do you reconcile the two beliefs?
I believe in the human spirit. To explain further, I believe that the human spirit is capable of many things. Events discribed in the Bible probably did happen, but the people taking notes on said events probably embellished things a little bit, as story tellers do. Because, after all, the Bible, like so many other religions' doctrines, was passed on by word of mouth before it was taken down in writing.
4)do you believe in Heaven and/or Hell, and what do you think they're like (assuming you believe in them)?
I haven't made a decision on whether or not I believe in Heaven, Hell or any likenesses. If they were to exist, though, I believe Heaven would be a very personal Heaven, in that you live out your afterlife in the ideal way you would have thought in real life. Hell, I've always imagined, wouldn't be permanent. You stayed in Hell, a personal Hell, much like the personal Heaven, until you realized what you did was wrong. When you realized what you did was wrong, and are truly sorry for it, then your soul is allowed to enter into Heaven, redeemed and pure.
Those are my thoughts, of course.
5)in the alternative to 4), what do you think happens to us after death?
Like I said in the last question, I'm not sure what happens to us after death. I know I believe in ghosts, seeing one myself, but those haven't been proven to be actual lost souls.
6)if you don't believe in the Bible, God, Jesus, and/or the Devil, how do you define good and evil?
Good and Evil isn't as black and white for me as it is with a defined religion.
For example, I don't believe that homosexuality is evil. It's different, and I'm not into that sort of thing, but I certainly do not think someone is evil simply for enjoying sex differently than me. Now, if a homosexual was to walk out into the street and take the lives of a few random bystanders, then yes, he is evil. Not because he's homosexual, but because he took the lives of innocent citizens, minding their own business.
I suppose the simplest way to put it is that people are judged by their actions. A person who is willing to spend his or her own money, time and resources to help those in need is a good person. A person who goes out of their way to make life difficult for someone, simply because they didn't agree with them, is not a good person. Not necessarily evil, though. Evil is a strong term.
Now, I've called you evil before, and here's why: The things you wish to do to others makes you evil. The fact that you want women beaten, homosexuals tortured, children frightened into submission, and a number of other things makes you evil. Not simply because you think those things are right, but because if you had the means to do such things, you would. The fact that you would take the liberty and lives from other people simply for being different than you, or disagreeing with your beliefs makes you an evil person.
Evil, however, can be redeemed. I'm a big fan of redemption. In fact, some of my favorite character types in books and movies are those who were redeemed villians; general jerks who saw the folly of their ways and made heartfelt attempts to right their wrongs. I believe that most people can be helped and forgiven for their wrongs.
Anyway, I hope that gives a little insight. I hope you enjoy your trip.
And holy crap, is that a bathmat as the picture? How blasphemous is that? You're stepping on Jesus' visage every time you strip down and wash yourself. O.O
Lol! It does look like a bath mat, doesn't it?
I'll play 20 questions later. Right now I must get back to grading papers. I'm a "whore teacher" in training (and to all the idiots who won't get this, I'm being blatantly sarcastic here).
Female student teacher, I'm assuming? Heheh, if so, Nathaniel just gave us the go ahead to "find Christ together" XD
Lol, yeah!
1) No. The bible was written by people seeking a justification for their own beliefs and is based on spiritual principles predating even Judaism.
2) It shouldn't matter. Assuming of course that you believe in God, striving to attain his forgiveness for your sins should amount to the same thing.
3) This question does not apply, because I do not believe (1) and have no opinion on (2).
4) I do not care whether or not Heaven exists because my behavior should not be dependant on a reward, even an eternal one. I believe in Hell only as a device made up to scare people and justify brutality and intimidation.
5) Again, it should not matter.
6) This is probably the most profound question a person like me can ask themselves about religion. Evil, often being much more obvious than good, seems easier to define. Killing for no purpose or for enjoyment is obviously evil, as is inflicting pain (physical or emotional) when it can be avoided. Intentionally allowing someone to be hurt when you can do something about it can also in many cases be evil. To do good is to strive to avoid evil, but also to alleviate the undeserved hurts of others. Basically love and kindness are good while cruelty and hatred are evil.
So, is that pic that you have up a bathmat?
Are you saying that you are so righteous and holy that Jesus is below you?
Are you saying that jesus deserves only the filth that is washed from your body?
For that matter, why is your site titled Jesus loves everything?
Are you saying that he loves everything including the Jews, the gays, whores, and money changers?
For that matter, I don't see Jesus caring much for a website with this much hatred in it. The only people jesus ever got physically violent with were the people that used the church as a way of acrueing income, such as Pat Robertson.
Wouldn't a more fitting name for your site be "God will Smite All of You No Matter How Much Jesus Loves You"?
Just throwing a few things out there,
TSC
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