Christianity is essentially admitting you are God without admitting you are God

[Romanov2488]

Wow, you've got quite a story happening in your head! Admittedly, there are many who claim great insight which becomes obvious as not being the case when one listens to the rambling but to conclude what nondescript 'others' are concluding is just a cheap shot at what one doesn't understand.

I just find it hilarious that Christians blame the Bible or God for their own interpretation.

Anytime a Christian quotes the Bible, they are telling you what the Bible says, they are sharing their interpretation. Fundamentalism is a form of interpretation. Therefore no Christian understands the Bible perfectly.

 

[Romanov2488]

Why aren’t you a follower of Jesus?

What counts as being a follower of Jesus?

You tell me, with the authority of God what counts as being a follower and what doesn’t.

 

[CadyandZoe]

Can God also create a rock he cannot lift?

You must be a philosophy student. I wish you good luck with that.

 

[CadyandZoe]

Human beings are not God in order to decide what is true and what isn’t. If that is the case, then Christians wouldn’t be going around saying “Only God knows.”

You’re either born in sin or aren’t. You can’t have it both ways

Don't confuse "decide" with "ordain." God ordains reality the way it is, and he has gifted us with a mind that is able to deliver to us what is true.

 

[CadyandZoe]

I just find it hilarious that Christians blame the Bible or God for their own interpretation.

Anytime a Christian quotes the Bible, they are telling you what the Bible says, they are sharing their interpretation. Fundamentalism is a form of interpretation. Therefore no Christian understands the Bible perfectly.

Fundamentalism is not a form of interpretation. Fundamentalism is a commitment to the foundational tenets of a religion. With respect to Christianity, fundamentalists believe in the five fundamentals:

The inerrancy of scripture
The virgin birth of Christ
The substitutionary atonement of Christ
The Bodily Resurrection of Christ
The Reality of the Miracles of Christ

Fundamentalism was a reaction to 19th-century empiricism and the Liberal Christian movement, which denied the supernatural. The interpretive method of the Fundamentalism was called "The Golden Rule of Interpretation:

“When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense; therefore, take every word at its primary, ordinary, usual, literal meaning unless the facts of the immediate context, studied in the light of related passages and axiomatic and fundamental truths, indicate clearly otherwise.”–Dr. David L. Cooper (1886-1965),
founder of The Biblical Research Society

 

[Cassandra]

Can God also create a rock he cannot lift?

That is one of the oldest stupid questions there are there are. Heard this tripe when I was a kid and I'm in my 70s. now.
He is greater than the rock,because He created it . He is outside of time, space, and matter.

Here are more for you to contemplate:

Is climate what a cat does to a tree when a dog is chasing it?
If an athlete gets athletes foot, does an astronaut get mistletoe (sp)?
Who put the bop in the bop she bop she bop?Who put the ram in the ramalamadingdong?*

* ( I'd like to shake his hand)

 

[Matthias]

What counts as being a follower of Jesus?

You tell me, with the authority of God what counts as being a follower and what doesn’t.

Is that what it would take for you to become one of his disciples? Is all that is holding you back is uncertainty about what being a follower means?

 

[Matthias]

Christianity is not, never has been, and never will be “admitting you are God without admitting you are God.”

So why, we might ask, would someone, anyone, assert that it is?

Is it simply a matter of misunderstanding? Or is it something else?

 

[Romanov2488]

Is that what it would take for you to become one of his disciples? Is all that is holding you back is uncertainty about what being a follower means?

Well quite frankly I would say that there’s people who are followers of Jesus without knowing about Jesus. People that live a Christian life without identifying as one. Now I know fundamentalists love cherry picking Bible verses to say differently such as “I am the way and truth and the life”, but they could be misusing the Bible as well.

 

[Romanov2488]

Christianity is not, never has been, and never will be “admitting you are God without admitting you are God.”

So why, we might ask, would someone, anyone, assert that it is?

Is it simply a matter of misunderstanding? Or is it something else?

Christians act as if they are God. Because they pass off their interpretation of the Bible as absolute. They claim to be the morally superior ones just because they identify as Christian yet they contradict themselves when they say they are born in sin.

If you’re born in sin, then stop acting like you know who's saved and who isn’t, whose Christian and who isn’t, and what the Bible actually means. If such a perfect being such as God truly wanted all of us to know him, he wouldn’t have made it so confusing or relied on imperfect people to spread his message.

 

[Matthias]

Christians act as if they are God.

I don’t.

Because they pass off their interpretation of the Bible as absolute. They claim to be the morally superior ones just because they identify as Christian yet they contradict themselves when they say they are born in sin.

If you’re born in sin, then stop acting like you know who's saved and who isn’t, whose Christian and who isn’t, and what the Bible actually means. If such a perfect being such as God truly wanted all of us to know him, he wouldn’t have made it so confusing or relied on imperfect people to spread his message.

You obviously aren’t Christian. What kind of non-Christian are you?

 

[Matthias]

Well quite frankly I would say that there’s people who are followers of Jesus without knowing about Jesus. People that live a Christian life without identifying as one. Now I know fundamentalists love cherry picking Bible verses to say differently such as “I am the way and truth and the life”, but they could be misusing the Bible as well.

You know about Jesus but don’t self-identify as one of his followers. What is keeping you from being a follower of the Messiah?

 

[Romanov2488]

That is one of the oldest stupid questions there are there are. Heard this tripe when I was a kid and I'm in my 70s. now.
He is greater than the rock,because He created it . He is outside of time, space, and matter.

Here are more for you to contemplate:

Is climate what a cat does to a tree when a dog is chasing it?
If an athlete gets athletes foot, does an astronaut get mistletoe (sp)?
Who put the bop in the bop she bop she bop?Who put the ram in the ramalamadingdong?*

* ( I'd like to shake his hand)

Perhaps it’s only a dumb a question because you are unable to answer it. It’s called the omnipotence paradox and it is not similar to your analogy of an athlete getting athlete’s foot.

Can God create a rock he can’t lift? I thought he’s all-powerful.

And if he is outside of space and time, then how can you know he exists? Anything that is outside of space and time is the equivalent of something that doesn’t exist. Hey, I know of a dragon that’s outside of space and time. You can’t see him, you just gotta have faith. But he’s there for sure.

 

[Romanov2488]

I don’t.




You obviously aren’t Christian. What kind of non-Christian are you?

I’ve met non-Christians who are more Christian than Christians. How is that possible?

 

[Matthias]

I’ve met non-Christians who are more Christian than Christians. How is that possible?

Not everyone who claims to be Christian is. There is also such a thing as “nominal Christian” and “cultural Christian”.

You -> Other Faith

What is your non-Christian (i.e. Other) faith?

 

[Romanov2488]

Fundamentalism is not a form of interpretation. Fundamentalism is a commitment to the foundational tenets of a religion. With respect to Christianity, fundamentalists believe in the five fundamentals:

The inerrancy of scripture
The virgin birth of Christ
The substitutionary atonement of Christ
The Bodily Resurrection of Christ
The Reality of the Miracles of Christ

Fundamentalism was a reaction to 19th-century empiricism and the Liberal Christian movement, which denied the supernatural. The interpretive method of the Fundamentalism was called "The Golden Rule of Interpretation:

“When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense; therefore, take every word at its primary, ordinary, usual, literal meaning unless the facts of the immediate context, studied in the light of related passages and axiomatic and fundamental truths, indicate clearly otherwise.”–Dr. David L. Cooper (1886-1965),
founder of The Biblical Research Society

Fundamentalists could be wrong in taking the Bible too literally. Perhaps the Bible is not meant to be taken literally. Jesus after all used many parables. If I spoke in parables, why would you ever take what I say literally? So as such, fundamentalism is a form of interpretation. They are not the ones who hold the ultimate authority in decided what the Bible means and doesn’t.

You don’t think a fundamentalist is also born in sin and has biases? Who do fundamentalists think they are?

 

[Romanov2488]

Not everyone who claims to be Christian is. There is also such a thing as “nominal Christian” and “cultural Christian”.

You -> Other Faith

What is your non-Christian (i.e. Other) faith?

I don’t have an other faith. I’m just opposed to all religion ranging from Christianity all the way to Buddhism.

 

[Matthias]

I don’t have an other faith. I’m just opposed to all religion ranging from Christianity all the way to Buddhism.

Are you an atheist? An agnostic?

 

[Matthias]

I don’t have an other faith. I’m just opposed to all religion ranging from Christianity all the way to Buddhism.

I’m particularly focused on Christianity (as are you in this thread) but, since you lump Christianity in with all other religions, why are you opposed to all religion?

 

[CadyandZoe]

Fundamentalists could be wrong in taking the Bible too literally. Perhaps the Bible is not meant to be taken literally. Jesus after all used many parables. If I spoke in parables, why would you ever take what I say literally? So as such, fundamentalism is a form of interpretation. They are not the ones who hold the ultimate authority in decided what the Bible means and doesn’t.

You don’t think a fundamentalist is also born in sin and has biases? Who do fundamentalists think they are?

Fundamentalists could be wrong in taking the Bible too literally.
Could be. Yes. That is true of all literature and not unique to the Bible.

BTW, I'm guessing you must be thinking of events such as Noah's flood and the creation account among other things. Fundamentalists believe these events actually took place. So do I.

Perhaps the Bible is not meant to be taken literally.
Whether the topic is the Bible or another book, the correct interpretation of any work is the one that the author meant. If the author intended to speak literally, we take him or her literally. If the author intends to speak figuratively, then we understand the text to be figurative language. And it isn't that hard to tell.

I am guessing you are reacting to Biblical claims concerning Noah's flood, Jonah and the Whale, Balaam's donkey, and the Resurrection of Jesus among other disputed accounts. Is your concern that we take such accounts as literal? Well, such accounts were always taken literally until about the middle of the 19th century when empiricism came into vogue. Have you examined the validity of empiricism?

If I spoke in parables, why would you ever take what I say literally?
It does not follow that since Jesus occasionally spoke in parables he always spoke in parables. Jesus' parables follow a distinctive pattern and mode of expression. His parables are typically stories with an agricultural theme or an activity from everyday life. But contrary to popular belief, the purpose of the parables was NOT to teach wisdom or ethics. The purpose of the parables was to describe the kingdom of God.

They are not the ones who hold the ultimate authority in decided what the Bible means and doesn’t.
No one holds authority over what a Bible passage means. The Catholics believe they do, but that isn't true. Fortunately, the Bible has been translated into the common tongue so that anyone who wishes can read it for themselves. And it really isn't that hard to understand.

Don’t you think a fundamentalist is also born in sin and has biases? Who do fundamentalists think they are?
I agree that fundamentalists, like everyone else are born in sin and have biases. It doesn't follow, however, that intellectual ineptitude is necessarily a characteristic of being a sinner.

Fundamentalists are reacting to the intelligentsia who proposed that the miraculous events recorded in the Bible are mythical, legendary, allegorical stories intended to convey a moral lesson. Why? Because such events don't usually happen and can't be proven "scientifically." Fundamentalists don't agree that all truths are products of the scientific method. Human beings apprehend knowledge by other means.