Reading The Bible Properly Can Improve One's Reasoning Skills.

'Karma' is one name used to describe a spiritual principle.

Biblical 'Karma' = you shall reap what you sow

Galatians 6:7
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Whether the reaping occurs in 'this life or the life to come'...

 

Neither were there many parishioners in 15th century AD who dared to protest against the Catholic Church that the collection of 'indulgences'($$$) by the Church for priest to increase their own salary was heresy> but I believe that God inspired Gutenberg to invent the printing press in 1452 and Martin Luther to ride the new wave of reading literacy to paste his 96 thesis on the Church wall announcing what corrupt teachings the church at that time was promulgating> and also heralding the birth of Protestant movement (Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian etc etc) : some form of democratic check and balance on Christianity so the Pope couldn't promulgate corrupt teachings without criticism from others.

So just as the Church of 15th century AD was fractured into two movements to mutually check on each other, some teachings of today will be replaced by more accurate ones of tomorrow as human technology improves and people seek real enlightenment. For invertebrate humans attracted by falsehood (e.g. gambling at casinos, drug addiction), life will be a regrettable smoke and mirrors experience... depending on the purity of ones quest for enlightenment, results differ but 'all is fair in love and war...'

Hitler was an anti-Semitic nut case from the start and his schemes just got more and more nefarious as both he and the German population mutually deluded themselves . unfortunately, Europe post WW1 was in such turmoil that Germans were hoodwinked into believing that Hitler was their messiah. I don't need to detail the horrors of WW2 but I understand that post WW2: the UN was born (established 24 October 1945, to promote international co-operation.): it took the punishment of WW2 for leaders and citizens to accept the fact that all humans were brothers if not created in the image of God.

 

"And if you read what Christ was saying about the kingdom of god being within man not outside man, and one must seek it in order to be enlightened, then what he was saying is not any different from Buddhism or Hinduism, or Taoism"

I agree... its all about culturing the enlightened mind: all mankind are brothers and made in the image of God, now if only people can abandon their pretences and accept that...

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/40-yard_dash

Does one think the 40 yd dash was per chance?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_"40"_Shebib
Or this dude having the name noah?

Things are starting to fall into place here.

 

I like how you 2 keep referencing older religions to make your case. Like this jewish version isn't the only version one needs to follow.

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When you stop referencing jesus and the bible as the cure all end all, I'm with ya.

 

Spiritual principles are valid no matter what name given to them, just as the laws of physics are valid no matter what language one wants to use to describe them..

 

My 40 oz drink was a little tongue-in-cheek with Margot.

But look thru the scriptures and the use of certain numbers is consistent with the situation going on in the passage....

But I guess 'one' would have to be blind, or..extremely closed-minded & biased not to see that

 

As was mine.
One can find just about anything one wants if the bible. It has many many pages.

 

If that were true and there is no 'divine plan' across the total of scripture, than the number 32 shud be able to be found as meaning something also! Which to my knowledge of scripture doesnt! Only about 15 (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,12,40,50,1000,etc.)numbers actually have consistent meaning thru out the scriptures...but of course, you DONT WANT to see that consistency, as it would discredit your agnostic arguments

 

Boxed thinking is not limited to theists. We all place limits upon our thinking... Knowingly or unknowingly.

 

sorry, first para was 'inside the bubble' woo talk, so of no use to me.

second, I take it this is your way of justifying a god who introduces ebola and childhood cancers, and then lets us kill ourselves with them.

 

If there is such a thing as a lesson at arrogance, one should read the story of HMS Titanic:

Ditto Sewol (negligence in approving boat design), ditto Fukushima nuclear diaster ("The panel concluded that a culture of complacency about nuclear safety and poor crisis management led to the nuclear disaster.")
Sometimes it takes time to be proven wrong, sometimes mistakes are committed on large scale and only after massive disaster (e.g. nazism/ WW2 deaths etc) will men gather together (form UN) to see how things can be better managed for better outcomes than settling through waging war (= enlightenment).

Oftentimes, there is no error in the values propounded by the bible (pls do not bring up 'straw men fallacy' Old testament issues in today's context as they were written for ancient communities) e.g. the collection of indulgences by Catholic Church that Martin Luther objected to the error was totally human as priest found that an illiterate parishioners could easily be swindled by false theology and proceeded to do just that; staining the reputation of the church and diluting their own faith in the process.
For this and perhaps other reasons (molesting kids etc), the credibility of the catholic church was lost and through the process of democratisation, protestantism was born...
Devil is in the details, whilst u claim to be ex-Christian, U seem to lack both interest in bible reading and the commitment to serving the good of creation as the motive for reading the bible. If U insist on deluding yourself with such flimsy excuses that the bible is false then I cannot help but conclude that U were probably just a fashion trend Christian to begin with; one decidedly 'Christian' simply because amongst all other choices, U happened to tick the religion = 'Christianity' box.

 

teaching children to believe in Santa can improve their reasoning skills

 

Sounds like a false narrative.

I grew up with Santa in a Christian-based household. It didnt 'scar' me but as I raised my children w/o Santa as I was ambivalent in the process---the historical St. Nikolaus giving gifts in the spirit of the birth of Jesus, vs. being scripturally correct as "the reason for the season.'

Both my kids (now adults w/children) have raised their kids w/o Santa other than the 'spirit' of giving. It's merely a 'metaphor' for the little ones who dont understand...

 

I think it is a good experience for a child to learn to seek the truth on their own - without Santa, there would be no Christmas

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Jesus helped everyone who sought His help: that I'm sure. Jesus is God incarnate: He really doesn't have to bother with humans (created out of dust) if He couldn't care less: but He decided that the inconvenience if not pain was worth it: and died on the cross as a sacrifice for human sin (for those who appreciate his sacrifice that is): I dare say from my limited experience, Jesus denied help to nobody and even went further to benefit society by teaching good values such as care for the poor (whom one should treat as a brother (good samaritan story)) as well as treating others well as one treats oneself. In so far that Jesus Christ delivered upon His promises, far from being a con-man is He.

Jesus taught in parables (a type of analogy) because He needed to transmit a large number of moral teachings/ lessons before his ultimate sacrifice. If given the luxury of time like a parent has with a growing child: of course u could well await the situation before using the immediate situation as a teaching occasion. According to wikipedia, the number of parables Jesus Christ taught totaled 37. The use of parables just served to make the lesson clearer if not more enduring and brings life to the moral lesson through realistic examples. Unfortunately, to those with thick skulls and a sclerotic heart, these parables must have sounded like bed time stories... thus earning these wayward men a failed lesson at life.

:
as the rest of your statements are defamatory if not just unsubstantiated, I feel no compulsion to waste my time responding to them.

 

republicans sure missed that message

"Jesus denied help to nobody and even went further to benefit society by teaching good values such as care for the poor"

somehow they heard they must worship the rich.... and attack the poor

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I will admit that charity for those who couldnt help themselves is different that enabling those who can....which is the current admin's policy.

 

not hardly, as an example, we should be helping our children afford college, not profiting off their desire to learn as republicans want to do

 

U do mean "One can find just about anything one wants if in the bible" right?


Yes if U read it out of context, no if U don't.

PS, I can say that the residential phone book justifies terrorism just by rearranging the letters of people's names and addresses to form a new sentence stating to the effect that 'terrorism was good', but surely such logic is inadmissible!

Likewise, only in the delusionally perverse mind does the bible ever encourage evil; oh sorry, correction, actually humans are by nature fallen (/evil): thus by default, unless effortfully humble + compassionate, chances are high that they will use the bible to deceive others for personal gain.

 

except you actually can find quotes to back up slavery, rape, ect... in the bible... no need to jumble the letters to find them

 

I couldnt afford college but took advantage of the opportunity of being a GI and providing service to my country.

 

good for you, many go that route, not everyone is cut out for the life of a GI though

I do think we need to do more for those that are in active duty though... and they should not have to depend on donations to support their medical bills and treatment when they get back

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Whether mil service or civilian service in such as the Peace Corp. serving one's country as opposed to tearing it down over an ideology, is quite a bit different!

 

don't disagree with that, I do not support the people trying to tear down this county, be it to make the President look bad or because they feel unfairly treated, work to make things better, it's the tough fight, but in the long run... worth it