Most US Christians Heretics, Evangelicals Hereticalest

Phat writes:

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Agree, but God never makes anyone do anything.

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Except for Pharaoh, who has his heart hardened by god so that the Hebrews are not let go so that god can then justify his increasingly violent attacks upon the Egyptians leading to genocide of the innocent.

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We can freely choose to fail and end up damned. Why on earth would anyone want to fail, however?

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Because the guidance on "How Not to Fail" is clearly insufficient and thus there is no way to know how not to fail?After all, the Bible starts off with this precise problem: Adam and Eve are innocent and do not know good and evil. And yet, they are told, "Don't touch," regarding the Tree of Knowledge with god directly lying to them in his attempt to get them not to touch it (leaving us to wonder why he put the Tree there in the first place). The serpent then comes along and tells them that god is lying (which he is). So when Eve eats of the Tree and finds out that god lied to her, how is that "failing"? How on earth could she have possibly known? She was innocent and did not know good and evil. It's not that she was stupid. It's that she had no idea what good and evil were since she hadn't eaten of the Tree yet and when faced with a choice between god and the serpent, she was incapable of determining which one to pay attention to.Beetaratagang or clerendipity? One will open the gates of heaven to you while the other will damn you eternally. Which do you choose? Come on...you're not stupid. Why do you hesitate? Make your choice. Do you want to fail?The "How Not to Fail" book is filled with contradictions and makes claims about what is supposed to be good and evil that are clearly wrong. So exactly how is one expected to not fail given absolutely no effective guidance on the subject?

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Not in Spanish speaking countries. The week starts on Monday and ends on Sunday.

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Interestingly, among the Spanish folk (native Texans, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, etc.) I have talked to (I have talked to as many of them as I have talked to non-Hispanic whites), they (if not devout Catholics) commonly are amazed that their word for Saturday is Sabado (sp? or Sabato or something like it), yet worship is on Sunday (Culto Domingo or something). They aren't 7th day Adventists, but they see it as really fishy. They are familiar with the Council of Nicaea in large numbers. (especially after the Da Vinci Code but also before). They are the ones that bring it up (always) as I never really cared about the issue (much).The issue I most talk about (James the brother of Jesus) was one that caused me to notice that he isn't "James" in any language other than English (?). He is Hacobo (sp?) as in English Jacob in Spanish. Our early conversations on "James" caused people to respond (after my rant), "o.k. but isn't the name of Jesus' brother name "Jacob"?It is helpful to talk to those who aren't part of the English orbit.Even more helpful to talk to those outside of the western orbit.The idea that the views of Arius (or other non Orthodox views of Jesus and God) weren't part of any tradition is a joke (as the OP's link says). Didn't Persian missionaries convert the Goths to Arian like views (I'm not sure)? The Arian Goths held Rome till Justinian wiped them out around 530-540 A.D. ?

No surprise as evidenced by the Barna Group a few decades prior: http://dwise1.net/religion/survey.html

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SURVEY: Americans believe all people worship same God, poll shows
The Associated Press
The Orange County Register, Saturday, 07 September 1991:

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NEW YORK - Most Americans think there is no such thing as absolute truth and believe that people of different religions all worship the same God, a new survey says.

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George Barna, whose Barna Research Group of Glendale conducted the survey, has produced a book from it called "What Americans Believe." His findings show an interest in religion. However, "If there is a revival going on," it "must be viewed as a religious revival, not a Christian revival."

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Barna, a marketing research professional who has done work for Billy Graham and Pat Robertson, says a "massive realignment of thinking is taking place in which people are transferring many elements formerly deemed `necessary' into the realm of the `optional,' " such as Bible reading, prayer and involvement in church.

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While most say religion is important to them, they're increasingly likely "to feel that being part of a local church is not a necessity," the findings say. Traditional Christian beliefs are eroding, too."

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For instance, the report says, 82 percent of adults think that "God helps those who help themselves," and 56 percent mistakenly think the idea is from the Bible.

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Actually, the saying is attributed to Benjamin Franklin. The report says it runs counter to Christian teaching that people cannot attain wholeness by their own deeds, but only through God's forgiveness of their failings.

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The self-sufficiency streak also shows up in a finding that 82 percent of adults think that "every person has the power to determine his or her own destiny in life."

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In a similarly amalgamating way, 65 percent of Americans say Christians, Jews, Muslims and Buddhists "pray to the same God," although by different names.

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The survey involved telephone interviews with a representative 1,005 US adults on about 60 questions covering a broad range of topics. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

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Saying that Buddhists pray to the same God as Christians is the clincher, since Buddha taught against believing in the gods.Edited by dwise1, : quote

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_the_days_of_the_week.Read and enjoy.The Wikipedia article lists the names of the days of the week in many languages, which link to articles explaining where the name came from. It also describes the numbering of the days in the week, which varies according to language.A number of European languages derived the name for Saturday from the Greek word for "Sabbath". In addition, Romance languages tend to derive the name of Sunday from "The Lord's Day" while also naming Saturday after the Sabbath. Though Scandinavian languages call Saturday "Bath Day"; bathe once a week whether you need it or not.Edited by dwise1, : explanation

Not sure where would get this idea from. James in spanish is Diego. From which we get Santiago.
How Is Diego the Spanish Name for James?

Or Jaime.

Word I have is that the Latin form of "James" is "Jacobus." That is why the popular Scottish uprisings to restore King James II and his heirs to the English throne (ending with Bonnie Prince Charlie at the Battle of Culloden, 1746) were called Jacobite.Edited by dwise1, : Battle of Culloden

I don't think this is an anglophone thing. The week starts on Monday where I grew up (England). And as there was some discussion of the names for days of the week, the names for Thursday and Friday in Czech (and in many other west Slavic languages) are derived from the words for '4th' and '5th'. The word for Saturday ('sobota') does indeed come from Sabbath, but the word for Sunday ('nedele') is derived from 'do nothing' - the day of rest.Either way, the day on which the week starts is clearly a minor matter of detail. Phat merely said that people reading with the Holy Spirit would interpet the Bible 'largely the same'. Disagreeing with someone on days of the week does not preclude having largely the same ideas on religion, so this whole conversation is somewhat irrelevant.

Yes, but the Spanish is Diego

Yes. It is related to Diego.

[quote] The issue I most talk about (James the brother of Jesus) was one that caused me to notice that he isn't "James" in any language other than English (?). He is Hacobo (sp?) as in English Jacob in Spanish. Our early conversations on "James" caused people to respond (after my rant), "o.k. but isn't the name of Jesus' brother name "Jacob"? [quote]

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Not sure where would get this idea from. James in spanish is Diego. From which we get Santiago.
How Is Diego the Spanish Name for James?

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I'm from New York so I got that part conflated/confused with other conversations with endless other people of foreign origin.Thanks for the information.I have good conversations here in nebraska too.I just had a talk with a Yazidi friend here in Nebraska, and I was attempting to explain reincarnation to him. We were having difficulty communicating. He knew Arabic as a second language much much better than he knew English. I didn't know too many Arabic words (though he thought I knew them pretty good as many easterners have told me). It ended up that he overheard me saying (in English to somebody else) "he doesn't know what reincarnation means". He responded "I know what reincarnation means" in perfect English. He heard my explanation and understood it, infact his religion believes in it.I struggled to explain the "wise men" of Matthew 2 to him. We couldn't communicate in words we each knew. I kept trying to speak Arabic (which I know little of)but everything came out as Hebrew (he doesn't undertand Hebrew at all amazingly, while I seem to be able to speak it somewhat well). (He knows about the Magi an Zoroastrians very well)I talk to many people.