Pick and Choose Fundamentalism

I have never believed that Genesis was word for word literal. Good point. I don't even try to fulfill all laws...only ones that resonate within my conscience. I suppose in that regard, I am a pick and chooser. If it is midnight, and I am at a traffic light that is red, and no cars are in sight, I may run the light with no pangs of remorse. (treating it as a four way stop)That is picking and choosing my interpretation of that law. Legally, I am wrong. Practically, I followed my conscience. I'm getting better at that! I think that it is human nature to quote mine in order to support a point or line of reasoning. The problem is, as has been mentioned, that none of us have read the entire Bible in an unbiased attempt to understand the cultural context. That's also my interpretation of it. Just because someone writes that God commands them to do thus and such is in no way proof that God was directly involved in the decision at all! And yes, I am interpreting text my own way...I am again picking and choosing. That's just how I roll. I discriminate which literature to quote in any given post because...well...that's how I express myself! Edited by Phat, : spellcheck

Only the very first line:

quote:

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Genesis 1
The Beginning
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

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I believe that the universe, matter, thoughts, chemicals, elements and all other forms of matter and energy did not exist eternally but, rather, were created at some point.To me, it is more logical to believe in an eternally existing Creator rather than the concept of eternally existing matter/energy.As to the characteristics of such a Creator and as to whether this Creator has to be eternal, personal, and friendly (or not) I leave that discussion open as a sub topic.

Yes, I admit that my belief is illogical.Think, however, how illogical eternal matter/energy is when evolved living products of this energy/matter attempt to define their own origin as a non living reality even as we ourselves are living!Thats a bit like putting the cart before the horse!Edited by Phat, : changed title

So say that a human kills Ralph before Ralphs day of salvation/repentance...God would still "foreknow that Ralph would eventually repent had not he been killed by another human. So if God condemns Ralph for not yet repenting (since he was killed beforehand) doesnt that make God a bit stupid or evil?

All I will say is that he hangs out at this forum. We have some interesting debates as well.

What if some ancient historian were teleported to the current century. Furiously chiseling his observations on a stone tablet, perhaps our ancient reporter would record something such as this:And it came to pass that on the eleventh day of the ninth month, the holy martyrs from the kingdom of Egypt captured several of the Great Winged Chariots and rode them through the air and they crashed into the Giant Twin Towers of the Amerikites.
And God spoke to King Bush The Lesser and commanded him to go forth and find the great leader of the Egyptian Martyrs from the kingdom of Arabia.

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And it came to pass that a mighty Army was gathered and sailed forth from the shores of America and the Amerikites were of one mind and heart, for they feared for the safety of their kingdom.

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And Bin Laden, who was the leader of the Martyrs, had journeyed to the land of the Afghan Kingdoms. The people saw his stature and they understood the wrath that the Amerikites had for him, and thus they hid him in the caves of Tora Bora and when the Amerikites rained brimstone down upon him as God had commanded them to do, the Martyrs escaped by night into the land of Pakistan. And Bin Laden was of great height he stood a full 7 cubits high!

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Wherever he went, the people hid him, for they knew that he had stirred up the false gods of the Amerikites and that the Amerikites worshiped created things.

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But King Bush was convinced that he heard from the true God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He told his advisers that it was the people of the moon god that were the true idolators, for surely they wanted to crush the blessings that Jehovah had bestowed upon the Amerikites.

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Meanwhile, the King of Babylon, whose name was Saddam, helped the martyrs and the noble cause of Bin Laden, for he hated the Amerikites and the famines that they had caused his people. He feared no gods except his own advisers, and he purged the men who got too close to his throne.The point of my contrived story, written by our scribe teleported back in time, was that each culture had a view of God and wrote as if God was directly influencing them. In actuality, however...each culture is responsible for the killings, beheadings, rapes, and bombings that they do. We can no more blame God in the story than we can blame Santa Claus (who is not in this particular story )