Politcally Correct Christ

You follow the Rosh Hoshana law while you are sleeping? Interesting. This is exactly the kind of inconsistency you, Faith, and Robin claim to find so annoying about Jar.You New Age sentimentalists you..Edited by Archer Opterix, : No reason given.

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ArcherAll species are transitional.

iano Could you elaborate on the reasoning behind this? It strikes me that if you establish enough rules then it is impossible to avoid obeying all of them. How does this work to convince a thinking person of their being "worthless sinners" and not just being the humans we are?

Jesus did us a favour by summing it all up for us in two commandments. Only two - but impossible to follow. Sure we couldn't even follow one of the two I am making the point that I cannot obey all the law all the time - I sin in other words. Somedays more than others - some days I set personal bests for level of sinfulness. What inconsistancy are you talking about?

You have it. You had the law which said "Thou shall not commit adultery" So folk go around keeping their hands of their neighbours wives. Then Jesus comes and says that if you so much as lust after a woman you have committed adultery with her. Lets see you keep all those balls up in the air!How people get a fluffy eyed view of Jesus I fail to understand... Firstly it doesn't happen in a persons thinking - it happens in their heart. In their heart of hearts. The Holy Spirit uses the fact of a persons lawbreaking to convince them they are law breakers - they don't have to associate their law breaking with God at the outset or even close to salvation. They just need to be convinced they are bad. And the more laws you have the more you can be convicted of breaking. That was the genius of "love your neighbour". In reducing it down to such concentrated form, Jesus expanded it to cover every area of our lives - much more than adding millions of individual do's and don't to cover all bases. Love your neighbour covers a multitude of basesThe person who think's "I'm just human" is simply not so far along the path of being convinced as the person who is becoming convinced of their badness. This might be because God has not applied enough conviction to them or it could be that he has applied alot but the truths he is revealing have been rejected. Who knows which one it is?

I'm talking about interpretation of scripture, not how somebody behaves.

Behavior is interpretation. Life is performance art.But why do you care? You're a nihilist, remember?Do you know how laughable it is for a self-proclaimed nihilist to keep getting huffy about 'correct interpretation of scripture'?Nihilism says no correct interpretation exists. How could it? There is no message. No meaning exists to discern. Every view has an equal claim because all points of view are meaningless anyway. All is absurd.So why do you keep acting like a fundie? Real nihilists act like nihilists. Anyone who is really in on the cosmic joke will get the punch line.Relax. Enjoy the chaos.

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ArcherAll species are transitional.

I wish people would stop telling me what I'm supposed to not care about or what I'm not supposed to be interested in. I have various interests. A nihilist doesn't sit around all day thinking of ultimates, any more than anyone else. By "correct," I mean merely what the authors of the Bible had in mind. I've explained above why the PC version irritates me.

The thing about Lewis is that his apologetics are extremely childish, he doesn't really get into the real issues.There is a certain type of Christian who think that Lewis is the apologist supreme, but this is because their minds are also very childish so Lewis' work appeals to them. the trilemma that you mention is only one of a few poorly thought out arguments by Lewis. I started ot read The Chronicles of Narnia, and the analogies are so excrutiatingly obvious that I couldn't stop rolling my eyes. I know it was written for children but it's a pretty pathetic collection of stories.There are others in the same position, but not quite as eloquent as Lewis. Josh McDowelkl for example is an utter ballon, his apologetics are for ten year olds. Strobel is the same, he allegedly set out to disprove Christ and ended up becoming a believer! Well, given the level of critical scholarship he presents in his books it is no surprise he became a Christian, it's easy money.Brian.Brian.

Have you read any apologists who in any way challenged you? I think that there was one who was once a lawyer...I forget his name...was it Greenleaf or something? As far as convincing someone, sometimes I think that the best apologists speak from the heart rather than from the mind.Of course....given that I have no mind, its easy for me to say!

Newman's "Grammar of Assent" is perhaps more adult fare.

Interesting, Robin. I read this page from that author. The ideas are still digesting. Edited by Phat, : oops I did it again

I've tried to explain to you before: if the Bible was "inspired", what the authors had in mind is irrelevant, because the interpretation(s) can be equally inpired. And if it was not inspired, what they had in mind is relevant only in a cultural/historic sense, not a religious/moral sense. If you're going to run around in a cape shouting, "I'm Nihilist-Man!", don't be surprized if people don't dote on your wishes.

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from this it follows that you should reduce your views on the existance of god or the afterlife to speculation aswell. since "no eye has seen"

But the thing with calling an intepretation fraudulent suggests that you have proof that they are fraudulent, which you don't.Do you honestly think if the church fathers took the bible as literally as Faith or Ian does that there would be such a thing as Christianty?There wouldn't be. The Bible has to be interpreted becaus eit is ludicrous to take it at face value. All you can do is go with the interpretation that you feel is the correct one and hope for the best.I think the sooner everyone realises that the Bible, the Qur'an, or any other religious hocus pocus collection of texts are just little stories, then the safer the world will be for us sane people.Brian.

Make up your mind Ian!Didn't you sayYou are instructed, by someone who says he is God, to do these things and he has made it crystal clear what will happen to anyone who does not do what these commandments demand of them. To hell they shall go.I'll keep you a nice warm seat.Brian.