tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23830899.post4167002619430854133..comments2024-03-27T12:58:00.592-07:00Comments on Snowbrush: Who would Jesus tow?Snowbrushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00436087215476479042noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23830899.post-2408542285618038142015-05-21T07:31:51.348-07:002015-05-21T07:31:51.348-07:00Another excellent post. I am not ignoring you... I...Another excellent post. I am not ignoring you... I just have nothing to add to the conversation. Looks like you have it all covered.<br />I will ask if you have ever studied Justinian and Theodora. You might find them a bit interesting.possumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03912443125826672230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23830899.post-90781086857735784152015-05-21T04:06:59.201-07:002015-05-21T04:06:59.201-07:00snow,
i have read this post a number of times and ...snow,<br />i have read this post a number of times and i am repeating myself but i must say again that the majority of "Christians" seem to be missing the point rather badlykyliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08964475783207438103noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23830899.post-23599197279668088252015-05-20T19:30:31.915-07:002015-05-20T19:30:31.915-07:00Two terms come to mind: brainwash and culture rape...Two terms come to mind: brainwash and culture rape. Ignorance MUST be bliss; that's my conclusion.Caddiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07575600935524610154noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23830899.post-73906898413071842342015-05-20T11:56:11.319-07:002015-05-20T11:56:11.319-07:00I just changed the name of this post and added thr...I just changed the name of this post and added three short paragraphs following paragraph four.Snowbrushhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00436087215476479042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23830899.post-46139423355233050872015-05-19T09:35:35.456-07:002015-05-19T09:35:35.456-07:00“I read your post above.”
You sure know how to ge...“I read your post above.”<br /><br />You sure know how to get on my good side. I suspect that I have very few readers who read my longer posts all the way through, partly because they are long, and partly because a great many of my readers just aren’t that interested in religion or atheism, which are subjects that have come to dominate my blog.<br /><br />“Huge problems within the Christian faith, and what I would call the most "acceptable" form of idolatry”<br /><br />Such people largely control the political dialogue when it comes to its religious aspects. I left Mississippi for Oregon 29-years ago, but I still keep up with what’s going, and it’s apparent to me that the religious climate is more in-your-face in the South than it was during my 37-years there. I suspect that this aggressiveness is in response to the ever growing number of secularists. Ironically, it seems to be breeding more people who, whatever they think about God, think very poorly of Christianity, and the Republican Party with which its dominant face is allied. To people like me, this is encouraging. To believers—like you, I assume—probably not so much. I keep wondering when the backlash will come from those Christians who resent the fact that their religion is being portrayed in such an unflattering—and undeserving—way. This alliance of God and country necessarily excludes everyone who doesn’t think a certain and that includes many believers as well as nonbelievers.<br /><br />I hope you will come again.Snowbrushhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00436087215476479042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23830899.post-28936175562714075052015-05-18T17:06:51.045-07:002015-05-18T17:06:51.045-07:00Snowbrush, I just left a comment to yours over at ...Snowbrush, I just left a comment to yours over at internetmonk. <br /><br />I read your post above. I agree with your take on patriotism and American exceptionalism. Huge problems within the Christian faith, and what I would call the most "acceptable" form of idolatry---but idolatry it is nevertheless and most people are blind to it. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23830899.post-310519671314120532015-05-18T12:47:41.365-07:002015-05-18T12:47:41.365-07:00"It may as well still be in Latin, for all th..."It may as well still be in Latin, for all that people are actually paying attention to the words."<br /><br />Good point. My childhood church studied the Bible assiduously, and our motto was, “We speak where the Bible speaks, and are silent where the Bible is silent,” but all any of this really meant was: literalism, hellfire, and almost nothing about love. The same is universally true of fundamentalism. <br /><br />Nobody really knows what Jesus said, because (assuming he lived) he had been dead for decades before the gospels were written. Their late arrival can seen in the fact that much of what was important to their writers wasn’t important in Jesus’ time. For instance, you might assume from the gospels that the Pharisees were the most powerful group in Judaism because they were Jesus’ primary critics, but they were only a minor force in the Judaism of Jesus’ time, although they became very important years later on when they did indeed represent the primary enemy of the religion that he founded.. Also, the content of Jesus’ message changed in important ways between the time of the first gospel and the last one, especially in terms of his proclamations of himself as the Messiah and the amount of time that he spent talking about hell.Snowbrushhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00436087215476479042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23830899.post-28877146158733468732015-05-18T12:10:31.863-07:002015-05-18T12:10:31.863-07:00It's interesting that having a variety of tran...It's interesting that having a variety of translations of the Bible in English available to all and sundry does not help the average Christian in his/her understanding of what the actual text says. It may as well still be in Latin, for all that people are actually paying attention to the words. Sparkling Redhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12799366562472325812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23830899.post-52273935195950743862015-05-18T10:32:13.418-07:002015-05-18T10:32:13.418-07:00“please read the two most recent posts,”
I read, ...“please read the two most recent posts,”<br /><br />I read, enjoyed, and commented on both. I’m like leprosy to blogging preachers, so this discourages me from visiting them, but you recommended this blog, and it is a good one. Here are my responses. I include them because they are relevant to this post.<br /><br />(1) “Rhymes with Plague" referred me to this post because it's much like my last one if you can except the fact that I’m coming from an atheist perspective. Unlike you, though, I’m a determinist, so I have no thought that anything I say is going to influence anyone in the slightest by that person’s choice. I know I could no more choose to be a supernaturalist than I could choose to be gay, and I think this is probably true of everyone who accepts any form of religion. Whether it’s religion or atheism, people come to it when they’re “ready.”<br /><br />I’ve read Spong, and am now onto Robison’s “Honest to God,” but it’s very hard for me to find the difference between non-theistic Christians and atheists. They insist they’re not atheists, but then so do pantheists. If making religion a purely subjective matter isn’t atheism, it’s the next thing to it. It hardly seems like the kind of belief that a person would die for, but then again, he wouldn’t kill for it either, so that’s something to be grateful for. It’s a heck of a commentary that people who worship the various “Gods of love” are the world’s preeminent killers.<br /><br />(2) If Pew is going to include atheists and agnostics in their study of "fertile faith," why not include the unaffiliated, which constitutes 22.8% of the population? Who are these people and instead of pandering exclusively to evangelicals, might not politicians devote some of their butt-licking to them? Here’s a good CBS link that will includes another Pew link: http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/nerdscreen-rise-religiously-unaffiliated-n360216Snowbrushhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00436087215476479042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23830899.post-13696225548164247782015-05-18T10:31:47.056-07:002015-05-18T10:31:47.056-07:00“As I see it, religions are all based on lies and ...“As I see it, religions are all based on lies and mistruths, created to manipulate people and exorcize control over them.”<br /><br />I would distinguish between organized religion and the religious impulse. The latter is very strong within me, but my atheism makes me unwelcome in church where towing the party-line is non-negotiable. Ironically, I would be very comfortable among the liberal theologians who are members of the very churches in which I’m not welcome. People will shun me, but then pay $20 or more to go listen to them, although I’m saying the same things they are.<br /><br />“The only authentic spirituality I see is in nature.<br /><br />I love and need time in nature, but I never forget that the friendly face I see there is dependent upon having a warm bed and cooler full of food.<br /><br />“Our current Prime Minister leans heavily towards 'American Christianity' though he calls it Australian values.”<br /><br />Here, it’s called American values, clearly implying that if you’re not a conservative Christian, you’re at best a marginal American, and that you need to remain silent when that version of Christianity is being pushed in your face.<br /><br />“I well remember some of the martial hymns we sung when I was a kid, such as Onward Christian Soldier.”<br /><br />There was a lot of marching imagery for sure.<br /><br />“America, but not all Americans, is far more 'religious' than the UK. Very scary I think.”<br /><br />Yes, but the ranks of the unaffiliated have risen from 16.1% to 22.8% in the last eight years (http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/nerdscreen-rise-religiously-unaffiliated-n360216). America looks more religious now that at any time in my life, but this is largely due to evangelical aggressiveness, Congressional Republican support for religion, and a Catholic-controlled Supreme Court advocacy of religion. The fact is that nothing they can do will matter unless they can turn their numbers around. As I reflect upon why they’re losing ground, I can but think that Moslem violence is creating bad PR for all religions. The funny thing is that we keep pretending that Islam is a “religion of peace.” Even the prosecutor in the Boston bombing trail said that that attack had nothing to do with Islam, no matter that millions of Moslems disagree.Snowbrushhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00436087215476479042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23830899.post-90385968672945693022015-05-17T05:19:10.339-07:002015-05-17T05:19:10.339-07:00America, but not all Americans, is far more 'r...America, but not all Americans, is far more 'religious' than the UK. Very scary I think.<br /><br />Religion has caused more deaths than the plague, Spanish 'flu, cancer and all other ills. However, this sad world will never be free from the grip of religion, unless and until the human race is no more. <br /><br />As long as humans inhabit this planet some nutcase will create a new religion. S/he will have followers and believers in the creed, maybe only a few dozen or a few billion, but followers will submit to the doctrine.<br /><br />I believe there IS a god. This god gives us life, food and warmth. The SUN is the only god that matters on this earth. <br /><br />All others gods are bull-crap! Amen.PhilipHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06811831703263176415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23830899.post-24041822223366467532015-05-17T05:08:27.769-07:002015-05-17T05:08:27.769-07:00Snow, I regularly read a blog called "Interne...Snow, I regularly read a blog called "Internet Monk: Dispatches from the Post-Evangelical Wilderness" which was started several years back by Michael Spencer, a Baptist who is now deceased; it has continued under the leadership of an ex-evangelical turned Lutheran. <br /><br />Anyhoo, please read the two most recent posts, one some words from Michael himself, and the other the latest of the regular feature Saturday Ramblings.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/56621" rel="nofollow">Sundays With Michael Spencer: May 17, 2015"</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/saturday-ramblings-may-16-2015" rel="nofollow">Saturday Ramblings, May 16, 2015</a><br /><br /><br />You may discover we are not so far apart as you seem to think. The major difference is I am a believer and you are not, but we both put our pants on the same way, one leg at a time. What we are is human -- that is, opinionated, confused, often wrong, hopefully forgiving of others.rhymeswithplaguehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10870439618129001633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23830899.post-65195152911912411672015-05-16T13:24:21.418-07:002015-05-16T13:24:21.418-07:00I well remember some of the martial hymns we sung ...I well remember some of the martial hymns we sung when I was a kid, such as Onward Christian Soldier.Charles Gramlichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02052592247572253641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23830899.post-51090242620200510522015-05-16T13:23:59.557-07:002015-05-16T13:23:59.557-07:00Our current Prime Minister leans heavily towards &...Our current Prime Minister leans heavily towards 'American Christianity' though he calls it Australian values.<br />He is gung-ho about war, while deploring it. Loves trickle down economics though isn't fond of the trickled down apon. And is quick to put Christianity into our schools at every opportunity. All of which I find distressing and frightening.Elephant's Childhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06650565833097914052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23830899.post-26030532071885174432015-05-16T11:10:27.175-07:002015-05-16T11:10:27.175-07:00As I see it, religions are all based on lies and m...As I see it, religions are all based on lies and mistruths, created to manipulate people and exorcize control over them. The only authentic spirituality I see is in nature. I no longer look to religions for anything positive, but I am curious what Pope Francis will say to our Republican controlled Congress later this year. He is not in lockstep with the Republican war on the poor. Take care, and see you in three weeks when I return from vacation. stephen Hayeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17659054447637207734noreply@blogger.com