Featured some of the Old Testament writers believed in multiple Gods, just that Yahweh was the best God.

[AgnosticBoy]

I did not say Lemur was terrible. I said he/she was uneducated in the Bible. This is not a personal attack. We are all uneducated in different areas of life. I am uneducated in Buddhist beliefs; I am uneducated in surgical procedures; I am uneducated in basketball rules. Unless you are God, Himself, there are things you are uneducated in. This isn’t ad hominem, this is fact. I don’t apologize for the truth, but if my tone was offensive please forgive me.

Discussion about rule violations should be done through direct message so it doesn't distract from the topic.

 

[AgnosticBoy]

Anyway, the problem is that teenagers end up believing religion is literal truth. That’s why I think we should basically tell children and the entire congregation— Religion is pretend. It’s story and example.

Prove it. Show me empirical evidence that Christianity is pretend. Prove to me that Abraham did not exist; that Moses did not bow before the burning bush. Prove to me that Jesus was not crucified and resurrected. If you cannot prove your claim I suggest you amend your argument.

In my view, it's a stretch to say that religion or the Bible is pretend. Some parts of the Bible are meant to be taken literally. I'm a non-believer and I take some parts of the Bible to be literal, and I even practice it. The passages in the Bible about love and forgiveness are among my favorites to practice.

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

Bible Gateway passage: Matthew 25 - Living Bible

“The Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2-4 But only five of them were wise enough to fill their lamps with oil, while the other five were foolish and forgot. 5-6 “So, when the bridegroom was delayed, they...

www.biblegateway.com

37 “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Sir, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you anything to drink? 38 Or a stranger, and help you? Or naked, and clothe you? 39 When did we ever see you sick or in prison, and visit you?’

40 “And I, the King, will tell them, ‘When you did it to these my brothers, you were doing it to me!’

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Other versions say “the least of these.”

This is beautiful, and what a standard to aspire to.

In my view, the problem comes when this is linked to heaven and hell.

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

show you are misinterpreting and misapplying scripture

No, I am giving a straight-forward reading of Matthew 25.

In fact, one of my points is that this contradicts other verses in the New Testament.

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

1. John 3:16
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

My list would also include the famous John 3:16.

then I might add —

the loaves and fishes,​

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the woman at the well,​

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the good Samaritan,​

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the part in Paul’s letters which says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.​

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Jesus on the cross saying, “My God, My God, Why Hath Thou Forsaken Me?” This shows that even Jesus himself had doubt.​

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This would be for more mature Christians. And since this would be 6 with John 3:16 added in, I guess I’d leave off the loaves and fishes.

 

[Scooter]

show you are misinterpreting and misapplying scripture

No, I am giving a straight-forward reading of Matthew 25.

In fact, one of my points is that this contradicts other verses in the New Testament.

And those points have been soundly refuted with numerous other scriptures. I find it absolutely hilarious that a nonbeliever, with no Biblical learning wants to argue a basic Biblical doctrine with a practicing believer with two earned Master's degrees in Biblical disciplines. People are free to believer whatsoever they choose to believe. But that does not mean what they believe is right. Salvation by works is a false doctrine no matter who believes it.

So again, in conclusion, we can put to rest the argument that all religion is pretend.

 

[Scooter]

Jesus on the cross saying, “My God, My God, Why Hath Thou Forsaken Me?” This shows that even Jesus himself had doubt.

No, it does not. Jesus is God so He has no doubts about anything. Because our sin that was placed on Christ, for the only time in history, Jesus and the Father were separated. It is sin that separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2). Jesus was suffering in both body and spirit. His cry was fulfillment of Psalms 22:1. Jesus has never had doubts.

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

And those points have been soundly refuted with numerous other scriptures.

So, some verses “refute” other verses. You said it, I didn’t it.

And, this part of Matthew 25 is supposed to be the words of Jesus himself.

Although with the hypothesized “Q source,” the words of Jesus have been through several tellings and re-tellings.

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

Q source - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

“ . . . Q had been hypothesized by 1900, and remains one of the foundations of most modern gospel scholarship. B. H. Streeter formulated a widely accepted view of Q: that it was written in Koine Greek; that most of its contents appear in Matthew, in Luke, or in both; and that Luke better preserves the text's original order than does Matthew. . ”

Wiki refs —

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_source#cite_note-5GIntro-4


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At the end of the day . . . . . the Bible is written by flawed human beings, just like all of us are.

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

I find it absolutely hilarious that a nonbeliever, with no Biblical learning

Oh, I think I have plenty of street cred.

I accepted Jesus into my heart toward the end of age 13. And was a Christian all of age 14 and the first half of age 15.

Starting having doubts about six months before I left, basically because being “filled with the Spirit” didn’t work like this one book said.

And why would God allow a new Christian to get embarrassed in the Super Bowl. An embarrassingly poor performance. I know it seems like a small, petty point. But not when you’re 15.

Secretly reading some of my Mom’s books on “World Religions” in the garage that Summer.

And secretly keeping a journey as I would sit on the floor of my bedroom closet, and I would write and think,and also try to open myself to feel. And I would hide these written pages. [don’t think anyone read it, but it’s better to hide it “in plain view,” like in the back of an old school journal ]