The Bible and Love and Christians

[CensoredAlso]

I don't want to reformat this thread, but I don't think the topic is really the issue. This isn't the first time we've done this dance before so it must be a personality clash.

Maybe we should cool down in responding to one another for a little while

Totally fine and I agree. Thank you. Overall I do realize the importance of this thread and support its message against prejudice and bullying. Personality clashes just prove that we're all human.

 

[beaker]

I did not know Heralde was a Catholic...that actually makes a lot of sense now. Please don't be offended Heralde by this thread. I've found most Catholics I've met to be vastly more open minded/progressive/well read than a lot of evangelical/megachurch/reformation split Christians. Some of the biggest supporters of peace in the Nixon era were Catholics across the boards. I've found Catholics to be more spiritual and more read up on other beliefs and religions. I'm not trying to put down non Catholic Christians in America, but there is a perception that there is a removal between a lot of American Christianity and it's more classical roots.

It is absolutely unfair I feel to ask a Catholic to budge on the choice issue, because
the sanctity of life and the soul is a central tenet at the core of Catholic beliefs.
I did not know Heralde was a woman; as again I've found Catholic women to feel a more special bond within the throws of Catholicism than others may find.

D'Snowth mentioned that he was surprised there hadnt been a flame war...it is important for everyone to believe what they want and follow that tradition.The world would be quite boring if there were no religions or just one unified religion.

 

[frogboy4]

D'Snowth mentioned that he was surprised there hadnt been a flame war...it is important for everyone to believe what they want and follow that tradition.The world would be quite boring if there were no religions or just one unified religion.

Agreed. It took me a while to discover Heralde was a woman too!

Our clashes are usually ones of personality rather than content and we've recently tried to iron that out. I do think more of us should at least start posting our first names to help remedy that sort of situation and clarify who we are. The nicknames get kind of strange after a while. That's also why I've been using a legit picture.

I'm still not so keen on this Trevor Project inspired thread moving into areas of other tangents such as abortion and war. There's nothing wrong with those subject or mentioning them here, but I don't feel they should be dominating the discussion quite so much in this thread.

Gay kids were killing themselves on an almost weekly basis at the beginning of this thread and I'd like to see this particular area continue to be a safe place for MC's LGBT members.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I did not know Heralde was a Catholic...that actually makes a lot of sense now. Please don't be offended Heralde by this thread.

It's all good, I just wanted to be heard and now I was so it's cool, lol.

I've found Catholics to be more spiritual and more read up on other beliefs and religions. I'm not trying to put down non Catholic Christians in America, but there is a perception that there is a removal between a lot of American Christianity and it's more classical roots.

Well I think there's a tradition of education in the Catholic Church. Not that there's no education in other denomations, but the Catholic Church is generally more open to ideas not found in the Bible, and analyzing the scriptures even if certain things are then proven wrong (like evolution). Whereas other denominations, as I understand it, prefer to follow the Bible first and foremost. And that's their right of course. But I think that is a difference that often pops up.

Just to tie this back to the thread topic, I do think it's entirely possible that the mention of homosexuality in Leviticus was more an issue of health concerns at the time, rather than morality. So many other rules mentioned in that same section are clearly about health issues, so I think this could be a valid interpretation. I mean, I don't know, I'm not an expert, and I wasn't there, lol. Just saying it is possible.

It is absolutely unfair I feel to ask a Catholic to budge on the choice issue, because the sanctity of life and the soul is a central tenet at the core of Catholic beliefs.

Like I said, I misunderstood the post when I brought that up again. But thank you for saying that, I really appreciate it.

I've found Catholic women to feel a more special bond within the throws of Catholicism than others may find.

Oh yeah I mean in many ways women are highly regarded in the faith. It really comes down to this one issue of priesthood that's really setting them back in this day and age.

D'Snowth mentioned that he was surprised there hadnt been a flame war...it is important for everyone to believe what they want and follow that tradition.The world would be quite boring if there were no religions or just one unified religion.

Very true, despite what John Lennon said (love ya though John! Lol). If nothing else, religions, all of them, have helped create some amazing art work in history!

 

[Drtooth]

Agreed. It took me a while to discover Heralde was a woman too!

Our clashes are usually ones of personality rather than content and we've recently tried to iron that out. I do think more of us should at least start posting our first names to help remedy that sort of situation and clarify who we are. The nicknames get kind of strange after a while. That's also why I've been using a legit picture.

I'm still not so keen on this Trevor Project inspired thread moving into areas of other tangents such as abortion and war. There's nothing wrong with those subject or mentioning them here, but I don't feel they should be dominating the discussion quite so much in this thread.

Gay kids were killing themselves on an almost weekly basis at the beginning of this thread and I'd like to see this particular area continue to be a safe place for MC's LGBT members.

I hate to break the thread, but skimming through this confused me....

When the heck did you add Mokey, Jim Henson and Boober?! AWSOME!!!

 

[CensoredAlso]

When the heck did you add Mokey, Jim Henson and Boober?! AWSOME!!!

Oh yeah I noticed that too, lol.

 

[frogboy4]

I hate to break the thread, but skimming through this confused me....

When the heck did you add Mokey, Jim Henson and Boober?! AWSOME!!!

They're still unofficial.

I'm just trying them out for a spin.

I might actually make a reserve of ones just for me. I mean, they're really just image embeds.

Not sure if they'll use any or all of them or what Jim would be chosen if they do. I like the rainbow one,

but it does come off as both gay flag and Noah's ark all at the same time. I guess that alone ties into this thread.

I've just been using them in recent posts to see how they integrate into the conversation.

 

[Drtooth]

Okay, here's what I was gonna say. Long story short, EVERYONE hates each other. Everyone's angry at the wrong people, everyone's polarized and galvanized and no one's gonna be happy until they take down the other side as angrily as possible, attack, defense or whatever...

I still feel anti-Christian sentiment came out of Bush being re-elected... at least the stuff I've seen, and again, everyone's just angry at everyone else for the wrong reasons and we're not looking at the big picture of why we're so angry at each other. And NO ONE is above this

Politically, we're just bitterly polarized on the issues, and we'll never see eye to eye until something disastrous happens. Part of it is just party politics standbys, a LOT of it is overpaid yakkers because we're officially too lazy as a country to make our own opinions, and we (generally) like to have the prepackaged convenience opinion like it's food at a super market. And what do we get? people big on answers, but short on solutions. And compromise has become the dirtiest word in the English language.

Somehow, somewhere (not naming names) combined politics and religion so it's a disgusting amorphous blob, and that causes people who disagree with a political party to blame a religion or lack there of for it.

Historically, a lot of terrible stuff was done in the name of religion, a lot of terrible stuff was done against religion... what does this tell us? People did crap in history and used any excuse to justify it. Why can't we just hate the people that want us against each other in the first place and let us just try to not get upset when we disagree?

 

[frogboy4]

Okay, here's what I was gonna say. Long story short, EVERYONE hates each other. Everyone's angry at the wrong people, everyone's polarized and galvanized and no one's gonna be happy until they take down the other side as angrily as possible, attack, defense or whatever...

I still feel anti-Christian sentiment came out of Bush being re-elected... at least the stuff I've seen, and again, everyone's just angry at everyone else for the wrong reasons and we're not looking at the big picture of why we're so angry at each other. And NO ONE is above this

Politically, we're just bitterly polarized on the issues, and we'll never see eye to eye until something disastrous happens. Part of it is just party politics standbys, a LOT of it is overpaid yakkers because we're officially too lazy as a country to make our own opinions, and we (generally) like to have the prepackaged convenience opinion like it's food at a super market. And what do we get? people big on answers, but short on solutions. And compromise has become the dirtiest word in the English language.

Somehow, somewhere (not naming names) combined politics and religion so it's a disgusting amorphous blob, and that causes people who disagree with a political party to blame a religion or lack there of for it.

Historically, a lot of terrible stuff was done in the name of religion, a lot of terrible stuff was done against religion... what does this tell us? People did crap in history and used any excuse to justify it. Why can't we just hate the people that want us against each other in the first place and let us just try to not get upset when we disagree?

Completely agreed. The last President used his faith as an argument to not only deny civil rights, but to cut essential services to the LGBT community along with those that aided HIV positive people to retain employment so that they could live independently and afford their medication. Many of these funds were reallocated to "faith-based" initiatives that serve up a helping of Bible study along with any degree of help they provide. People in dire straights shouldn't have to suffer through that in order to receive essential services. This shift hurt real flesh and blood people and was done in the name of Bush's misguided evangelism.

Let's face it. Much worse things than this happen in other countries fueled by other religious idealism. It's terrible! I live in America. This is where I can make a difference...or at least where I should make that difference first by clearing the brush in my own back yard.

I am concerned about the barbaric homophobic practices in other countries, but I'm going to primarily focus on the oppressed people here first. Much of that oppression is coming from a very strong, popular wing of the Christian conservative platform. I can do more in my own community to prevent suicides and loss of essential services than I can about someone being attacked half-way around the world. It doesn't make that less important or less tragic. We do what we can where we are.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I still feel anti-Christian sentiment came out of Bush being re-elected...

I agree, because I remember that feeling being around in college. Bush made religion such a big part of his platform that people starting connecting the two, even in bad ways. I don't blame people for that to be honest, because it was hypocritical of him to say the least!

And let's face it, it wasn't really about his faith, it was about him getting the votes of that group.