lolgopMay 5, 2023
If your religion won’t let you bake a cake for gay people but will let you choke a starving homeless man to death, your religion is fascism.
Show threadStan R. Mitchell

@lolgop

I mostly agree. It just irks me that soooo many have hijacked the Christian faith.

How about this? We need more Jesus and less rigid, stern, judgmental religion.

More light. Less cruelty.

More love. Less hatred.

May 5, 2023 at 2:38amIceCubesApp
Show threadRonanMay 5, 2023

@stanrmitchell @lolgop Have they hijacked it? Which one is the right one? Any christian I ask will tell me that their version is the correct interpretation. There are of course groups that we can all agree do things that are morally questionable but I'm not clear that anyone has hijacked anything. Is it not all down to personal interpretation of an ancient anachronistic text?

Not trying to start a flame war - asking genuinely as an atheist wanting to build bridges with other viewpoints.

Show threadRonanMay 5, 2023
@stanrmitchell @lolgop I should say btw - definitely up for more light and love, less cruelty and hatred!! With you on that!!!
Show threadStan R. MitchellMay 5, 2023

@ronanchilvers @lolgop

Thank you for your civility. ❤️🙏

I’m much more open on which religion, having had a complicated past with Christianity (and a ten-year dive into Chan Buddhism), before returning to my Christian roots.

I think you can ultimately judge a person by their fruit, as the Bible says. And I would quickly add that the Bible says that many “who drove out demons” in God’s name and were religious will be told at the end, “I never knew you.”

Show threadLillyLyle/Count MelancholiaMay 26, 2023
@stanrmitchell @ronanchilvers @lolgop The whole concept of "gods" is primitive and silly. Don't at me, I can't be arsed discussing with people who believe in fairy tales.
Show threadRonanMay 26, 2023
@LillyHerself @stanrmitchell @lolgop don't understand - if you can't be arsed why go to the trouble of writing a message? Or are you secretly hoping for a huge in-depth discussion! 😉 Bet that's it!
Show threadGwladys PendleburyJun 1, 2023
@ronanchilvers @stanrmitchell @lolgop This is true for anything, interpreting constitution, politics, democracy, freedom, best recipe for rice pudding… For instance, I interpret and am quite positive that CCRs Fortunate Son is an anti-war song but it is often interpreted as a kick ass, patriotic, masculine aggression is so cool song. One is wrong, it’s not arbitrary.
Show threadRonanJun 1, 2023
@GwladysPendlebury @stanrmitchell @lolgop that's true. However I wonder if religion is a special case? If I happen to think a given song or book or painting has a particular meaning, it only matters to me. Religion is different though isn't it? I'd guess that most religious interpretations expect to spread, ie: other people have to believe the same thing too. Look at the infamous Westboro Baptist church - crazy ideas but they were evangelical about telling everyone about them. Thoughts?
Show threadGwladys PendleburyJun 1, 2023
@ronanchilvers @stanrmitchell @lolgop I would definitely not say religion is a special case, based on what “religion” actually is. Latest research leans towards religion as a evolutionary cognitive byproduct, and that religious thought is not so much an actual category separable from human cognition generally. I can go on with this, if your interested, but if not… My next comment addresses US more specifically. 1)
Show threadGwladys PendleburyJun 1, 2023
@ronanchilvers @stanrmitchell @lolgop Religious subject matter doesn’t just information put on a blank slate…like anything else it informs, is interpreted as you said. A pattern in the US is the diversity of denominations and Congregationalist so people choose denominations and churches based on preexisting beliefs. Church hopping. I agree with this this pastor, not that one… etc. 2)
Show threadGwladys PendleburyJun 1, 2023
@ronanchilvers @stanrmitchell @lolgop I recently listened to a Swedish novel wherein the author made a great point. In art classes the first thing they try to teach is how to draw what you see, not what you think you see. It’s incredibly hard to do. This can be applied to most human endeavors because we have such strong social and cognitive constraints. Religious studies are incredibly complex, not just an issue of do believe and don’t believe. 3.)Done.
Show threadPappyMay 5, 2023
@stanrmitchell @lolgop So, you're more of a New Testament guy?
Show threadStan R. MitchellMay 5, 2023
@Pappy @lolgop I’m a whole Bible guy, who tries to seek out the truth and love and worship the Lord.
Show threadPappyMay 5, 2023
@stanrmitchell @lolgop How do you reconcile the, how you might call it, less modern parts?
Show threadStan R. MitchellMay 5, 2023

@Pappy @lolgop It’s very hard to. And I’m still working on that.

But Jesus often cited the Old Testament and many prophecies from it are borne out in the New Testament.

So, it is something you must struggle with.

I guess I would say it reflects a world and period of time that most people have never lived — of war and desperation, of victory and subjugation, of atrocities and harshness that none of us can comprehend. But even there, God was still present.

Show threadPappyMay 5, 2023

@stanrmitchell @lolgop

"it reflects a world and period of time that most people have never lived — of war and desperation, of victory and subjugation, of atrocities and harshness that none of us can comprehend. But even there, God was still present."

Sounds pretty modern to me...

Show threadJerameeMay 27, 2023

@stanrmitchell @Pappy @lolgop

This is part of the problem: there's no NT w\o the OT. Further, Jesus said he didn't come to overturn but to fulfill the law, and not one jot or tittle of the law is to be ignored so long as earth remains.

That strongly supports the OT's hate & bigotry.

But why would a wise & loving God give us a book that's so awful?

Show threadJeff Zugale - Z FactoryMay 27, 2023

@stanrmitchell @Pappy @lolgop yeah, not a fan of a god that will just sit there and watch his own children murder each other by the thousands and millions for stupid selfish reasons, and demolish the world he created for them to live in, while doing nothing. I’ve heard enough about your god’s “mysterious” will and ways of working.

I have great sympathy for how your own cognitive dissonance over this must immobilize you. Good luck.