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"Let's stop pretending Christianity is actually relevant, okay?"

Started by Sandra Craft, January 03, 2019, 08:03:54 PM

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Sandra Craft

Don't let the title fool you, this is a pro-Xtian article by a young, progressive evangelist type.

I found his opinion interesting, altho I'll admit that by the end of the 4th paragraph I was half expecting to see "and then everybody clapped".  I also don't think he was always on the mark about what could make Xtianity more attractive, but I'm probably nit-picking: 

Let's stop pretending Christianity is actually relevant, okay?
Sandy

  

"Life is short, and it is up to you to make it sweet."  Sarah Louise Delany

Icarus

At first read it seems that the guy is riding off in several  directions at once.

He is doing the normal Christian thing that involves believing in the authenticity of "the" bible................ Jesus did this, Jesus said that, Jesus died for my sins, and so on.  How can he be so confident that the written word is a reliable description of what actually happened or whether it happened at all? 


 

Essie Mae

I get what he's saying but it's a lot harder to be compassionate now than of was then. I heard a talk about  NGOs trying to help out in crisis-hit countries and a huge amount of their income is used in paying governments for 'permits' etc to do their work. Even in their home countries there are safeguarding rules; health and safety concerns and insurance issues before you can even run a food bank. There's a huge volunteer recruitment drive here by the NHS at the moment, but the new volunteers can't start their duties until they have had criminal background checks. A bit of a tangent, just a ramble.
Hell is empty and all the devils are here. Wm Shakespeare


Ecurb Noselrub

Quote from: Essie Mae on January 03, 2019, 10:04:36 PM
I get what he's saying but it's a lot harder to be compassionate now than of was then. I heard a talk about  NGOs trying to help out in crisis-hit countries and a huge amount of their income is used in paying governments for 'permits' etc to do their work. Even in their home countries there are safeguarding rules; health and safety concerns and insurance issues before you can even run a food bank. There's a huge volunteer recruitment drive here by the NHS at the moment, but the new volunteers can't start their duties until they have had criminal background checks. A bit of a tangent, just a ramble.

Nothing strangles compassion and good will like red tape and over-regulation.

Bluenose

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like he's just trying to put lipstick the pig of christianity.
+++ Divide by cucumber error: please reinstall universe and reboot.  +++

GNU Terry Pratchett


Sandra Craft

Quote from: Bluenose on January 05, 2019, 12:17:48 AM
Maybe it's just me, but I feel like he's just trying to put lipstick the pig of christianity.

Not just you. 
Sandy

  

"Life is short, and it is up to you to make it sweet."  Sarah Louise Delany

No one

Is pretending the foremost fundamental foundation of christianity?

Icarus

^ Devout Christians do not believe that they are pretending. 

Icarus

While watching the TV today, there was a lengthy exposition about the unexplained high incidence of child molestation by preachers, youth pastors, and teachers in religious schools. 

There was also a lengthy piece on NPR (radio) about Bishops and priests with surprisingly frequent affairs with nuns, including a few pregnant nuns.

My morning newspaper had an article about a nearby church school and  several incidence of sexual battery on junior high school girls.  The perpetrator is , or was until yesterday, the principal of the school.

Today has been a bad day.  It seems that the media is ganging up on  men involved in forbidden practices in churches and  faith based schools.  I have some sympathy for the perpetrators but I have  much more powerful compassion for the victims.

I may not forgive the priests and bishops for their transgressions. On the other hand,  Their obligatory commitment to  abstinence is part of the problem and damned unrealistic.  I secretly suspect that some of the younger nuns also harbor secret desires that are forbidden.  Chastity is also unrealistic for some women.

Bluenose

If the nuns are willing partners I really don't care, other than the hypocrisy of breaking the celibacy vow.  If the nuns are not then it is just plain old ordinary sexual assault or rape and is despicable.  I think the root of a lot of this is the celibacy rules.  They simply go against nature and try to suppress a basic human urge and is ultimately doomed to failure in many cases.  Where it particularly is evil is when it leads to those urges being expressed by way of child molestation.  This then gets compounded by the bishops and church leaders who seek to avoid criticism of their church by hiding the transgressions of their clergy.  In my view this is even worse than the molesters actions.  We have a cardinal in my country who has just been convicted of just that (hiding the crimes of other priests) as well as actual sexual assault against another man. It is still suppressed by the court here as there are other matters outstanding, but the Internet is your friend and it was reported in other countries.
+++ Divide by cucumber error: please reinstall universe and reboot.  +++

GNU Terry Pratchett


Tank

Quote from: Ecurb Noselrub on January 04, 2019, 05:54:20 PM
Quote from: Essie Mae on January 03, 2019, 10:04:36 PM
I get what he's saying but it's a lot harder to be compassionate now than of was then. I heard a talk about  NGOs trying to help out in crisis-hit countries and a huge amount of their income is used in paying governments for 'permits' etc to do their work. Even in their home countries there are safeguarding rules; health and safety concerns and insurance issues before you can even run a food bank. There's a huge volunteer recruitment drive here by the NHS at the moment, but the new volunteers can't start their duties until they have had criminal background checks. A bit of a tangent, just a ramble.

Nothing strangles compassion and good will like red tape and over-regulation.

So true. Bureaucracy is the bane of spontaneity.
If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

Asmodean

Quote from: Sandra Craft on January 03, 2019, 08:03:54 PM
a young, progressive evangelist type.
And once again, The passing Asmo was successfully baited. He has a bit of a backlog with regard to responding to stuff, but He shall bookmark and revisit. :hooked:
Quote from: Ecurb Noselrub on July 25, 2013, 08:18:52 PM
In Asmo's grey lump,
wrath and dark clouds gather force.
Luxembourg trembles.

Bad Penny II

Quote from: Icarus on February 08, 2019, 01:31:59 AM
Today has been a bad day.  It seems that the media is ganging up on  men involved in forbidden practices in churches and  faith based schools. 

Doesn't sound so bad to me.

Quote from: Icarus on February 08, 2019, 01:31:59 AM
I have some sympathy for the perpetrators

Why?
There are prostitutes offering services just about everywhere though I'm not a patron, porn suffices, my imagination used to.
I'd actually be interested in a study into this, imagine yourself a teen male back in pre internet times.  You had to do intense imaginings to do your necessary stress relief, now they just watch screens. I suggest pre internet wanking was mind expanding.

Are you serious?

Semi.

I don't know why in the ten(ish) commandments there wasn't a Thou shalt not molest children one, maybe a thou shalt not think molesting is loving one too.
Take my advice, don't listen to me.

Icarus