There is no God

[swordpath]

Why are you interested in talking about god?

Just decided I'd use the blunt approach to the topic to see what kind of responses I got

 

[AphroditeGoneAwry]

Yes, Mary is the Mother of God. Mary intercedes with her Son for us.

So Mary, the Mother of God, is described as our Mother too.

And in Mary's relationship with her Son, Mary is described as Co-Redemptrix.

And being the Mother of God, Mary is the Immaculate Conception. Yes, it is Mary, not Jesus, who is the Immaculate Conception.

So God is the creator of the universe and Mary is His Mother.

So how does our Mother Fixation manifest?

 

[A window to the soul]

Mary intercedes with her Son for us.

And in Mary's relationship with her Son, Mary is described as Co-Redemptrix.

I don't remember reading about that in the Bible. What scripture are you referring to?

 

[Mole]

I don't remember reading about that in the Bible. What scripture are you referring to?

Don't tell me! Don't tell me! - You are a Bible Believing Christian.

 

[A window to the soul]

Don't tell me! Don't tell me! - You are a Bible Believing Christian.

Were you speaking about scriptures in the Bible in your post about Mary?

 

[Mole]

So how does our Mother Fixation manifest?

It is manifesting slowly.

First we elected Margaret Thatcher as the first mother as Prime Minister in the West, and we have followed up by electing Julia Gillard as our Prime Minister today.

You can see her lovely face just up to the left.

 

[A window to the soul]

[MENTION=3325]Victor[/MENTION]: I'm trying to understand, do you really believe what you're saying is an accurate interpretation of the Bible or is this a creative writing exercise?

 

[Mole]

Were you speaking about scriptures in the Bible in your post about Mary?

Please! There is no need to be so disingenuous. We know you accept the Bible as your authority and do not recognise the authority of tradition.

Do you think I am silly or ignorant? What do you take me for?

 

[A window to the soul]

Please! There is no need to be so disingenuous. We know you accept the Bible as your authority and do not recognise the authority of tradition.

I apologize, I'm having trouble understanding you. The Bible is my sword of truth.

Do you think I am silly or ignorant? What do you take me for?

I take you for *Victor*.

 

[EffEmDoubleyou]

To follow up Victor's assertion, I think that the importance of Mary is more prominent in the Catholic tradition, and less so in the Protestant denominations that believe in the Bible as literal truth.

 

[Sniffles]

To follow up Victor's assertion, I think that the importance of Mary is more prominent in the Catholic tradition, and less so in the Protestant denominations that believe in the Bible as literal truth.

That used to be the case, but increasingly Protestants are showing more attention and devotion to Mary:
[youtube="yv-MpBQCrV8"]Protestant Mary[/youtube]

 

[Mole]

The Bible is my sword of truth.

The Reformation is over so put away your sword of truth and recognise your fellow Christians believe in the Bible and Tradition.

 

[Mole]

To follow up Victor's assertion, I think that the importance of Mary is more prominent in the Catholic tradition, and less so in the Protestant denominations that believe in the Bible as literal truth.

I wonder if this is why Anglo Catholic societies elect women and mothers as Prime Ministers while the Protestant societies tend to elect fathers.

 

[A window to the soul]

The Reformation is over so put away your sword of truth and recognise your fellow Christians believe in the Bible and Tradition.

Victor, I believe in the Bible. (I stated that on the first page.)

As far as your comment on reformation and tradition, you're throwing me a curve ball, as we weren't discussing those and I can't imagine what you're referring to. You'll have to help me out with those, if you want me to respond.

In addition, I didn't get a reply on what your source of information is; therefore, I don't have a sufficient point of reference to fully understand where you're coming from. I don't feel I know you well enough to take the liberty of translating your cryptic posts and doing them justice; as far as I can tell, what you are saying is not fact-based. (I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt.)

To follow up Victor's assertion, I think that the importance of Mary is more prominent in the Catholic tradition, and less so in the Protestant denominations that believe in the Bible as literal truth.

That makes sense. Thanks for responding.

 

[Anew Leaf]

I, for one, would like to thank God for correcting the title of this thread.

 

[ZPowers]

The two rules of atheism:

1. There is no God.

2. You hate him.

Well, I can't really claim to be an atheist (an agnostic with atheistic leanings), but I can say I have no problem absolutely hating the God of the Bible as a character. The Old Testament in particular is very morally repugnant. I guess you can argue God semi-makes up for it by giving Jesus (or making someone else do all the work), but only if you accept that 3,000 years ago God had less moral understanding than a modern 5-year-old, or start asking some very tricky questions about the nature of morality. Or say that certain parts of the Bible are fallible, which exposes the rest of the book to the same makes picking fact from fiction an near-impossible task. I can also pretty easily find, say, Zeus appalling in action and morals.

If there is something resembling a God, the most likely (but not certain) option to me is that it is essentially morally neutral and inactive. Since that's not in any way really distinct from a lack of a God, I don't really have feelings on that.

 

[ZPowers]

"Only fools say in their hearts, 'There is no God.'"
-Psalm 14:1

How blessed will be the one who seizes and dashes your little ones
Against the rock. -Psalm 137:9

Well shit. Non-believers are dummies. All the cool dudes are out killing babies.

 

[A window to the soul]

How blessed will be the one who seizes and dashes your little ones
Against the rock. -Psalm 137:9

Well shit. Non-believers are dummies. All the cool dudes are out killing babies.

lol, is that ever out of context. You have to post the surrounding text, silly. Are you demonstrating foolishness or what? If that was an innocent mistake, then take two of these and try to understand what Psalm 137 is sayin...

Psalm 137 (Greek numbering: Psalm 136) is one of the best known of the Biblical psalms. Its opening lines, "By the rivers of Babylon..." (Septuagint: "By the waters of Babylon...") have been set to music on several occasions.

The psalm is a hymn expressing the yearnings of the Jewish people in exile following the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem in 586 BC. The rivers of Babylon are the Euphrates river, its tributaries, and the Tigris river (possibly the river Habor, the Chaboras, or modern Khabur, which joins the Euphrates at Circesium).[1] In its whole form, the psalm reflects the yearning for Jerusalem as well as hatred for the Holy City's enemies with sometimes violent imagery. Rabbinical sources attributed the poem to the prophet Jeremiah,[2] and the Septuagint version of the psalm bears the superscription: "For David. By Jeremias, in the Captivity."[3]

The early lines of the poem are very well known, as they describe the sadness of the Israelites, asked to "sing the Lord's song in a foreign land". This they refuse to do, leaving their harps hanging on trees. The poem then turns into self-exhortation to remember Jerusalem. It ends with violent fantasies of revenge, telling a "Daughter of Babylon" of the delight of "he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks." (New International Version).

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psalm_137

If there is something resembling a God, the most likely (but not certain) option to me is that it is essentially morally neutral and inactive. Since that's not in any way really distinct from a lack of a God, I don't really have feelings on that.

Read the Bible. You might be surprised to find that God is a whole lot more awesome than what you were looking for. Religions lie and make people feel condemned. The Bible doesn't and that's if you truly seek to understand it as it was intended.

 

[ZPowers]

Fine, fine. I guess I've never fantasized about murdering my enemies children, because that seems monstrous in any context. Taking retribution for even a genocide by murdering the undeveloped children of it's perpetrators would be awful, right?) The idea that this is something wished (the passage is in the future tense) only metaphorically is an assumption (God permits the murder of your enemies children elsewhere, in Isaiah 13, Isaiah, whom is both a prophet and saint, calls for "Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished." (13:6). I don't see how he meant rape and child murder in metaphor here). There's no arguing the Bible, especially the old Testament, is rife with pretty callous and unjust violence enacted for and by God. Even the New Testament still says people like me will roast in Hell literally forever. Torment beyond my comprehension both in terms of pain AND in terms of length seems like a pretty severe punishment for nothing but a disagreement.

 

[ZPowers]

Read the Bible. You might be surprised to find that God is a whole lot more awesome than what you were looking for. Religions lie and make people feel condemned. The Bible doesn't and that's if you truly seek to understand it as it was intended.

Exactly what the thousands of religions you just disparaged said. I have read a lot of the Bible. I was raised Catholic, went to church and Sunday school for about a decade.

I've actually not meant to be so cruel to the Bible or a specific religion. Peguy's comment just irked me (a less excited response, it's circular: non-believers in the Bible are fools. Why? The Bible says so)

I know a lot of very kind, smart, cool believers, and am not a fan of creating unneeded divides or attempting to change anyone's beliefs (I will discuss differences in ideas, minds changing would be incidental).

But let's say my mind changing (even towards total atheism) seems, to me, as unlikely as you changing your mind does to you.

People who think/claim I go to hell do irk me though. How could you possibly wish that or even think that's anything near a just thing to happen to ANYONE, much less someone who never actually caused another harm, or even helped others?