19 Feb 2016, 10:28 pm
20 Feb 2016, 1:43 am
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20 Feb 2016, 11:40 am
20 Feb 2016, 5:51 pm
20 Feb 2016, 6:25 pm
naturalplastic wrote:
Aristophanes wrote:
androbot01 wrote:
Aristophanes wrote:
...one of the Christian ministers, when asked about the environment and his religion's view towards it said, and I quote: "God wants us to use the Earth until it's gone. We can't have the rapture until God's creation is prepared."
I have heard this sentiment expressed before by a Christian couple. He also belonged to the Masons. They said that God put animals here for us to use for our benefit. I find this view to be like a cultural narcissism.
Yeah I wasn't overly surprised when I heard it said, I figured they had to believe something like that since according to their bible God made Eden for Adam and Eve to basically abuse...aside from God's one special f*****g apple of course, that s**t is tasty and thus off limits.
edit: I'm not a fan of apples, so it makes me question how good of gardener God actually is if his prime crop makes me want to gag.
I assume that you're joking. Its impossible for any human being to dislike apples!
But I digress.
If you actually read the scripture you will see that Genesis never actually mentions "apples".
Its described as a "fruit". The "fruit" of the tree of knowledge.
Apples dont do well in the Middle East. So the "fruit" more likely a fig, or a grape, or a pomegranite. But apples do thrive in northern Europe, and in the eastern USA. So in the last few centuries the forbidden fruit has been imagined as being an apple in Western countries.
Additionally the Biblical principle is not "thou shalt not eat apples because they are tasty" nor is it "use and abuse the planet and the animals and the Garden and the environment until it is ruined spoiled and devastated, and then the rapture happens."
The Biblical principles are: Trust and obey God whether you understand the strictures or not"
And: "I have made you stewards of the Garden and of the earth. Be fruitful and multiply and, as stewards of the earth, be responsible and respectful not wasteful or despoiling."
Biblical teaching is that it is sin that wastes, destroys and despoils the earth and the environment. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that people should go about working on ruining the Earth so the Rapture can happen sooner. Not sure where your Mason acquaintances got that idea but it certainly isn't in an holistic interpretation of Scripture.
And yes, I'm aware that the op and the general sentiment of the thread is that if I believe the Bible I'm a fantasy-based-religion believer and I should be banned or marginalized or possibly even killed for clinging to a religion that is rapidly losing all semblance of popularity.
I don't care. I Know Whom I Have Believed and will Cling to the Old Rugged Cross and the world can despise me from now until the Kingdom comes. Jesus said that would happen. Haters gonna hate.
20 Feb 2016, 6:44 pm
LyraLuthTinu wrote:
naturalplastic wrote:
Aristophanes wrote:
androbot01 wrote:
Aristophanes wrote:
...one of the Christian ministers, when asked about the environment and his religion's view towards it said, and I quote: "God wants us to use the Earth until it's gone. We can't have the rapture until God's creation is prepared."
I have heard this sentiment expressed before by a Christian couple. He also belonged to the Masons. They said that God put animals here for us to use for our benefit. I find this view to be like a cultural narcissism.
Yeah I wasn't overly surprised when I heard it said, I figured they had to believe something like that since according to their bible God made Eden for Adam and Eve to basically abuse...aside from God's one special f*****g apple of course, that s**t is tasty and thus off limits.
edit: I'm not a fan of apples, so it makes me question how good of gardener God actually is if his prime crop makes me want to gag.
I assume that you're joking. Its impossible for any human being to dislike apples!
But I digress.
If you actually read the scripture you will see that Genesis never actually mentions "apples".
Its described as a "fruit". The "fruit" of the tree of knowledge.
Apples dont do well in the Middle East. So the "fruit" more likely a fig, or a grape, or a pomegranite. But apples do thrive in northern Europe, and in the eastern USA. So in the last few centuries the forbidden fruit has been imagined as being an apple in Western countries.
Additionally the Biblical principle is not "thou shalt not eat apples because they are tasty" nor is it "use and abuse the planet and the animals and the Garden and the environment until it is ruined spoiled and devastated, and then the rapture happens."
The Biblical principles are: Trust and obey God whether you understand the strictures or not"
And: "I have made you stewards of the Garden and of the earth. Be fruitful and multiply and, as stewards of the earth, be responsible and respectful not wasteful or despoiling."
Biblical teaching is that it is sin that wastes, destroys and despoils the earth and the environment. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that people should go about working on ruining the Earth so the Rapture can happen sooner. Not sure where your Mason acquaintances got that idea but it certainly isn't in an holistic interpretation of Scripture.
And yes, I'm aware that the op and the general sentiment of the thread is that if I believe the Bible I'm a fantasy-based-religion believer and I should be banned or marginalized or possibly even killed for clinging to a religion that is rapidly losing all semblance of popularity.
I don't care. I Know Whom I Have Believed and will Cling to the Old Rugged Cross and the world can despise me from now until the Kingdom comes. Jesus said that would happen. Haters gonna hate.
As I said earlier, that was one specific denomination I'm not going to mention, I'm not claiming all Christians believe that way. There were other Christian denominations that had much healthy views of the environment in my opinion. The reason this one belief stood out was the complete hubris and arrogance of it-- that's the only reason I repeated it.
20 Feb 2016, 7:27 pm
20 Feb 2016, 7:35 pm
22 Feb 2016, 1:00 pm
22 Feb 2016, 1:13 pm
22 Feb 2016, 1:15 pm
22 Feb 2016, 1:18 pm
22 Feb 2016, 1:23 pm
LyraLuthTinu wrote:
[ Jesus said that would happen. Haters gonna hate.
Jesus said no such thing. Scribes did. You have never cared enough about your religion to look at it's roots. Right?
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/03132009/watch.html
Rabbi Hillel, the older contemporary of Jesus, said that when asked to sum up the whole of Jewish teaching, while he stood on one leg, said, "The Golden Rule. That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the Torah. And everything else is only commentary. Now, go and study it."
Please listen as to what is said about literal reading.
"Origen, the great second or third century Greek commentator on the Bible said that it is absolutely impossible to take these texts literally. You simply cannot do so. And he said, "God has put these sort of conundrums and paradoxes in so that we are forced to seek a deeper meaning."
Regards
DL
