Have you investigated Gnostic Christianity?

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Have you investigated Gnostic Christianity?

The Gnostic wing of Christianity, if it can even be called that today, has quite a few differences to Christianity and Catholicism.

If the old Gnostic Christians were here, they would hardly recognize what has happened to the original Orthodox Catholic Church or it's various offshoots in Protestantism or Islam. The Gnostic Christian Jesus would have a fit and would be quite disappointed I think. I know that this Gnostic Christian is.

The two main differences that moved the old Christians to kill Gnostic Christians and burn their scriptures was literalism in reading scriptures and the fact that the Gnostic version of Jesus was a Universalist.

That Gnostic Christian Jesus, and the Gnostic Christians of that flavor, (there are likely as many Gnostic sects as Christian sects), sees a spark of God in all people including women and gays. That fact, to me, makes Gnostic Christianity a more desirable denomination of Christianity than all the rest.

If a religion cannot abide with equality of the sexes then to my mind it is not a just religion and is not worthy of the support of moral people. Inequality is an immoral position and most of the Abrahamic cults are of that immoral persuasion.

As the superior Catholic theology, it is my hope that Gnostic Christianity will eventually bury the non-egalitarian and immoral Christian cults as their members recognize that equality is the right moral system for all to live under.

If you have investigated Gnostic Christianity, do you agree that from a moral POV, they are the superior Christian theology thanks to equality and Universalism?

Regards
DL

Shirina wrote:

Greatest I am wrote:Note how no Christian in their right mind is asking for implantation of biblical law. Christians are foolish. Not crazy.

Come to America, then. You'll occassionally find politicians who are itching to make the Old Testament the official law of the land.

Go check out my blogs under the list of stupidity thread. There are several articles linked in there showing you what I mean. One moron state representative even said that parents should have the right to murder their kids if the kids are disrespectful ... because Deuteronomy says we can. No kidding.

Of course, that just means that too many American Christians are NOT in their right minds.

 
I believe you. Have an example. Last two seconds. Priceless.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjR7AWSmI6o
 
P. S.

I thought you were a Brit.

Regards
DL

Anyone who thinks the world is in a state for it's long term future, in any manner that will offer a reasonable existance for mankind, if left to mankind. is deluded beyond belief.

polyglide wrote:Anyone who thinks the world is in a state for it's long term future, in any manner that will offer a reasonable existance for mankind, if left to mankind. is deluded beyond belief.  

You may think that. But mankind's efforts are all we have. The more people who realise that the better our chances will be,

polyglide wrote:Anyone who thinks the world is in a state for it's long term future, in any manner that will offer a reasonable existance for mankind, if left to mankind. is deluded beyond belief.  

Weren't you recently arguing god puts thoughts into our heads? Therefore, are you now saying he deliberately plants these deluded beliefs in people's minds?

polyglide wrote:Anyone who thinks the world is in a state for it's long term future, in any manner that will offer a reasonable existance for mankind, if left to mankind. is deluded beyond belief.  

What is the option?

A God who is not here or a church that adores a genocidal son murderer and will not giver equality to half of the worlds population that is not male and heterosexual?

Give your head a shake man. Christian morality sucks.

Regards
DL

What sucks is your interpretation of matters.

You cannot consider the times before the invention of the wheel with those of today.

Mankind is responsible for the existing conditions on earth and not God.

Mankind suffers when he thinks he is the be all and end all and look where we are now.

polyglide wrote:What sucks is your interpretation of matters.

You cannot consider the times before the invention of the wheel with those of today.

Mankind is responsible for the existing conditions on earth and not God.

Mankind suffers when he thinks he is the be all and end all and look where we are now.

Yeah, look where we are with advanced medical procedures and medicine that has doubled our life expectancy in less than a century. Look at the comfort you're experiencing in your heated and cooled home with hot/cold running water and a fridge to keep your abundance of food fresh. Look where we are now when we no longer have to fight tooth and nail for our basic survival, where we lived always one bad harvest or late spring frost away from famine and starvation. Look where we are now when mass murder is no longer a sport families attend at the local colisseum or when criminals were tortured and executed in the town square in full view of children. Look at where we are now when we no longer cut off arms and legs, poke out eyes, or disfigure people with brands as a form of punishment for petty crimes. Look at where we are now with global charities and disaster relief for those hit by the worst nature has to throw at us - so that no one stands alone no matter how remote. Look where we are now when we do not accept adults marrying children, rape is actually a crime, spousal and child abuse are criminal offenses, and wars between major powers were frequent. Look where we are now when slavery has been abolished the world over and, for the first time EVER, there are far more democracies than there are dictators, autocrats, and absolutist monarchs.

The trouble with people like you is that you simply do not or will not grasp what life was like just a century ago, when even in America, festive crowds as large as 20,000 would gather to see the lynching of a black man for doing something as inconsequential as touching the hand of a white woman. Look where we are now, just 50 years away from white and colored water fountains to having a black man as President of the United States.

Yeah ... look where we are now.

YOUR problem, polyglide, is you judge society by the worst of us. YOU seem to think that pedophiles, rapists, murderers, kidnappers, and crooks represent society - that THEY are the normal people and that your "evolved" and Christian morality is somehow so rare that it borders on being unique - an island of righteousness in a stormy sea of villainy. But you are NOT Moses and you are not sailing the seas of immorality in your Ark of Holy Sanctimony. Nope.

We should judge society on what it is willing to accept. Thus by looking at the criminals and warmongers and judging society by their actions, you are making the exceptions the general rule. We can't judge society by what the criminals do, we should instead judge society by what it stands against. Just because there are pedophiles doesn't mean a thing - it is what we do about pedophiles that makes the difference.

We only need medicine because of the ills we have caused.

If everyone lived the life advised by God there would be no evil.

Technology has not in fact improved life, it has enabled, mainly, the ability to distroy it.

polyglide wrote:We only need medicine because of the ills we have caused.

If everyone lived the life advised by God there would be no evil.

Technology has not in fact improved life, it has enabled, mainly, the ability to distroy it.

What a twisted view.

Would you really want to live by your genocidal son murderers laws?

Would you like your judges to set and accept bribes and sacrifices to corrupt their verdicts like your God did?



Do you really want such laws?

Regards
DL

God's Laws, if followed, would create a world ideal for mankind and all else in the world.

You will always get the idiots who think they know better, based on nothing other than wishfull thinking in an endeavour to substanciate their own little theories.

Throughot the life of mankind he has been given the rules relating to what is in his best interests and at the same time given the results that would be if they were ignored.

You can only blame mankind for the ills he has brought on himself.

polyglide wrote:We only need medicine because of the ills we have caused.

If everyone lived the life advised by God there would be no evil.

Technology has not in fact improved life, it has enabled, mainly, the ability to distroy it.

Seems a bit harsh to blame technology when you're readily admitting god introduced disease and evil into the world to punish all of mankind over something Adam and Eve were meant to have done.

If you look back in history and even today you will find ALL deseases have been man made.

polyglide wrote:If you look back in history and even today you will find ALL  deseases have been man made.

Man is then a co-creator with God. Right?

In the beginning, all there was was God so all that is has emanated from him.

How then can you say man created anything if all that is emanated from God as it must have?

Regards
DL

polyglide wrote:If you look back in history and even today you will find ALL  deseases have been man made.

Given viruses like the common cold are constantly mutating, does that mean that man can cause living things to evolve to suit their conditions? If not, why not?

Man has made so many mistakes in every aspect of life that nothing is beyond him in mucking up nature.

Viruses etc; will evolve and mutate given the circumstances man provides and creates.

polyglide wrote:Man has made so many mistakes in every aspect of life that nothing is beyond him in mucking up nature.

Viruses etc; will evolve and mutate given the circumstances man provides and creates.

So you believe in evolution then?

Of course evolution takes place.

It takes place from that which God created.

polyglide wrote:Of course evolution takes place.

It takes place from that which God created.

So man is responsible for disease but god is responsible for making diseases evolve?

No, God provided the means of nature to cover all aspects of life, man in his lack of wisdom thought he knew better and we see the results.

Sorry Dan I have to go, Misty needs his walk.

regards.

You've used that one before, btw.

This is just ridiculous.

What a showcase for displaying just how far off the rails religious belief can take someone.

God's rules. Okay, which ones? Should we begin abusing animals again to give God his blood sacrifices? Do we drag gays, mouthy children, non-virgin brides, and people accused of being witch out to the edge of town and stone them to death? Will women have to wear their hair long and will men be forced to keep their hair short? Will menstruating women be considered "unclean" as well as anything they touch?

Why would you want to live in a world where working on the Sabbath carries a death sentence - but murder, rape, torture, pedophilia, and terrorism do not?

Or maybe you're into the New Testament rules - like selling all of your possessions and following Jesus. Perhaps you should throw away any money you have saved up for retirement because you're not supposed to plan for the future.

There is nothing altogether loving, kind, just, or fair about God's absolutist, dictatorial rules. You seem to think that world would be better - and sure you can say that until you find yourself living in terrible fear that any misstep will anger God, any tiny rules infraction could get you and your whole family killed. Such is the nature of megalomaniacal rulers, divine or otherwise. One of the best pieces of evidence that God and the Bible are entirely Man-made is because God acts just like a person would if given unlimited power. It's all about the ego - thus the very first commandment: Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

There is nothing dignified or divine in God's behavior - throwing fits and murdering people left and right. How many people did God heal? Go on, count them. Uh huh. You have to wait until Jesus before you see any kindness, and he was strung up by his own father because God (with his fat ego again) demanded a sacrifice to himself.

In fact, the whole story of the crucifixion reminds me of a woman who deliberately stops taking birth control in order to get pregnant with the express purpose of trapping the man into staying with her. "See, look, I murdered my son for you. YOU! Now you HAVE to worship me because you're beholden to me now."

In addition, if you think technology is mostly for destroying the world? My advice is to push yourself away from your computer and turn it off. Turn off all of your lights, heating, electronics, and anything else that might be considered technological. Otherwise, it is highly hypocritical to bash technology while you continue to use it for your own comfort and needs. Go on out and live in the woods for awhile and be a man of your word. Otherwise you're just talking out of both sides of your mouth.

Information and a giggle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRLR9jhP_DM&NR=1&feature=fvwp

Regards
DL

No, man chose to ignore that which everything was originally intended for and decided he would experiment with everything.

God set the laws of nature and these are adhered to and the results are man made be inteferance with that which was intended for those laws.

Shirina, you always go off the beaten track.

If man had not ignored God's wishes, none of the resulting mess resulting in doing so would have occured.

I feel the most happiest people on earth will be the tribes who have no technology whatsoever.

They need no electricity or anything else giving living proof they are not necessary.

The only time such people have become unhappy is when the so called civilised have ruined their lives.

polyglide wrote:Shirina, you always go off the beaten track.

If man had not ignored God's wishes, none of the resulting mess resulting in doing so would have occured.

I feel the most happiest people on earth will be the tribes who have no technology whatsoever.

They need no electricity or anything else giving living proof they are not necessary.

The only time such people have become unhappy is when the so called civilised have ruined their lives.

I think a victim of tribal human sacrifice would have disagreed on that last point, particularly in the moments leading up to their death.

polyglide wrote:Shirina, you always go off the beaten track.

If man had not ignored God's wishes, none of the resulting mess resulting in doing so would have occured.

I feel the most happiest people on earth will be the tribes who have no technology whatsoever.

They need no electricity or anything else giving living proof they are not necessary.

The only time such people have become unhappy is when the so called civilised have ruined their lives.

Uh huh.

That's why anthropologists who study those tribes do everything humanly possible not to bring their Western ways and Western technology to their villages. Because almost invariably once these tribes get the tiniest taste of real civilization, that's what they want. Anthropologists are always worried about inadvertantly destroying the indigenous cultures with Western "contamination." That's why the cultural phenomenon known as "cargo cults" developed on several south Pacific islands due to the Allied presence during WWII. When the Allies left, these oh so happy tribesmen actually started religions centered around worshiping Westerners in the hopes they will come back and bring with them the cargo that they freely handed out.

It's easy to be content when you're clueless - ignorance is bliss, so they say. Even Native Americans, who are so proud of their heritage and still a bit angry over the White man's intrustion, have no qualms about driving cars, having air conditioning, and watching television on "the rez" in between rain dances and sweat lodge ceremonies. When the choice is there, people almost invariably choose to have the technology. Now the Amish are starting to bend the rules a bit in terms of what technology they can use.

You're right, though, none of it is necessary. We could go back to the jungle and hope that every mosquito bite isn't the one that kills you - or every ripple in your water source isn't an allegator. But what would that accomplish other than to display our own stupidity? Do you really think YOU would be happier running around in a loin cloth, traipsing around in your bare feet, carrying a stone-tipped spear with which to hunt down your next meal? Like I said, the woods beckon. I'm sure you could probably convince some tribe somewhere to let you join them.

You have everything about face, Shirina.

If left alone they are happy, when we interfere they become ill both in mind and body.

There is not one example of the alternarive.

polyglide wrote:You have everything about face, Shirina.

If left alone they are happy, when we interfere they become ill both in mind and body.

There is not one example of the alternarive.

Why did they have wars in the past then? I.e. if everything was so perfect.

It depends how far back you wish to go.

There were very few wars amongst the same tribe etc

It was only when tribe met tribe that the problems arose,all tribes etc; had a means of conducting their affairs which worked until others became involved.

polyglide wrote:All tribes etc; had a means of conducting their affairs which worked until others became involved.

I'm reminded of an example from the biography of the great Brazilian footballer Garrincha. In the tribe he came from it was traditional that the first born child was killed, roasted in honey and eaten by the grandparents. Presumably you'd agree that in this particular instance the influence of civilisation in outlawing the practice is a positive thing.

If tribes departed from the path that God told them to follow then they are to blame for any inappropriate behaviour..

No. the fact is it should never have happened in the first place.

It would be interesting to know on what grounds this practice was based.

How would an isolated Amazonian tribe have heard about god or know the path he supposedly told them to follow?

polyglide wrote:If tribes departed from the path that God told them to follow then they are to blame for any inappropriate behaviour..

No. the fact is it should never have happened in the first place.

It would be interesting to know on what grounds this practice was based.

And you earned your degree in anthropology ... where, exactly?

A better place than you, obviously.

Now now insulting a lady is just not on PG.

The truth hurts but is better in the long run.

Not very Christian is it PG

polyglide wrote:A better place than you, obviously.

I'm not the one making anthropological claims about what various jungle tribes are doing, thinking, and believing. Thus my degree in anthropology (or lack thereof) isn't in question.

But your interpretation of the truth is.

Oh no PG, it's the other way round I do believe.

Stu, you will believe anything.