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originally posted by: TheTengriist
a reply to: OpinionatedB
Abrahamism surely is a strange faith. It seems tailored for nosy, neurotic elitists. Wouldn't be so bad, except all its branches teach that you, too can become "elite" if only you become nosy and neurotic. become one of the Chosen People. Get treasures and crowns in heaven. party with 72 virgins. Rule your own planet. Just drive yourself and everyone you know into a frenetic mess before you die, and die with panic and worry over whether you will be "good enough."
All nations would be best-served by striving to divest themselves of this faith, engineered by a bronze-age tribe of paranoiacs with delusions of grandeur and a remarkable fear of the human penis. Mankind can do better - or best of all, Mankind can do nothing at all, and step away from the witch doctors and their angry sky-demons.
Manichaeism taught an elaborate dualistic cosmology describing the struggle between a good, spiritual world of light, and an evil, material world of darkness. Through an ongoing process which takes place in human history, light is gradually removed from the world of matter and returned to the world of light whence it came. Its beliefs were based on local Mesopotamian gnostic and religious movements.
What human can fathom the mysteries of God? Who can probe the limits of the Almighty? He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted. The whole of Creation in and of itself is a testament to His unsearchable and unknowable majesty. We, mere human beings, cannot even travel beyond our own solar system, yet in our foolish vanity we mock the One Who created it and everything beyond. We haven't even searched the limits of the earth, we are still learning about our own bodies, yet mankind has no reverential fear and awe of the One Who fashioned the earth from nothing and our bodies from dust.
The act of calling men to repentance is not a self-righteous act in and of itself. Nowhere in the OP was there a claim that the person making this thread was:
1. without their own sin
2. not in need of repentance themselves
originally posted by: backcase
a reply to: BELIEVERpriest
I think you added a little something extra to that quote that came from your own bias.
originally posted by: undo
who does the planet belong to? who owns the earth. who tried to give it to jesus in exchange for jesus' fealty? my theory is that its the same guy who convinced adam and eve that they should feel guilty that they were naked procreators. it's his planet, afterall, and he didn't want procreators with eternal bodies on his planet.
this will make sense when you realize that was what necessitated jesus' arrival, rather than the idea that we had actually done evil in the garden by being procreative. just read that text. it'll hop right off the page and give you realization. yes jesus came for our sins, not because we actually had sinned (procreation was not a sin till the fall narrative), but because the guy who owns the planet, used divine law to condemn us to a shortened lifespan. i bet there's more of us out there in the universe, who didn't have to go thru this because the bad guy doesn't own their planets.
originally posted by: windword
a reply to: WashMoreFeet
What human can fathom the mysteries of God? Who can probe the limits of the Almighty? He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted. The whole of Creation in and of itself is a testament to His unsearchable and unknowable majesty. We, mere human beings, cannot even travel beyond our own solar system, yet in our foolish vanity we mock the One Who created it and everything beyond. We haven't even searched the limits of the earth, we are still learning about our own bodies, yet mankind has no reverential fear and awe of the One Who fashioned the earth from nothing and our bodies from dust.
And, can you believe the impudence and audacity of some people who actually claim to know the heart and mind of such a "GOD", and believe they have the right to tell us what this "GOD" wants of us?? These same deceived individuals also believe that this majestic being of unfathomable greatness wrote/inspired a book, The Holy Bible, the inerrant Word of God, that supposedly tells us how to , and especially how NOT to,"WORSHIP" this incomprehensible being.
originally posted by: backcase
KimINa reply to: BELIEVERpriest
Well the scripture does not use the word 'privately'.
I am a Catholic and I feel a great deal of peace when I leave the confessional. Since the Catholic church was instituted by God, it is my duty to defend the sacraments as being rites instituted by God also. I'm sorry you feel differently, but there is a great deal of abundance on the sacraments that you miss out on.
originally posted by: BELIEVERpriest
originally posted by: backcase
KimINa reply to: BELIEVERpriest
Well the scripture does not use the word 'privately'.
I am a Catholic and I feel a great deal of peace when I leave the confessional. Since the Catholic church was instituted by God, it is my duty to defend the sacraments as being rites instituted by God also. I'm sorry you feel differently, but there is a great deal of abundance on the sacraments that you miss out on.
The same peace can be achieved in privacy, especially knowing that a man behind a booth is not judging you. Why do we need priests if we are ourselves priest? It defeats the purpose..
I could just as easily say that it is you who holds the bias, since I can back up my statement directly with scripture. We are priests. There is no need for an "ordained" priesthood.