I suggest the creation of as new forum for the 'word for word' bible lovers.

"... According to the bible..."

... would allow all bible lovers to let lose and quote all the verses they wish, practice their Hebrew, show off their Greek litteracy, and ...

... most important, the threads would be filled eaclusively with bible lovers agreing together on the one and only gospel truth.

Not only will that please the 'bible lovers', but as a bonus, it will restore the integrity of the 'religion chat' forum, by allowing those whom can carry on rich exchanges on religious topics without the obligation to agree with the gospel, to deliberate away, and learn some, and grow some.

Why would that work you ask??? No sane person of 'non bible inerrancy' conviction would ever venture in the "... According to the bible..." forum.

And of course it would be asked of the bible lovers, for their own moral and spiritual welfare, to respect the 'religion chat' as sort of hellish out-of-bounds area.


Think of it...

... No more fallacious circular logic arguments!!!

... No more need to 'apologetics' each other to death!!!

... No more WTF was that?!?!?

... No more endless and choking spiderwebs!!!

... and last but certainly not least,

NO MORE THREADS ON 'EVOLUTION' ON THE 'RELIGION CHAT' Forum!!!

Isn't that a win/win for all!!!

Faiths and spiritualities of the world, let me know your thoughts!!!

VOILA!!!!!!!

Is this for me???????

You shouldn't have!!!!

How utterly deceptive and with all the trappings, too!!!!!!

I know who will come and play....

But can you carry this without me??????

I'm going to observe and be your bodyguard, my intelligently clever acquaintance.

WOW!!!! What a treat!!!!!

I think you are trying to convince yourself the bible is not true. That if you deep down try to trivialize it maybe you can continue doing that which keeps telling you that is wrong. So keep up your own self denial but don't wonder ( why me) when it catches up with you because you already know it is wrong and you do not want to stop.. That is what I think.. May Yahweh's Mercy be Abundant To You...Miles

Motion seconded. The idea of 'a forum' suggests that varying opinions will be exchanged, weighed in the minds of the participants, and serve as a springboard to individual thoughts and/or conclusions about what and how to think about things. Word-for-word, lock-stepping Bible believers have the answer, and your opinion or life experience is rendered null and void. When I discuss any topic with anybody, I do my level best to hear what they are saying, and to understand why they are saying it. And I credit that person with at least the respect that he or she is attempting to share their reality with me. Regretfully, so many conversations with 'true believers' end up with you being regarded in their pious viewpoint as a poor misguided dufus because you can't stop committing the crime of thinking for yourself, feeling what you feel.

Voil - if you EVER find a woman -just like you- SEND HER MY WAY - would ya?

That would be the ultimate act of selfless LOVE !!!

I truly would do that just FOR YOU 'redykeulous' !!!

:)

What do you think 'red'???

Don't mind a bible verse here and there, but don't you agree that it is hopeless to expect having a constructive and deliberative debate with 'fundie-bible/inerrancy-apologetics-presuppositionalist' 'tape' ?

Not that the peope behind the tapes are not bright, far from that. But rather like this quote that ‘s1lowhand’ posted on another thread :

"People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them. "

-Dave Barry

A sort of ‘score a soul, or move on’ mantra.

An endless soliloquy.

A conclusion before saying hello!!!

Enlighten me ‘red’. I am concerned with what appears as a hardening of the US fundamentalist current. Is it just me?!?!? Montréal is a very different place with respect to religion, and its place in the world, from what I encounter on JSH. What’s your read???

Boy wouldn’t that be nice.

Sorry about the delay in my reply. When your post first went up last night, it only had the opening line: 'Motion seconded'.

I just caught a hold of the rest tonight.

To which I say :

... Perfect sync!!!

10/4 alignement!!!

You caught the exact essence of the OP intent.

This overall 'malaise', with 'one-track-mind-bible-inerrancy' mentality, simply robs all topics of any possibility of fun and rich deliberations amongst the many great people, and varied religios and spiritual perspectives of this community.

Great to have around

So, let's apply ourselves to reason on a fascinating and obscurely overlooked and entirely disturbing quote from The Holy Bible that begs an interesting question be asked.

St. Luke 4:33-36.

33. And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice,

34. Saying,Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God.

35. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Hold thy peace and come out of him". And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not.

36. And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying,What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.




Now, ordinarily, I wouldn't think that this would seem contradictory nor inconsistent in terms of comforting a troubled soul.

Ordinarily, I would expect the hero to win the day.

I would also tend to think that the writer would exhibit some deference to casting the hero in an incredibly clear light, and be very selective in how the event was described.


But, I must point out that the devil is either the devil himself, or the spirit of the devil. Which is it?

Next, Holy means separate, and yet the perceived enemy is all to familiar with who he's facing. Not to mention the fact that this spirit apparently is obedient to the hero's command.
Wasn't there a rebellion somewhere that calls into question obedience?

Next, is disturbing too. If this is a 'spirit of an unclean devil', then shouldn't there exist some reference to a clean devil? Or is this a circular, semantic criticism on my part?

Inversely, why wouldn't it be fair and reasonable to assume that the spirit of the unclean devil is not exempt from not hurting or tormenting the man he was invading? And in that vain, subject to equal and opposite torment from the man he was inhabiting, since man is made in the image and likeness of God, and that Jesus took the form of a man to be among his own ( not to mention the fact that it is written that 'he came unto his own and his own received him not'.)

I could go on and on.

Who wants to take this on?

There is a lot to try and comprehend in these very few words.

Since I've opened the door to the criticism of the passage, it still contains more contradictions and inconsistencies either self-contained within, or by inference in general.

This is very ripe for discussion.

I have no pre-conceived notion, agenda, or prejudice concerning this passage.

I do, however, have an opinion regarding it.

My opinion, or interpretation is that Jesus is God, incarnate, and does behold evil, and does as he pleases, and does sequester spiritual influences as he deems appropriate and without outside influence or consensus.

And he did say to him, " Hold thy Peace". What could that infer?

Shut up.

Yes, Spider, it does mean shut up in the King's English.

But the inference exists that there is more than Jesus would like to have known. The same thing occured to St. Paul on his return to Jerusalem at the end of his ministry, knowing that his days were numbered, but there the voices were lighting the confidence of others that accompanied him to Jerusalem that dire trouble awaited pauls' arrival.

At another time, similar voices were lighting the path of people the apostles encountered, only to be rebuked by the apostles into silence, and the people witnessing the event marvelled greatly there as well.

Anybody? Is there an inference here to question?

I am also going to be doing a series on creation vs evolution......just for you voil.....doesn't that sound like a marvy time.

Wouldee and spider,

Thank you very much for taking me up on this invitation.

Distinguishing 'bible' specific or exclusive posts under
'... According to the bible... ' TITLE, with a distinct OP for each thread you wish to discuss, will work marvels for all concerned.

It will draw people genuinely interested in discussing the bible from their choice belief system, and free up the rest of the religion chat for general religious and spiritual exchanges.

Remember the simple rules. You stick to the '...According to the bible...' title, for 'bible' specific topics, and IF you were to visit other posts, show respect for the fact that the 'bible' in the wide field of 'religion chat' is just one view amongst the many.

That's it for now.

Thanks again for making this work. It will bear unsusopected surprises for all, I trust sincerely.

That is marvelous 'feralcatlady',

Very glad YOU agree with this new concept.

Now remember, as many Evolution vs creationism posts as you wish, as long as you repsect the new rules: title them all under "... According to the Bible...". After that it's all fair game!!!

Great to see your change of heart 'feralcatlady'. I knew we were friends deep inside!!!

wouldee,

Jesus didn't want external confirmation of who he was, it had to come from within the hearts of those around him. He wanted everyone to believe who He was on his own merits and by their own revelations from the Holy Spirit. Also, it would look bad for demons to be praising him, which they did of the apostles.

:::perk:::: There will be coupons for a free toaster oven for every authenticated conversion??


-Kerry O.

But VOILA!!!!


Your hand was tipped at the outset!!!

No foul, beloved!!! Really!!!!!

You breached yorself and have been quite the duplicitous minion
to think you are above compliance with your own integrity.


I hereby forgive you for your callous interference in your own premise and remind you once again that the playing field is once again open to PRE-VOILAIN distinction.


Too bad your temerity missed out on the virtue of patience.

You should have maintained your integrity and respectfully ignored further involvement.


I assure you, sir, the embarrassment is all yours.


The pleasure has been mine to ferret out your glee with genuine
and predictable results.


Welcome to the reformed order of reality, my friend. I do look forward to better from you next time!!!!

PEACE,OUT!!

We humans love the pride of knowledge don't we? Until you truly experience God and his power for yourself all the theorizing and debating in the world comes to nothing. I agree that playing 'type it' ping pong gets old. I just hope each time I post somthing that someone somewhere will be pricked in their heart by God and begin a wonderful journey with Him as I have. He's so far beyond mere words and ideas and even the popular religious muck. I love yins guys.