[I realize I've already responded to the first part of Ryan's post, but on seeing it again after a good night's sleep it appears it warrants a second assault. I'll get to the rest of Ryan's post very soon I hope.]Ryan: First of all you are trying way to hard to make this hard. Christianity is both easy and incredibly deep. This is because it is truth.....
DDN: What does that mean exactly? Do you mean it is THE Truth or do you mean to say only that it is true (as opposed to false)?
And how are you defining Christianity? Which of the 8,000,000 forms of Christianity are you talking about? All of them? Is Christianity the Church? Which church? The Bible? Which bible? King James? Standard Revised? Catholic?
And whose interpretation of the bible constitutes true christianity? Yours? Mine? Swaggering Jimmy's? Tammy Fay Baker-face? How about the Spanish Inquisitors' interpretation? If that's "truth" then I can't wait to get to hell.
And what part of the Bible are we talking about here? New Testament? Old Testament? Direct quotes from Jesus only? Which one's? John's? Paul's? Ringo's? How about when God sat down to have pancakes before destroying Sodom? It may very well be TRUE, but what does it contribute to "The Truth"? What's so "incredibly deep" about pancakes? How are they more profound than say....scambled eggs and toast? What universal principal is being expressed in His consumption of the pancakes? And how is that universal principal more important than say.....Vedic accounts of Arjuna on the battlefield or the Taoist yin/yang model of reality?
Let's say we're talking only about Mathew's account of JC's preachings. How do you know this is "truth"? And please don't insult me with inane responses like "Because the bible says so". I KNOW the bible says that the bible is the truth. So what. That does not address the question and anyone with half a brain can see that. If you want to know whether or not a used car salesman is telling you the truth you don't ask the used car salesman, do you? (Or maybe you DO.....scary.)
Be a radical revolutionary for a minute and really try to answer the question: "How do you KNOW its the truth"?
Ryan: .....Religion is the things that men do to make himself right with a God they feel they have wronged. .....
DDN: Right, like submitting to Jesus for cleansing i.e. Christianity.
Ryan: ....Look at all the religions of the world, they are about what man can do for God. There is one flaw with all of these. They infer that after we do these things for God, he will react to us by saving us..........
DDN: But if these religions describe these "good deeds" as a means to get God to do good things for us then these religions are NOT about what man can do for God, they are about what God can do for man, no?
Ryan: ....God may love us, but he is God and compared to him we are nothing......
DDN: Well....I wouldn't say "NOTHING". Afterall, this "God" guy created us, didn't he? If he's so wonderful and grandoise why did he create worthless junk like US? Why would he love "nothing". Is he a retard? Also, didn't he "create us in his likeness"? And doesn't Jesus say "you are to be as I am". And isn't Jesus synonymous with "God" (John 1:1)? Therefore, aren't we to be "as God is" i.e. the same as god (or at least simular to Him)? And if we are simular to Him then how accurate is it to say that "we are nothing compared to him"?
Ryan:.....He will not react to us....
DDN: Well sure he will Ryan. Go put your hand on a hot stove. Burns, doesn't it? Go rape a 5 year old on the town square during kids day. Notice any reprecussions? Split the atom, chop down the rain forest, and burn fossil fuels. Notice anything different? And, again, "confess to Jesus" - Doesn't that get God's attention? Isn't that the whole point of christianity? To get God to react to us by alligning oursleves with Jesus?
[I'm taking my time in responding to the remainder of Ryan's post because I simply do not understand it? When I figure out what it is I don't understand about it, I reply of some sort will be eminent.]
