I know how you think because I used to think that way myself. You think "religion" is a plot of "the Devil" to lead man to think he can please G-d when it is impossible to do so, that what G-d wants is for man to be passively "saved" by accepting the vicarious damnation of a divine scapegoat. And you think that this makes you "humble" while everyone who disagrees with you is billowing with pride, thinking that their "good works" is pleasing to G-d.
Did you know that your Protestant "Bible alone, faith alone" beliefs have no roots whatsoever in the chr*stian past? I have news for you, the Catholics didn't make all that stuff up. Go to any truly ancient church, churches that were never under Constantine at all (the Armenian, the Nestorian, the Indian, the Ethiopian) and you will find that all the ancient, authentic versions of chr*stianity (as opposed to all those "true new testament churches" American evangelicals think they find in the "new testament" based on their own unexamined assumptions) are "works" religions who do all those awful things you don't find in the "new testament." Bible only, faith only Protestantism has absolutely no roots in the chr*stian past at all. It was made out of whole cloth in recent centuries. Too bad that the "new testament" is so unclear that no chr*stian anywhere from ancient Britain to ancient India ever read it the way American evangelicals do. And of course they all "went to hell" because they were "too proud" to accept antinomian loophole "salvation."
Then of course are all the rituals and ceremonies and commandments that even you admit that G-d gave to Israel in the "old testament." But according to you He only did that to teach them that no one's perfect (as if anyone ever believed that to begin with) and He never meant them to actually think there was any zekhut involved in doing what He said to do. Funny how the people who had this "preparatory lesson" for antinomian loophole salvation never got it and the only people who did never even existed for seventeen hundred years or so.
I spend most of my time on this forum defending Fundamentalist Protestants, and I don't regret it. I don't share their chr*stian beliefs, but I admire them for sticking up for the Truth of the Hebrew Bible when everyone else has sold out. I even appreciate that their antinomianism (and yours, for that matter) is blessedly consistent compared to the ancient churches who rail against the "works" of the "old testament" only to replace them with "works" of their own. But every so often someone like you comes along who is so small-minded and so blind to historical reality that it actually helps me understand why so many people despise Fundamentalist Protestants. G-d forgive me for saying this.
>>It takes a particularly small and petty mind to call people crazy (which is what you did) merely because they believe they are supposed to face a certain direction when they pray.<<
No. It is not what I did. I didn’t say people were crazy. I said the belief is lunacy. There is no reality to support it.
In the same way, believing, WITH CONVICTION, that Mary died a virgin is also lunacy. I could go on. Fact is, some beliefs simply do not find support in any physical or spiritual evidence.
I’ve actually discovered beliefs that I have had that I would now be tempted to call lunacy. It is in the veign of Becks “Arguing with idiots” explanation.
>>Did you know that your Protestant “Bible alone, faith alone” beliefs...<<
Those are not my beliefs. I will not accuse you of having a small mind, however. Just of being ignorant of my full position.
I will just say this regarding the “old works based church” and the “new protestantism”. What is the BIG difference between these two “ages”? The difference is that instead of a chosen few telling people what the bible says, we can now all read it for ourselves and enhance our PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP with Jesus, and bypass the “church selected” interpreter.
And, SURPRISE, it is being interpretted differently. Grace, one of the main (if not THE main) differences between Christianity and all man made religions, has percolated to the surface, as it should.
It’s all there in the bible, to anyone who would read it. And now, almost anyone can!
What’s your take on this, btw: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2240648/posts