Posted on 10/18/2006 5:25:05 PM PDT by wagglebee
'Religion is fragmenting the human community' said Sam Harris....
So is politics. Lets get rid of all of that too.
The human community is fragmented over socialism and communism - let's get rid of all you socialists and communists and your oppressive governments.
Hey, abortion is divisive and fragmenting the human community (and killing a part of it as well). Let's get rid of that altogether - something I'd love to see happen, BTW.
Pig headed, ignorant, condesceding, one-worlder, Gap-shopping Lexus driving elitists.
Recommended reading on the topic:
The Twilight of Atheism: The Rise and Fall of Disbelief in the Modern World
by Alister Mcgrath
http://www.amazon.com/Twilight-Atheism-Disbelief-Modern-World/dp/0385500610/sr=8-1/qid=1161227434/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-1135010-7095115?ie=UTF8&s=books
Is God Dead?
Well just ask Maddy O'Hare. Oh wait, she's dead.... hmmm.... Next question.
Your question makes no sense, unless Jesus is not God.
Sorry. What question are you talking about?
And how does anything I posted imply Jesus is not God?
With 300,000,000 Americans now in this country, how difficult can it be to have a book reach the best-seller list? You don't need to sell all that many to get on that list.
Res ipsa loquitur
I can understand why you would not want to be understood.
Religion is an ideology, a concept, a vehicle, a way of understanding our place in the world God created. Religion does not do anything to anyone. It is people who commit acts against people (sometimes in the name of religion), not Religion. Now, that is calling a spade a spade.
In July 1941, a man from Kolbe's bunker had vanished, prompting Karl Fritzsch, the Lagerführer, to pick 10 men from the same bunker to be starved to death in the notorious torture block, Block 11, in order to deter further escape attempts. (The man who had disappeared was later found drowned in the camp latrine.) One of the selected men, Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out, lamenting his family, and Kolbe volunteered to take his place.
After two weeks of starvation, only four of the ten men were still alive, including Kolbe. The cells were needed, and Kolbe and the other three were executed with an injection of carbolic acid in the left arm."
Yup. This guy really was gunning to be in charge of things.
Maximilian Kolbe
Go back to trolling prayer threads with some of your buddies.
Thanks for the reply. I hadn't thought of the other meaning of sacrifice for this, although I've read that usage througout the Bible. I'll read up on that angle some more. OTOH, my initial thought is that would be God sacrificing to himself, still not much to be a cornerstone of the most important world religion.
See Below.
See Below.
I've heard that one before and haven't bought it. The fact remains that he is still, for that entire time, an all-powerful divine being, even if he is in human form. The amount of suffering that God could easily endure surely must be much less than, say, a person voluntarily subjecting himself to getting a tattoo.
Compare. You must be like a god to a large water bug. You decide to undergo what would be a cruel death for one of them, say a quick spray from a can of Raid. It isn't much to you, is it?
and offering himself to die in the electric chair so you could go free?
So he could get back up a couple of days later and go home? It sounds like a rather empty gesture.
But if He's omnipotent, He can choose to endure that amount of suffering if He chooses. Being omnipotent means He's capable of doing anything, right? It's completely voluntary on His part. And who said He "easily" endured it? He is all-powerful and divine. But at that very time, He Himself admitted that if He chose, He could just say the word and the angels from heaven would come down and slaughter His captors. But He chose not to. He could have chosen to end His suffering at any time. But He did not.
I didn't say commend, I said condone. The Bible regulated slavery, which means it allowed slavery to exist and orders that slaves to be obedient. It never condemned slavery as modern society does.
Pain is not the same thing as suffering.
Suffering is pain plus fear and not being in control.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.