A family friend is a member of a comedy ensamble called
The Best Church Of God (BCOG for short) and on Wednesday evening I went to a special show they were having at the Chopin Theater.
Earlier that day (the first day of Passover no less) I’d mentioned that I rather missed the religious rituals of Holy Week. BCOG ended up providing me with a (
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Sometime we should have an off-LJ discussion of religion, because my take on it is different from yours. I am still in the church (after having drifted away for awhile while in college) and even went so far as to tell a Jewish friend that mine was the feminist religion. And I'm looking forward to Easter - of course it's my favorite holiday, as it's far more important theologically than Christmas.
I don't know if you've ever heard of the Christian satire magazine The Door, formerly The Wittenburg Door. I've read pieces there defending pornography (it wasn't entirely satire either), exposes of various televangelists, and some really good interviews. Here's a link to a report on a talk by various well-known atheists like Richard Dawkins, et al. http://www.wittenburgdoor.com/joe-bob-parties-atheists... )
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Don't let anyone tell you you're "cherry-picking". You're interpreting. So are they.
I know of no Christian who believes we're obligated by all 614 (or whatever the number is) laws. If they ignore the ones about not eating shellfish and pork, why can't you do the same for the ones about homosexuality?
Of course their reasoning will be that Jesus and Paul said that the dietary laws weren't important. And everyone agrees that what Jesus said is the most important and supersedes everything else.
When did Jesus ever talk about or condemn homosexuality? What did he say to the woman at the well? The woman taken in adultery? What did he say to the men who intended to enforce the Law and stone the woman taken in adultery ( ... )
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I hope you don't mind me jumping in on just one thing instead of responding to the whole, but I just wanted to engage in more dialogue over one point. While agreeing with the main thrust of the rest of your paragraph, I really don't think that you can describe a comment like "Mao's China was liberating to Women" as wacky. I have to say that, imperfect as Communist China is, it did, and does (as limited as it is) offer ordinary Chinese more freedom and a better life than they have ever had before. So, I guess I'm saying, would you really call that a wacky thing to say? Rather than, for example, ideologically motivated?
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Also, most Protestant mainline denominations encourage, rather than discourage, doubt. If God didn't want you to talk back, or think for yourself, then what the heck is Job doing in the Bible, or the account of Abraham's or Moses' arguments with God?
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Not sure about Job. Isn't the punchline there that God basically says, Because I'm God, that's why I can do these things, and who are you to question me? I'm not sure about this but I think some fundamentalists take the story to mean that you have to have complete faith and not question.
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But what does God actually do at the end of Job? He rewards Job and Job gets back what he lost plus more. To me and most interpreters, that indicates God believes Job was more right than his friends. He certainly doesn't punish him for complaining.
Plus most thoughtful interpreters consider the God and Satan bet to be a framing device, not something to be taken seriously theologically. Just like God asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac was a test, not something God intended to carry through on.
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PurpleFluffyCat xx
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