a long partial answer
Submitted by d on April 11 1999 at 22:53:18
In reply to A brief question... Submitted by Tygyr on April 11 1999 at 19:40:46
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Ask this same question on Religious Debate Chat (see link at top of the main CBlF page), you may get different answers. Interesting question. I don't have the "classical" answers (the ones my denomination would give if you asked for an official statement of belief) to these questions memorized, so what you get is how I'm feeling at the moment (no doubt influenced by the great Christian thinkers like Luther et al) [besides, I don't always agree with my denomination's view on things.] >Every facet of your life appears, essentially, to be directed by this one book. For me, the Bible is more like a combination of an instruction manual, a history book, and an explaination of the nature of God. The "instruction manual part" isn't terribly detailed, at least with respect to 20th-century life [it was fairly detailed with respect to nomadic 700BC life]. This leads to a variety of interpretations of how to apply it to modern life, such as "is it OK to work on Sunday" (yes, but if you don't take a day off every week you are missing out on something important) and other questions. >Does God really want a bunch of clones? Hmm, interesting question. The answer may be "almost yes". He wants a bunch of obedient children, and that in and of itself will make us all more alike (in behavior) than we are now. Alike enough to be "clones", I guess that depends on what you call a clone. I know that what I just wrote makes Christianity look like a modern cult, at least on paper. Nothing I can do about that (how it looks), sorry. >Does God want everyone to be homogenous in beliefs and thoughts? In beleifs and actions, with respect to his commandments, yes. Outside of them, there is a lot of room to be different. It's kind of like scuba diving: The industry expects everyone to act alike with respect to the safety rules, but beyond the safety rules, you have a lot of freedom to explore the oceans. In part, I view the instructions in the Bible as my set of safety rules - they keep me from doing things that I might want to do which could cause harm to myself or others. > I'd rather lead my own life and be judged for it Christianity has an odd twist on judgement: If we are judged on our own acts, we lose. Doesn't matter if you are Mother Theresa or Adolf Hitler. You aren't good enough to get into heaven. Ding. Off to hell you go (IMHO, hell isn't such a bad place if you never knew God, the only hellish thing I think is there is that God isn't there. And someday all of hell and everyone in it will cease to exist, but is non-existance so bad? I don't know.) However, because of Jesus's death, we are not judged on our own acts, only on whether we have faith. If Adolf Hitler found faith before he pulled the trigger, he's in Heaven today. >"try to do no harm" Good creed, very similar to my wiccan friend's creed (I forget the words, something like "do what you will, but do no harm" or some such). One other thing that makes Christianity special: It is a religion of relationship: I have a relationship with Jesus that is as real as the one I have with various people on BC. The only difference is that I have never heard Jesus's voice audiably (then again, I've never heard yours, for different reasons). I've felt Jesus's presence several times, once so strongly I did something I really didn't want to do (I spoke out on an issue at a meeting which I really had no business speaking out at). You may want to talk to Ben, until about a year or so ago, he was agnostic. I'm not going to touch the sexuality issues here, I'll leave that for the people who deal with this issue firsthand. -d (david_tx on IRC) |