With the recent story of the Ohio “Christian warrior” militia, I thought this topic was worth discussing.
If you find a gun fanatic in the U.S. obsessively defending the second amendment, they are almost always a Christian. Why? Why does a faithful follower of an all-powerful God feel they need a gun to protect their family? Pray first for God’s protection, but have a gun just in case?
From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. “Go on up, you baldhead!” they said. “Go on up, you baldhead!” He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths.
—2 Kings 2:23-24
A rather funny parody of this ridiculous story:
Any Christian Apologists that want to take a crack at explaining this one?
God incited David to take the census:
Again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.”
So the king said to Joab and the army commanders with him, “Go throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and enroll the fighting men, so that I may know how many there are.”
—2 Samuel 24:1-2
Satan incited David to take the census:
Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel.
So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, “Go and count the Israelites from Beersheba to Dan. Then report back to me so that I may know how many there are.”
—1 Chronicles 21:1-2
Guardian.co.uk– Pope Benedict XVI yesterday rebuked Irish bishops for the negligent way they have handled sexual abuse cases in the Catholic church and issued an unprecedented public apology to the victims of paeodophile priests.
The letter does not admit any responsibility on the part of the Vatican in relation to the scandals, nor does it specify punishments for Irish bishops who covered up for paedophile priests, moving them from parish to parish.
It’s impossible for the Catholic Church to deny their role in covering up the countless cases of child abuse and sexual molestation. But who does Pope Benedict blame as the source of these criminal acts? The devil? No … liberal, secular society is to blame:
Rather than blaming abuse on an oppressive, conservative environment within the Irish Catholic church, Benedict singles out the creeping influence of liberal, secular society for weakening resolve against it. “In particular, there was a well-intentioned but misguided tendency to avoid penal approaches to canonically irregular situations,” he writes.
Lewis added: “We are astounded that the pope links the problem to secularisation. It shows a misunderstanding of the dynamics of sexual violence and suggests there is little hope the church will ever know how to respond.”
More brilliant Catholic wisdom for us all to learn from: The influence of secular society turns people into child molesters. Not because men were given excessive power and influence, were required to be celibate and had a church that would willingly cover up their sex crimes. That had nothing to do with it.
The Daily Show with a “Holy Sh*t” segment on the blatant hypocrisy of the Catholic Church. Swift punishment for everyone … except Catholic Church leaders.
The separation of church and state is in place to protect the minority and maintain religious freedom in America. Catholic priest, Father Jonathan Morris, believes we should all submit to Christianity because it is most popular.
Praying to imaginary people is not offensive to me. Asinine yes, but not offensive. But forcing people to be submitted to these religious acts is completely unconstitutional. I have to believe people of other religions would find it very offensive to pray to a different god than their own.
But the school did vote, so I guess that makes it okay:
For Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because John had been telling him, ‘It is not lawful for you to have her.’ Though Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they regarded him as a prophet.
– Matthew 14:3-5
For Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because Herod had married her. For John had been telling Herod, ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.’ And Herodias had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him.
–Mark 6:17-20
In the book of Luke 16:19-31, Jesus tells a descriptive story about a heaven and hell:
“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
” ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ “
Jesus not only explains how Lazarus could see the rich man burning in hell, but how he also could hear his cries for help. Sounds like a glorious heaven experience. My Christian wife will be able to watch me burn in eternal torment but won’t be allowed to help me. Awesome.
I assume most Christians would argue that this story is a parable and not a true depiction of heaven. But do you realize this is the only Gospel story told by Jesus in which he uses the proper name of a person? There is no reason to state the name of Lazarus unless it was to bring emphasis to the truth of the story containing specific people.
This literal depiction of heaven contains events that we are to believe actually happened. Does that sound like paradise to you? Hanging out with Abraham in heaven watching people burn in eternal torment while pointing and laughing at them in their suffering?
He is called a God of mercy, but where is the mercy in this story? The story is sadistic, cruel and little more than fear mongering to scare people into believing ludicrous Christian theology. According to Jesus: “Believe in me or burn in torment forever while Abraham and everyone you’ve wronged mocks you.”
If this is your idea of paradise, you can have it.
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