brokenfingers said:
Aruna, read my post above. People like that refuse to believe any truth but their own.
Your theory lacks logic. "People refuse to believe any truth but their own." Hello? If we believe something to be truth, we're not going to believe in lies. That goes for what you believe in, what Aruna believes in, and what every person on earth believes in. Brokenfingers, you are trying to say that only those who believe a certain way are like this. No, every human being is like that. If we believe something to be truth, if someone comes along with something contradictory to what we believe to be truth, we are going to refuse it.
I state that the Bible is the ultimate authority by which Christianity is based and anyone claiming a Christian theology which contradicts the Bible because they say the Bible isn't I believe to be false. Thus I refuse it. Likewise Aruna is the opposite, refusing to believe my truth because she accepts her beliefs as truth and since my beliefs contradict her own she refuses my truth and believes it to be false.
So your argument really doesn't hold any water because your statement in itself claims that you are just the same - refusing any truth other than your own.
Logic dictates that we can not accept multiple truths which contradict each other. If we did, we would be a paradox and should probably be put in a room with padded walls at that point because we'd be mentally insane. You don't accept something as truth if it contradicts your beliefs, no one does. So I really don't understand why you insist on making this argument.
reph said:
In another post, you said you'd become a Christian at age 12. Honestly, I don't think your faith has matured since then. Most adults have moved beyond such black-and-white judgments.
The statement of a judge, jury, and executioner.
aruna said:
I see that there is really no point, as you argue with the Bible, whereas I - and many extremely sincere practicing Christians I know - do not accept the Bible as hard and fast literal truth.
Christianity is so divided among itself that it a farce. It is divisive and exclusionary. Thank goodness, though, there ARE other Christians, who understand the allegorical nature of the Bible.
And I'm accused of looking at everything black and white? Most Christians I know, myself included, understand that the Bible uses many forms of writing. Some parts are literal, others are figurative.
aruna said:
However, I am referring specifically to those who worship, in your eyes, "other gods", those other gods being, I suppose, the Devil. If they worship the Devil surely they would be prompted to do evil.
Since you seem to want me to repeat myself, okay. We are born sinners. Sin is evil. The Bible says that no one is good, we've all turned away from God. Anyone who thinks otherwise is only deceiving themself.
William Haskins said:
martyrdom is central to christianity. always has been, for obvious reasons.
God judges the heart, He knows our secret motives. Those He considers martyrs are ones who did not seek martyrdome but in the face of that heavy a persecution, did not deny or reject their Lord and were willing to die.
Jesus was a martyr, He did not want to die, He spent all night praying and crying so hard that He sweat blood. Medical doctors say that will happen to a person when they are under a tremendous amount of stress. Jesus asked God to change His mind, it was God's will for Jesus to be a martyr.
Likewise I believe all true martyrs don't want to be martyrd. Yes it's noble, but the desire of Christians in this world should be the desires of reaching as many lost people as they can. Being martyrd means you won't have the opportunity to reach as many people.
It is my belief that true martyrs don't want it, but they will die for Jesus before ever denying Him because they know to deny Jesus to save their mortal life for awhile would be eternally devastating.
Colorado Guy said:
I must say that you are the first person ever to accuse me of that. I doubt that they would have me.
I absolutely did not accuse you of being a mormon. I said that what you wrote sounded like what mormons believe. Clearly Quakers and Mormons are two different groups of people.
Colorado said:
Frankly, it always seemed to me that fundamentalists do that frequently: the stoning of folks, the thing about the shellfish and "unclean" animals (do you eat pork?) . . .
Frankly I find it gets old whenever someone who doesn't take much of any, if any, of the Bible literally accuses someone who takes any part of it as being a "Fundamentalist." I see the word "Fundamentalist" used as a four-letter-word.
My understanding of the word "Fundamentalist" is someone who takes the entire Bible literally. You can't do that, that's not how the Bible is written.