Christianity is a goddamned religion; deal with it

[walor]

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by quixotic78 *

This rant was sparked by walor in http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=77488

Funnily enough, Jesus despised religion too. We mustn’t confuse religion and Christianity though… they’re not the same thing. I reject religion but I’m a Christian.

Wow.I just popped into the pit on my way home. I don’t come here too often… didn’t realise what I’d inadvertantly started here!

Now, I don’t mean to single out walor; I don’t even know the guy, so it’s nothing personal.

Nice to meet ya quixotic78. I think we have met before in other threads, but only briefly.

No, walor, Jesus did not despise religion.

Jesus is not quoted as using the word ‘despise’, that’s true. At least as far as I’m aware. So my choice of that word may have been unfortunate. Judge for yourself.

‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.’ Matthew 23:27

Jesus was very critical of those who quoted religious law, followed ritual, presented a ‘Christian’ face, but then thought, said or did the opposite. Those who appear righteous but are full of wickedness and hypocrisy.

I’m sorry, Mr. Shit-Eating Grin Christian in the Supermarket, but your statement that you can have Jesus without religion is pure steamin’ bullshit. walor and friends, if you reject religion, you cannot be a Christian.

I reject ‘religion’ when it is the hypocritical approach that Jesus spoke out against. My Christianity is about my personal relationship with Jesus.

I attend a church and mix with Christians. I do this to practice my faith and not simply to go through ritualistic motions. I accept Biblical scripture as my guide. I try to act accordinging to my understanding of the Lord’s will and not my own.

• Reputation is what you are in the light. Character is what you are in the dark.*

I believe that some other people attend church and assign themselves the tag of ‘Christian’, but through their observed deeds, I doubt that they are ‘Christian’ in my terms.

So let’s review, shall we? Christianity is a religion. Face the fucking music and accept it. No one thinks you’re “cool” because you pretend it’s not. And you’re not fooling anybody. Well, except maybe others with cranium-studded colons.

My grand-daughter (2 years old) thinks I’m ‘cool’. That’s not a bad start. Okay, so it’s not related to the point that you are making.

I’m happy to accept that ‘Christianity’ may be described as a religion. As grimpixie has already explained, within that broadly cast net there are widely differing approaches to practising the faith. There are individuals whom I would not identify with. Individuals who have not yet becomes ‘Christians’ as I understand the term although they describe themselves as such…

So, why did the whole thing start in the first place. From memory, I was ‘accused’ of being reliious. When I’m ‘accused’ in that way, I tend to clarify things, in the same way that atheists in this thread have attempted to claify matters for those who have argued that atheism is a religion.

Finaly, given that we don’t know each other very well (OP), how come you know so much about my colon?

pax

[walor]

Oooops… sorry

that’s religious and Finally

[walor]

Should have included this above for clarification really.

*Originally posted by grimpixie *

Since those in the second category will still go to church, etc. it would appear to independent observers that there is very little difference between the two, but the distinction is important to Christians. They are no longer performing the rituals through any sense of duty or obligation, but as a means to form a closer relationship with the Christ they call “LORD”. I fall into this second category and prefer to think of myself as “devout” or “faithful” rather than “religious”.

But it is just semantics in the end…

Gp **

Very well put (IMHO)

pax

[quixotic78]

Kyla, it seems I misread what you were saying. I took your post as saying, “Christians and Muslims don’t `believe’ in the Talmud!” To which I replied, smarmily, no, they don’t, and I never claimed that they did. I missed that you were saying that Jews also do not consider the Talmud as the Word of God. I apologize for misinterpreting what you said.

That said, fuck you, because you’re wrong. Being wrong in and of itself doesn’t warrant a fuck you, but coming off high and mighty while being wrong DOES warrant a fuck you, so there it is. Yes, I do know the difference between the Pentateuch, the Torah, the Tanakh, and the Talmud, thankyouverymuch. The bits I didn’t remember exactly (such as “Which part deals with the prophets, the Nevi’im or the Kethuvim?”) I could look up either online or on my bookshelf.

Captain Amazing said that the Talmud is part of the Oral Torah, given to Moses by God on Sinai. The Oral Torah, the Torah Sheb’al Peh (something I had to look up), was in danger of being forgotten after the destruction of the second Holy Temple. So Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi and his Krew codified the Oral Torah into the Mishna. Along with the Mishna you have the gemara, oral expositories, which weren’t codified until 300 years later, by Rav Ashi and Ravina. The codified Mishna and Gemara comprise the Talmud.

In other words, yeah, what the Captain said.

Quix