Korean Job Discussion Forums

[superacidjax]

The issue of God existing or not isn't the real issue.. that's a personal spiritual discovery..

The real issue is that of missionaries trying to "sell" me their particular take on God. When I walk down the street, I don't have Hyundai dealers running after me trying to get me to buy their vehicles. But missionaries see it as acceptable to try and approach people who didn't even ask to visit the "dealership!"

Yes, religion is the exact same as business. It IS business! The Catholics and Mormons and Protestants are all in the business of selling salvation. "Come to my church," really means, come to my church and get sucked in and evenutally pay us (donate, tithe, etc.) The more members, the more money and the more power. God doesn't need my money. God doesn't NEED anything.. people have the needs. They need to feel loved, secure, accepted. If God provides that, then great, but it's the people that NEED the money for churches. Churches are a business.. I don't like pushy salespeople in any business. If I want your "product" then I'll visit the shop or the websites.

Advertsing your religion is fine with me.. it's a free market (mostly.) But I don't want the salesmen knocking on my door, unless they were invited.

[RACETRAITOR]

If people go around claiming missionaries are "anointed" by God, then it is a problem, because that basically means they haven't been anointed by anyone.

You can argue free marketing all you want, but false advertising is still illegal. If all religions say theirs is the one true way they can't all be right. You can't sell false medicine and say it cures cancer, so why should you be able to sell false gods and say they save your life?

[SuperHero]

[superacidjax]

[Demophobe]

[superacidjax]

[Demophobe]

[superacidjax]

[Xian]

[superacidjax]

What I don't get is that the bible is supposed to be accurate and infallible, yet, the New Testament contradicts the Old Testament. If the New Testament is the only one that matters, why does the Christian Bible contain both Testaments?

And, who decided what books are in the bible? Men. And, according the bible, men are sinners. Logically, that would imply that the Bible isn't perfect, because the men that wrote the words aren't perfect.

[mithridates]

[superacidjax]

[pdx]

I, too, have issues with how the Bible was brought together and it being put together by men, etc. However, it's my faith and even when I questioned all of that, I still believed. I have no idea why, but I do.

As for the Old Testament vs New Testament... the Old Testament is really the history of God's people over time. I mean- of COURSE we are going to be reading Genesis (the beginning of the earth and tons of stories) and Exodus (the flight of God's people), etc. The Psalms are worship to God. The prophets foretold things in the future- they foretold the coming of Jesus. Those things are important.

As for the laws, the laws vary from Old Testament to New Testament. It's important (for another reason), also, because Jesus calls upon the Old Testament while he preaches. They're not separate- they're very much intertwined. Among themselves, Christians often argue about things, such as whether the old testament is relevant when we talk about how we live our lives today or what effect Jesus had on the old laws, etc. He was the new law, but many Christians still try to quote Old Testament for practical living.

Anyway- blah blah blah.

[superacidjax]

Interestingly, the Ten Commandments are an Old Testament thing. So perhaps the infalibility of those commandements might be called into question.

One cannot argue following the Ten Commandments whilst disregarding the other laws of the Old Testament. The Commandments are a good idea, but I don't follow them because they are in the bible, I follow them because they are a decent ethical starting point. The philosophy of the bible is a good thing.. it's the "Christians" that like to preach doctrine and dogma as the "Word of God."

[Satori]

When it comes to religion/spirituality, believe what you want, but believing that you are "right" and those you don't share you view are "wrong" and need to be "saved" is the height of arrogance and extremely unappealing.