How far away is modern Christianity from its scriptures?

Yes, naturally my description of Christianity is written from the perspective of an insider. YMMV.

I'm not sure I can agree with your second statement, depending on what you mean by "a lot". I'm sure there are a few who might actually kill someone for not following their interpretation of the Christian Bible, but not very many. They tend to get arrested.

That is how it looks like.

But we should also keep in mind that it is naturally harder to notice the flaws of our own culture than the ones of different ones. All of our previous cultural periods had aspects that, nowadays, look almost dementedly wrong; and, it seems to me, it is all but certain that similar aspects will be found in our cultures, and that we would be extremely surprised if we learned what they will be.

Furthermore, progress has never been steady or consistent; and at times, ideas that sounded "progressive" or "advanced" ended up revealing themselves completely mistaken (just to mention one recent example, consider eugenics). Others, on the other hand, proved themselves extremely valuable, so much that it now boggles the mind to think that we used not to take them for granted (for example, everybody except extreme nutjobs is now completely on board about the concept of freedom of religion).

For this reason, I think that both "progressives" and "conservatives" are useful to Christianity and, more in general, to our culture. Conservatives are better able to exert criticism against our age's prejudices and to allow us to retain the insights of the past, whereas progressives are better able to criticize the status quo and the prejudices of the older ages. We may frustrate and annoy each other, and often; but ultimately, we need each other. Only through the dialectic between the conservative tendency and the progressive one can true progress be obtained.

edited 28th Mar '13 11:52:43 AM by Carciofus

But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.

True. I wonder what will they think of our morality and values two hundred years from now.

Dopants: He meant what he said and he said what he meant, a Ninety is faithful 100%.

I disagree about a religion making people closer to God being most important if being closer God means one is out to slaughter or humiliate everyone one views as not close enough. Thankfully, the Christian example of Jesus commands his followers not to fight their enemies so Christianity will always be an acceptable faith in my view. Even if you leave the faith those who remain Christians cannot take retribution for your apostasy without going against Jesus's teachings.

Jesus commanded his followers to leave the temple even if they were in the middle of a sacrifice if they had not reconciled with their neighbors they may have wronged or who may have perceived them of doing a wrong. Would we have all the scams of mega churches with that mindset? Would we have a Pope who felt the need to hide the transgressions of his clergy?

You are free to disagree but I think the beauty of the violence in the Bible is that it is all in historical context. It was done, at times even commanded, but not for you to do today. Therefore we can look back at the inquisitions, the conquistadors, the knight templars and cringe. We can see behavior not justified by the scripture and trace it to another source.

We still have pastors who hold Leviticus as law even when Jeremiah and Ezekiel explained the old covenant was broken and Jesus said he was bringing a new pact the old prophets had foretold. I would rather live with followers of Jesus who held good deeds in priority over beliefs, willing to abrogate the old pact where it conflicted with new commands. Less door knocking, less threats of hell, more alms, more good news. Condemn Sodom and Gomorrah for what the Bible actually condemned them for: rebellion, kidnapping, violation of hospitality, rape (Genesis), adultery, lies (Jeremiah) gluttony, arrogance, apathy (Ezekiel) not homosexuality. Yet the notes of my New Living Translation study Bible insist the great sin of the two cities was homosexuality.

Well if you know what one believes you can predict how one will act. How will these so called Christians treat their homosexual neighbors? If I happened to be gay, something I could not help, how would I feel about Tyndale's notes or about a Christian politician who believed them? If loyal following of the scripture was not the root of the inquisitions could an unfaithful one have been? We have seen how it worked out for others.

The Curse of Ham did not involve African slavery and amounted to nothing in the Bible yet it somehow justified not one, not two but three intercontinental slave trades, the oldest of which never stopped. Maybe the Talmud and Hadith claim Ham's sons turned black and should be enslaved but what is the Christian excuse? My belief is that if Christians lived closer to their scripture's commands and values we could be more comfortable with our Christian neighbors. If that means learning some Greek or Hebrew, reviewing the history of the Mediterranean and Levant regions, amen. In fact, the so called "conflict" of science could be brushed off by Isaiah's case of things being explained in simple language so that the people might understand. No more creationism, intelligent design and such things by otherwise smart and educated people but instead context: These things were said because people thought of the world that way.

I am for religion evolving but I think Christians are should know their roots and admit to when they overlooks their written principles. I cannot state as a fact history would be better if Christians were more peaceful for example, Theodore Roosevelt argues Europe was right to fight off the invaders of the East Roman Empire, reconquer Spain and pushing the Ottomans out of Greece but in my opinion that things would be better if they stayed true more often.

Modified Ura-nage, Torture Rack

You want to know something funny? It's how a lot of people think fans being devoted to a particular work is strange, but a number of those people don't even realize that their devotion to religion and its scriptures is Not So Different from that.

Think about it. The scriptures tell stories, some of which are obviously fictitious and some of which could be historical. The real difference between devotion to the scriptures and devotion to most other works is the fact that devotion to religion takes to higher levels than usual. Levels that include making a country, making a government running that, making churches, shrines, cathedrals and the like everywhere they can, creating jobs and careers, and not to mention making war to those who have a problem with that. The Fundamentalist is essentially the Fan Dumb of the scriptures. Naturally, you would have the Hatedom along with the Hate Dumb...those would be the people who hate a religious group, and the Hate Dumb actually want to kill the religious group, which should be considered creepy.

edited 29th Mar '13 5:25:17 AM by TiggersAreGreat

Oh, Equestria, we stand on guard for thee!

Have you forgotten the face of your father, troper?

Was this really worth necroing after 2 years?

And why is this in Yack Fest?

It should really be in OTC.

what do you mean I didn't win, I ate more wet t-shirts than anyone else