one flew west

I came home one night after a nice smoke filled evening and i decided i'd start reading the Bible. Strange thing to do but i realised i went through 12 years of catholic school without reading it, so cover to cover was my aim...

now for anyone who's read the Bible, especially the old testement, you would know how much random stuff the israelites were told they HAD to do or God would kill them, God would reject them, God would order them stoned to death...etc. It was often said that these things must be obeyed for ALL TIME! And needless to say few people now-a-days would sacrafice year old lambs and doves and burn them so the smell would please the Lord, but what exactly are we meant to follow?
there is a lot of stuff in there we do adhere to but then there is endless amounts of stuff that we wouldn't think about doing.
Did we (as humans) along the course of time just reject what God said (after he stopped dirrectly speaking to us) and choose to follow the bare minimum of what was ordered or just follow what fitted into our lifestyle?

i was a bit confused, if it's God's book and the word of God then how come we only listen to certain parts and reject the rest? Who decided that we would hold some things true but then not listen to others that had just as much coverage in the writings?

just thinking...



...one flew west...

Cassius

Most Christian philosophy indicates that Jesus' teachings supplanted the law of Moses. Meaning, the Old Testament is for learning, but you won't be judged by it if you've been baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. If you have (and are thus a Christian), you will be judged only by the New Testament and so that is the extent of your guidelines for living.

Of course, I'm an atheist, so what do I know?

Beatlejuice

Congrats on your 420th post, Cassius! A true landmark for all Cheaptalk members.

I've gone to Catholic school for 13 years and I too have never read the Bible. The thought has popped into my head a few times, but I never actually started. I think even while Jesus was alive people were still not following what God wanted them to do, and things are no different today. But it was my understanding that the 10 commandments are what God wanted people to follow, and still does today. In that case, I'm going to hell.

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Cassius

420, I didn't even notice! Gratz to me, yeehaw !!

If the ten commandments were all God wanted you to follow, why the need for Jesus' teachings? The ten commandments have been available since Moses.

Logos

I have some interesting perspective on all of this. Not sure I'm nearly stoned enough to actually realy any of it effectively or not, but I came to my own spirituality, then picked up the bible and discovered it aligned with what I already believed was the proper way to conduct ones life...

I don't so much see the bible as the end all be all guide to spirituality, I view it as a way of trying to understand what it means to be a good person, in ones own eyes, and in the creators eyes.

The bible is the story of Jesus, and his teachings. What he taught more than anything else was the golden rule. To love eachother as he loved all of us. (his words)

If we love eachother as we love ourselves, then we are loving the creator, and all of creation. If this were the case, what kind of world would we live in?

Logos

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one flew west

So as a catholic am i supposed to take the old testament as some general teachings on how to be a good person and follow what Jesus said to do to the letter?
If this is the case, why is the old testament constantly refered to? Why does the catholic church preach about the old testament at all? there is a lot of stuff in there that contradicts other stuff, it's just so confusing. Don't know what to listen to and what to ake with a grain of salt. It's kinda mind bending to think that when you die you go to heaven and depending on what you followed you will be judged accordingly. what if you followed the wrong bits and God wanted us to follow the old testament as well, leading a life that revolved around Him



...one flew west...

Logos

I think as long as you follow the golden rule, and lead your life in an honest fasion, the afterlife will treat you well.

Anyone who claims to know the creator, and fully grasp the meaning of life, probably doesn't have much of a clue at all.

If you believe in what your heart tells you, then you are probably following in the footsteps of Jesus already. If you follow those footsteps, you will one day end up in the same place, I'm just sure of it...

Logos
P.S. True spirituality comes from within...

ThaNarc

Most of the laws in the Pentateuch make sense if you put them in to them in the proper historical context. This is supposedly the narrative of the rise of the Jewish people from a nomadic to a settled culture. I would imagine the laws of the desert had to be harsh as the searched the wilderness in for the land promised to them by God. The only punishment could be death or exile, which amounted to the same thing, as there was no other way to maintain the social order without bringing undue hardship upon the tribe.

The rituals shouldn't overshadow the message. Which when you get down to it isn't a bad message. Rituals were made, then reformed, and reformed again, but the message always stays the same. Man has always reasoned new approaches to dealing with God and we will continue to do so, and God will always be right there along side us.





to liberate thought from the shackles of imitation and religions as it was understood by the community before dissension appeared ; to return, in the acquisition of religious knowledge, to its sources and to weigh them in the scale of human reason, which God has created in order to prevent excess or adulteration in religion, so that God's wisdom may be fulfilled and the order of the human world preserved; and to prove that, seen in this light, religion must be accounted a friend to science, pushing man to investigate the secrets of existence, summoning him to respect established truths and to depend on tem in his moral life and conduct.
Muhammad 'Abduh Islamic Religious Scholar

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