A perspective on why man must not sleep with man and why God hates that

The jury is still out on this one.

I've got to admit you've got me on this one.

 

Do you really believe that? My mom bought me a KJV bible recently because I started to take an interest in God (not religion) but I'm having a hard time trying to concieve what God really is. I never believed 'he' was a man in the clouds with a beard and I never will. Though I find it a little discouraging the way they describe God because it doesn't seem palatable to me.

 

Okay, but what is your literal description of God?

I'm trying to understand your beliefs instead of always going against it. Don't get me wrong, I'm still gonna speak out when I disagree. It's that I just realized I have no idea who or what exactly Christians consider God to be.

 

*Doesn't read*

Boycott...

 

yea, I completely agree. I use to bash Christianity because I thought they believed God was a man in the clouds and that Jesus literally and physically flew up to heaven when he 'rose' from the death. I'm trying to be more tolerant of their beliefs now, although I still have questions such as these that need to be answered in order for me to respect their beliefs more.

 

Interested in God but not religion?

Check this out:

http://www.eoni.com/~visionquest/library/godconsc.html

It looks long but it's a quick read and explains God on an intellectual level.

 

It says they are metaphorical?

 

Yes, I believe all descriptions of God in the Bible are metaphorical.

The Bible says that no man can see God and yet live, so an actual physical description of God can not be made.

With the exception of Jesus, who was with God in his prehuman form as a spirit creature, no human has known what God actually looks like and Jesus didn't leave a description.

So when the Bible gives a description of God, generally what is being described are his quailities and not what he actually looks like.

Such as the beard you mentioned, a white beard would indicate age and wisdom, not that he has a white beard.

 

Man, ther's hope for you yet! Now if you can believe something as basic and important as the descriptions of God are metaphorical, why can't you do the same for some of the other passages, like the creation story in Genesis?

 

Personally, I believe that the Bible is both metaphorically and literally true.

When I read Genesis, it seems to be taking itself seriously and if it was just a parable then what can we say about Jesus if he is God's son? What about his sacrifice and everything that has lead up to it? Isn't that to suggest that it was all in vain?

For me, sometimes real life events can be described in metaphorical ways but still be literally true. Life is kinda cartoony in that way and it can be used to give us a better understanding of life's events. In other words, the metaphorical parallels with actuality and they are both equal to each other.

 

Thanks.

Well for one thing as I mentioned the descriptions of God have to be metaphorical, because no man can see God and live but the creation story in Genesis does not have to be metaphorical.

In fact if it was metaphorical, that would negate the need for Jesus' ransom sacrifice, seeing as no Adam, would mean no need for Jesus to make up for what he did.

PS As I've told you before I feel no need to believe the whole Bible is to be taken literally and in fact believe that some parts of the can be taken both literally and metaphorically. But I also feel that there is no need to believe that something in the Bible is not literal, when there is no good reason to believe it is not literal.

 

I feel that any religion, dogma, or any other arbitrary control schemes, will hold you back. nature's already provided us with what we need and meditation along with honesty and compassion is the answer. it's quite simple.

personally I think Jesus' message was that we can all do what he did.
but I lean towards the non Christian accounts of his life, such as Nag Hammadi or in other scripts, sometimes he has alternate names, such as St. Issa. but the Bible leaves out a huge chunk of his life anyway, and he had a very Eastern influenced vision that isn't depicted.

 

I think the "ransom sacrifice" is also metaphorical. Sacrificing one person to pay for the transgressions of another makes no sense, and for a loving God to sacrifice his only begotten son to appease Himself is incomprehensible. The Adam and Eve story in Genesis is about the basic nature of humanity, our proclivity for attachments and preoccupation with what we don't have. Carried to its extreme, that's hell! Thanks to Jesus, his teachings, example, and sacrifice, we have a better alternative: the Kingdom of Heaven. By the way, I owe to Genesis the thing that's most important to me, My Christian faith! But it seems absurd to take it literally. In the final analysis, it's a matter of judgment. If you think Genesis ais plausible when taken literally, go ahead and believe it. I don't, and I think the price of believing in it is twofold: (1) to use a pre-scientific creation myth to challenge empirically based science, and more importantly (2) to miss the point of God's message. Biblical literalism puts us in the position of defending slavery, sexism, homophobia, genocide,the killing of children, a Six Day creation, and talking snakes--as you have done so energetically in various postings, even though you claim not to be a literalist..

 

Then of what purpose was Jesus' sacrifice?

 

Going by descriptions, far chance Jesus was Gay, thirty something, no wife, no kids, no girlfriend at a time when everyone else was getting married at like 12, a natural empathy towards women


Havent you ever considered thats what the issue is all about, that they dont want you to work that out.

Aside from that, with most churches the only erotic symbolism ontained within is usually a statue of the almost naked Jesus on the cross.

And in summary, the whole thing is hardly a fair fight, pick on such a small minority that they know is never going to fight back. We are the David, Christianity and Islam is the Goliath

 

And this answers the question of the purpose of Jesus' sacrifice how?

 

So God would forgive all sins.

Everyone goes to Heaven, and then God judges

Gays, Non-believers, adulters etc, all go to heaven, then God decides.

So if God exists, final judgement is up to him. If he doesnt, we end up worm food.

Either way, our opinion, who we hate, who we believe should go to heaven, counts for shit

 

god hates sodomy!

 

Let me see, you seem to be saying that Jesus sacrificed his life so rift-raff can go to heaven, only to be judged unworthy to be there in the first place. Interesting view of God, Heaven and Jesus' sacrifice you have there.

 

The op is very intelligent, but imho, he misses his own point. Those who truly believe in the bible should not in fact hate gays. The bible does not ever advocate hate. But instead this rules must be taken in context, for times have changed. These rules no longer directly apply. They were directed toward an ancient society. But their spirit can be carried on.