Bobzammel

One of the stranger Christian doctrines apparentally is that "Instrumental music is a sin". There are huge debates on it. The main argument is that since it's not used in the New Testament(Although it is in the old)than it must be sin. I suppose using the computer, driving the car, and using the bathroom are also sins too.




Any thoughts on this?

lpetrich

It's mostly certain fundies that believe that. But then again, many fundies are very strange about what they call "Christian".

Cthulhu

No, but some of it should be...

Entropic_Gnosis

This reminds me of the "laughter is evil" argument used by Jorge in the Name of the Rose. He reasoned that as never once does the bible depict Jesus as laughing then it must be a sin and therefore everything devoted to humor is inherantly evil. Its a very legalistic stance and reminds me of Calvinists and others of that bent. The more liberal response would be that as there is nothing that states that music or laughter is evil then it must not be a sin. Although the NT purports to record the life of christ it dosent follow every action he ever took. If it did it would be even more boring than it already is. "Verily i say unto thee, i am off to get some food, anyone else?" John: 450:7888:2

Thats the problem with fundys, they have no concept of natural enjoyment, why is it that everything natural and joyful is a sin? The site the fall of man, but that seems overly used, from a psychological standpoint whats the point of restricting all action to what amounts to be a miserable and mirthless existance?


To the above: RUN AWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

philechat

Not only does fundy Christianity denounces humor, it also kills tragedy. In short, nothing but sentimental and judgmental bullshit remains.

Bobzammel

I've even seen some sites which are against eating, drinking and marriage, simply because Jesus states: "They ate, they drank, they married, until Noah went into the ark and the flood destroyed them all"--they seem to indicate the above three were somehow sins. People are to eat, drink, and marry simply to "stay alive"(Primarily only to spread the gospel) and "procreate", without any pleasure. They see pleasure mainly as selfish, it seems; but pleasure can of course be shared.
Also, they feel the "fall" was caused by "Lust of the flesh" for the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, because Eve thought it was "Good for food". A closer look at the story reveals that ALL the trees were good for food and ALL were a delight to the eyes; there is really no 'lust' here, Eve just saw it was good. If there was "lust" Eve would probably be shaking the tree, not just taking one apple. There is no "lust" if all the trees were made the same, or God is even *more* manipulative, akin to dangling candy in front of a child.
The NT also says nothing about bathing. I think some people took this to heart during the Middle Ages, and did not wash. The lack of hygeine probably had something to do with the plagues of that era.

Opera Nut

The lack of hygiene had a great deal to do with plagues until the 20th century.

The Romans and Turks had elaborate plumbing systems and communal single-sex baths and steam rooms. They were much cleaner than Christians and much less prone to infectious disease, although they suffered greatly from lead poisoning from their pipes. The word plumber comes from the Latin plumbum, which is lead, and wherefrom the chemical symbol, Pb, comes.

Because Christians believed that the body was evil (due to Paul) they thought bathing was sinful, and one was not even supposed to take your clothes off to bathe yourself, because you might see your own naked body and have lustful thoughts.

The other cause of the black plague was the Christian practice of kililng cats, which were supposedly evil and the familiars of witches. The cats controlled the rat population. The rats then multiplied furiously because of the lack of the natural control of the predatory cats, had fleas on them which carried the black plague. The fleas bit people and they died. Once again, a Christian belief contributed to their deaths in the millions. (Believe it or not, John Ashcroft believes that calico cats are particularly evil). We have superstitious bastards like this running our government???


Also, the Native Americans complained that the Puritans and other settlers smelled bad. They did not take baths.
Apparently the native americans bathed in rivers. I'm not sure what they used for soap, probably something to do with buffalo fat.

So it took nearly 2,000 years for the Roman standards of plumbing and public hygiene to come back into most societies, thanks to the Christians and their weird ideas.

lpetrich

Where is that about Native Americans complaining about settlers not bathing?

And I don't think they ever used or needed soap -- a long-enough dip in some water would suffice. Just go swimming every now and then.

shifterknob

If music were a sin, these two would have been burned at the stake YEARS ago...

keyser_soze

Is that for real?

OMG. The earth is crumbling around me....Save yourselves!