Mickie

There are good examples that this is, indeed, the case:

How many "Jesus Christs" do we have in mental wards. They are waiting for the 2nd coming isn't it a shame he'll be wearing that cute white jacket where the arms tie in the back. Maybe he's testing them and they keep failing over and over... no faith ya know.

When someone commits a crime because "God told them to" do they think, for even a moment, that god REALLY talked to them or do they slap their asses in jail? How do they know god DIDN'T tell them to kill all their children. God works in mysterious ways ya know.

CowboyHeretic

Pro 19:3 The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the LORD.

If we see only the things of this world then we can not know the power of G-d. One chooses a myopic version of reality.

kas

How do you know that when you "know" the power of god (or gid/gud/gad/ged/gyd? :huh: ) that it is not your foolishness pervertething your way? If you can't trust your senses, what can you trust? Your assumptions?

I'd rather be myopic than wrong . I can make testable predictions based on my "myopic" version of reality. Can you?

Kassiana

I think something that so challenges one's worldview can indeed be seen as offensive. For example, I play a roleplaying game where there are characters who are vampires. I have an idea for a vampire character who is insane. She couldn't handle the idea that there were really vampires in the world, so in order to keep herself from going completely around the bend when she was turned into a vampire, she believes she's an actor in a TV series pretending to be a vampire. She sees vampire "powers" as just camera tricks and special effects.

I don't think that's out of the question for an ordinary person confronted with something s/he "knows" at a fundamental level is untrue.

Nero's Boot

Malkavian, eh?

--or, wait, is this Vampire: The Requiem? Then I'll go with "Ventrue with low Humanity" NB

sharon45

Here is one I can give that does both.

Luke 13:10-17

10 On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues,
11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.
12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, "Woman, you are set free from your infirmity."
13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.
14 Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, "There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath."

15 The Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Doesn't each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water?
16 Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?"

17When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

Matthew 5:17-20

17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
19 Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Exodus 20:8-11

8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.
11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Deuteronomy 5:12-15

12 "Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you.
13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do.
15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

The thing that jesus can't figure out is that it doesn't matter even if it were possible that everyone acted as what he says they do on the Sabbath, this would of course still leave him with no excuse either.

Whether a humble servant of god, Messiah, or even god himself, it would be contradictory to not uphold the Sabbath Law.

CowboyHeretic

Jesus was teaching that the legalism that the Pharisees had imposed upon men was not in keeping with the law. the Pharisees had transformed the Sabbath into a burden on men. The Sabbath is not supposed to be a burden, it is supposed to be a day of rest and reflection.
It is interesting that you chose the Sabbath as your example as G-d has always used the Sabbath as the test commandment. Perhaps you are drawing nearer to Him?

trendkill

I can't imagine being 'offended' in such a way. I guess I'm not that attached to any worldview.

This is the explanation I've heard: he turns his back and goes up on his toes in such a way that it looks to the people standing behind him as if he's levitating slightly. It's a good trick, but it only works if viewed from a certain angle. When they televise it, they cheat by cutting to a faked shot of him with both feet off the ground.

Queen of Swords

That reminds me of the joke about how it's not a miracle to feed thousands with only a loaf of bread, because United Airlines does this on every flight.

IamMoose

Ah so because you are a Christian you see things that are NOT of this world then? Do share