VivaHedone

The majority of Christians now seem to be more liberal Christians - including the new Archbishop of Canterury, Rown Williams, who knowingly ordained a homosexual priest. They no doubt smugly congratulate themselves on being so modern and tolerant, while scorning the fundementalists who refuse to move with the times. An explanation for this liberalism is usually something along the lines of, 'Society was a lot different when the Bible was written, religion must change to reflect social changes'.

I find this argument even more ridiculous than most Christian views. These people clearly just want all the comforts and security of religion, while conveniently ignoring the 'nasty' prejudicial and intolerant bits.

How can what is morally right and wrong change with what is more socially acceptable? Something is either right or wrong; what the majority of people think is irrelevent. If, tomorrow, murdering babies became socially acceptable, would the church start condoning the practice?

If what god thinks is right and wrong merely reflects human society, then what is the point of having a god to tell us what to do? We may as well make our own rules, if god is just going to rubberstamp whatever we decide.

Nope, I'm afraid if you're a Christian, you have to obey the word of god, like it or not - maybe then the rest of the world wil see how ridiculous the whole religion thing is anyway.

beoba

I think people can believe whatever they want to.

christ-on-a-stick

Moreover, I think people WILL believe whatever they want to, regardless of whether it is a) consistent b) reasonable or c) accepted (by the "mainstream").

Hence the rash of buffet-style Xians (also known as "liberal") who pick-n-choose what parts are True, what parts are allegorical, and what parts are Wrong (perhaps interpolated or mistranslated).

It's not that I don't think that thinking for oneself' is a bad thing - it just seems to me that if you're going to take the liberty of discarding the parts that are "icky" to you and embracing the rest, it would behoove you to at least "pick your own name" for your set of beliefs instead of co-opting the traditional identification (Christian, Catholic, whatever) while disabusing yourself of some of the integral and dogmatic positions of that particular denomination.

For instance, let's say our friendly theist "Helena" doesn't believe in the concept of hell or the infallibality of the Bible, etc... wouldn't it be more genuine to call her religion "Helena-ism" than Christianity????

(*Author's note: All similarities to IIDB users living or dead are purely coincidental )

Dargo

Even the so-called fundamentalist Christians ignore large portions of the Bible. The Old Testament law is considered obsolete since Paul said so. Some new testament rules are also ignored such as women staying silent in church and praying with their heads covered.

Gregg

Actually, fundamentalists "pick'n'choose" practically as much as mainstream and liberal Christians. Observe how they reject nearly all of Leviticus, but cling stubbornly to that lonely passage condemning homosexuality. (And they justify their rejecting most of Leviticus by saying "Well, grace supersedes the Law" even though Jesus said the Law will NOT pass away "until all is fulfilled.") Note how they sing the praises of family, conveniently overlooking Jesus' teachings about hating your mother and father and about families being set against each other.

I've seen a couple posts here recently offering grudging respect to fundamentalists for not being hypocrites like those awful liberal Christians. But it's the fundamentalists who say the Bible's infallible, yet refuse to live by its commandments.

Gregg

christ-on-a-stick

Good points, Gregg. It seems that (hardly any) theists are immune to "picking and choosing" what seems *right* to them of the current theology... if there is no "authority", then what's the pont??? Apparently *anyone* can create their own belief system. Why not just admit it??? Isn't that exactly what "cults" such as Jim Jones and David Koresh had in common... a nominal faith in the "traditional" concepts of Xianity with a MAJOR twist????

I could hereby proclaim "Laurianity"... (I actually did.. when I was about 9 I wrote some "verses" of my own making patterned after Bible verses, i.e. Corinthians 3:4 became Laura 3:4... my fundy parents were none too pleased)...No Evil, No Hell, We Are All God's Children... Lauri Says So!!!!! Follow Meeeeee.....


(*Note that I have nothing to offer other than ethical hedonism, reverse-golden-rule-ism, and empathy. Do with me what you will....)