What Kind of Cultural Behavior Would Make One of Your Beliefs Open to Listening?

[sidhe]

We've had a few threads kinda like that before. Normally they're threads made by a person of a faith called called "ask a pagan" or "ask an atheist" or whatever, where people of that particular belief answer questions from others. Or you see threads like "a few questions for Hindus" etc. There are a few around, or you could start a new one. Normally they're pretty informative threads.

"Ask a Thelemite" is still my favorite...not that I'm biased or anything.

 

[Eudaimonist]

"Ask a Thelemite" is still my favorite...not that I'm biased or anything.

Nah, it's only your Will that's biased.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[sidhe]

Nah, it's only your Will that's biased.


eudaimonia,

Mark

It is my Will to be biased towards my Own Threads! The Path of my Star is set.

 

[CRfan]

Lot's daughters got Lot drunk, so that wasn't saying what they did was condoned or right.
Multiple wives was not something God endorsed, and you will find instances in the Bible where there were consequences to these immoral relationships one way or another. Sometimes it was unhappiness and jealousy.
Some things recorded in the Bible were against God's laws like adultery and multiple wives and other cultural sins. People lying, etc.
Philemon talks about treating a slave who ran away as not a slave...but a brother.
God allowed people's cultures, but He didn't say all of it was right or not sinful.
Culture today accepts many sins, such as people marrying divorced people and people living together not married as well. It is sinful and wrong, but if someone were to record about individuals who did that behavior that wouldn't mean they were endorsing it.
No one reads what Judas did and says that the Bible is encouraging that. Also, Jesus summarized the entire law as loving God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and loving your neighbour as your self.
The Bible shows people the way they actually were. That's why it reports their failings too.
As far the girl seized and the person lying with her, it doesn't say for sure whether she cried out. Also, nobody else would have married her at that time...and if she had a child, a husband would have to provide for it and her. The man had to pay a dowery.
Perhaps it was for cases where they didn't know that the person was resisting ....whether the girl was discouraging the behavior. The engaged girl who cried out did not have to marry the person who raped her...
Well, as I have chronic pain, I think I will not post for awhile again.

 

[Fuzzy]

God allowed people's cultures, but He didn't say all of it was right or not sinful.

Think about what you just said. An omnipotent being allowed things.

Culture today accepts many sins, such as people marrying divorced people and people living together not married as well. It is sinful and wrong, but if someone were to record about individuals who did that behavior that wouldn't mean they were endorsing it.

Why is it sinful and wrong? An authority says it is, despite evidence that said authority has allowed it to exist?

The engaged girl who cried out did not have to marry the person who raped her...

He was to pay her father for her hand and never divorce her. Her rights and ability to refuse are not mentioned at all.


Good luck.

 

[FreeSpirit74]

- Tell me what Christianity has done for you, personally - how has believing it made you a better, stronger person - rather than rattling off a litany of what you think it will/can do for me.

- When discussing spirituality with me on any level, always keep the following in mind: that choosing one's spiritual Path (or lack thereof) is the most important decision that a person can make. No one else but that person has the right to decide which Path is right for them, and that I have no tolerance for anyone who will force that decision on me. I have made my decision as to what my Path is - non-affiliated ecclectic Pagan - and I am very happy with it, thank you very much. Also, I recognize all spiritual Paths as equally valid simply because of the fact that there is no "one size fits all" Path (no - Christianity does NOT count!).

- I'm always open to comparing notes, because I think that all religions/spiritual Paths share more common threads than they have differences. I am respectful of anyone who is generating a positive flow of Energy in conversations about spirituality. But, if that person starts doing the opposite, and starts ragging on beliefs other than their own, and will not listen to reason when I or someone else corrects them, it's on at that point.

 

[FreeSpirit74]

Public preaching is okay in my view in an appropriate place, as a person can choose to listen or not.

Well, what would you consider an "appropriate" place?

The city where I live, every year, puts on a street festival around Christmas time called the Victorian Stroll. One year I went because a friend's band was playing - I didn't even live in that city at that time - and right in the middle of the busiest section of the Stroll was some guy doing street preaching. And he was ranting and raving at the top of his lungs, and that whole scene made me very nervous and uncomfortable, because it was very hard to tell whether he was legit or if he was a raving looney off his meds and who knew what he may do next. Like whip out a gun and start firing when he realzed people were trying to ignore him?

That, to me, is an inappropriate scenario for public preaching. People were at the Stroll to have fun, not to have someone's religion shoved in their ears by some guy bellowing on the street corner. This guy may have the right to freedom of speech, but that doesn't give him the right to be heard.

 

[FreeSpirit74]

But the difference between being a Jesus-indwelt Christian and church-going Christian is massive--it goes so far beyond belief. It is very stark, very personal and completely inexplicable with words (at least in my experience), which may account for a perceived amount of arrogance when presented in English on an online forum.

I think I can "get" what you are referring to. You live your faith 24/7/365, not just on Sundays or whenever you go to service. It's part of you, genuinely, truly part of you, not just on the surface or an act you put on when the situation arises. You don't compare your faith to that of others, because what is important is how you live out your Christian faith, not how it does or doesn't measure up to that of the people around you.

I'm assuming here. :o But that is what came to mind when I read the above quote.