dardydardar

Dude, I'm not offended...and by all means, we should all feel like we can say our piece on here without someone getting upset; and I'm not really referring to you anyways. It sure as hell wasn't a big deal, there's just a few people on here who get bent out of shape about what I say. So I'll just try to keep the peace for a while until something rattles my cage, and I hope everyone else on here will do the same.

Like I told Joe, I have never been offended by anything anyone has said, just a little annoyed from time to time, and it kind of got the best of me. I understand I went about it in a very immature way but it's done and I'm glad that no one hates me too terribly much...JK :o) I love all of you guys and I'm happy that you all have your own views and opinions...that's what makes the world what it is.

I was born and raised Christian. As far as I can remember, there was always "something" intangible between Jesus and I. Catholicism didn't make sense to me then and it doesn't make too much sense to me now. Well, maybe it made sense to me at some point. I believe the foundation of modern religion is basically to explain the unexplainable. It's the missing defense mechanism, if you will. No matter how unbelievable the explanations actually are (i.e. backed up by scientific evidence), humans just believe it (see definition for "faith"). If God were truly omnipotent, He would have known what would become of this Earth and His children. So, then why did He let this all happen? Why the tsunami's, the hurricanes, the war, the famine, the sick and the poor. God wiped out the earth once (all except for Noah) and just decided that would be the last time he would ever do such a thing? The whole thing is shady as hell. Why did he leave a middle-aged, fully clothed man (the neon sign of a sinner) to resurrect Eden? A Iahovah's Witness once said to me, "God gave us the choice to believe in him, or not to believe in him and that is why the earth is in disarray. But there will be an apocolypse and it's best to (donate $$ now) join us so that you will be saved." Sorry, it's all too far fetched. A lot of the Bible is very vague and takes a LOT of faith to actually believe in it, let alone stand by it. The foundation of most religion is based on a supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited (or no) evidence as a starting point for further exploration (a.k.a. A Hypothesis). I do not know or understand God. But that's not to say he/she/it doesn't exist. But as for organized religion, we have created disease and cured disease. We have shot people off into space like it's no big deal. But we have absolutely nothing to back up the very foundation of Christianity. Well, other than an empty tomb and a handful of peoples' word (scripture). Oh and also, this is not by any means "eye-witness" testimony. Sorry, this whole post is strictly for the sake of argument and it is just my opinion (however credible that is). I have a lot of experience with taking flak for my faith in certain things (cough cough) so just take it with a grain of salt.

... touché ;)

to Ringer (and anyone else who gets ambitious): ahhh, yes, the "if God in His omnipotence..." something ive asked myself again and again. heh. well, according to the old "fable," God created man and gave him free will. Free will is the key and center of every "Why God this why God that" controversy today. If God didn't give man free will, whats the point of creating him? none! he might as well be a puppet and what kind of creation is that? we might as well have been lifeless. but God , according to the story, entrusts man with free will. Free will to, for instance, turn his back completely on God or kill or steal or destroy or serve God or seek God or whatever. apparently God saw reason in us to take that kind of chance. Man chooses to disobey God. The old Adam and the apple and the snake story. Somehow through this, the bible argues, sin enters into the world and affects all men after Adam. Adam "falls" and somehow gives his authority over to the serpent... it was the serpent's idea to get man to disobey God by eating the apple. now i know that's far fetched but check out the scripture references. its actually extremely interesting, even just intellectually: Genesis 1:26 26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. *now watch what's said by satan in the garden when he's tempting Jesus and watch what he offers Jesus* Luke4:5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7So if you worship me, it will all be yours." *So , regardless of whether man still reigned over the earth (like fish, animals, trees, etc), it is apparent that Satan [through the fall] became ruler of mankind as stated in Luke 4:6 where he says that all the "authority and splendor" of "all the kingdoms of the world" had been given to him. Kingdoms of the world refer to the kingdoms of men. Man, through the fall, submitted himself to the rule of the devil. All men fell subsequently, and only through Jesus, according to the book, was man able to be redeemed. So Satan fell in the beginning, usurped the God given authority of man, and rose above all the kingdoms of the world - making his way back towards the heavens where he was once expelled but then Jesus is , as the story goes, resurrected and appears to His disciples and makes a new claim: Matthew 28:17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit..." how's this claim possible? The Jesus claim claims that through the death and resurrection that He conquered death - the power of the devil himself - and therefore conquered the devil, speaking "it is finished" ... and, if one is inclined to believe it , fulfills what's commonly thought of as the first prophecy in the Bible... all the way back in Genesis 3:5 (what God says to the serpent, then eve, then adam after they disobey) Gen 3:5 - And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." [the woman, eve (hebrew translation "mother of the living") is quite possibly metaphorical for the entire human race - therefore the enmity being not so much between the serpent and the woman, but between the serpent and what the woman represents - the living. the foreshadowing of sickness and hatred and disease, etc. but the super interesting part is the "he will crush your head, you will strike his heel," bit. "her seed" is commonly referred to as Jesus. Why? Jesus is called the "Son of Man" etc... and as you know - seed and son can be used interchangably when speaking of a child. "my seed" is a somewhat common term for children. "He is one of my seed." etc. So "he will crush your head, you will strike his heel." *LITTLE KNOWN FACT* during crucifixion, the spike driven through the foot on the cross is typically driven through BOTH your heels at the same time because if you don't place the nail properly through the heel bone; the tendons, muscle, and smaller bones of the foot you pierced commonly tear and, in short, the weight of the body would tear the nail straight through the foot and it wouldn't hold. through the heel, baby, through the heel. *LITTLE KNOWN FACT NUMBER 2* in ancient times when a king conquered another king's kingdom, often times the king was brought before the conquering king and layed down before the conqueror in full subjection and the winning king would STOMP ON HIS HEAD to symbolize the end of that king's headship. also, the foot being on top of the head tended to greatly symbolize that even the lowest part of the new king (the foot) was higher than the highest part of the old king(the head), thus bringing the losing body UNDER complete subjection to the rule of the new king. not to mention sometimes the winning king would then drink the losing king's blood. (yummy but rather irrelevant here). so what have we got here? Satan falls from heaven, man is created with dominion over the earth, satan usurps man's authority through man making the wrong choice with free will. somehow this affects entire humanity as satan tricks man into rebellion and takes man's authority. satan offers basically 2nd in command of this authority to Jesus, and Jesus basically says "piss off, im gonna take it whether you like it or not." honestly - i work in the streets. i see people all the time who dont want to be told how to live their lives. they do drugs. they have sex. they live on the streets. they've been sexually active since like 12 and were addicted to drugs before 16. they dont want to be told how to live their lives, but they destroy their lives through their free will. the drugs catch up and they get addicted. the sex catches up and they get diseases, or pregnant. then its a whole mess load of crap to untangle before they can get their lives straight. but it's a result of free will. world hunger? man's free will. we have money but wont use it. violence? man's free will. poverty? man's free will. disease? thats where it gets tricky. natural disasters? tricky. death? who knows. but check this out... scripture says that somehow our EARTH/WORLD is fallen as well... watch here what God says to Adam about the earth. even the earth becomes "cursed" for what Adam did. Genesis 3:17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. " then the promise of the redemption of the earth Romans 8:20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. naturally, i dont present this as FACTUAL EVIDENCE... but this is what the Bible does have to say. people are free to interpret it as they want... if anyone has questions or comments, i'll try my best to answer. im not a knowitall, but i know some. and even just from a conversational standpoint, i find this stuff absolutely fascinating and usually have to end my blogs about these things rather abruptly because i could literally go on for hours...