a lot of the misunderstandings about Christianity come from a lack of wisdom about human nature

Well, as they say, it takes two to tango.

 

What would make you think that?

In an extremely literal sense that might technically be correct, but overall on the whole it's not.

 

NOPE. There is no rating system for severity for sins. One falls short, even a little, and they get the FULL hell treatment.

 

That's cuz you are NOT free of sin.

 

That's a theology believed by some Christians, but not all.

Some take Matthew 5:26 to imply that the punishment will be in proportion to the severity of the offense.

 

Well, that's how human-based legal punishments also work. If you murder two people you don't get any greater punishment than if you murder one person.
So if that was indeed how the system worked, it wouldn't be any more unfair than the system people have already voted for.

 

Yes you do.

 

That is their mistake, they believe in the perfectibility man. If that were possible it would have happened by now. They don't believe in Original Sin, they think people are made bad by unjust social structures, that their kooky schemes will fix.

 

Guess I'll be meeting most everyone who ever was born on this earth down below then. If you believe your concept what is the use of even trying to be better?

 

It is quite fortunate that most people are bright and good enough to dismiss the whole concept of "Hell" and just be nice to each other.

 

My concept is " If you aren't kind enough too people to be invited to dinner on earth ; what makes you think your going to be invited for the feast in heaven".

 

Holding onto anger is like picking up a hot coal to throw at someone else...You are the one burned. ~ Buddha

 

Some sins are easier to forgive. It's like the difference between a man who got into a heated argument with someone, and it escalated into a physical confrontation, and he ended up killing the man, versus another man who raped and killed another man's daughter even though that man had, out of the great generosity of his heart, brought him in off the streets out of homelessness into his own house.

In the old days, both of those men might hang. They committed murder, so it's the same punishment. But suppose you are going to forgive. It's far easier to forgive and rehabilitate the first man than the second man.

In Christian terminology, I suppose you could say that Christ would have to suffer a lot more to atone for the sins of the second man, if he were to be forgiven, to take the full just punishment that offender deserved.

 

Oh, and what punishment would that be?
They both get life in prison. Does one of them not get the special brownie on Sundays?

 

Rahab the hooker, one of Jesus' ancestors, ratted out her whole town to the Israelites, who then slaughtered them.

 

There are at least 28 acts (sins) that require the death penalty in the Bible.

 

Is one of them believing in a fairytale?

 

As you should know, Christians do not live under the Levitical laws that were for ancient Israel.

(If they did they would not be eating bacon, just as an example)

 

So if the Bible was completely made up, why would they have included that part?

Oh by the way, you are only clouding the issue by throwing irrelevencies into this thread. Can you address the OP and stick to the topic?

 

Based on my observations and experiences, people are stupid for believing in ancient ethnocentric Middle Eastern Jewish and Arabian religious fairy tales when they have nothing in common with those cultures. As time passes I am more convinced that humanity should be put of of its misery by a giant planet killer asteroid because humans are too stupid to continue to exist and are not getting any smarter. Maybe cockroaches will evolve to be more intelligent than humans because right now we might as well be living in caves like people did 20,000 years ago. We are just as ignorant as they were then. Anyone who thinks that a Jewish lich is going to give them eternal life is insane.

 

The writers included that part to show that they were writing a clever prank. The Bible includes countless clues to show that it is just a story meant for entertainment because there were no movies then and people needed something to be entertained by. The story about Rahab is just one such clue.

 

Just because a thread is about some particular aspect of Christianity does not give you license to go off derailing the thread, bashing Christianity.
Of course, you have every right to bash a religion in this forum, but you should do it in the proper thread.

 

The Scriptures are proof. You're not the authority that tells people what they can or can't believe as proof. How ludicrous.

 

You mentioned human nature. It is human nature to lie, especially when people come up with religious fairy tales. They lie to give them power and status over their more superstitious and ignorant buddies and to enrich themselves without working. Consider the biblical stories where there is only one or two characters in the middle of nowhere but we know their dialogue and thoughts. In some passages we are even told what the God character was thinking. How stupid does a person have to be to believe that lie, even if a celestial God character did exist? The reality is that there is no such entity in this solar system, there never has been, and there never will be.

You should know that the Bible is a lie because you can't do what your favorite religious figure said that you can do if you have any faith and belief at all. Therefore, if he existed he was either lying or you lack faith, just like everyone in human history has lacked faith. So, in the end, you are simply suffering from delusions like all of the other hundreds of millions of people have suffered throughout history. And that is real human nature. Isn't that the topic?

 

That is a good question, and one worthy of discussion, but unfortunately it is irrelevant to the (specific) topic of this discussion and off-topic.

So guess what? I'm not going to bother trying to answer it here.

The Wyrd of Gawd, you have demonstrated that you can't hold a genuine discussion and feel the need to keep clouding the issue.

I will have to ask you to leave the debate in this thread if your pattern continues.

Please try to keep in mind the topic of discussion in this thread.

Your arguments are clearly disingenuous and not intellectually honest, in the sense that they are just being used to cloud the issue, in an off-topic manner, which is (whether you care to recognize it or not) derailing this thread from the appropriate scope of conversation.

You were warned, but you seem incapable or unwilling of heeding that warning.
Don't me take this up with a forum moderator because you are too thick-headed to understand what I am telling you.

Now, if you care to actually discuss or debate the premise in the OP, you are welcome to.
(calling into question the validity of Christianity, the Bible, or existence of God does not directly have anything to do with the issue in the OP. The sooner you recognize that, the better)