Quote:
Originally Posted by ethanjames
i don't think the bible explicitly says that homosexuality is wrong in fact the quote most people use against gay people is actually translated against pedophilia not homosexuality. i see people use christanity as an excuse now to hate gay people an though i am not a Christian myself i think we have got to the point where we have to become more tolerant of others no matter our religious beliefs
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You know, I was doing some reading after posting and apparently biblical literacy is supposedly abysmal low, including many churches... and that makes sense for a document that's been translated I guess... I mean it makes sense, given how we see information circulates and is "altered", key points "ommitted" along it's path... The Bible, the very first click-bait (flip?)...
My family was originally Baptist (non-denominational now), and I think that that particular "strain" of Christianity is very fire & brimstone, particularly Southern Baptist... I want to say they take the Bible in the most literal sense, but I'm not an expert.
I just know from having gone to several denominations, I don't think Christianity in general is a religion of HATE. That is not it's core philosophy. Unfortunately, every group has it's corrupt individuals... but at least with religion, most rules are fairly clear... like don't murder, don't steal. They are just a
loud minority with a couple of craft store signs...
An old friend, a liberal jew (later agnostic), she had her pencil taken away by a group of Christian mean girls and the one girl held it in front of her and demanded she repent her sins, that she would return it if she repented for her sins and pledged her love(?) for Jesus Christ... that type of treatment is obviously traumatic for so many people, particularly at a young age, so I don't think that the criticism is necessarily unwarranted... but my opinion, these things shouldn't be forced on us so young... I think most religion/spirituality, we reap better if we are grounded first as individuals and then taught other ways of "seeing" the world...
I think spirituality itself can actually be quite beneficial... even just being agnostic (or even atheist I hear O_o), I think a lot can be gained, because you're more receptive to the deeper experiences of life, and have a desire to experiment with re-interpretation... a lot of people interpret most experiences as good/bad... and that's quite a sad way to view the world, imo... I think everything has a little bit of good, and a little bit of bad... joy in life for me is searching for the good and cultivating that in your life as well as in your heart+mind... we human-beings rely heavily on story-telling to help "guide" our emotional well-being and sense of personal power.. those narratives say a lot about us at a deeper level really... if even just in a psychological sense.