[lily.]

Originally Posted by Scouse Prezzie

Exactly. This "pick and mix" notion is what pisses me off the most. You can't just cherry pick what bits of a religion you want to follow and ignore the other doctrines just because you don't like them. Bottom line is if you're not going to follow all Christianity (for example) then you don't need to bother claiming to be a Christian at all. The Bible makes itself very clear on its views on homosexuality and if you want gay marriage then you're not a Christian.

With all due respect, this is bollocks.

The whole point of religion is to take from it what you want.. It's not a load of rules set in stone. 100 people could read the bible and get 100 different messages from it. Everyone has their own interpretation of the stuff religion is made of. Some go to church regularly, some never do. Some read the bible regularly, some never do.

Who the hell are you to decide what criteria you must meet in order to be classed 'Christian'.

Not all Christians are raging homophobes.

[arista]

Originally Posted by lily.

With all due respect, this is bollocks.

The whole point of religion is to take from it what you want.. It's not a load of rules set in stone. 100 people could read the bible and get 100 different messages from it. Everyone has their own interpretation of the stuff religion is made of. Some go to church regularly, some never do. Some read the bible regularly, some never do.

Who the hell are you to decide what criteria you must meet in order to be classed 'Christian'.

Not all Christians are raging homophobes.

They Sound It on Radio and TV News.

[Redway]

Originally Posted by lily.

With all due respect, this is bollocks.

The whole point of religion is to take from it what you want.. It's not a load of rules set in stone. 100 people could read the bible and get 100 different messages from it. Everyone has their own interpretation of the stuff religion is made of. Some go to church regularly, some never do. Some read the bible regularly, some never do.

Who the hell are you to decide what criteria you must meet in order to be classed 'Christian'.

Not all Christians are raging homophobes.

I'm not saying that all Christians are raging homophobes (as you put it) but it is very clear that homosexuality goes against the church's teachings. It's there for all to see in black and white.

[Stu]

Originally Posted by lily.

With all due respect, this is bollocks.

The whole point of religion is to take from it what you want.. It's not a load of rules set in stone. 100 people could read the bible and get 100 different messages from it. Everyone has their own interpretation of the stuff religion is made of. Some go to church regularly, some never do. Some read the bible regularly, some never do.

Who the hell are you to decide what criteria you must meet in order to be classed 'Christian'.

Not all Christians are raging homophobes.

What I was going to post, pretty much.

The Bible and the entire umbrella of Christian faith - like most religious and spiritual traditions - is a wide and complicated smorgasbord of alternating views held roughly together by a general theme and set of basic conventions.

It's how religions work. They build up, evolve - devolve even - and branch off. This idea that it is only the ultra dogmatic Bible bashers who qualify for their own faith is facetious and absurd. They themselves pick and choose bits of The Bible.

And what of The Bible? It's not all that was written. Plenty was edited out or never included to begin with. Lost gospels and gnostic traditions galore - available at the click of a mouse.

Most peoples spirituality is generally dependent on faith in a cherry picked set of beliefs the adherent has felt best represents their own world view. So what? It's how it works.

I don't believe any of it myself but I certainly know there is no rigidly defined set of rules as to how it should work.