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I wonder how many US Presidents actually were believers and how many were just going through the motions because until recently in our history not identifying as one made you a pariah in the US, unwelcome in all the little clubs that could lead to the Presidency.
Obama seemed way too logical and analytical to actually buy into such irrational things. Trump clearly doesn't, purely out of narcissistic self-importance making himself his own deity/object of worship.
Not every Christian believes in a literal Genesis and a 6 thousand year old earth etc. , but yeah, probably many were likely (and/or surely) deist, agnostic, uncaring, or even atheist.
Honestly I have more respect for the literalists than the ones that recognize the crazy, but pick and choose which beliefs within their religion they're willing to swallow the crazy of rather than walking away.
If you're going to choose to be a nutter, at least fucking commit.
Amen. This is what they should teach in schools. It's not like you would go outside and tell people that you're a flat earther but you don't really believe that earh doesn't have curve. Then why do people go outside claiming they a christians but don't really believe in thw crap that happened in the great folk lore fantasy book called the bible. I would love to read it some day completely, like a folk lore book, not to convert. Same goes for koran. It would be interesting
I started it. But when I got to the part in Genesis where there’s entire chapters devoted to the generations of who begat who, I realized that it was crappily written and wouldn’t be enjoyable.
You must hate Tolkien.
I liked it. Except for the entire chapter with the song of Tom Bombadil. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to be reading, or singing? Great story though.
It always weirds me out too when there's like 2 pages of just songs. Like cool songs and they really add to the depth of the lore but I'm having hard time concetrating on them
From the audio book.
That makes it so mucg better :D thanks
You’d be too annoyed by the contradictions, repetition and nonsense to finish it.
There are some pretty raunchy bits though.
Yeah propably. I should maybe just stick to kalevala. It's a huge collection of finnish folk lore which almost got lost but then some guy decided to collect it all and make a book. It's actually extremly significant for finland and tolkien took inspiration out of it while writing lotr
I mean there's merit to the idea that modern Christians don't follow the old testament. The whole idea of being a Christian is recognizing that Jesus started a new convenient and wiped out the old rules.
If only Christians would actually follow Jesus, instead of picking the shit they conveniently already agree with.
Sorry, a new "convenient"?
Covenant, but the mistake is oddly appropriate.
Ah, thank you.
It kinda depends what you pick and choose. I’m no Christian, but I think Jesus had some pretty good ideas about how to treat others.
I also happen to appreciate many of the philosophies of the fictional character Jesus Christ of the New Testament.
Whether or not there was a Jesus Christ of Nazareth who walked the Earth, the individual of the Bible is a fictional version, the Santa Clause to Saint Nicholas of Myra.
In any event, agreeing with some or even all of another's positions shouldn't equate to deification.
I appreciate the writings of Karl Marx, yet I recognize their shortcomings, and have never worshipped or defied him or his work.
Tldr you don't have to believe Jesus was God in human form, or even believe he was more than a fiction, to happen to agree with his written ideology that can be paraphrased as "Be excellent to each other."
Except for those that hoard wealth. He pretty much said they go to hell no matter what. lol
He said it was impossible, but that God can make even impossible things come true. I always saw it as "I'm not gonna torture anyone in hell, but I can't just say that outright because a lot of you guys are assholes and would take advantage of it".
Then again, I'm not a Christian, if you can't tell.
Nah, he was straight up calling it ungodly.
And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
It goes on, you know.
When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
It's bad enough when Christians cherry pick from the Bible. No need to stoop to their level.
The entire point of this thread is about cherry-picking. LMAO
You’re right that there’s more, but I read that as “If you save your money, as man recommends, it is impossible, but if you follow my teachings and give away your wealth, it is possible.” The whole New Testament is full of ambiguity. It’s literally a 2000 year old choose your own adventure book.
Every single religion on earth cherry picks beliefs. Including and especially the “literalists”.
It’s impossible to form a consistent belief system based on an inconsistent and self-contradicting document like the Bible, which is why there isn’t any such system.
It’s like the “liberalism of Christianity.” No base principles, fence-sitting and willing to go with whatever message serves their interests.
The bible is clearly written not as literal truth. The literalists aren't even comprehending it or the messages the author intended. They are very modern in their interpretation taking religious 'truths' to be literal truths. They've ironically been heavily influenced by science, just not in the way compatible with science.
Many of the founding fathers were Deists, which while technically is a belief in a higher power, also wouldn't fly with the mainstream religious voters of today. Thomas Paine was a flat out atheist and still remains today the only founding father without a monument. I'm of mixed feelings about that as a monument could be considered idolatry and he might not really want that.
wasn't obama a pastor or something?
No but he did give his pastor their 15 minutes.