Gakked from kalquessa

[raefinlay]

Eschatology??? I eschew eschatology! (It's the Left Behind drivel that did it. Left me cold)

And Reformed Theology... *shudders*

I think one of the reasons Christianity faces such opposition in free countries (aside from difficult questions and uncomfortable "truths," of course) is humanity's need to catalog everything. Any "systematic theology" is a way of shoving God into a human-sized box. Sure, it sounds good at first. It helps us see the text in a new way, deepens our understanding...and then many years later, we find we are worshipping at the feet of a doctrinal system, turning our hypocritical backs on the humanity we were meant to save.

We're such stupid sheep.



Based on the lj interests lists of those who share my more unusual interests, the interests suggestion meme thinks I might be interested in
1. eschatology score: 13
2. hermeneutics score: 12
3. calvinism score: 11
4. orthodoxy score: 11
5. monotheism score: 10
6. mesopotamia score: 9
7. predestination score: 9
8. christology score: 9
9. st. augustine score: 9
10. creationism score: 8
11. martin luther score: 8
12. babylon score: 8
13. specfic score: 7
14. arminianism score: 7
15. aramaic score: 7
16. f&sf score: 7
17. reformed theology score: 7
18. st. paul score: 7
19. scripture score: 7
20. john calvin score: 7

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Comments

[everyonesakitty.livejournal.com]

Any "systematic theology" is a way of shoving God into a human-sized box.

Oh how I loff and admire you for saying this. *counts the ways*

[aaron-mag.livejournal.com]

We may agree on this. I'm not sure.

I don't consider myself non-religious. Many, however, might see me that way. But I don't necessary disbelieve in some sort of higher power. Anyone who is trying to write a story can't help but believe in something of the divine. We strive for it after all.

One of the great parts of Jodi's Glicia (I am a huge fan of Glicia so far, btw. I've been an ogre pants on many of Jodi's subs, but on Glicia I'm a kitten. I love it :D ) was the last scene I read. Where they seek a divine sign from the god of the world. What the Red Lady says to the main character at that point was so classic.

But I'm going off on a darn tangent.

I don't believe in simplistic view of religion. I don't believe in the divine father watching over us and looking out for us. Very bad things happen to good people. I could not believe in a god who let such things happen to good people on a whim.

Divinity that is complex and not evident to our conscious thought...that I could believe and even seek.

Don't know if that makes any sense...

:D

[everyonesakitty.livejournal.com]

yeppers. *nods* *agrees*

[(Anonymous)]

Very bad things happen to good people. I could not believe in a god who let such things happen to good people on a whim.

Yeah, that's the hard part. But I'm just not sure this negates the existence of a deity. This statement assumes a couple of important things: 1. You and I have all the knowledge and wisdom required to determine whether or not a "bad" incident and all its ensuing consequences will tip the universal scale in the direction of "bad." 2. It assumes a moral code, a distinction between good and evil. On what did we base these absolutes??

*shrug* I'm still trying to figure out a lot of stuff about my faith. One of my greatest struggles is seeing all the jerkoff things Christians do, and then resisting the temptation to label God or Christianity as "bad" because Christians in general can be pretty stupid and lousy.

*ggrrrs*

[aaron-mag.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's the hard part. But I'm just not sure this negates the existence of a deity.

I agree with this. But I think it disproves a simplistic view. The whole, 'everything happens for a reason' idea. The whole concept of a bearded man watching over us and listening to our prayers.

And I know you are saying, "Well duh Aaron. Everyone knows that!"

But they don't! I have many very faithful friends who say such things as, "I don't need to worry about that (insert impending bad thing). God will take care of me. I have faith..."

Plus I have heard sermons where preachers I respect tell their congregation, "Whatever you do, when someone has just lost a loved one, don't tell them it is God's will. It is the wrong thing to say and we shouldn't presume to understand God's will anyway..."

I don't know if I'm making any sense! :)

And I don't think most Christians are jerkoffs. Almost all of them are very good people. I think when we humans get in trouble is when we start to 'presume to understand'. Instead of sitting back in awe of the divineness of the world sometimes people say, "Ah! I get it now. So now I've got to explain it to everyone else. It is all the literal translation of this book...forget the fact that some guys study theology for all their lives and claim to still be learning new things from the scripture. I got it the first time through!!!"

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

eh...sorry dude. That was me. Forgot to sign in to my own stinking journal.

[kmkibble75.livejournal.com]

Wow... that's an impressive list.

If I felt like being a smart-butt, I could say the Fantasy and Science Fiction part fits in perfectly with the rest. But I won't. ;-)

(I did have to look up eschatology in the dictionary.)

I've always thought large numbers of people and religion just don't mix well. There's a whole problem with beliefs and stuff... my favorite part of the movie Dogma is when the 13th apostle says Jesus had ideas, and ideas can change when you talk to people. But somehow his ideas became other people's beliefs, and beliefs can't change. Then people fight about it instead of talking.

That concept just summed up a good bit of the world's problems for me perfectly.

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

Unlike your smart-butt self, I *do* believe in absolutes. And to say it's wrong to make an idea a belief is definitely based on an absolute. *grin* But yeah, I've seen many things that I thought were interesting ideas and should have STAYED interesting ideas rather than become as incontrovertable as law.

I could say the Fantasy and Science Fiction part fits in perfectly with the rest.

One of my short stories is a Biblical re-telling. The last editor that saw it liked it but said it didn't have enough of a spec fic element. And I thought...Oh, then you must believe everything in the Bible is true!

*also smart-butt*

[kmkibble75.livejournal.com]

And to say it's wrong to make an idea a belief is definitely based on an absolute. *grin*

Oops. I didn't mean to insinuate that it's always wrong to have beliefs... I'm not sure how to explain what I meant. Probably the closest way would be to say that proclaiming "This is what I believe, so everyone else must believe it too" is bad.

And I am fortunate enough to personally know no one who does that.

Wow. You may have just destroyed any hope I have of being productive today. I'm going to be mulling this over all night...

*loves philosophical discussions*

[barbarienne.livejournal.com]

I think one of the reasons Christianity faces such opposition in free countries (aside from difficult questions and uncomfortable "truths," of course) is humanity's need to catalog everything.

-->Does Christianity face opposition in free countries? There seems to be little opposition to it in the US, arguably one of the most free countries on Earth. If you were talking about China, that'd be another story.

(I don't want to spur an argument. But speaking strictly as a humanist atheist, I will match my feelings of persecution in the US against yours any time. Our money does not say "In the spirit of human goodness we trust.")

I think the real reason Christianity comes under fire in the US is that many Christians still take Pat Robertson seriously. His comments the other night moved my opinion of him from "A man with strong beliefs that I happen to disagree with" to "a complete fruit loop."

Which isn't to say that I've never opined that maybe strategic assassination is a better foreign policy than large wars...but I don't claim to interpret the will of god. Religious leaders of all stripes would be easier to take seriously if the really prominent ones stopped being hypocrites.

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

I will match my feelings of persecution in the US against yours any time.

You could probably match me persecution for persecution no prob. I meant more the spread of Christianity. Evangelism efforts don't meet with as much success as they used to, for all the reasons you mentioned.

I'm not exactly a Pat Robertson fan either. I resent that fact that when I tell people I'm a Christian, I get mentally lodged into his camp. (I know that's not what you are doing, but it happens. *sigh*)

[barbarienne.livejournal.com]

One of the other reasons I think evangelism doesn't work as well as some might hope is that, well, people don't like to be preached to.

I begin to see what you mean about "opposition in free countries." But this is because free countries engender (to greater or lesser extent) the desire in people to figure stuff out for themselves. And free societies have as a basic foundation the notion that there are many varieties of "right and acceptable." Your right to swing your arm ends at my nose, but we don't all have to swing our arms the same way.

Evangelical religions of the "go forth and preach" variety are the dead opposite of that. They take as a premise that they have the "right" way to live, and that anyone who doesn't agree is living "wrong."

This is my particular objection to aggressively evangelical religions (of all varieties, not just Christian). I find it fascinating that so many of them exist in the United States, which theoretically should be the most liberal (in terms of personal freedoms and choice) country in the world.