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

Type your username here to find out what interests it suggests for you.
Popularity Ceiling: (Please be patient!)

changed by ouwiyaru based on code by ixwin
Find out more

Comments

[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.