"No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Matthew 6:24
Thank you. The best way to fight this is quoting scripture. Half these chuckles haven’t even seen a bible, let alone know what the words inside say.
If any of the chucklefucks actually gave a shit about what the bible says, they’d all be as socialist as Jesus and would’ve burned Trump at a stake for being the antichrist.
You can’t deprogram religious extremists with religion.
I’m Jewish, and thus not an expert on Jesus by any means. Still, even I know that Biblical Jesus would be a socialist today, not a Republican.
He gave out free healthcare.
He fed the hungry without charging them.
He hung around people who were on the fringes of society.
He worked against the wealthy.
If Biblical Jesus were to magically appear in modern society, the only reason he would enter a MAGA church would be to flip a few tables.
Wasn’t Jesus Jewish though?
Yes, but his teachings aren’t part of Judaism. Especially when you get into the “Jesus is the Messiah/son of God” stuff that Christianity has.
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Not looking to deprogram with religion, just logic. And even though they will be mad at me for pointing out their flaws, hopefully someone somewhere will go “hmm…”
It doesn’t matter, they pick and choose what they want to believe. If you try throwing scripture at them they just contort themselves into a pretzel trying to explain why that particular scripture is not to be taken literally.
Just because they will be 100% unwilling to admit to you that they are actually physically experiencing the feeling of doubt, does not mean it isn’t actually happening.
Don’t expect them to be honest about what’s going on inside them though. They value fighting, never giving up, persistence, dedication, loyalty, strength, power, confidence and security. None of these things makes it more likely for them to admit to you when something they disagree with might sound reasonable.
It’s a defense mechanism. Can’t just give it permission to function though.
You do have to back off before you actually infuriate them though, as the emotion of anger will strengthen the defense mechanisms dramatically. Better to walk away having peacefully left some food for thought. You can’t convince them though, being so readily convinced would itself be unacceptable to them, just on principle.
This. Best explanation I ever heard of narcissism is that we all eventually reach a point where we feel intense shame. It’s a chasm. Some people look at it, fall in, and never recover. Some people look at it, realize the danger, and stay away from the edge but don’t run screaming.
And some people see it, and become so terrified, that they pretend it never happened and will fight anyone who reminds them of the shame.
That’s the narcissists, which are empowered by systems of religious dogma. Very often they’re least faithful - they’re just lying to avoid anyone around them finding out.
I find it fun backing them into corners and them becoming enraged. I then point out that they are not being very Christ like, and that usually ends my conversation with the charlatan.
Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Matthew 19:21
Mathew 25: 36 - 40
I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 36naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 37Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 38When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 39Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 40And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Why does our country embody NONE of these ideals? Why do modern day Christians embody NONE of these ideals? How can we call ourselves a nation under god when we bomb innocent civilians, starve children for profit, imprison a population disproportionately then use them as slave labor, and shoot at immigrants for merely crossing an imaginary line.
What GOD would want us?
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I agree in sentiment with this, but any serious reading of the Christian Bible shows the entire point of Christ is basically replacing the vengeful god with a loving and forgiving one. These people are just bad Christians.
What kind of god gets their own autobiography so wrong on the first try that it needs a revision?
You try going 14.6 billion years without a rebranding.
That number just made a lot of people angry.
In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely considered a bad move.
all kinds of people… lol
Lol. I guess a good faith response from a theologian or someone like Leibniz would be that we by definition are much smaller than god, so we don’t have enough information to judge god.
If we are going to play the “let’s say god does exist” game, I’d say the if god is creating rational beings with some sort of free will, and not just automatons that do exactly what the creator wants, and he created a stable world based on physics to house these beings, it’s going to get pretty messy at times. Death itself would surely seem like evil and cause a man to curse god - until a man ponders living forever and realizes that death is in fact a blessing.
I like the idea that god is the one already stuck living forever, and creates us as to be be able to experience mortality. But I can also say that’s all bullshit and we could never know for sure, and is arguably very unlikely, given the current circumstances.
Perhaps in death we will know.
Or is so perfect and omniscient and yet creates a race of beings so flawed that it needs to be wiped out by flood and have his son sent later to be executed by them to forgive them for being so bad.
Most Christians are bad Christians.
Yeah, I mean Christianity, i.e. being Christ-like is an extremely tough ask, hence forgiveness is a sacrament. It’s really all about keeping up that push and eventually overcoming our bad habits or learning to act more selflessly.
Interesting. You’d think most were trying to be more selfish than selfless… Almost like they aren’t even trying to be Christ-like. They should excommunicate themselves for being terrible Christians.
Yeah I don’t know if I’m going to go ahead and judge millions of people on whether or not they are selfish. Throwing the first stone and all that. 😉
Oh it’s not a judgement. It’s a call to action that they should actually practice what they preach. They seriously SHOULD be excommunicating each other for this stuff, but they don’t.
They DEMONSTRATE that the institution is corrupt. It requires no judgement from me for that to be wholly true.
So, the problem is that Jesus is also the one who is promised to come back riding on clouds of fire and lightning to exact vengeance against unbelievers. Which Jesus you believe in has obvious ramifications (and that doesn’t include the versions invented wholecloth from the minds of pastors with agendas).
Now, I’m an ex-Christian and would wholly support removing Revelation from the canon, but the issue is that it remains and informs the worldview of people who claim the name of “Christian.”
So I submit that they’re actually being good Christians, just not good people.
That’s the general shape of my reply when someone tries to tell me that it’s gay people or trans people or abortion or pornography that are ‘causing God to hate us’. You mean, it’s me and my husband and our trans friends, and not the hate and the murder and the greed and the privation of the downtrodden?
It’s never a productive conversation, let me tell you…
I was in prison, and ye came unto me
I think I’ve seen this porn…
Motherfucker better not mix fabrics.
Also better not eat shellfish or pork. And he absolutely better not go back on his word. (The tale of Onan is sometimes misinterpreted as being about masturbation, but it’s really about God killing a guy for going back on his word.)
He promised not to masturbate? Nofap vibes
Back in the day, women couldn’t inherit property. So if their husbands died without leaving a male heir, they could become homeless. Instead of the obvious solution of “let’s give women property rights,” though, there was another system in place.
The brother of the dead husband could sleep with the widow. The child of this relationship would be considered the dead husband’s child for inheritance purposes.
Onan agreed to this arrangement. He had sex with his sister-in-law. Only, at the last second, he pulled out and “spilled his seed on the ground.” So, he got the benefit of the deal for him (sex) without giving the woman her side of the deal (a shot at a child). He went back on his word and was struck down by God.
Of course, many religious folks focus on “spilled seed on the ground” and declare this to be a ban on masturbation - completely ignoring all the context around those words.
He was supposed to sleep with his brother’s widow in order to continue the family bloodline and make the widow more a part of the family, IIRC. He didn’t want to do that, but was pressured so much that he said he’d try. This was more similar to the vibe of stealthing, but in reverse.
He’s wearing a good quality suit, he’s mixing materials as that liner is almost certainly silk and the shirt linen or cotton.
It is odd to me how many people claim to be guided by a 400+ year old European version of a 2000+ year old Middle-Eastern text.
A text that’s been edited and changed for political reasons since it existed
And several books that originally made up the Christian cannon were omitted because their message was profoundly anti authority/centralization and much more focused on the divine inside oneself and bringing it out. No hell and no judgement, we are all an aspect of god, and while I’m not a Christian of any variety anymore I find that’s a much more reasonable teleological explanation for our existence than the “live and believe exactly this way or you will go to hell” philosophy of modern day Christianity
Don’t forget that it may have plagiarized the story of Horus, which predated the Bible…
Nor should we forget that the basis for the Christian god originates in the polytheistic religion of the Canaanites. The Canaanite deity Yahweh, that eventually became known as the Abrahamic creator god, was merely a god of weather and war, rather than the supreme God. That was a different deity, ʼĒl, who eventually became conflated with Yahweh in the process of switching from polytheistic to monotheistic.
That’s such a classic answer because the bible doesn’t say shit other than what we decide it says. Our interpretation of it follows cultural norms, not the other way around. One thing it damn sure doesn’t say is abortion is wrong or that life begins at conception - it explicitly says the opposite and that hasn’t somehow changed anyone’s opinions.
I’m too lazy to try to find a citation for your claim about our morals guiding how we interpret religious canons (not vice-versa), but this was taught to me in multiple philosophy courses and is well-established.
Our morality is developed thru our upbringing and exposure, including being influenced by parents, teachers, peers, media, culture, etc. We then pick and choose passages from canons based on our pre-established moral beliefs.
I find Dan McClellan’s videos on TikTok to be informative and accessible. He’s a biblical scholar and Mormon but he makes very clear that the bible is not flawless nor univocal. That’s not a recommendation I make lightly because I’m an atheist and think Mormonism is a crazy cult, but he’s very clearly an expert on the matter (he has a doctorate) who speaks very matter of factly because he draws a pretty clear line between personal faith and the actual facts about the bible and pretty much only talks about the latter.
Edit: Here he is addressing this very issue: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8BN3gCR/
There are some seriously juicy bits in the bible I’d read to him and ask him: Is this really your world view?
His response: “The Bible says a lot of things.” (Then ignores what it means)
“The important thing to keep in mind is that there are cherry picked verses in the Bible that justify my bigoted views.”
So has he sold all of his possessions and given the proceeds to the poor?
No no no, he worships supply side Jesus, not Hebrew Jesus. I mean fuck Jesus was brown…
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What kinda woke bullshit is this!? /s
Also how are his bitter water abortion potion brewing skills?
That Jesus is the woke Jesus, though, so…
If only we could have this conversation happen then:
Chapter and verse! I wanted to ask you a couple of questions while I had you here. I’m interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. She’s a Georgetown sophomore, speaks fluent Italian, and always cleared the table when it was her turn. What would a good price for her be? While thinking about that, can I ask another? My Chief of Staff, Leo McGarry, insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly says he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or is it okay to call the police? Here’s one that’s really important, ‘cause we’ve got a lot of sports fans in this town. Touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean: Leviticus 11:7. If they promise to wear gloves, can the Washington Redskins still play football? Can Notre Dame? Can West Point? Does the whole town really have to be together to stone my brother, John, for planting different crops side by side? Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads? Think about those questions, would you? One last thing, while you may be mistaking this for your monthly meeting of the Ignorant Tight-Ass Club, in this building, when the President stands, nobody sits.
You see. You’re not reading it right. Trust me, because I know better then the other 100,000,000 people who have thoughts on Christianity.
Edit:
How do I know my interpretation is right?! Well God has entered my body and filled me with his righteousness. His love fills me with a passion that brings me to my knees, in worship. I have tasted his body and consumed his bodily fluids. I am his bride and am bound as his slave.
Taking all the God stuff out of the equation, I’ve always been puzzled by the garment thing. Given context of ancient time, low levels of sanitation, and lack of preservation, I can see some merit to some of the dietary stuff. But the garment thing. I’ve got nothing.
Edit: Quick Google search suggests only priests could wear dual material garments, so it was some weird social hierarchy thing.
Elsewhere he wrote, “Experts project that homosexual marriage is the dark harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy that could doom even the strongest republic.”
The gays are too powerful. Happily married homosexuals are too strong to contain.
Who are these experts on gayness? His weekend buddies?
Science: https://i.imgur.com/vikBY8P.png
homosexual marriage is the dark harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy Oh, my I think this is the best sentence I have read in a long time, and I now need to figure out how to work it into a conversation lol
brb selling my daughter
Dude claims to be a Christian, but he’s the one who needs to read his Bible. Half the stuff he espouses doesn’t come from the New Testament.
A lot of the stuff wingnuts espouse doesn’t come from the new testament. They love the fire-and-brimstone, it shall be an abomination unto whatever horseshit from the old testament – but only the bits and pieces of it that fit their preconceived notions and particular brand of hate.
They also love to blather about the “ten commandments.” They can never tell you which set of ten, though. (Because they haven’t read the damn book; The list in Exodus is different from the one in Deuteronomy.) None of them seem to be prepared to cite what Big J said about the commandments, either.
I’m athiest, but spent many years in church, so here’s my understanding of why he references the Old testament:
Jesus said he came to fulfill the law, not to abolish it. (Matthew 5:17-18) So the Law, which is found in the OT, is still in effect. Each denomination and individual decides for themselves what parts they’ll pay attention to.
Many Christians throw out the entire Old Testament, but most just pick and choose which parts they want enforced. They love the 10 commandments, for example. But they also wear mixed fabrics, eat pork & shrimp, and some get tattoos…all of which are forbidden in the OT.
This guy plays Pick & Choose. If it’s in the OT and he can use it to make this country a “Biblical Republic”, he will use those verses. If it means he can’t eat crawfish etouffee, then that verse clearly doesn’t matter to him.
The scariest part about this dude is that he interprets everything thru the lens of scripture. And he does not believe the separation of church and state is real.
I’ve been saying most of my life that “the” bible is basically a Rorschach blot used for confirmation bias for both liberal xtians and conservative xtians. Many liberals look at the “red letter” portions of the NT and want to dispense with most everything else, including the OT.
The weirdest thing about the NT is why on Earth Paul gets so much prominence. This is a guy who, even according to the narrative, never even met the character of Jesus…and yet, so many xtians seem to lean on things he wrote, even though they contradict things the character of Jesus is made to say in their stories. These people should be called Paulians.
It’s cus he was a wealthy Roman citizen of the time while the Apostles were mostly poor Palestinians
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The way I have always viewed Christians vs Catholics is that Christians fundamentally believe faith in god is the only requirement. In Catholicism it is not enough to believe, but they believe that good deads are required, hence Catholic guilt. In that way, Christians don’t really care about the new testament and the teachings of jesus, believe in god is all they require to be good Christians.
Interesting take. I grew up Catholic, Sunday school yada yada. That guilt… that is some fucked up shit to put into a child.
But as you put it, Christians are far more insufferable and a significant reason why I changed my faith.
And please spare me how the Catholic Church is somehow king of pedo. Every Christian sect is rife with them. If you care about your kids stay away from them all. You can give them a better handle on ethics and mortality with some basic cartoons. And they’ll probably enjoy them rather than groan at the stupid outdated biblical shit you want to make them learn.
Yeah, I’m biased but i stand by that statement.
You know Catholics are Christians, right?
Yes, but in the US you have Catholics and all the various sects that fractured from the Catholic church, i.e. Christians who don’t follow the pope. They all follow Christianity, which makes them all Christians, but whether they focus on Jesus Christ and the New Testament or focus on god and the Old Testament is where the distinction lies.
So, the more appropriate thing to say would be, “Catholics vs other Christians.”
Correct, again its just been my experience that non-catholic Christians will generally refer to themselves as Christians and Catholics will call themselves Catholics over saying they are Christian, at least in the US.
Them catholics sure like to dig around for something to assuage their ‘guilt’ inside little boy holes.
Well he should sell one his daughters in slavery.
Exodus 21:7-11
And if they die a couple days after a beating the master is absolved of wrongdoing.
The bible is fucked
Years ago, I remember a scholar - interviewed on NPR - that had compared “the” bible to the Quran and it may not shock very many people that “the” bible is highly problematic, even compared to the problematic parts of Quran.
Yet here he is proudly claiming “its his worldview”. As far as red flags go, I’d put that on par with him saying his celebrity crush was Jeffery Dahmer.
I wonder what his two daughters think about him being fully on board with this:
“ExCUSE ME? You cannot rape these men, I believe they are angels, and they’re my guests! The AUDACITY of your request! How DARE you! But please, rape my daughters on your way out. I insist.” -Lot
Don’t worry. Those daughters got their revenge. After Sodom and Gemorah were destroyed, they got their father drunk, slept with him, and had his babies.
But the Bible is totally fine for kids to read, everyone!
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Family values.
Yes, I can see why Republicans want us to pick up the Bible and read it. You can take all these stories and apply them to living a good life today. /S
Christians don’t read they bible. They listen to the preacher tell them what’s in the bible. And you know that he is not telling them these parts, has he passes the collection plate.
A lot of fucked up stuff going on in that house, pun intended…
Made my day, thanks for the laffs.
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Well, raping of men would be gay, though. Raping two young girls: totally cool w/ their god Jehovah/Yahweh/Allah. NO HOMO.
How does someone this deranged get elected to any position of power more influential than a homeowner’s association?
Leaded Gasoline and disinformation.
He found a club that is genuinely evil and got elected by other evil people to be in charge of it.
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Unfortunately, idiocy is not confined to one generation. And generations aren’t really even a thing…
