Yahweh: Exclusively the Jewish God?

[quote]pat wrote:

[quote]fibroblaster wrote:

[quote]thethirdruffian wrote:

[quote]fibroblaster wrote:
Growing up Roman Catholic, I always had a difficulty reconciling the God of the Old Testament with the Jesus. I know this isn’t just me, for this inconsistency was noticed extremely early in the history of the church. Marcion of Sinope was the first Christian who pointed out this apparent difference. A long line of heretics followed his path, notably the gnostic movement. Eventually, they were squashed, but their writings have been retained in discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library. I have been catechized, attended Catholic school for 16 years, and still practice. To this day I cannot help but notice that OT God (YHWH) and Christ didn’t seem to match with their messages. I have done plenty of research regarding this matter. As much as I cannot stand Atheists, I understand their concern when they point out the rather bizaare behavior of YHWH, who seems to be rather petty and angry in the narratives of the old testament. Here are some examples/food for thought

[/quote]

  1. Jesus didn’t use the Tetragrammaton (the Holy name of God) because Jesus was an observant Jew. Jews didn’t pronounce the Tetragrammaton except by the High Priest, in the Holy Temple.

  2. Go actually read the Old Testament. God was EXTREMELY forgiving and VERY SLOW to anger. For example, he gave Pharoah 20 chances, slowly increased severity of things before moving on.

  3. I am Catholic (and a bad one at that) and anyone who sat through confirmation clas
    ses for communion would not espouse the crap you have posted.[/quote]

First, Jesus was not a jew. If you are excommunicated from the Catholic church, then you are no longer a catholic. Jesus was put on trial for heresy/blasphemy, therefore excommunicated. Recall, there was not one type of “Jew.” Like christianity today, there were sects of Judaism. If you read your gospels, you’ll notice the Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, and Essenes had extremely diverse points of view. John the Baptist was likely an Essene. Like jesus, this man was committing blasphemy [according to mosaic law] so the high priests had it out for him since the start of his ministry. To say Jesus was a Jew is misleading because I don’t know if you mean he was a Semite or you he was a follower of the Law/mishnah. I agree he had semitic blood.
[/quote]
There is no formal removal of Judaism in mosaic law. Jesus was a Jew, they could kill him, but they could not make him not a Jew. Likewise, being excommunicated does not make you ‘not Catholic’. It simply means that you was out of communion with the Church and cannot participate in the sacraments. The only way to cease being Catholic is by choice.

Wow! First, Jesus said to forgive your neighbor ‘Seventy time seven times’. Second, he did very much punish David when he sinned, he killed his son for his sins and let him know it to boot.
And this is what I mean when I say that you didn’t read the bible. Where in hell did you get that God punishes the innocents, and never the bad guys? Seriously? God didn’t take his admonitions lightly, in the OT. The Chaldeans, the Assyrians? You know, they practiced child sacrifice and did lots of abominable shit, you saying God didn’t punish them?

I am curious where you where you got this stuff that God punished the innocents in the OT and not the guilty.

Correct, as well as science and all the stuff of education.

Being out of communion of the Church also means you cannot receive the Sacraments until that excommunication is uplifted. Now you cannot be a Catholic and excommunicated. These are mutually exclusive. Why? Because the only things you can do to get excommunicated are extremely serious crimes against humanity and heresy. So when you say “The only way to cease being Catholic is by choice” then your choice was to be excommunicated by doing the act that caused you to be excommunicated. By doing these acts, you are openly stating you are not Catholic, this is why you are excommunicated.
I clearly said Jesus says to forgive “more than twenty times”. I know he said 77 times 7. I used the term “more than twenty” because of the claim that God gave pharoh “twenty chances”. 77 times 7 is also more than twenty times. This is my point. Obviously, Jesus means you should forgive your neighbor indefinitely. But it didn’t seem like the OT God did this. He saw evil, and then used his “chosen people” to execute evil against those people. This is opposed to Christ’s message. Your curious on where God punishes the innocent in the OT? You just gave an example. DAVID did something bad so God killed his INNOCENT SON. He punished his innocent son through an excruciating death that lasted for several days. Seems opposite of Jesus

[quote]fibroblaster wrote:
This is opposed to Christ’s message. Your curious on where God punishes the innocent in the OT? You just gave an example. DAVID did something bad so God killed his INNOCENT SON. He punished his innocent son through an excruciating death that lasted for several days. Seems opposite of Jesus [/quote]

Thank god you brought that up.

[quote]pushharder wrote:
Absalom was no “innocent son.”

I’ve never seen so many biblically ill educated dorks who insist on providing Bible commentary in all my life. Some of you people truly are ignorant and stupid. Like Pat and Sloth have said it’s virtually a worthless endeavor to discuss these matters with you. It’s like trying to discuss calculus with a first grader.[/quote]

Was he innocent of the sin of his father though?

[quote]pat wrote:

HA! I didn’t even answer your question and you still couldn’t help yourself. [/quote]

?

Okay, this is my fourth time telling you. I’ve read the bible. I’m getting the impression that this is just your “go to” argument to dismiss any legitimate criticism of your religion.

“LOL you call the legitimate criticism?”

^ and this is your “go to” counter-point to further obfuscate the issue and detract from the core argument. You’ve become so predictable that I can basically call what you’re going to say before you say it.

Didn’t God kill every living thing on the planet at one point (save for one family and a few choice animals)?

Assuming your God is real, your team holds the heavyweight homicide belt.

Oh I forgot, it’s not a sin when God brutally murders men/women/children/animals…

cough Hitler was Christian cough

If you really know where I’m going with this as you claim I do, then you already know my argument. But besides that, you made the claim that God doesn’t command killing. I gave you an example of God commanding genocide. You’ve refused to comment further.

Straw man.

If you really want to get into this, look to M-theory. Modern theoretical physics contends that matter can resonate at levels greater than the fourth dimension (up to about 11, if you go by the most popular version of string theory). This means that matter can exist indefinitely, even if the state of “our universe” is finite. You could conjecture that God exists in this hyper-dimensional space, that’s fine. I see no reason to assume so, but I also see no reason why it can’t be so.

This is really my main problem with you. You turn me off from Christianity more than the religion itself. You’re so damn quick to jump on the offensive that you cock-block any legitimate discussion from manifesting on the topic.

You really want to have a rational discussion on God and Christianity? Calm the fuck down first.

[quote]pushharder wrote:

[quote]Makavali wrote:

[quote]pushharder wrote:
Absalom was no “innocent son.”

I’ve never seen so many biblically ill educated dorks who insist on providing Bible commentary in all my life. Some of you people truly are ignorant and stupid. Like Pat and Sloth have said it’s virtually a worthless endeavor to discuss these matters with you. It’s like trying to discuss calculus with a first grader.[/quote]

Was he innocent of the sin of his father though?[/quote]

Read the story of his life. It’s actually quite fascinating. Both David and Absalom suffered the consequences of their actions.[/quote]

you don’t get it. there is no innocent or guilty according to christ. There is only guilty. He came for not the righteous but the sinners [Luke 5]. Everyone sins. That is what makes his sacrifice so powerful. The OT God killed the wicked. He also killed the innocents. Pharoh sins so OT God punishes who? The innocent children? What did Jesus teach about children. I am not “biblically ill educated” trust me. I provided examples. I am not defending atheism however. Atheism sucks and is illogical. However, I can see their concerns.

[quote]TigerTime wrote:

[quote]pat wrote:

HA! I didn’t even answer your question and you still couldn’t help yourself. [/quote]

?

Okay, this is my fourth time telling you. I’ve read the bible. I’m getting the impression that this is just your “go to” argument to dismiss any legitimate criticism of your religion.

“LOL you call the legitimate criticism?”

^ and this is your “go to” counter-point to further obfuscate the issue and detract from the core argument. You’ve become so predictable that I can basically call what you’re going to say before you say it.

Didn’t God kill every living thing on the planet at one point (save for one family and a few choice animals)?

Assuming your God is real, your team holds the heavyweight homicide belt.

Oh I forgot, it’s not a sin when God brutally murders men/women/children/animals…

cough Hitler was Christian cough

If you really know where I’m going with this as you claim I do, then you already know my argument. But besides that, you made the claim that God doesn’t command killing. I gave you an example of God commanding genocide. You’ve refused to comment further.

Straw man.

If you really want to get into this, look to M-theory. Modern theoretical physics contends that matter can resonate at levels greater than the fourth dimension (up to about 11, if you go by the most popular version of string theory). This means that matter can exist indefinitely, even if the state of “our universe” is finite. You could conjecture that God exists in this hyper-dimensional space, that’s fine. I see no reason to assume so, but I also see no reason why it can’t be so.

This is really my main problem with you. You turn me off from Christianity more than the religion itself. You’re so damn quick to jump on the offensive that you cock-block any legitimate discussion from manifesting on the topic.

You really want to have a rational discussion on God and Christianity? Calm the fuck down first.[/quote]

Hitler was not a Christian By definition. You are way off.

7 ?In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I called. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry came to his ears. 8 ?Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations of the heavens trembled and quaked, because he was angry. 9 Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth glowing coals flamed forth from him. -2 Samuel 22: 6-9

Smoke from nostrils? Fire burning coals? Sounds like a dragon to me. Sounds sort of like leviathan from Job doesn’t it?:

18 His ( Leviathan) sneezings flash forth light,and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn. 19 Out of his mouth go flaming torches; sparks of fire leap forth. 20 Out of his nostrils comes forth smoke, as from a boiling pot and burning rushes. 21 His breath kindles coals, and a flame comes forth from his mouth ?Job 41: 18-21
Ask yourself, why does the God described by David in the Psalms and Samuel described in an identical fashion to Leviathan in the book of Job?

6 In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.7The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because he was angry. Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it. ?Psalms 18: 6

[quote]fibroblaster wrote:
Hitler was not a Christian By definition. You are way off.[/quote]

Just to save time, how about from now on we all pro actively back up our statements with something so people like me can decide if there’s any value in proceeding before taking the bait.

As for you, Fibroblaster; Go ahead, elaborate.

[quote]TigerTime wrote:

[quote]fibroblaster wrote:
Hitler was not a Christian By definition. You are way off.[/quote]

Just to save time, how about from now on we all pro actively back up our statements with something so people like me can decide if there’s any value in proceeding before taking the bait.

As for you, Fibroblaster; Go ahead, elaborate. [/quote]

If you don’t know what a Christian is, what business do you have saying Hitler was a Christian?

Define Christian, then see if Hitler fits that definition. If you think a Christian follows Christ, how could anyone possibly say hitler is a christian?

[quote]fibroblaster wrote:
Define Christian, then see if Hitler fits that definition. If you think a Christian follows Christ, how could anyone possibly say hitler is a christian?[/quote]

Because “following Christ” can mean more than one thing.

Let me ask you this; Are you Christian?

[quote]TigerTime wrote:

[quote]pat wrote:
And you consider that ^^ diatribe as based in “reason”? LOL!!

I don’t believe in invisible people with authority. Told you you don’t know what the fuck you are talking about. [/quote]

Lol, yeah I guess it is pretty silly to wonder if the people around you whom worship a being that, at several times, demanded its followers to kill would, themselves, kill if they thought he ordered it.

… Oh wait, that’s completely reasonable. Never mind then.

Which part of what I said doesn’t apply to God? The invisible part, or the authority part? Because I can’t see him, so he is invisible and according to you he is the highest authority, sooooo… what’s the problem, Pat?[/quote]

Your problem is thinking God is “invisible”. Yes, you cannot see him, but you can see his effects (good fruit). Much like you cannot see wind, but you can see its effects. Although this is a rather juvenile analogy, it still holds that simply not seeing something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Would you dare to approach a Calculus problem using arithmetic? Of course not. So why use positivism or scientific method to validate/invalidate God? YOU CAN’T. The reason you don’t believe in God is because you seem to think that reality is confined to what can be proved using a system that wasn’t designed to prove God. So you’re trying to tackle a calculus problem using arithmetic. No wonder you don’t believe in God. If some brilliant man could “prove” God using scientific proof (the only type of proof you hold as true), then that being wouldn’t be God. It would be like a child exclaiming he solved a calculus problem using arithmetic.

[quote]TigerTime wrote:

[quote]fibroblaster wrote:
Define Christian, then see if Hitler fits that definition. If you think a Christian follows Christ, how could anyone possibly say hitler is a christian?[/quote]

Because “following Christ” can mean more than one thing.

Let me ask you this; Are you Christian?[/quote]

Yes. I follow Christ.

…and following Christ CANNOT mean more than one thing

[quote]fibroblaster wrote:

[quote]TigerTime wrote:

[quote]fibroblaster wrote:
Define Christian, then see if Hitler fits that definition. If you think a Christian follows Christ, how could anyone possibly say hitler is a christian?[/quote]

Because “following Christ” can mean more than one thing.

Let me ask you this; Are you Christian?[/quote]

Yes. I follow Christ. [/quote]

Do you believe that Saul was a follower of Christ?

[quote]Oleena wrote:

[quote]fibroblaster wrote:

[quote]TigerTime wrote:

[quote]fibroblaster wrote:
Define Christian, then see if Hitler fits that definition. If you think a Christian follows Christ, how could anyone possibly say hitler is a christian?[/quote]

Because “following Christ” can mean more than one thing.

Let me ask you this; Are you Christian?[/quote]

Yes. I follow Christ. [/quote]

Do you believe that Saul was a follower of Christ?[/quote]

Do you mean Paul of Tarsus (formally known as Saul) or do you mean OT Saul?

[quote]fibroblaster wrote:

[quote]Oleena wrote:

[quote]fibroblaster wrote:

[quote]TigerTime wrote:

[quote]fibroblaster wrote:
Define Christian, then see if Hitler fits that definition. If you think a Christian follows Christ, how could anyone possibly say hitler is a christian?[/quote]

Because “following Christ” can mean more than one thing.

Let me ask you this; Are you Christian?[/quote]

Yes. I follow Christ. [/quote]

Do you believe that Saul was a follower of Christ?[/quote]

Do you mean Paul of Corinth (formally known as Saul) or do you mean OT Saul?[/quote]

I mean Paul.