Clarification and History
The post that offended your sensibilities was meant as satire, an exagerated characture of sorts.
The bible has many, many strange quirks. Do you not agree?
From great biblical characters sleeping with their daugters, to the proper treatement of slaves (including when to beat them), etc, etc.
There are as many versions of christianity as brands of designer jeans. (let me explain that, since you have expressed missing similar styles of expression in the past... "designer jeans relate to designer religion as in to "suit" one's needs...ie a customized religion).
My post, and its obviously exagerated bent (picked up buy some observers, evidently not all), was meant to be a humourous observation, a quirky reverberation of a past homophobic thread topic. It was nothing more than a light hearted attempt to demonstrate how silly the notion of a homophobic god is, by making just as, if not even sillier comments, in kind. Monty Pythonish.
My post was meant as a cartoon in the wake of the classic homophobic thread. Did it attack anyone personally ...NO! Is it "debunking christinaity...well maybe some "brands" of it, (with brandees feathers getting ruffled) but in essence it serves to explore truths or myths through the use of humour.
For those requiring spiritual hearing aids, let me say again: The post was meant as a humourous demonstration. Those that got it luaghed and those taht didn't, well.....
A History Lesson.
Once upon a time it became necessary that two
Debate Forums be created here to serve "fragmented" christianity. This rose out of the fact that staunch bible supporters saying that the bible is the only truth and only it must be thought of as the only basis of christianity didn't see eye to eye with others that took a more expansive, open view of what christianity is or may be. Anything outside the box(other edits, other biblical books ignored by the canon, etc.), brought to the table by those who also consider themselves "christian" were considered outiders, heretics, even evil doers because it didn't jive with a particular clubs view point. Individual ego and defence of each persons interpretation would have led to even further seperations into more forums. Even the staunch narrow biblical viewpoint fought amongs themselves.
This demonstrates very nicely how christianity is able to and has mutated and mutated into all the forms we see today with no apparent end in sight. So out of the cries due to sensibilities being offended, a "biblical"
Christianity Debate forum was formed. Another forum for more open and escoteric debates was also created called escoteric
Christianity Debate forum. That seperation offended other christians who thought that it was creating a negative light due to the "biblical" designation(akin to fundamental christianity). So the escoteric one was eventually killed.
Shows the power and conviction of the contractive christian view.
Do we need to visit the seperation once again? I truely hope not.
It's time to unify not divide. Unity comes from the expansive, not contractive view. Holistic vs fragmented.
My point here is.... be very careful where you draw your line in the sand as to what others may or may post as you then set up judgment on your own subjective view point. As you yourself have observed, clique imposed interpretations are dangerous to the flow of information.
It's okay to have many viewpoints. The danger comes when some view points are locked away or chased away depending on a self delegated, fear-based cliques' stance. *wink*
Engage nicely (Don't shoot the messenger)
I would like to mention that I think it is beneficial to have a "safe" debating environment where debators debate *messages* and not the *messengers*. I have observed that when people squirm in their own belief systems, they tend to lash out as they take content personally (ego play). This often comes from the inability to fully understand the material presented (awareness level) and thus be able to comment on it in a meaningful way. Due to the inability to thus comment, sensibilities can geta little shaken, emotions flare, insults fly, as ways are sought to silence the messenger along with his/her message that they create discomfort. From there, a lower basline of attacking behavior is often reached and chaos ensues.
Remember all the witch burning at the hands of a particular brand of christians?
Then there are some debaters who will fight with anyone, as it serves a need to feed their pain bodies. Its like an emotional fix (negative drama). It's easy to identify this behaviour. Any excuse to directly attack other posters by name calling etc is acted out at the drop of a pin.
Perhaps openmindedness may be a good quality to have when frequenting
Debate Forums ...well how about life in general?
My "Jesus", is open minded and had the ability to change the way he communicated, depending on what level of awareness the group he was with at the time displayed.
I stand accused of "debunking" christianity. The witch hunt has been reborn. It is actually "biblianity" that I am critical of.
I will say that I have the utmost respect for the man who attained christ consciousness and *that* is *MY* christianity. Please note that I am not trying to chase anyone out of this forum for *their* views or have the scope of viewpoints for discussion narrowed. I remain open, as I believe did one of my greatest mentors Ben Joseph (open and expansive).
Those that stand on shaky ground in limited belief systems may feel threatened, I understand..growth can be hard.
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It was meant as saitre, an exagerated characature of sorts.
The bible has many, many strange quirks. Do you not agree?
From great biblical characters sleeping with their daugters, to the proper treatement of slaves (including when to beat them), etc, etc.
There are as many versions of christianity as brands of designer jeans. (let me explain that, as you have expressed missing similar points in the past... "designer jeans relate to designer religion as in to "suit" one's needs...ie a customized religion)
My post and its obviously exagerated bent (for some observers, not all) was meant to be a silly observation, a reverberation of a past homophobic thread topic. It was nothing more than a light hearted attempt to demonstrate how silly the notion of a homophobic god is by making just as, if not even sillier comments. Monty Pythonish. My post was meant as a cartoon in the wake of the classic homophobic thread. Did it attack anyone personally ...NO! Is it "debunking christinaity...well maybe some "brands of it, but in essence it serves to explore truths or myths through the use of humour.
A history lesson.
There were two
Debate Forums here for christianity at one time due to the fact that their were staunch bible supporters saying that the bible is the truth and only it must be thought of as christianity. Anything outside that(other edits, other biblical books ignored by the canon), including many others who consider themselves "christian" were considered outiders, heretics, even evil doers. Individual ego and defence of each persons interpretation would have led to even further seperations. Very much like how christianity has mutated and mutated into all the forms we see today with no apparent end in sight. So a "biblical"
Christianity Debate forum was formed. Another forum for more open and escoteric debates fwas also created called escoteric christianity debate forum. That seperation offended other christians who thought that it was creating a negative light due to the "biblical" designation(akin to fundamental christianity). So the escoteric one was killed.
My point here is be very careful where you draw your line in the sand as to what others may or may post as you then set up judgemnt on your own subjective view point. As you yourself have observed, clique imposed interpretations are dangerous to the flow of information. Its okay to have many viewpoints. The danger comes when other view points are locked away or chased away. *wink*