Yet another reason Christianity makes no sense.

[pamela]

Originally Posted by Boerseun

Jesus Christ said that the Word is the Truth, and the Entire Truth. He was, of course, referring to the Old Testament, there was no other Word - the New was still in the making. The Old Testament says that you should stone homos and hookers.

not quite true. He was referring to himself being the word. He did not come to do away with the law but to fulfill it. Basically meaning that to cover all things with love. It was stated in the OT that love covers over a multitude of sin. The purpose of Jesus was to balance the harshness of God. Man, having the desire to do both good as well as bad was at emnity with God because of sin. Therefore God made a way to connect through love, and hence Jesus.

Jesus Christ once condemned an olive tree to eternal barrenness for not bearing olives when he strolled by, knowing full well that it was not olive season yet. Was he so inflated with self-importance? Was he a nice guy? Is this the act of a kind, gentle and forgiving New Testament deity?

Clearly not.

He cursed the tree to show those followers the importance of bearing good fruit in or out of season. The fruit would be such things as kindness, temperance, love and such.

But according to Jesus, the Old Testament is valid. Assuming that the New replaces the Old in full is subjective, and not according to the will of God (assuming the Godliness of Jesus in the Trinity). Who's to say what a "true" Christian is? Somebody of your same sect, I suspect.

not replaces but fulfills as stated earlier in this post. I imagine, that for a Christian, they had better wonder if God thinks them true by the thought and intent of their heart. Afterall, its not their fellow man who sits in judgement of how they showed love in their lives, but God.

The thing is, the Bible is so full of self-contradictions, that using it as the main tool to shape your worldview and morals with is foolish at best. Based on what would you do this, in any case? Based on what would you attach any value to the bible and/or Christianity?

I guess, to each their own. There are many positives things in the bible to ascribe to as well as some scary ones. Depending on the person and how they interpret love, that will reflect in their actions. With any religion, you can take take want you want and leave the rest. Its whatever works for the individual. Clearly many find the need for religion as they are looking for some kind of hope or an answer.

Carefully studying the Bible reveals it for what it is: A largely incoherent set of mostly non-related books that covers everything from history to soft porn. Like the Q'uran, it is not a well-written book, either - regardless of what the followers might claim.

reads like life, eh?

Read the Bible carefully, and consider the arguments raised by the religious in favour of Christianity, and you will see how little sense any of it makes, as per the OP title.

I dunno Boerseun, its all subjective. I have heard so many different takes from so many diverse sects, that it becomes a mismash. The discord that man sows over such tenets is contrary to the basic meaning of love. I guess people just like to argue-makes them feel good. It would be nice, if those who choose to follow Christianity would choose to walk in love

[Qfwfq]

Six blind men were brought to an elephant and each of them groped ahead until the could feel the animal with their hands. One fondled the ears, another grabbed a tusk.......

As the well known story goes, each had a totally different notion of what an elephant is, none of them really knew what one is like. Was any of them able to judge the animal?

Originally Posted by Boerseun

The Old Testament says that you should stone homos and hookers.

And Christ said the first stone should be cast by he who is without sin. As Pam so graciously says, he meant it ain't up to people.

Originally Posted by Boerseun

Who's to say what a "true" Christian is? Somebody of your same sect, I suspect.

Nope. Somebody who has read what Christ said about stoning the adultress, not just only what the Torah says about stoning.

Originally Posted by Boerseun

The thing is, the Bible is so full of self-contradictions,

Of course! It was written by so many different dimwits, and meant to be read by the simpletons of those days.

Mentality is a crucial thing to consider when reading something that wasn't written yesterday by your fellow citizen of your own ilk. As for the narrative anecdotes such as the fruitless olive tree, Pam gives an example of how essential the hermeneutic tradition is, for understanding these matters. It isn't just later folks that started to twist meanings and cherry-pick, allegory was very much rooted in those folks' way of communicating. Some of the examples of narrative within the narrative clearly demonstrate this, like the parables told by Jesus, which he himself obviously meant allegorically. The same applies to much of the direct narrative.