An all-out assualt on far-right Christian fundamentalism!! !

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Sarcastic_Name
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25 Sep 2005, 12:45 am

So can anyone define the general meaning of the phrase "Fundamental Christian". I understand what fundamental means, but it seems out of context with what I'm hearing. I've never heard of any Christian who believes everything written in Revelations is meant to be taken literally. So I guess Fundamental Christians are just those atypical Bible thumping a**holes who twist everything written in the Bible to their own advantage or are brainwashed by before mentioned Bible twisters?


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eamonn
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25 Sep 2005, 12:59 am

I think there was something in the bible (correct me if im wrong, it was a while since ive read it) that Jesus said to Abraham that his children shall inherit the land at the time of revelation. Some right-wingers have taken this to mean that the Jewish people will own all of the land mass of the middle east and are pushing for war with all the Arab nations to win this land and we will all be saved. Im pretty sure that sean mentioned this and has joined this group in believing it to literally mean this.

I suppose Christian fundamentalist are just like any other fundamentalists in that they are a bunch of people who believe in the return to rigid fundamentals, are usually intolerant of other views and oppose secularism. Though these days the word fundamental seems to be used to describe any radical group including non-religious ones.



techstepgenr8tion
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25 Sep 2005, 1:41 am

eamonn wrote:
I suppose Christian fundamentalist are just like any other fundamentalists in that they are a bunch of people who believe in the return to rigid fundamentals, are usually intolerant of other views and oppose secularism. Though these days the word fundamental seems to be used to describe any radical group including non-religious ones.


I think if some higher power was gonna give us free will and temptation as well as false religion, the least he could have done is give anyone who really cared an unmistakable sign that his way was the true way. Since there is no such thing (at least nothing outside a persons own beliefs) I can see why those people are as obsessed and scared about their own views and again, it really makes me think that there's no way that any god could have created the earth who was really that driven on random religious technicalities - that would be pretty cold.


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ed
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25 Sep 2005, 6:45 am

My problem with Christian Fundamentalists is that they choose to accept everything in the Bible as literally true, with one big, huge, glaring exception. They buy into all of Paul's bigotry, and a really silly creation story. But they don't subscribe to one of Jesus' two founding commandments: thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. They spout about how religious they are, and then suggest we go to war, or assasinate foreign leaders, or other such evil policies.This makes them hypocrites. I have a big problem with hypocrites.


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RobertN
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25 Sep 2005, 8:04 am

As I said earlier, my rants on Christian fundamentalism were not an attack on Christianity. To all intents and purposes I am a follower of Christ's teachings myself, even though I am a renegade and do not follow the followers of Jesus but choose to follow Jesus directly in my own way, if that makes any sense.

I equally cannot stand all the raving atheists and biological determinists who dump their speel on us everyday in the various science magazines. These people seem to be intent on proving their pet hypothesis that there is no Higher Order (God or Jesus or any other Spiritual force) and that the Human race are no better than apes. Sure we may have descended from apes millions of years ago but I believe as a Socialist we must strive to be better and more civilised than the rest of the animal kingdom - after all we have brains and intellect, why not use it???

Quite frankly comrades, I don't care if you chose to worship the Fairy Liquid bottle in my kitchen, as log as no-one tries to impose their beliefs on anyone else. I think really that is the crux of the matter.



Mich
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25 Sep 2005, 9:02 am

I agree.

The fundamentals send the wrong image about Christianity. They make people think it's a cult by acting superior to others (sometimes proclaiming that they are God themselves, which is a violation of the Scriptures), being extremely preachy, and tackling controversial issues (some of which are controversies that go on for some reason I cannot understand, such as the whole gay-marriage thing, which was probably started to drive conservatives [and, to some extent, liberals] nuts).

Take http://www.capalert.com for an example. It definitely sends the wrong image. It seems really exaggerated and scares those atheists away from Christianity even more. The same old preachiness about the media has probably scared at least one person (even a Christian themselves) away from religion. What a bad idea if you want to Save people!

As you can see, fundamentalists are likely actually having the reverse effect that they want (making people reject Christianity and think it as something that turns you into a nut).



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25 Sep 2005, 12:42 pm

eamonn wrote:
Despite this i recognise there are those religious people who follow the teachings of Jesus and are very giving like Mother Theresa and i salute them.


Exactly. I can't remember exactly where in the Bible that Jesus says this, but Christians are supposed to love their neighbours as themselves, like the story of the Good Samaritan. I believe that people like Mother Theresa is an excellent example of a more modern-day Good Samaritan. :)


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Sarcastic_Name
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25 Sep 2005, 1:46 pm

ed wrote:
My problem with Christian Fundamentalists is that they choose to accept everything in the Bible as literally true, with one big, huge, glaring exception. They buy into all of Paul's bigotry, and a really silly creation story. But they don't subscribe to one of Jesus' two founding commandments: thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. They spout about how religious they are, and then suggest we go to war, or assasinate foreign leaders, or other such evil policies.This makes them hypocrites. I have a big problem with hypocrites.


This is exactly why I have trouble associating myself with other Christians. Even after being taught, some people are still complete asses and make no attempt in changing.


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25 Sep 2005, 5:29 pm

julieme wrote:
well golly ghee... God must have been listening because the most reactionary judge of them all - the evil Renquist - bit the big one.

I've been paying attention to Roberts' confirmation hearings and watching his eyes and some other little body movements. He's lying more to Congress abut being a relatively moderate cnservative than Clinton lied about sexual misconduct.


julieme wrote:
Did you notice - No blue states were injured by Rita and Katrina.

1) To the best of my knowledge, there are no blue states on the Gulf Coast.
2) New Orleans, a ciy with a large homosexual community and a center for many ther activities not approved of in the Bible took the worst of it. If there is any credibility to God takking out New Orleans, then either Las Vegas or San Francisco is most likely to be next.



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25 Sep 2005, 6:42 pm

Sarcastic_Name wrote:
So can anyone define the general meaning of the phrase "Fundamental Christian". I understand what fundamental means, but it seems out of context with what I'm hearing. I've never heard of any Christian who believes everything written in Revelations is meant to be taken literally. So I guess Fundamental Christians are just those atypical Bible thumping a**holes who twist everything written in the Bible to their own advantage or are brainwashed by before mentioned Bible twisters?

Yes.



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25 Sep 2005, 6:48 pm

Sean wrote:
julieme wrote:
well golly ghee... God must have been listening because the most reactionary judge of them all - the evil Renquist - bit the big one.

I've been paying attention to Roberts' confirmation hearings and watching his eyes and some other little body movements. He's lying more to Congress abut being a relatively moderate cnservative than Clinton lied about sexual misconduct.

I don't watch much TV, so I haven't seen the Judge Roberts confirmation hearings; but, just looking at him, I get the glaring impression that he's the too-perfect, too-got-it-together well-socialized psychopath. He's not some deluded serial killer out for blood, but he's got his beliefs, and he'll do whatever it takes to see to their ascendancy. Being honest and upfront wouldn't serve his purpose, so he dodges questions (like all candidates). His "all-Americanness" doesn't put me at ease, though.



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25 Sep 2005, 7:35 pm

Some people try to follow what they consider to be a christian-compatible lifestyle without affiliating to any of the organised religions, wherever they sit on the political spectrum.

There are 'progressive' churches/denominations these days, that factor into their faith the substantial social changes which have taken place over the last 20-25 years or so.

The distinguishing features of some churches seem to be that of Hate, rather than the tolerance and forgiveness that is one part of biblical teachings. Interestingly, these often seem to be the ones that seem more like 'cults' which are excluding, hostile and confrontational than more mainstream religions, which define themselves to be inclusive and welcoming.

I think it can be safely claimed that there is a broad political spectrum among those practicing a form of christianity, however, like other religions with extreme social control aspects, it is the extremists that get the majority of the publicity.


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25 Sep 2005, 8:15 pm

Sarcastic_Name wrote:
So can anyone define the general meaning of the phrase "Fundamental Christian". I understand what fundamental means, but it seems out of context with what I'm hearing. I've never heard of any Christian who believes everything written in Revelations is meant to be taken literally.


My former church took everything in Revelations literally. The pastor would occasionally have a theme for his sermons, meaning he'd preach on similar topics for several weeks in a row. I remember several end-times themes in his sermons. That type of stuff is part of the reason I started questioning their brand of faith, but that's another story for another day.

They were Pentecostals/Assembly of God, if that makes a difference.



Scoots5012
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25 Sep 2005, 8:54 pm

All I can say about fundamentalist christians is that for them, hell must be one heck of large place.


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Sean
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25 Sep 2005, 10:55 pm

fahreeq wrote:
They were Pentecostals/Assembly of God, if that makes a difference.

That makes a HUGE difference. Pentecostals make me look like a moderate in my religious views. Some of those guys believe you go to Hell for not being in their denomination. :roll:



Bec
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26 Sep 2005, 12:24 am

Are pentecostals the ones who fall to the ground and speak in tongues?