Worst argument for religion that I've read, ever.

tekkychick said:
And hey- it was republicans who kicked a lot of black city officials out of their jobs in Michigan, counter to the will of the voters. Oh yeah, that makes African Americans want to vote repub... NOT
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you mean the ones who had bankrupted their cities?.....yes, that did happen....even though it was the will of the voters to be bankrupt......go figure....
 
PostmodernProphet said:
dude.....you realize what a parable is, right?......its not a moral lesson telling us we should be more like a master who reaps what he does not sow......no matter how hard you twist the text even you can't convince me you read it that way.......its about what people do with what they are entrusted with.....sheesh.......
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No...it's saying the Master is like God. Ruthless and Cruel...a Thief who reaps what he does not sow. I don't believe it.
 
PostmodernProphet said:
leave it to you to make up the worst possible message out of a text.....
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That's what it says. The way I see it, a Just God would punish the master.

But then again...you are a right winger....so I can understand why you would think the wealthy and powerful shouldn't be accountable and the slave punished.
 
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Steelplate said:
That's what it says.
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no, it doesn't.....that's what you've decided to pretend it says.......for whatever obscure motive you're carrying......apparently you think it advances some liberal political agenda to describe God that way, but don't pretend its the Bible that provided that idiotic description......
 
PostmodernProphet said:
no, it doesn't.....that's what you've decided to pretend it says.......for whatever obscure motive you're carrying......apparently you think it advances some liberal political agenda to describe God that way, but don't pretend its the Bible that provided that idiotic description......
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No....that's exactly how it reads. I have no motive, well...I do. A motive of greater understanding...you do not gain a greater understanding by sticking your head in the sand and never questioning anything.
 
Steelplate said:
No....that's exactly how it reads. I have no motive, well...I do. A motive of greater understanding...you do not gain a greater understanding by sticking your head in the sand and never questioning anything.
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thats exactly how YOU read it.......I suspect over the years countless Christian commentators and scholars have written texts about this parable......have you ever run across one that shared your viewpoint that it is teaching us about God's nature?.......rather I think you share something with the servant who buried his talent......ignorance and fear.....and because of that ignorance and fear you are doing nothing with what talents you've been given.....
 
PostmodernProphet said:
thats exactly how YOU read it.......I suspect over the years countless Christian commentators and scholars have written texts about this parable......have you ever run across one that shared your viewpoint that it is teaching us about God's nature?.......rather I think you share something with the servant who buried his talent......ignorance and fear.....and because of that ignorance and fear you are doing nothing with what talents you've been given.....
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I have no fear....I am a good Christian who believes in my Lord and savior....that means I have nothing to fear. It's organized religion that I don't trust.....I trust my little country church, because I know everybody....but any church that deems it right to continually judge people, try to fit every square peg into their round hole and damn people to hell without the wisdom or authority of God....is false.practice.
 
lol......in the parable, only the frightened, timid, unresourceful servant believed his master reaped where he did not sow.....as I said, you have a lot in common......
 
Steelplate said:
Did you READ the parable....in it, the Master ADMITS to his ruthlessness.
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no, he admits to his servants fears.....tell me this....if the master reaped what he did not sow why did he give bags of gold to his servants.....why wouldn't he have told them to go out and reap what they didn't sow and then take it away from them?.......he even told the fearful servant that at the very least he should have deposited it in a bank and earned interest, again not a reaping without sowing.....

and even if you think the master was ruthless, why apply that characteristic to God?.....did you think the parable is trying to teach you what God is like or what the servants were like......
 
PostmodernProphet said:
no, he admits to his servants fears.....tell me this....if the master reaped what he did not sow why did he give bags of gold to his servants.....why wouldn't he have told them to go out and reap what they didn't sow and then take it away from them?.......he even told the fearful servant that at the very least he should have deposited it in a bank and earned interest, again not a reaping without sowing.....

and even if you think the master was ruthless, why apply that characteristic to God?.....did you think the parable is trying to teach you what God is like or what the servants were like......
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The parable is a warning to servants to obey and serve their master unquestioningly....no matter how evil and ruthless he is. By the way....I am not applying that characteristic to God...you are... by insisting that I am.

I am just bringing up the notion that that parable REEKS of a Roman Empire trying to keep the masses in line. Which is what started this debate in the first place.

God, by definition...cannot reap where he did not sow or gather where he has not planted seed...because he is the sower of us all and the ultimate seed scatterer in the Universe.

Ben Franklin said..."a penny saved is a penny earned"....Guess that doesn't apply with ruthless greedy tyrants.
 
Steelplate said:
.I am not applying that characteristic to God...you are... by insisting that I am.
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???...then what's this?.....
Steelplate said:
No...it's saying the Master is like God. Ruthless and Cruel...a Thief who reaps what he does not sow
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PostmodernProphet said:
leave it to you to make up the worst possible message out of a text.....
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Steelplate said:
That's what it says. The way I see it, a Just God would punish the master.
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PostmodernProphet said:
no, it doesn't.....that's what you've decided to pretend it says......
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Steelplate said:
No....that's exactly how it reads.
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PostmodernProphet said:
???...then what's this?.....
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What that is....is questioning a book...not God. The book reads as though the ruthless "Master" is representative of what God expects of his creation....as portrayed by the "servant(s)". However, the Book represents the master as one who reaps where he does not sow and gathers where he has not scattered seed.

Furthermore....the "servant" in question did not go our and blow his talent of gold on wine and whores....he simply tucked it away, hardly an offense worthy of punishment by a Just and fair God.

I simply don't believe that God is a prick. The story of the Prodigal Son is one good example of that. God's Greatest Commandment is another.....so....why would a just and loving God tell us all to "love one another as you do the Lord", and yet be so quick to punish? Even when not only does the punishment not fit the crime.....there was no crime at all....the "Master" got his money back.

That leads me to believe that the politics of the Roman Empire....MAY...and I will repeat....MAY have made it's way into the Holy Bible. After all...you admitted that Christmas and Easter celebrations take place when they do BECAUSE of Roman Political influence(pacifying the Pagan population). Why do you think it's such a stretch to think like the Parable of the Talents made their way into the Bible to keep the "lesser" populace complacent and passive under their rule?

So...it all comes down which representation of God you want to base your beliefs on.

Conservatives tend to love one piece of scripture in particular..."Those who do not work, do not eat" But they tend to ignore the story of the Goats and Sheep...which is virtually in opposition to the first....in fact, moreso... because in the parable of the Goats and Sheep, God is judging entire Nations on their treatment of the outcasts of society....the poor, the sick, the imprisoned.

I prefer the representation of God who believes in loving one another unconditionally, who is quick to forgive and all knowing....right into our very souls. Who will take into account not only our actions(which sin is universal among us mere mortals), but also the circumstances of our lives that make us susceptible, prone and even sometimes....helpless against sin.
 
Steelplate said:
What that is....is questioning a book...not God.
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lol.....you can dance, I'll give you that....except your tap shoes are showing.....you make up a bogus interpretation of "the book", pretend that it criticizes the God that you envision, thus justify rejecting the book which does actually give you the opposite description of God from the one you made up....but now you feel entitled to create your own version of God and his will for humanity......let me guess.....you're a Unitarian, aren't you.....
 
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