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Are you going to Church today? (Sunday)

Will you attend Church today? (Sunday)

  • Yes

    Votes: 9 60.0%
  • No

    Votes: 6 40.0%

  • Total voters
    15
Sadly an afterthought in today’s America. It’s often just when convenient if that. We are unknowingly starving for an eternal perspective


Amen.

"Suffering is a great favor. Remember that everything soon comes to an end...and take courage...think of how our gain is eternal."

- Saint Teresa of Avila

(1515-1582)
 
Missed it and felt bad about it.
Our church is at 8 and we got home late the night before and the little guy didn’t sleep too well. Wife and I didn’t wake up until after 8.
 
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What I mean, is based on your posts, you don't seem very "Christian like"... don't mean that in a bad way, just an observation
I grew up in a very Christian household. What is "Christian like"? Maybe your experiences were different or hopefully better than mine.
 
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I grew up in a very Christian household. What is "Christian like"? Maybe your experiences were different or hopefully better than mine.
Humility, tolerance, among others. I noticed Brian can be somewhat dismissive in his posts to others and alot of his "likes" are on posts that are often condescending and largely intolerant.
 
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Humility, tolerance, among others. I noticed Brian can be somewhat dismissive in his posts to others and alot of his "likes" are on posts that are often condescending and largely intolerant.
Hmmm intolerant and condescending. Sound familiar? I recall one calling for the culling of one's political opponents. I took notice of who liked that particular comment.
 
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Hmmm intolerant and condescending. Sound familiar? I recall one calling for the culling of one's political opponents. I took notice of who liked that particular comment.
I remember that one. A very disturbing viewpoint; strange that it received a "like" from a devout Christian
 
I remember that one. A very disturbing viewpoint; strange that it received a "like" from a devout Christian
Culling one's political opponents isn't that far removed from killing folks that don't believe in your god and churches have been known to do that. I guess it's not that far of a stretch.
 
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I go to church, occasionally. I went often in graduate school. For a while, I was attending Catholic mass at a church in Beverly Hills, right off of Rodeo Drive. The people watching there was great.

I enjoyed the peaceful community and structure of the services, and most of the aesthetics are lovely and soothing. I do not believe in a god or any sort of supernatural worldview, but I appreciate the idea and the prosocial organizational principles that often arise from those beliefs.

Did you ever study the historical Jesus?

He was a real guy. :)
 
Culling one's political opponents isn't that far removed from killing folks that don't believe in your god and churches have been known to do that. I guess it's not that far of a stretch.
It does seem more than odd. Maybe the Crusades are used as a pretext for murder
 
Good to hear the honest interchange. I’m 55 and the longer I’m around the more I’m convinced that God and His living word are the only things that matter longterm and that will never become obsolete.

With that said, I’m still a real work in process. I still sin and see my inadequacy apart from God. There’s no place for the legalists who look down on others.

Praying for all of you on this thread regardless of where you stand
 
Good to hear the honest interchange. I’m 55 and the longer I’m around the more I’m convinced that God and His living word are the only things that matter longterm and that will never become obsolete.

I think most people would agree that if our fate is sealed at death and we spend forever either in Heaven or Hell based on these 70, 80 years on Earth, all of a sudden, nothing else matters by comparison.
 
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Culling one's political opponents isn't that far removed from killing folks that don't believe in your god and churches have been known to do that. I guess it's not that far of a stretch.
You know of "churches killing folks that don't believe in your god?"
 
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That was a loooong time ago.

Also, the Crusades were a reaction to years of Muslim attacks in the Middle East.
(Muffled laughter) no. Try again.
Your boy Urban II engineered that Shiite with the 1st crusade. I give him credit; he was a Wiley b@$t@rd.
 
That was a loooong time ago.

Also, the Crusades were a reaction to years of Muslim attacks in the Middle East.
"Most historians consider the sermon preached by Pope Urban II at Clermont-Ferrand in November 1095 to have been the spark that fueled a wave of military campaigns to wrest the Holy Land from Muslim control. Considered at the time to be divinely sanctioned, these campaigns, involving often ruthless battles, are known as the Crusades."


The Crusades were organized by western European Christians after centuries of Muslim wars of expansion. Their primary objectives were to stop the expansion of Muslim states, to reclaim for Christianity the Holy Land in the Middle East, and to recapture territories that had formerly been Christian.


Seems not a whole lot has changed.
 
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What do you mean when you say "not a whole lot has changed?" Everything changed.
Some things changed, such as the Pope's influence in political affairs, but religion is still used as a motivator for war...

In a previous conversation with @BrianNole777, he was expressing happiness about Putin's future imminent death; he seemed so gleeful I thought might soil himself, IMO, an odd position to take from a devout Christian, then he showed me some doctrine on a "just war"... a case in point on how we're using religion as a pretext for violence.
 
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Some things changed, such as the Pope's influence in political affairs, but religion is still used as a motivator for war...

In a previous conversation with @BrianNole777, he was expressing happiness about Putin's future imminent death; he seemed so gleeful I thought might soil himself, IMO, an odd position to take from a devout Christian, then he showed me some doctrine on a "just war"... a case in point on how we're using religion as a pretext for violence.

Just war theory has nothing to do with religion, although some religions promote it.

Most people accept the idea that war or violence is morally justified in self defense or to protect innocent people; except for pacifists.
 
Just war theory has nothing to do with religion, although some religions promote it.

Most people accept the idea that war or violence is morally justified in self defense or to protect innocent people; except for pacifists.
It's not based on religion now, but its origins are based on religion. Before the separation of church and state who would authorize and justify wars? Not just kings and generals but also popes and clerics.


"Although St. Augustine provided comments on the morality of war from the Christian perspective (railing against the love of violence that war can engender) as did several Arabic commentators in the intellectual flourishing from the 9th to 12th centuries, but the most systematic exposition in the Western tradition and one that still attracts attention was outlined by Saint Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century. In the Summa Theologicae, Aquinas presents the general outline of what becomes the traditional just war theory as discussed in modern universities. He discusses not only the justification of war but also the kinds of activity that are permissible (for a Christian) in war (see below). Aquinas’s thoughts become the model for later Scholastics and Jurists to expand and to gradually to universalize beyond Christendom – notably, for instance, in relations with the peoples of America following European incursions into the continent."
 
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It's not based on religion now, but its origins are based on religion. Before the separation of church and state who would authorize and justify wars? Not just kings and generals but also popes and clerics.


Although St. Augustine provided comments on the morality of war from the Christian perspective (railing against the love of violence that war can engender) as did several Arabic commentators in the intellectual flourishing from the 9th to 12th centuries, but the most systematic exposition in the Western tradition and one that still attracts attention was outlined by Saint Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century. In the Summa Theologicae, Aquinas presents the general outline of what becomes the traditional just war theory as discussed in modern universities. He discusses not only the justification of war but also the kinds of activity that are permissible (for a Christian) in war (see below). Aquinas’s thoughts become the model for later Scholastics and Jurists to expand and to gradually to universalize beyond Christendom – notably, for instance, in relations with the peoples of America following European incursions into the continent.
Correct. I had two classes dealing with this topic at FSU in the '80's.

BrianNole's statement that the just war tradition (not theory) had "nothing to do with religion" was 100% incorrect.
 
I think most people would agree that if our fate is sealed at death and we spend forever either in Heaven or Hell based on these 70, 80 years on Earth, all of a sudden, nothing else matters by comparison.
HOw much purgatory do you reckon you'll be serving?
 
All have fallen short of the Glory of God!

There’s only one perfect one ,Jesus!

People are always bringing up the crusades as some proof that Christianity is a fallacy, or some twisted concept

I am a Christian man, I fail daily in my Christian walk but work to change thru Christ

Stop looking at what scholars say etc, the Gospel of Jesus is simple, black and white

Yes, I agree a lot of Christians are hypocrites, but isn’t everyone?

I am, but I am also a “ forgiven sinner”!

Praise God!
 
All have fallen short of the Glory of God!

There’s only one perfect one ,Jesus!

People are always bringing up the crusades as some proof that Christianity is a fallacy, or some twisted concept

I am a Christian man, I fail daily in my Christian walk but work to change thru Christ

Stop looking at what scholars say etc, the Gospel of Jesus is simple, black and white

Yes, I agree a lot of Christians are hypocrites, but isn’t everyone?

I am, but I am also a “ forgiven sinner”!

Praise God!
I don't think anyone was using the crusades as proof of a fallacy within Christianity. Christianity is a belief system not a record of historical events. The crusades were carried out for a number of reasons and one of them was based on religion. Many wars have been fought with religion as the basic tenant. It doesn't make what you believe wrong, but you can't say that history is wrong either because it paints religion in a bad light. Nothing in this world is perfect and everything has flaws. As long as man is involved with it there will be problems.
 
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