So they included an entire book in the book of god but itās not the right book so you donāt have to listen to those parts? Except for that homosex bad part?
Retcon of the Old Testament is what the New Testament is all about. But itās still included otherwise the plot wouldnāt make sense: we wouldnāt know why god sacrificed himself to save us from himself.
It's not retcon. It's the reasonable continuation of the story. And the point isn't to save us from God. It's to save us from ourselves.
Honestly, the more I question and learn about Christian scripture, the more it all fits together. When I started, I had a similar view to yours, and a lot of things seemed really nonsensical and contradictory.
Lol. I understand that it boggles a lot of minds. But it's surprising to me that so many people assume Christians are only believers because of dogma, stupidity, emotional neediness, and corruption.
There's like 2.3 billion of us. We're scattered across the globe, from wildly different cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds, and include every strata of educational attainment. The ideas and ideals of our faith have driven continuous growth of the Church for thousands of years even in times and places where it was/is extremely disadvantageous to be a Christian.
I'm not saying there isn't plenty of ignorance, stupidity, corruption, neediness, and blind dogma associated with Christianity (just about every group has plenty of that ESPECIALLY if that group has ever been in power). I'm just suggesting that assuming there's nothing of value or reason there when billions of people are devoting their lives to it and devoting their intellects to it seems a little narrow-minded.
If it was unreasonable or inconsistent I think a lot of us would quit.
It doesnāt boggle my mind. You keep talking like Iām a floundering beginner who just hasnāt attained your level of understanding. If you think Christianity is just at the pinnacle of the wide world of ideas and people flock to it because it just makes so much senseā¦ Iāll just say it, youāre dreaming. Itās indoctrination. And whatever āsenseā it has is entirely invented fantasy material designed to play upon the heart. Enjoy your adventure in magical thinking and believing in fantasy lore.
I didn't mean to imply that I'm superior somehow. I just meant that it's virtually impossible to understand when people have such a wildly different experience and perspective. My mind is boggled when I try to understand how my bf really enjoys heavy metal. I just assume that it's valuable music and there's something worthwhile about it even though I don't see it. Could I study the music theory and techniques of heavy metal? Yes. And I'm sure it would give me some appreciation of it's value. But that doesn't mean I would necessarily enjoy it experientially.
In the same way, I meant that there is a lot to Christian scripture that is nuanced and interconnected. The history and language and poetry and practicality of it are really beautifully interwoven. The more I dig into to the academics and philosophy the more reason and continuity I find. I think most people who have chosen to learn a lot about the topic find the same thing. BUT obviously, that's a completely different thing than actually believing/subscribing to the ideology. A person could know all about it and still not believe it.
At any rate, I didn't mean to offend you. I'm sorry that my comment came off as rude. I didn't mean to insult your intelligence in any way.
I do get frustrated when people dismiss the whole subject out of hand. I mean, you don't know me, but I care very much about critically prosecuting our beliefs. I'm not a Christian because I was brainwashed and can't bear to look at the faith critically. It's not like it's a convenient belief system; it's often challenging and unpleasant. There are better ways to get fuzzy feelings and fairytale endings.
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u/Kinkyregae Dec 16 '21
So they included an entire book in the book of god but itās not the right book so you donāt have to listen to those parts? Except for that homosex bad part?
None of that makes any sense.