Religion

Karadeniz

(23,426 posts)

18. If only Christians understood their own teachings!

Sat Apr 6, 2019, 05:54 PM

Apr 2019

The prodigal son presents the God system. The father never contacts his son, never helps him. Paul said there are many gods, many levels of heaven;that's summarized in the parable. The Law is roughly symbolized in the parable. It's all up to the son to get back. No faith, no forgiveness.

Light is an important metaphor. God is light and we have our light. This is Truth. We should stop anthropomorphising. It's up to us to increase our light. Jesus ' teachings tell you how. Faith doesn't increase the light. Developing God's nature within ourselves does. God is the Good. We might nowadays call the light spiritual energy. Christ turned away a soul who worked miracles in his name, so he probably had faith. His good intentions didn't earn him forgiveness. Every soul has to fulfill the Law;that soul will...eventually.

Hints: understand swine and money/interest, working the vineyard, mountains, water.

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Can faith alone ever be sufficient? [View all] Soph0571 Apr 2019 OP

Many stories have been told and written. MineralMan Apr 2019 #1

Faith is a special device for justifying biased decisions. Bretton Garcia Apr 2019 #2

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. MineralMan Apr 2019 #3

Faith does not "walk by ... sight" or visible evidence. Bretton Garcia Apr 2019 #12

How does a group of blind people describe an elephant? MineralMan Apr 2019 #15

While I get the point it's trying to make Lordquinton Apr 2019 #19

P. T. Barnum had something to say about that. nt tblue37 Apr 2019 #78

He also had a thing or two to say about Elephants as well Lordquinton Apr 2019 #80

in general, we are not rational creatures. So no reasoned argument penetrates faith. marylandblue Apr 2019 #4

Accept all the crimes of religion? Bretton Garcia Apr 2019 #13

Who said anything about accepting crimes? marylandblue Apr 2019 #14

Yes it does. Bretton Garcia Apr 2019 #16

Now there's a rational answer. marylandblue Apr 2019 #17

Yes it is. Bretton Garcia Apr 2019 #20

YEEESSSS!!!! uriel1972 Apr 2019 #21

People are really confused about what acceptance means and what it does. marylandblue Apr 2019 #29

Radical acceptance is not fatalism, but accepting what's in front of you. marylandblue Apr 2019 #23

As an historian and educator, I disagree. Bretton Garcia Apr 2019 #26

Do all historians and educators agree with you? marylandblue Apr 2019 #28

Most can distinguish between a logical versus a very emotional argument. Bretton Garcia Apr 2019 #30

Do the sociologists assume people always act rationally marylandblue Apr 2019 #32

We can predict situations where people will react emotionally Bretton Garcia Apr 2019 #34

How are defining "reacting emotionally" and "reacting emotionally" marylandblue Apr 2019 #43

We know about 1) animal instincts. say. Bretton Garcia Apr 2019 #47

None of that comes close to answering my question. marylandblue Apr 2019 #48

Correct grammar in your question? Bretton Garcia Apr 2019 #50

Oh I see. Sorry about that. Here marylandblue Apr 2019 #51

I'm using say, the five sources cited above with others Bretton Garcia Apr 2019 #53

We are creatures who can reason, and we can learn to do it better. marylandblue Apr 2019 #55

Need for money, jobs, food, is both emotional and rational Bretton Garcia Apr 2019 #56

A lot of the needs we call rational are based in our organic nature or social matrix. marylandblue Apr 2019 #61

Hunger is instinctual. But on analysis, we see it is rational too. Bretton Garcia Apr 2019 #64

You are confusing the experience that actually causes us to eat marylandblue Apr 2019 #67

Jefferson made a mistake. Bretton Garcia Apr 2019 #68

We seem to be having a disconnect and I don't know why marylandblue Apr 2019 #72

To accept what can't be changed... uriel1972 Apr 2019 #31

That's not how I was taught about acceptance. I was taught marylandblue Apr 2019 #33

The Serenity Prayer is religious in origin Bretton Garcia Apr 2019 #35

Shoot the messenger's mother? marylandblue Apr 2019 #42

Apparently it means substituting cigarettes donuts and bad coffee for alcohol, Voltaire2 Apr 2019 #44

You just don't like the religious origin and formulation, so I'll give you a non-religious one. marylandblue Apr 2019 #46

Just pointing out that the serene passivity of 12 step programs is an evidential failure Voltaire2 Apr 2019 #49

AA popularized the Serenity Prayer, but they didn't write it marylandblue Apr 2019 #52

So if there will always be evil in the world, why resist it? Bretton Garcia Apr 2019 #57

We are always solving the problems that are in front of us. marylandblue Apr 2019 #60

It's probably just semantics whether you call suffering evil. Bretton Garcia Apr 2019 #65

I don't know why the "courage to change the things I can" is being missed marylandblue Apr 2019 #66

The rub is, many think many things can't be fixed, that are fixable. Bretton Garcia Apr 2019 #69

I don't interpret prayers that way and I don't know anybody who does. marylandblue Apr 2019 #71

Google "Locus of Control" safeinOhio Apr 2019 #5

You do know that the concept edhopper Apr 2019 #6

I forgot that from my Systems of Psychology in college. safeinOhio Apr 2019 #7

Yeah edhopper Apr 2019 #8

How do Calvinist fit in safeinOhio Apr 2019 #9

I am not well versed in edhopper Apr 2019 #10

Only the elect can understand unconditionally. MineralMan Apr 2019 #11

If only Christians understood their own teachings! Karadeniz Apr 2019 #18

Ummmm... yeah. uriel1972 Apr 2019 #22

I'm pretty sure every Christian Mariana Apr 2019 #24

Yep. They usually just gloss over what they don't understand. Too bad. The parables are fabulous! Karadeniz Apr 2019 #75

Let's acknowledge Soph's great point Bretton Garcia Apr 2019 #25

that answer is in james 2 chapter 26 rampartc Apr 2019 #27

If only believers actually read, and believed Bretton Garcia Apr 2019 #36

One of the least-quoted verses in the New Testament. MineralMan Apr 2019 #37

this business if "faith" vs "works" goes back to martin luthor rampartc Apr 2019 #38

It goes deeper too Bretton Garcia Apr 2019 #39

you may be right rampartc Apr 2019 #40

It's the origin of the prosperity thing. But there's more Bretton Garcia Apr 2019 #41

Yes it does. Jim__ Apr 2019 #45

No.Specially if it is blind faith. democratisphere Apr 2019 #54

Conclusion: faith alone is never enough. We need reason, science, even more. Bretton Garcia Apr 2019 #58

Never. trotsky Apr 2019 #59

The Marxist have a thing called "praxis." marylandblue Apr 2019 #63

No. NeoGreen Apr 2019 #62

An answer to Guil, and the alleged inevitability of faith, belief, even for rationalists Bretton Garcia Apr 2019 #70

Gil relies heavily on imprecise meanings of words without providing definitions marylandblue Apr 2019 #73

So we should not faithfully OR passively acquiesce to Religion Bretton Garcia Apr 2019 #74

Faith is a shield Lithos Apr 2019 #76

If you think the "shield" is true, still, Bretton Garcia Apr 2019 #81

Faith alone is always supposed to be sufficient. bitterross Apr 2019 #77

"Faith" means religions want unquestioning obedience Bretton Garcia Apr 2019 #79