Siddhartha doesn't save you. It's the knowledge in his teachings that bring liberation. Anyone can become a Buddha. Siddhartha just showed the way.
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Fear of homosexuality
- Thread starter Wasp
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Shadow Wolf
Certified People sTabber & Business Owner
Thanks. Between bouncing around and my internet randomly dropping, it seems I blundered, lol.
Shadow Wolf
Certified People sTabber & Business Owner
It was, and it's not nonsense. It was rotting me from the inside out. And if you've never heard such claims before, you've not listened to the world. I'm hardly the only one who was being destroyed by following Christ. It's gaining some traction in academic study, and is known as Religious Trauma Syndrome. And, indeed, having nightmares so vivid you feel the anguish of eternal separation from god and can feel the flames searing your flesh is a traumatic experience in itself. And that's just dreams. In the real world it often leads to low self esteem, low confidence, drug abuse, mental illness, and a host of maladaptive behaviors. All because the god you follow, a god who is allegedly "loving and merciful," is instead easily angered and is very much into punishing people.
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sojourner
Annoyingly Progressive Since 2006
Since sin and fallen humanity isn’t part of the Buddhist world view, salvation is unnecessary. Therefore, the theology is valid for Buddhism.
Spartan
Well-Known Member
It is nonsense. And the only people who will end up in Hell are those who kick the love of Christ to the gutter. Like the Bible says, "Perfect love (the love of Christ) casts out fear - 1 John 4:18
Here's a book I can recommend: "What's So Amazing about Grace"," by Philip Yancey.
Spartan
Well-Known Member
Why? Did you walk around all the time feeling condemned?
Shadow Wolf
Certified People sTabber & Business Owner
Isn't hubris a sin? You don't know my experiences. Being a Christian was destroying me.
Sounds like another arrogant Christian trying to say they are better than everybody else for being Christian and trying to monopolize things they have no exclusive claims to:
Grace is theological; it comes from God. It's one thing the church can offer that isn't found anywhere else. - Yancey
But I did discovery Bill Clinton asked him a very good question: Why do Christians hate so much?
Shadow Wolf
Certified People sTabber & Business Owner
Not quite, but that it was a very real and possible outcome.
Spartan
Well-Known Member
I'm still trying to figure out just exactly what - specifically - was so caustic about Christ / Christianity that it made you sick? What specifically?
Spartan
Well-Known Member
Shadow Wolf: "Isn't hubris a sin? You don't know my experiences. Being a Christian was destroying me."
So far you haven't identified one thing specifically that you allege made you sick? Until you do you've got no credible narrative.
Shadow Wolf: "://commonsenseatheism.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/resurrection.pngSounds like another arrogant Christian trying to say they are better than everybody else for being Christian and trying to monopolize things they have no exclusive claims to:
Grace is theological; it comes from God. It's one thing the church can offer that isn't found anywhere else. - Yancey
But I did discovery Bill Clinton asked him a very good question: Why do Christians hate so much?"
Bill Clinton - the impeached adulterer, serial liar, and misogynist who obstructed justice for one of the women who ratted him out? That Bill Clinton? He feels persecuted? He's the wolf in sheep's clothing "Christian" that performed acts of hate on others. And then there's Crooked Hillary who I think is even worse.
But as for God's grace, if it weren't for that you wouldn't even be breathing.
So far you haven't identified one thing specifically that you allege made you sick? Until you do you've got no credible narrative.
Shadow Wolf: "://commonsenseatheism.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/resurrection.pngSounds like another arrogant Christian trying to say they are better than everybody else for being Christian and trying to monopolize things they have no exclusive claims to:
Grace is theological; it comes from God. It's one thing the church can offer that isn't found anywhere else. - Yancey
But I did discovery Bill Clinton asked him a very good question: Why do Christians hate so much?"
Bill Clinton - the impeached adulterer, serial liar, and misogynist who obstructed justice for one of the women who ratted him out? That Bill Clinton? He feels persecuted? He's the wolf in sheep's clothing "Christian" that performed acts of hate on others. And then there's Crooked Hillary who I think is even worse.
But as for God's grace, if it weren't for that you wouldn't even be breathing.
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Spartan
Well-Known Member
So, Hitler is a shoo in to get to Trāyastriṃśa?
Or does bad-boy Hitler, due to his bad behavior, come back - reincarnated - as a temple rat? And what happens if he's a 'bad' temple rat? Does he further regress to a temple cockroach? Do you even know what you're talking about?
sojourner
Annoyingly Progressive Since 2006
Since when is snark a Christian value?
Kangaroo Feathers
Yea, it is written in the Book of Cyril...
Of course the scriptures say no such thing, but they do say something nasty awaits people who willfully twist and distort scripture. But hey, whatever gets you through the self loathing, I guess.
Kangaroo Feathers
Yea, it is written in the Book of Cyril...
Since naming yourself after well oiled homosexual macho-men was a sign of total serious Mike Pence level straightness.
Shadow Wolf
Certified People sTabber & Business Owner
A lot of it was the shame and guilt, being guilty for doing nothing more than being born and deserving of god's eternal wrath by default. Add on top of that having "your sin" pointed out more often than others (except perhaps for apostates and those of a "false faith), with reinforcing the idea of eternal damnation, along with god demonstrating his wrath throughout the Bible, especially in the OT and Revelations. Jesus is there to redeem us if we just ask and repent, to comfort us and wipe away our tears, but without it's in the furnace you go. If you're a hypocrite, you get eternal darkness and wailing and gnashing of teeth. God loves you, but don't screw up. The nightmares I had of being separated from god and going to hell, I felt the mental anguish and physical pains. It was terrifying enough I still remember it half my life later.
I turned to the Bible for guidance and answers. I read, and read on, but I could not find anything that resembles love and mercy. I prayed, but the nightmares continued. But the harder I grasped onto my faith, the more it's foundation and walls began to crumble. By the time I finally did leave, I hated Christians, Christianity, the Bible, the Church,and everything that was directly or indirectly related to them. And even today, with the hatred extinguished for many years, my experiences left such a "bad taste in my mouth" that when I recently visited a UU church to check it out I found it to be too protestant for me to want to be there or have anything to do with it.
Skreeper
Member
The real bad-boys were the muscular Spartans who were oiled up and ready to go.
Man, that does put a smile on my face.
I've brought up the Spartan thing before and he just ignored it. I figure he'll do the same now.
Skreeper
Member
He is a 'tough' Vietnam veteran. Of course he is going to ignore it.
sojourner
Annoyingly Progressive Since 2006
You bill yourself as a smart person; you can’t figure out after all the replies on all the threads what it is that has turned people off Christianity? Head in the sand much?
Let me spell it out for you. What turns people off — and what angers me as a member of the clergy in a mainstream, Protestant denomination, is that the loudest and most raucous voice in Xy is that of the conservative, fundamentalist, Evangelical, who presents a narrow, rather than wide view, who idolizes the Bible, yet mistreats it by taking it literalistically, who insists that everyone follow all its perceived rules to the letter while applying a double standard to himself, who insists that his brand of belief is THE Truth (because “Jesus said so” — even though he didn’t), who blithely and repeatedly throws the vulnerable under the bus in favor of some twisted view of a couple of bible passages, all the while trumpeting, “Love the ‘sinner,’ hate the ‘sin.’).
The bigoted, intractable, morally-reprehensible, hypocritical hubris, hiding behind a cloak of faux-piety, gives such a person license to present Xy to others as something it patently is not. Such people offer nothing more than snake oil nostrums, dressed up as “the Faith.” They wear madras sport coats and call them “robes washed white.”
Jesus was a teacher who taught deep personal reflection, radical welcome, inclusion of the worst sinners, and who railed against the kind of self-righteous power structures that the Fundigelical entrenches himself in. Jesus died for the sake of humanity, yet this person won’t allow others to partake of Jesus’ love and acceptance. Then he wonders why people turn away from Xy. It’s insidious, it misrepresents the religion, and it’s evil.
Spartan
Well-Known Member
There's no damnation for the saved. One also should be aware of their spiritual identity. You should have had this:
I am accepted…
• John 1:12 I am God’s child.
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God
• John 15:15 As a disciple, I am a friend of Jesus Christ.
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
• Romans 5:1 I have been justified.
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
• 1 Corinthians 6:17 I am united with the Lord, and I am one with Him in spirit.
But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
• 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 I have been bought with a price and I belong to God.
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
• 1 Corinthians 12:27 I am a member of Christ’s body.
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
• Ephesians 1:3-8 I have been chosen by God and adopted as His child.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with everyspiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.
• Colossians 1:13-14 I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins.
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
• Colossians 2:9-10 I am complete in Christ.
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
• Hebrews 4:14-16 I have direct access to the throne of grace through Jesus Christ.
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
I am secure…
• Romans 8:1 I am free from condemnation.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
• Romans 8:28 I am assured that God works for my good in all circumstances.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
• Romans 8:31-39 I am free from any condemnation brought against me and I cannot be separated from the love of God.
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died more than that, who was raised to life is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:”For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughter”No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
• 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 I have been established, anointed and sealed by God.
Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
• Colossians 3:1-4 I am hidden with Christ in God.
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
• Philippians 1:6 I am confident that God will complete the good work He started in me.
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
• Philippians 3:20 I am a citizen of heaven.
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
• 2 Timothy 1:7 I have not been given a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind.
For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
• 1 John 5:18 I am born of God and the evil one cannot touch me.
Feeling guilty? 1 John 1:9 - If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
More in the link: The Christian’s Scriptural and Spiritual Identity