Yahweh or Jehova or Allah never actually said any of the retarded shit in the holy books we find repulsive. Humans wrote those books as a control device, not the gods. I have no issue with Yahweh or Allah, but I have a HUGE problem with the scumbags who added their god-names into a book of filth in order to facilitate their own psychopathy. Humans wrote the books, so we just have to take their word for it that it is the will of whatever god the book is centered around.
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Interesting statementâŚ
https://twitter.com/treypearson/status/895823322696613889
What do you think?
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Giving to Churches in general isnât giving to God at all. God is a transcendental entity with no need for material objects (and in the context of the Christian myth about God he owns all things anyway, so whether itâs in the Churchâs pocket or yours, itâs still his). Churches are religious institutions which need money to pay for things, like all material based entities.
But, enabling a system which destroys lives is a bit of an overstatement. The church I attended as a Protestant was not LGBTQ+ affirming in the slightest, but they supported a charity known as Servantâs Anonymous which goes into places where human trafficked prostitution is going on, removes those women from the trafficking system (as well as attempting to convert the human traffickers to a more moral lifestyle), gives them skills that they can use to get jobs, finds them jobs and housing, and monitors their success after the program. Thatâs life saving done very, very well.
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I feel like a lot of the aggression has to do with the conflicting views morals opinion. Especially since people build their identity around their beliefs, they take it very personally.
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But hereâs the problem⌠Say an Atheist converts to Catholicismâaccording to many Protestants and Muslims, theyâd go to Hell. If they convert to Protestantismâaccording to some very strict Catholics and many Muslims, theyâd go to Hell.
The Catholic Church was once referred to as the Church âoutside of which there is no salvationâ. From what I read, the Catholic Church no longer teaches that, but it certainly did at some point, and some followers may still hold that view.
Now, if they converted to Islamâaccording to many Christians (such as Catholics & Protestants), theyâd go to Hell. If they choose Sunni Islam, Shia Muslims may feel they wonât be saved, but if they opt for Shia Islam, Sunnis may feel they wonât be saved. And I could go on and on as there are other denominations in Islam.
No matter what path the Atheist would choose (Christianity, Islam, etc.), theyâd still be damned anyway (according to so or so authority). It is impossible to choose one path absolutely everybody would approve of.
Iâm bumping this because of this disturbing and tragic event, now world news.
In a nutshell, John Allen Chau , 27, travelled to the Sentinel Island in order to preach the gospel to its inhabitants. Not long after setting foot, he was murdered in cold blood by the tribesmen. Horrific enough!
Now, as tragic as it is, that incident raises questions andâcriticism! Many, like Michael Stone, author of the fourth article linked above, believe itâs time for evangelization efforts in remote areas of the world to stop. They find such attempts at evangelizing akin to old-age colonization; colons of old did, in a number of cases, murder, pillage, rape, etc. (ISIL recently did forcefully convert Yazidis to Islam.)
Chau went there alone, was not violent and was not gonna murder anyone, but many are outraged that some Christians still feel the need to proselytize, still feel that their religion is superior and the only way one could be saved and avoid eternal damnation, and according to Chauâs own handwritten letter linked above, thatâs exactly how he felt.
He believed telling Sentinelese about the Gospel was the only way for them to be saved and enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Numerous commentators are also furious with Chau for possibly bringing pathogens to the island that would endanger the lives of the Sentinelese, cut off from the rest of the world and reportedly not immune to common diseases such as the flu or measles. And this is why some, like Michael Stone, believe Chau was killed in self-defenceâŚ
I wouldnât say that. To automatically throw arrows at someone that enters the island like that, not even knowing why is that person on the island⌠I mean, I totally understand the point made, but I believe those tribesmen should have come to him and, firmly but not violently, made him understand he had to leave the island.
I understand all points made, maybe Chau was too âfanaticalâ about wanting to evangelize that tribe, but I still feel bad he had to experience such a horrific death, arrows, strangulation and all. Itâs terrible!
@ashtkerr, what do you think? Was such attempt at proselytization worth it? Chau believed it was, but I think not.
- He paid with his life, leaving his friends and family in profound grief.
- As a former Roman Catholic/Christian, I no longer believe salvation through Jesus Christ is the only way one could have a good and pleasant after-life.
I do not think itâs wrong to peacefully tell others about oneâs faith, whether itâs Christianity, Islam, Buddhism or else, but itâs true that Christians and Muslims in particular, because of the very tenets of their faith, may on occasion be more âaggressiveâ in their approach, believing itâs the only way any person could get saved.