tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5993188834157023477.post3916812402738231377..comments2023-08-18T08:08:24.571-07:00Comments on My God: Mama Mia Culpa!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5993188834157023477.post-68479196849623297912011-07-30T13:10:47.929-07:002011-07-30T13:10:47.929-07:00No. I don't believe in the institution of Gove...No. I don't believe in the institution of Government. I used to, before the meaning lost itself inside a political Pandora's Box. I use to believe in many things that on the surface felt right, but I think you may have given me topic for the next post...until then.Atypical Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15407091913997427351noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5993188834157023477.post-30877987883313601452011-07-30T09:59:59.099-07:002011-07-30T09:59:59.099-07:00Scott, do you believe in the Constitution? How abo...Scott, do you believe in the Constitution? How about the Preamble or the Bill of RIghts? DId you ever hear Washington, Jefferson, Adams etc. utter those words? Yet, we charge these men with coming up with such lofty ideals, on which we base our society and our laws. If you believe God is omnipotent, don't you believe HE would be able to preserve the words His Son spoke through eternity? Great discussion anyway, can't wait for more...Alessandrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12322892477027654637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5993188834157023477.post-73867039369973274062011-07-30T06:49:16.905-07:002011-07-30T06:49:16.905-07:00Egad. Am I finding myself in the literal role of ...Egad. Am I finding myself in the literal role of Devil's Advocate here or what? Woof!JustRexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00389126268262607714noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5993188834157023477.post-35652343733042964742011-07-29T12:42:54.103-07:002011-07-29T12:42:54.103-07:00Again, u always come up with a great idea and smar...Again, u always come up with a great idea and smart discussion Scott. I don't know how to comment this topic about the virgin Mary this time, since I am not Catholic. I born Christian Protestant in a country with Islam majority, Indonesia, so my tolerances toward other religions is rather flexible. My grand parents from my mom's side were both Islam but lucky me they both died before I even in the womb of my mother (hehehehe...naughty me, this is what I called tolerance!). I learned about Protestanism when I was young, I was baptised and given the passed certificate of learning the bible (6 months study), however I only knew just a little about Christianity. When I was in the university, some friends introduced me to Jehovah Witnesses, they looked alright to me, but still there are some believes there that I hardly accept and shared, so I am Christian yes, in between Protestant and Jehovah witnesses (the last one is forbiden here in Indonesia). What I know 100% is I am Christian in my heart, I always pray to God our father in the name of Jesus Christ and I knew since I born He is the only one who always listen to my prayers and blessed me with whatever materials, talent and knowledge that I accomplished till today and forever. I live and fear in God, coz I know well He is always around us, though that never stop me of making sin, sometimes His forgiveness and abundant loves make us feel so much relax in doing something He dislikes. regarding virgin Mary, I respect her as a chosen woman, but I second Alessandra and George that we should not worship her, since it is not written as a must in a holy book, or may be it is written there some how because it depends in the perception of the people who read and in understanding the contents of the book. About the statue that is always used as the media of prayer in Catholisim, I must say that I really against it, since it is clearly forbiden by God as written in 10 Commandments. We can always meet God in our spirit, soul, mind and prayers, that is what I strongly believe. Well Scott, thanks a lot for bring this issue up to your readers. Forgive me if there is any word I said have hurt u. God bless u Scott because u r a man who is always searhing the truth, and there is no other truth than he Himself our GOD.Neneng Tariganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01246751871415766917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5993188834157023477.post-868598929583186852011-07-29T10:12:31.100-07:002011-07-29T10:12:31.100-07:00I have to side with Alessandra's comments up a...I have to side with Alessandra's comments up above. She and I seem to agree on a lot of things though.<br />I've been given the comparison of praying to Mary and the saints like it was someone wanting to talk to the President. The priest said, "You wouldn't just walk up to the President, you'd probably go through his secretary or chief of staff.". This is true, but what if the President is your father? Do you go through the chain or do you talk to him directly when you are in need?<br />I know many people who say that they are (Roman) Catholic, but when I ask them why they use birth control, don't believe the pope is infallible, etc...they tell me that they don't believe everything "their" religion espouses. Well then you really aren't (Roman) Catholic then, are you? You may be Christian, but you don't follow the rules the Vatican is handing out. Personally, I don't cling to any denomination. I follow the general ideas of Protestantism, but don't agree with all of the ideas of any particular sect.<br />Regarding Islam, I think that you'll find it came well after both Judaism and later Christianity.<br />So much more I'd like to say, but back to work for me. Maybe I should take the plunge and write about it myself.Georgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03749843521356271835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5993188834157023477.post-54489568005070008532011-07-29T07:38:33.942-07:002011-07-29T07:38:33.942-07:00I'm not a biblical scholar. Or any kind of sc...I'm not a biblical scholar. Or any kind of scholar, when you get right down to it. So I can't claim to be any kind of authority on anything. My only redeeming factor is that I have read (literally) thousands of books. When I was young, my parents told me to look at the different religions and make up my own mind. I read the whole bible and thought "Hmm. Maybe." Then I read the story of Gilgamesh. It was almost the exact same story, but written 2500 years earlier. Elements of many biblical stories all written into one character. Virgin birth. Son of a god. Super powers. Reigned as king for almost 200 years, etc. I thought "Why is there no church of Gilgamesh?" Did some more reading and read how the christians systematically suppressed and destroyed all traces of other older belief systems, much like the romans they claimed to be harassed by. Then I ran across a quote which summed the whole quandary up for me in one line: "History is always written by the victors."JustRexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00389126268262607714noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5993188834157023477.post-50851994015918784532011-07-28T19:39:31.296-07:002011-07-28T19:39:31.296-07:00Alessandra- I was not stating Mary has any power. ...Alessandra- I was not stating Mary has any power. As a conduit of faith (If this is even accurate in itself) Mary does not DO the healing, but God. As for Fatima, I do believe they saw something, just as I believe I saw something when I was younger. My issue is that *others* professed these people to see something as a direct result of something other than their faith, such as looking at the sun too long. The thing about Jesus is I don't recall anyone ever "hearing" Him say anything. There are people who claim to have wrote down his words. I have and always will question if these words wer verbatim. Simply because I can say something to you, and you might repeat my words exactly, but someone is likely to interprest them down the line. But this is somethign I will focus on more when I get to the bible. There is a fact out there somewhere, which I have read several times, that the actual bible, the gospel of the diciples that managed to survive their travels have only been seen by those of the highest authority. As for researching, I have done much of it. There is a difference between researching and studying or practicing those words.Atypical Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15407091913997427351noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5993188834157023477.post-51825033907644482112011-07-28T18:14:29.887-07:002011-07-28T18:14:29.887-07:00Now I'm confused. Do you believe people saw ap...Now I'm confused. Do you believe people saw apparitions of Mary at Lourdes and Fatima? DO you believe Mary has just as much power to answer prayer as the Father, or the Son? That's the problem between catholics and protestants, roman catholics add church doctrine to the Scriptures, whereas protestants, thanks to Martin Luther believe in 'sola scriptura'. I'm in the second camp, since I don't remember Jesus ever saying to pray to his mother, or that she had any special powers. Mary definitely has a place of preeminence and respect in the faith, but she should not be worshiped, neither I think she would want it. Mary was fully human, like you or me, and without a Savior she would also perish.<br />It's kind of difficult to understand how you can still have faith in God, if you believe the Bible is full of contradictions and conflict. I bet that if you took the time to research these so called contradictions, you would find out that there aren't any in the original manuscripts. Great post as usual:)Alessandrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12322892477027654637noreply@blogger.com