Am I a Fundamentalist Christian? - Part V
Again an answer to Jaco's comments.
Jaco wrote:'There is a lot of evidence which suggest that the "people behind the scenes" or the so-called Illuminati, sincerely believe in materialistic atheism. They use political ideas such as "human rights", communism and democracy to create the impression that these theoretical concepts are being implemented in the countries under their influence and that these countries’ respective governments honestly believe in and respect these values.'
I agree with the above. I also believe that the same powers behind Materialistic Atheism are ruthlessly trying to make organized religion, especially Christianity irrelevant and powerless. One of their points of attack is on the Authority of the Bible itself.
1. Evolution (Molecules-to-Man Evolution)
They managed to convince the World that the belief in millions of years of gradual change from non-living macro-molecules, via single celled organisms, via plants, via fish, via reptiles, via mammals, via primates, to human beings is actually Science, scientific and not a blind religion. This made many Christians and their leaders compromise the authority of the Bible (and the Torah and Qoran for that matter). This while there are very strong arguments for a Young Earth, but they still manage to turn any Young Earth Creation vs. Evolution debate into a Religion vs. Science debate.
2. Compilation and writers of the Bible
They also put all sorts of questions around the validity of the Bible as God's inspired Word. Mostly around who decided which books should be and should not be part of the Bible. The "Da Vincy Code" movie was a big stab at the authority of the Bible. Essentially they revived the ideas and writings of the Gnostics and claim that the Roman Empire decided which books are part and not part of the Bible during the Council of Nicea. They claim the Roman Chruch then removed books that did not fit their objectives. Even documentaries around the Bible and biblical events supports this belief and tries to undermine the credibility of the Christian Bible. There are however many thorough studies and articles around the authenticity of the Christian Bible and its origins that shows these claims to be false and misleading. Albeit, an alarming number of Christians is starting to accept these false ideas about the authenticity of the Bible and starts questioning (and rejecting) any Super Natural events in the Bible, including the Resserection of Jesus Christ.
3. Laws
They also introduce all sorts of laws that goes against organised religion, especially Christianity, Judaism and Islam (so-called Monotheistic religions). These laws include legalizing Abortion, Pornography and Same-Sex-Mariages and outlawing Death Penalty, physical punishment of children, religion in Schools, etc. Many advertising, marketing and "information" is spread to support the above laws and regulations. Thereby even religious people are influenced to sympathize with these laws.
Jaco wrote: "One should keep in mind that there are a lot of hypocrisy and make-belief in politics."
I have no doubt at all that most politicians morph and twist their ideas, beliefs and "principles" to fit the latest trends and more so the ones that will get them the most votes. One only needs to recall the whole debacle in South Africa where the NP and DP joined forces against the ANC to form the DA. Later on when some uncomfortable evidence was brought against NP leaders, the NP split from the DA and joined the ANC! In general I do believe politicians do start out with mostly good principles, but as election day draws closer and especially the more power they obtain, the less they worry about their initial principles and more about how to gain more votes and more power.
Jaco wrote: "Believing in the literal truth of scriptures which were written by different people and which contain a lot of untruths and contradictions, while some of them were meant to be interpreted in an allegorical and mythical fashion instead of literally, naturally causes a of a lot of disagreements. False religious ideas were substituted for true spiritual values. Because of literal interpretations the Creator of the Cosmos is viewed as a tribal god who is jealous and wrathful. Some literalists see themselves as "chosen", while outsiders are seen as "damned". This is how divisions and conflicts are maintained, which make it easier for powerful groups to manipulate followers of these religions. Religion is actually the best weapon ever designed by people with a political agenda. You can control a huge populace without physically pointing a gun at every individual."
The idea that the teachings of the Bible were meant to be interpreted in an allegorical and mythical fashion instead of literally, is one of the false ideas spread to undermine the authenticity of the Bible as the Inspired Word of God, and was introduced centuries ago by the Gnostics. Where it comes to the authenticity and authority of Genesis 1-11 (Creation - Noah's Flood), I invite anyone to read one of the books by Creation Scientists like Dr. H.D. Mouton (Afrikaans), Dr Jonathan Sarfati, Dr Tas Walker, Dr Emil Silvestru, Dr Russ Humphreys, Ken Ham, Dr. Jason Lisle, Dr. Terry Mortenson, etc. These alone should at least raise some interest into the plausibility of the Young Earth Creation theory.
Furthermore, the claim that "Because of literal interpretations the Creator of the Cosmos is viewed as a tribal god who is jealous and wrathful. Some literalists see themselves as 'chosen', while outsiders are seen as 'damned'." may be true about Judaism, Islam and also some Christian churches and governments like the Roman Empire's Catholic Church and the to some extent also the Apartheid Government of South Africa, but the teachings of Jesus Christ and His Apostles, does not endorse ANY such behaviour.
In fact, I suggest the answer lies in the limits of people, constrained within the naturalistic, evolutionary mindset (of Darwinism and Molecules-to-Man Evolution), to evaluate or ‘rank’ a culture, practice or belief. The only options are to believe one culture associated with a particular ‘race’ to be superior or more advanced than another (politically incorrect today), or else that it is of equal value and merit and therefore demanding preservation and ‘special treatment’. - I copied the above from a very interesting article:"Worldview supremacy", by Marc Ambler.
As I said, some older Christian Churches and governments may have (and did) abuse some of the teachings of the Bible, but the modern Evangelical Christians, has a much better impact on the lives of people than Atheism and the general tendency towards Humanism and Naturalism. Again, a very interesting article:"As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God" by Matthew Parris, an Atheist.
And perhaps I should refer back to the origin of this line of postings. Which of the views I listed do you regard as negative in general for society and democracy?
To summarize, our views conflict in that I believe it is the undermining of the values preached by Jesus Christ and the attack on the Authority of the Bible, that is the cause of many of the problems we face today. I am also convinced that there are many powers behind movements to discredit the Bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ.
I believe that the literal interpretation of the Bible, including the words of Jesus Christ, will cause this world to be a better place.
You, on the other hand believe that the Monotheistic religions like Christanity, Judaism and Islam is the cause of many of the troubles of this world and that organised Religion is being used by the "Powers that be" to control the populations of the World. You clearly also believe in Evolution and long-ages. Furthermore, you also believe that the Bible and the history of Jesus Christ as portrayed in the Bible and believed by Evangelical Christians are not true and are at most deviations or copies of earlier legends.
In the end I guess we (you and I and the people agreeing with us respectively) can list Authors, Books and URL's to try to convince the other or at least support our individual (and very different) World Views. We can dig into history and current events to show who's World View has a better and who's World View has a worse effect on the World.
I'll keep on seeing examples of where Christianity makes live better in the World. I'll keep on seeing examples of how the "Powers that be" wants to discredit and ultimately destroy Christian values. I'll also keep on seeing proofs that my view is indeed true and yours not.
The same will be true for yourself. You'll keep on seeing examples of where Christianity failed to make the World a better place, how Gnosticism and other Eastern, Esoteric religions would make the World a better place. You'll keep on seeing more examples of how the "Powers that be" used / uses organised Religion to control the populations of the World.
In the end, I guess we can only test our faith in our World Views by reading books from the "other side". From engaging in debates like these. But I also believe that neither myself, nor yourself would want to do this too often and would rather induldge in books and videos supporting our own World View.
I can lastly only mention that my personal World View and view of God (incl. Jesus Christ) is reaffirmed not only by the Bible and other Books and Videos if read and watched, but also by multiple personal experiances and testimonies. But I also realize that these experiances and testimonies will be insuficient in trying to convince most people not willing to accept the authority of the Bible and God.
Thus my only hope (and prayer) is that you have a personal encounter with the only True God, our Loving Father and His mighty Son, Jesus Christ, our only Hope and Saviour. That you'll see Him and His true intentions of Mankind as opposed by the wrong doings of some Christians in your personal life and the history of South Africa, Europe and the World in general.
Jaco wrote:'There is a lot of evidence which suggest that the "people behind the scenes" or the so-called Illuminati, sincerely believe in materialistic atheism. They use political ideas such as "human rights", communism and democracy to create the impression that these theoretical concepts are being implemented in the countries under their influence and that these countries’ respective governments honestly believe in and respect these values.'
I agree with the above. I also believe that the same powers behind Materialistic Atheism are ruthlessly trying to make organized religion, especially Christianity irrelevant and powerless. One of their points of attack is on the Authority of the Bible itself.
1. Evolution (Molecules-to-Man Evolution)
They managed to convince the World that the belief in millions of years of gradual change from non-living macro-molecules, via single celled organisms, via plants, via fish, via reptiles, via mammals, via primates, to human beings is actually Science, scientific and not a blind religion. This made many Christians and their leaders compromise the authority of the Bible (and the Torah and Qoran for that matter). This while there are very strong arguments for a Young Earth, but they still manage to turn any Young Earth Creation vs. Evolution debate into a Religion vs. Science debate.
2. Compilation and writers of the Bible
They also put all sorts of questions around the validity of the Bible as God's inspired Word. Mostly around who decided which books should be and should not be part of the Bible. The "Da Vincy Code" movie was a big stab at the authority of the Bible. Essentially they revived the ideas and writings of the Gnostics and claim that the Roman Empire decided which books are part and not part of the Bible during the Council of Nicea. They claim the Roman Chruch then removed books that did not fit their objectives. Even documentaries around the Bible and biblical events supports this belief and tries to undermine the credibility of the Christian Bible. There are however many thorough studies and articles around the authenticity of the Christian Bible and its origins that shows these claims to be false and misleading. Albeit, an alarming number of Christians is starting to accept these false ideas about the authenticity of the Bible and starts questioning (and rejecting) any Super Natural events in the Bible, including the Resserection of Jesus Christ.
3. Laws
They also introduce all sorts of laws that goes against organised religion, especially Christianity, Judaism and Islam (so-called Monotheistic religions). These laws include legalizing Abortion, Pornography and Same-Sex-Mariages and outlawing Death Penalty, physical punishment of children, religion in Schools, etc. Many advertising, marketing and "information" is spread to support the above laws and regulations. Thereby even religious people are influenced to sympathize with these laws.
Jaco wrote: "One should keep in mind that there are a lot of hypocrisy and make-belief in politics."
I have no doubt at all that most politicians morph and twist their ideas, beliefs and "principles" to fit the latest trends and more so the ones that will get them the most votes. One only needs to recall the whole debacle in South Africa where the NP and DP joined forces against the ANC to form the DA. Later on when some uncomfortable evidence was brought against NP leaders, the NP split from the DA and joined the ANC! In general I do believe politicians do start out with mostly good principles, but as election day draws closer and especially the more power they obtain, the less they worry about their initial principles and more about how to gain more votes and more power.
Jaco wrote: "Believing in the literal truth of scriptures which were written by different people and which contain a lot of untruths and contradictions, while some of them were meant to be interpreted in an allegorical and mythical fashion instead of literally, naturally causes a of a lot of disagreements. False religious ideas were substituted for true spiritual values. Because of literal interpretations the Creator of the Cosmos is viewed as a tribal god who is jealous and wrathful. Some literalists see themselves as "chosen", while outsiders are seen as "damned". This is how divisions and conflicts are maintained, which make it easier for powerful groups to manipulate followers of these religions. Religion is actually the best weapon ever designed by people with a political agenda. You can control a huge populace without physically pointing a gun at every individual."
The idea that the teachings of the Bible were meant to be interpreted in an allegorical and mythical fashion instead of literally, is one of the false ideas spread to undermine the authenticity of the Bible as the Inspired Word of God, and was introduced centuries ago by the Gnostics. Where it comes to the authenticity and authority of Genesis 1-11 (Creation - Noah's Flood), I invite anyone to read one of the books by Creation Scientists like Dr. H.D. Mouton (Afrikaans), Dr Jonathan Sarfati, Dr Tas Walker, Dr Emil Silvestru, Dr Russ Humphreys, Ken Ham, Dr. Jason Lisle, Dr. Terry Mortenson, etc. These alone should at least raise some interest into the plausibility of the Young Earth Creation theory.
Furthermore, the claim that "Because of literal interpretations the Creator of the Cosmos is viewed as a tribal god who is jealous and wrathful. Some literalists see themselves as 'chosen', while outsiders are seen as 'damned'." may be true about Judaism, Islam and also some Christian churches and governments like the Roman Empire's Catholic Church and the to some extent also the Apartheid Government of South Africa, but the teachings of Jesus Christ and His Apostles, does not endorse ANY such behaviour.
In fact, I suggest the answer lies in the limits of people, constrained within the naturalistic, evolutionary mindset (of Darwinism and Molecules-to-Man Evolution), to evaluate or ‘rank’ a culture, practice or belief. The only options are to believe one culture associated with a particular ‘race’ to be superior or more advanced than another (politically incorrect today), or else that it is of equal value and merit and therefore demanding preservation and ‘special treatment’. - I copied the above from a very interesting article:"Worldview supremacy", by Marc Ambler.
As I said, some older Christian Churches and governments may have (and did) abuse some of the teachings of the Bible, but the modern Evangelical Christians, has a much better impact on the lives of people than Atheism and the general tendency towards Humanism and Naturalism. Again, a very interesting article:"As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God" by Matthew Parris, an Atheist.
And perhaps I should refer back to the origin of this line of postings. Which of the views I listed do you regard as negative in general for society and democracy?
To summarize, our views conflict in that I believe it is the undermining of the values preached by Jesus Christ and the attack on the Authority of the Bible, that is the cause of many of the problems we face today. I am also convinced that there are many powers behind movements to discredit the Bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ.
I believe that the literal interpretation of the Bible, including the words of Jesus Christ, will cause this world to be a better place.
You, on the other hand believe that the Monotheistic religions like Christanity, Judaism and Islam is the cause of many of the troubles of this world and that organised Religion is being used by the "Powers that be" to control the populations of the World. You clearly also believe in Evolution and long-ages. Furthermore, you also believe that the Bible and the history of Jesus Christ as portrayed in the Bible and believed by Evangelical Christians are not true and are at most deviations or copies of earlier legends.
In the end I guess we (you and I and the people agreeing with us respectively) can list Authors, Books and URL's to try to convince the other or at least support our individual (and very different) World Views. We can dig into history and current events to show who's World View has a better and who's World View has a worse effect on the World.
I'll keep on seeing examples of where Christianity makes live better in the World. I'll keep on seeing examples of how the "Powers that be" wants to discredit and ultimately destroy Christian values. I'll also keep on seeing proofs that my view is indeed true and yours not.
The same will be true for yourself. You'll keep on seeing examples of where Christianity failed to make the World a better place, how Gnosticism and other Eastern, Esoteric religions would make the World a better place. You'll keep on seeing more examples of how the "Powers that be" used / uses organised Religion to control the populations of the World.
In the end, I guess we can only test our faith in our World Views by reading books from the "other side". From engaging in debates like these. But I also believe that neither myself, nor yourself would want to do this too often and would rather induldge in books and videos supporting our own World View.
I can lastly only mention that my personal World View and view of God (incl. Jesus Christ) is reaffirmed not only by the Bible and other Books and Videos if read and watched, but also by multiple personal experiances and testimonies. But I also realize that these experiances and testimonies will be insuficient in trying to convince most people not willing to accept the authority of the Bible and God.
Thus my only hope (and prayer) is that you have a personal encounter with the only True God, our Loving Father and His mighty Son, Jesus Christ, our only Hope and Saviour. That you'll see Him and His true intentions of Mankind as opposed by the wrong doings of some Christians in your personal life and the history of South Africa, Europe and the World in general.
posted by Danie Loots | 13:52
1 Comments:
What would be the effects on society if most of its members decided to follow the teachings of literalist Christianity? Would most of the people benefit from this? Would most of the problems be solved and would there be more love and understanding between people belonging to different races and classes? In this article I will provide reasons why I believe that living according to the doctrines and dogmas of literalist (fundamentalist) Christianity would be harmful to individuals, as well as to society in general.
The belief that God the Father sent His Son to die for the sins of humanity, and that salvation is guaranteed for sinners who believe that His Son was a historical Person who was both man and God and who died for their sins, causes adherents of this belief to have a childlike belief in something for which they can’t provide sufficient historical and scientific proof. If sufficient historical proof existed for the correctness of the four canonical gospels’ stories about Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, there would not have been so much controversy all these years about the validity of the gospel stories, and even confirmed atheists would have had to accept the truth of the gospel stories about Jesus’ life. Because Literalist Christians are prepared to believe in something for which they can’t provide convincing proof, this childlike belief causes them to be more gullible about other aspects of life. It is easier for a powerful group to manipulate gullible people and for the gullible people to believe the false promises of their powerful manipulators.
The belief that the Bible is the literal inspired Word of God causes a lot of disagreements between literalists who have different interpretations of different parts of the Bible. I refer to the different interpretations of the Bible by literalists, when applied to the correct attitude that people should have towards people belonging to a different race, as an example in many of my other articles. There are many groups of literalist Christians who insist that they are faithful believers in Jesus and the Bible, but who have radically different interpretations of the so-called infallible Word of God. These interpretations keep people divided and therefore easier to control. In South Africa we have the example of the Afrikaner people who are today more divided than ever before, because of the failure of mainline Christianity to provide the correct guidelines for the treatment of people belonging to different racial groups. There are political parties (the HNP and AVP) and churches (the APK) based on Calvinist literalist principles, which still believe that apartheid is not unbiblical. Many of the other literalist Christian Afrikaners believe that apartheid was a sin and unbiblical. Which one of these two groups has the correct interpretation of the literal understanding of the Bible?
What would be the effect on peoples’ personal lives if they followed the so-called traditional family values of literalist Christians? Is it reasonable to expect unmarried people to abstain from sex, before they find someone they would want to marry? I have never been married. What would the effects have been on my psychological well-being if I decided not to have premarital sex for thirty years? Perhaps traditional Christian attitudes toward sex were more applicable to the youth of the old South Africa in the sixties, but I don’t think it would have been beneficial to my mental health during the eighties and nineties to have lived according to these values!
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