<p>once again ur a retard</p>
<p>Mark 15:24
And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get.</p>
<p>that's a good explanation...really, not being sarcastic.</p>
<p>how about this one?</p>
<p>Josephs Father?</p>
<p>MAT 1:16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.</p>
<p>LUK 3:23 And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli.</p>
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once again ur a retard
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<p>Well, you're obviously a devout Christian, right? I would hope my Christian grandmother would go around calling people she doesn't know retards. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Nope I'm not a devout christian. I'm human. </p>
<p>btw is that your come back?</p>
<p>you mean 'comeback' right? I don't have time for this. Go play.</p>
<p>Heli was Joseph's father-in-law</p>
<p>There are no contradictions in the Bible. Anyone who "finds" contradictions is misunderstanding something, or taking things out of their proper context. If you think I'm just saying that because I'm a Christian, I would say the same thing about Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, or Hesiod's Theogony. Contradictions just aren't in these texts, and the Bible is the same in that regard.</p>
<p>Scholars -- religious and non-religious -- have been going over the Bible with a fine-toothed comb for the better part of 2,000 years. There have been no "contradictions" found that have not been proved to be misunderstandings or improper contextual interpretations on the part of the accusers (something that is all too easy for the untrained to do). There are currently thousands of academic Biblical scholars, from the dregs of Bob Jones University to the hallowed halls of Oxford, Harvard, and Yale Universities, whose full-time job it is to pick apart and scrutinize every little word and detail of Scripture, in the original Hebrew and Koine Greek. Contradictions do not slip by these people. And no, not all of them have a religious agenda to protect (like Princeton's celebrated Professor of New Testament, Bart D. Ehrman, who doesn't even believe in God, or Dr. Robert Alter and Dr. Everett Fox, arguably the greatest contemporary scholars of the Book of Genesis -- I would agree -- who are both avowed Atheists).</p>
<p>If you take every word of the Bible literally, you're kidding yourself.</p>
<p>My point is...Christians believing homosexuality is a sin is fine. Don't impose your views upon others.</p>
<p>Regardless of the character of the person answering the questions I've been presenting, I am appreciative of the responses and have found them to be enlightening. I ran into many problems (such as listed above) when I read the Bible and could not figure them out, so this is all very interesting. </p>
<p>How about this one:</p>
<p>"And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven." (2 Kings 2:11)</p>
<p>"No man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven, ... the Son of Man." (John 3:13)</p>
<p>krn, c'mon, you're more mature than that. I know you are. </p>
<hr>
<p>"I do NOT find "being gay is a sin" as something unreasonable. I think it's perfectly reasonable."</p>
<p>Fine. Then don't be gay. Whether someone else is gay is no one else's
business, since there are no victims.</p>
<p>"How was "It was obvious even at that early age."???
You said you knew them from 8-10 years am I right? Now bash me all you want about my next comment, but something could have happen before to influence them."</p>
<p>The boy was one of 5 boys in a Christian family. Very nice, decent people. The dad works as a mechanic and 4 of his 5 boys were the typical, rowdy boys, doing boy stuff, into hot rods, working on their cars, etc. But one of the boys was not into any of that stuff. He was into dolls and making doll clothes, ever since I met the family when he was 9. He had the stereotypical mannerisms even back then. When he was a teen, he decided he wanted to be a fashion designer. He would fret about his body and his clothes in much the same way as girls commonly do. His brothers were into cars and girls but he was into fashion. He never dated. His parents' church finally got the them to acknowledge his orientation; they were in denial about it for a long time.</p>
<p>So why was this boy different from his 4 brothers? They were all raised the same way.</p>
<p>The other case was a girl, an only child, homeschooled. Her mom told me she never grew out of the tomboy phase. The mom tried getting her to dress in frilly clothes when she got to be a teen, but the girl hated it. She is now 19 and a flaming gay, as she herself puts it. She is one of my son's 2 best friends. She is one of the guys. They play video games together. </p>
<p>Could something have happened to them to influence them? Hell if I know. I only know what I observed and what the parents (and the kids themselves) told me. My point is that the typical behavioral characteristics manifested at an early age in both cases.</p>
<p>"Science has flaws. The bible does not."</p>
<p>I disagree. Both have flaws. The bible has many more flaws than science.</p>
<p>"So then what is your interpretation of Romans 1:27? ...
"27In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion."</p>
<p>Well, since I don't believe the bible is the infallible word of God (at least not anymore than The Oddyssey) then my opinion of Romans 1:27 is irrelevant. It's just something some guy wrote. Just his opinion.</p>
<p>I already gave my opinions about homosexuality. Is no one going to comment on what I posted?</p>
<p>"There have been no "contradictions" found that have not been proved to be misunderstandings or improper contextual interpretations on the part of the accusers"</p>
<p>Precisely my point. It's all subject to interpretation. They have to get really creative to make sense of all the contradictions.</p>
<p>For those who may be interested, here are some scriptural references to reincarnation in the bible (or, to be fair, references that feasibly COULD be interpreted as indications of reincarnation. One interpretation is just as potentially valid as another, imo.)</p>
<p><a href="http://www.reincarnation.ws/%5B/url%5D">http://www.reincarnation.ws/</a></p>
<p><a href="http://reluctant-messenger.com/origen3.html%5B/url%5D">http://reluctant-messenger.com/origen3.html</a></p>
<p>Just for kicks, I always love how people say the Bible is the infallible word of God and then don't like to live up to everything it says. I won't bring up the Old Testament since there is always plenty of explaining away that can be done...let's refer to the New Testament instead:</p>
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Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church." (1 Corinthians 14:34-35)
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<p>Hmm...I've been to church quite a few times, and the women didn't have any problem speaking. Hell, there are even women priests. So please explain to me how someone could re-interpret this...yet I'm sure women speak at your church, right? </p>
<p>This is just one of the areas where the doctrine presented in the Bible seems much more 'man-made' than decreed by God...or at least I would hope that's not God speaking in that verse.</p>
<p>Hahaha, good times.</p>
<p>Good point, brand. There are LOTS of examples such as this. (see my earlier post with old testament quotes about stoning people for wearing different types of cloth.)</p>
<p>Yeah I was definitely thinking of that stuff...but anytime I mention the Old Testament, people will say "we don't live under that book anymore so it doesn't matter what it says!" So I always love to use the New Testament instead..</p>
<p>No escape ;)</p>
<p>Edit: by the way, for those that are interested in the "women" issues of the Bible, I thought this article (of sorts) was really interesting: </p>
<p>"Elijah. But wasn't Elijah taken to heaven in a whirlwind? What about 2 Kings 2:1 and 11? With a little insight, we see that it, too, harmonizes with the rest of the Scriptures that say no man has gone to heaven except the Messiah. The verses read, "And it came to pass, when Yahweh would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven," 2 Kings 2:2 and 11. </p>
<p>The Hebrew is more correctly rendered "heavens" rather than heaven. The Bible speaks of three heavens: 1. where the birds fly, Genesis 1:20, Daniel 4:21; 2. where the stars are, Genesis 1:15; and 3. where the Creator is, Psalm 48:1-2. Obviously the whirlwind took Elijah into the first heaven, the atmosphere. Whirlwinds can exist only in the atmosphere of earth!</p>
<p>Where did he go? The sons of the prophets were afraid that Elijah would be "cast upon some mountain or into some valley," 2 Kings 2:16. He was therefore carried to some place on earth. This is proved in 2 Chronicles 21:12, where, low and behold, here comes a letter some 10 years later from Elijah, warning wicked King Jehoram that doom was about to befall him."</p>
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Where does your belief stop? Do you wish to impose your view on others?
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<p>Did I even mention imposing anything on anyone? I posted my firm belief and didn't say that anyone should think the same as me. No one is being forced to believe anything.</p>
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Unquestioning faith is dangerous.
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<p>here's what I actually said in my post:</p>
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I for one disagree with a few things in my Religion; I go to someone trustworthy to give me an objective opinion on the matter and to tell me why a certain thing is so. Almost every time I've done so, there was something convincing to dispell all doubts that I had previously. But what I just said is only in case I see something that I might find "unreasonable".
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<p>in other words; I do question it. I just didn't question the part about homosexuality.</p>
<p>"but wasn't Elijah taken to heaven in a whirlwind? "</p>
<p>This does not in any way negate the possibility of reincarnation. To people who believe in reincarnation, people go to spiritual dimensions in between lifetimes - they don't just reincarnate instantly (usually).</p>
<p>To me, those references to reincarnation are crystal-clear. Read about the other examples, like when they asked Jesus if the baby had sinned before he was born (to be born blind). I don't see any other interpretation other than reincarnation.</p>