Do Christians and other really understand their religion??

[Svartalf]

Ye of little Faith.
What need is there to be a scholar and theologian when what you really need to get to heaven is belief, not knowledge?

That reminds me of when mormons gave me a copy of their book, and asked me to pray for god to reveal to me how true it all was... I did read it, but was far too diplomatic to tell them that Dog had spoken to me to tell me this was one of the worst and most egregious religious forgeries of the last two centuries... right along with scientology

[Rob]

The Mormon or LDS doctrine requires them to be biblical literalists. As such they are not to be taken seriously. Take this from someone who left the Mormon tradition/religion when I reached the age of reason(13).

[Svartalf]

Mormons are officially YEC and deny scientific theories of the origin of the universe, earth and the species?
I thought BYU was a decent institution.

[Pappa]

I'd love to be an Atheist priest. A real priest, CofE or Catholic, but intentionally spouting total, literal, biblical crap from the pulpit so the congregation think, "Wtf is this weird religion I'm part of?"

[ScholasticSpastic]

The Mormon or LDS doctrine requires them to be biblical literalists. As such they are not to be taken seriously. Take this from someone who left the Mormon tradition/religion when I reached the age of reason(13).

Not so. Joe Schmidt had his little chat in the woods BECAUSE the bible had been corrupted by man (as explained by his hallucinations or fabrications or whatever). Therefor, biblical literalism is diametrically opposed to Moron doctrine. We see the rise of biblical literalism in the Moron Church primarily because of the McConkie doctrine as expounded in his unauthorized book titled Mormon Doctrine- which never actually gained official approval from the church of the same name though it was widely used by members as a basis for doctrinal understanding.

Joe was a charlatan, but the biblical literalism crap came later.

[Thinking Aloud]

I'd love to be an Atheist priest. A real priest, CofE or Catholic, but intentionally spouting total, literal, biblical crap from the pulpit so the congregation think, "Wtf is this weird religion I'm part of?"

The authorities would root you out though, since what you talk about each week is mostly pre-ordained. Would be fun to create a sermon using the worst possible references though, however I suspect there is "guidance" for this too...

[rachelbean]

For the most part, the further away from my religious beliefs I got, the more I learned about the history and doctrine...or was it the other way around?

[wheels5894]

I'd love to be an Atheist priest. A real priest, CofE or Catholic, but intentionally spouting total, literal, biblical crap from the pulpit so the congregation think, "Wtf is this weird religion I'm part of?"

The authorities would root you out though, since what you talk about each week is mostly pre-ordained. Would be fun to create a sermon using the worst possible references though, however I suspect there is "guidance" for this too...

Well it is quite possible that the authorities might root one out but it is not always the same thing as losing the job. Consider Don Cupitt who was and may still be a dean of a Cambridge college. When he lost his faith he contributed to take service and meditated in Buddhist fashion rather that prayed on his own. He is one of the authors of "Myth of God Incarnate"and has written a number of books. he could not be rooted out.

[Thinking Aloud]

I'd love to be an Atheist priest. A real priest, CofE or Catholic, but intentionally spouting total, literal, biblical crap from the pulpit so the congregation think, "Wtf is this weird religion I'm part of?"

The authorities would root you out though, since what you talk about each week is mostly pre-ordained. Would be fun to create a sermon using the worst possible references though, however I suspect there is "guidance" for this too...

Well it is quite possible that the authorities might root one out but it is not always the same thing as losing the job. Consider Don Cupitt who was and may still be a dean of a Cambridge college. When he lost his faith he contributed to take service and meditated in Buddhist fashion rather that prayed on his own. He is one of the authors of "Myth of God Incarnate"and has written a number of books. he could not be rooted out.

Interesting!

[Feck]

love thy neighbour ...... It doesn't mean that .How long and how ingrained is that piece of mistranslation and and cherry picking .

Most christians know very little of the babble .I was looking through a commentary (Peakes) on the bible at what struck me was that the more you read and understand that stupid book the less it seems like worth studying as a book of god and the more I thought how could any body study it and keep a faith . The book of god's word is clearly not in any way divine and as a book purporting to provide any moral code it fails.

[FBM]

You know, if I hadn't studied the bible, I might have decided to become a priest.

I was on my way to becoming one until I took a class about the bible. That cured me right up.

[Tero]

The book is irrelevant. You just have to wait for miracles and you believe. Just use your godreceptor and feelings. (my antenna broke)

It's a miracle!

[Gawdzilla Sama]

The book is irrelevant. You just have to wait for miracles and you believe. Just use your godreceptor and feelings. (my antenna broke)

It's a miracle!

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010 ... _their.php