The Roman Catholic Church is all ABOUT graven images.

If it weren't for all the graven images, a Catholic Church would have need of an interior decorator to do something about all those empty niches.

let me set some things straight a bit (if I can)

1. Matt 25:34 refers to the parable of the sheep and goats. Does anyone notice that it says "...receive the inheritance, the Kingdom prepared since the creation of the world." (forgive me if I paraphrased) Now, think about this.
if the universe that we were created on was created in 6 working days, and the kingdom is still being built ever since the first day, how much more marvelous and uniscrutable do you think it is compared to the world we still struggle to understand?

2. I apologize for starting threads like "Should Tomas be booted off the cellar" and "Yum or Ahh...your choice" it's not that I'm bored ar have nothing else better to do. Is that this is my first time in a Forum. (that explains the first 6-7 new threads that I made.

3. I'll have to sign AOL off in next week. which means I'll not be talking to you for a while. (Enjoy the time, I know that I am, [like Lionel in Signs says, "a class A screw up"]

Tomas, the big problem here is that no one, probably yourself included, is sure what point you're trying to make.

one word Perth.>>>>>>>>>>>>>Church

to that, add anything you like, like

1. I think poor people attend church more often than rich

or

2. The Roman Catholic Church is out of Sync with the hebrews and the protestants.

or


3. The Catholics are all about graven images, if not, they would need to hire a interios designer to design their church

(sorry I didn't quote, I just paraphrased)

It is that simple

Guess what? You still don't make any sense.

this might be an appropriate time to reference some of my earlier remarks .

arrrgh. If you're a fideist, and you think that faith is in contrast to logic, then please don’t even try to borrow the language of philosophy. It makes it difficult for the rest of us.

If you’re a rational exegete of religious thought, then please structure your arguments that way. There are really good answers to some of these questions. Don’t settle for bad ones. I’m not talking in terms of this debate, I mean in life. Don’t settle for bad reasons to believe good things.

Trust me. There’s a difference.

-sm

Hey, Look, Tomas, you are NOT a "class A screw up." You are 15. You live in a different country. You are not posting in your own language (I hate to think what a mess I would make if I tried posting on a discussion board in Spain using Spanish). You made some mistakes as a results of these things. You also have some different viewpoints in part due to your age and your culture. I've gotten annoyed at you at times, but you have also been an interesting addition to the board. I will miss you, even if no one else does.

By the way, if you get another AOL disk, load it on your computer, and use a different user name and telephone number (like if you have a laptop that you can plug in at a friend's house), they'll give you another free three months. (I know, everyone's going to condemn me for "playing the system", but its AOL's own fault for flooding the world with those free disks. I'm sure they make it back in advertizing).

I bet God is a great lay.


as for the rest of it, all I can say is that the more I learn about Christianity, the less I like it. Cougar, I'll bet you $10 that the bible is NOT the word of God. When we die, we'll ask him, and you can pay up. Know what I'm sayin'?

I would like to speak as someone outside of organized religion. I don't believe in it, but I do believe that there is something going on in the ether beyond our understanding.

As such, this is my view of the "10 Commandments"

KJV

Exodus 20
1 And God spake all these words, saying,

(Whom did he speak to, and was he quoted correctly?)

2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

(So, God freed the Jews from slavery?)

3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

(What about all the good people who, before the writing of this biblical statement, worshiped a god of the sun, a god of the rain, a god of the harvest, ect....?)

4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

(No graven image of any thing in heaven? Then why are there graven images of The Christ in Catholic Churches?)

5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

(OK... don't bow down to the graven images... but why do people bow or kneel in front of the cross when receiving "holy communion"?)

6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

(Thousands? Not alot of people in the afterlife....)

7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

(Anyone who has said "goddamn" is going to Hell? Oops, I know where I'm headed...)

8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

(Go to your house of worship on the sabbath, ok, I get that)

9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

(OK, I'm with you so far...)

10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

(Now, it says, quite clearly NO-ONE shall work on the sabbath. Now, what about waitresses, busboys, cooks, ect., who work on the sabbath? Cops and firemen work on the sabbath. EMTs, too. Delivery people, longshoremen, teamsters. Am I to assume that ALL these people have broken the commandment and are going to Hell?)

11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

(The Lord is one great contractor. I need the tilework in my bathroom done. What d'ya thing He'd charge?)

12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

(What if your parents were the ones who killed their kids? Like Susan Smith? Does the "honour" still have to be given?)

13 Thou shalt not kill.

(Some of the most brutal killings have been committed in the name of God. Note "The Inquisition".)

14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.

(So, I guess Jim Bakker won't be in Heaven?)

15 Thou shalt not steal.

(See #14)

16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

(In other words, if you lie once, you're going to Hell?)

17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

(If I'm not to covet anything, then consumerism is the downfall of mankind.)

Well, this is my view of it, and I know that someone is gonna rail on it.



Originally posted by lumberjim:

"I bet God is a great lay."

I would think so. If you saw "Dogma", you'd see that God is Alanis Morrisette. And I think she's a great lay.

Although not if he's gay, right?

You'd be buggered then, right?

Not if he's gay OR eats shrimp.

Originally posted by Tomas Rueda How can you create the universe in 6 working days when the earth and sun haven't even formed yet? Our sun is a third generation sun, btw. And are you talking about an earth day before or after a planet the size of mars slammed into the side of the earth creating the moon and our current axis and rotational pattern? I just can't take this Genesis literally without all the facts, you know.

Furthermore, God wasn't talking to Einstein when he dictated the bible - he was talking to sheep herders so its remotely possible he dumbed-down some stuff to make his point.

It never ceases to amaze me how some folk can read a book that is chock full of metaphors, symbols, allegories, etc. that have been translated over and over and over and take every freakin word as though it was the exact word that God used and meant. I can even overlook when people do that but when they use literal interpretation to prove a point, its all I can do to keep my head from exploding.

Its a devinely inspired text. Without the Grace of God, its meaning will be hidden from you. There is no "absolute" version of the bible. You claim to be a person of faith yet your determination to supplant faith with facts betrays you.

You want to know what the Bible says? Ask God. If you are a person of faith, he'll tell you.

or in need of some TLC by wolf or have ingested certain substances.