Yodean wrote: ↑Sun Apr 24, 2022 5:46 pm
bpcw wrote: ↑Sat Apr 23, 2022 10:40 pm
Yeah harryg, I've had to take enough crap from ninja's on this forum, now make me a cup of tea:
Well, as a general rule I don't like to punch down, but I do so on occasion for my own amusement.
Anyone who takes her self-created, mental projection of a mainstream Deity seriously has lost 66.6% of her intellectual credibility, as far as I am concerned.
These types are often passive-aggressive, and conceal their insecurities behind a thin veil of poor humour and mild condescension.
Terrible investors and traders, I might add, because apparently Jesus of Nazareth doesn't like money, since those evil moneychangers smacked him around a bit for upturning their tables or somesuch.
Maybe the Son of Man should have spent more time turning moneychangers into fish instead of water into wine.
Too much wine, while delicious, is not good for the liver.
The only Christians I ever respected were a few Korean dudes during my teenaged years. I occasionally played pick-up basketball with them, so got to know them a bit. Their parents forced them to go to Church on Sundays, so they did.
But afterwards, they told me they would often visit one of the local strip bars (they had fake IDs), to cleanse themselves of the mainstream Jesus propaganda to which they were subjected that day.
Great dudes, these ... don't know what happened to them, but they were the real Christians to me. Also played a friggin' mean game of hoops - I took a lot of vicious elbows from them.
Also smart enough to know nudie bars are less busy on Sundays, so the dancers give you a bit more attention, for a fraction of the cost.
Most importantly, these Real Christians understood that Jesus of Nazareth also spent time with lepers (i.e. the modern unvaxxed) and prostitutes (i.e. people who work hard for money, in an honest transaction).
The statement you refer to was completely a joke, there was no malice intented at all. I hope we can be respectful to one another whilst occasionally agreeing to disagree on certain topics. If I caused offence then I apologise.
I actually consider myself to be a very secure person. I had certain issues in the past which I faced head on. I consider security to be having very little expectations of others, being aware of one's emotions and taking responsibility for them, not having great desires of anything in this world and enjoying the simple things.
I don't hide behind humour, I just love it and probably am quite close to the line from a Christian perspective at times. When other's are serious I love to lighten the atmosphere with a joke. I laugh out loud by some of the stuff posted on here. I'm sorry my humour isn't up to your standard!?
Jesus didn't hate money, it's the love of money, it should be a means to an end not an end in itself as that's slavery. Yes you're probably a better investor than me, that's why I listen to you.
Passive aggressive - I tend to shoot from the hip, I like to give credit where credits due and rather than be a kiss arse I say where I disagree, that's how it's been between Sol and myself and I thought us too. I love that I'm the JC ninja, cheers mate!
You say the best Christians were the ones that basically didn't follow Jesus (your Korean friends who went to the strip club), kind of a contradiction really.
I agree about mixing with the lepers and prostitutes, my wife and I meet other's in community, we don't go to a church building, we reach out to people in a deprived area of our town. A lot have big issues, have had or still have drug and alcohol addictions. We've reached out to and prayed for prostitutes. The reason Jesus went to these types is because they knew their need of forgiveness and salvation and so put their faith in Jesus, basically they listened to him, not like the self righteous religious leaders who outwardly put on a pretence of spiritual superiority but in secret exploited people and probably visited the very prostitutes they looked down upon that Jesus loved. It was all about their position in society and so were threatened by Jesus who said we were all equal because all have sinned, they also loved money and power so took offence at him when he challenged their thinking.
My wife and I were talking today about the term Christian and whether we should refer to ourselves differently as the term is loaded with stuff other than Jesus himself, perhaps disciples of Christ.
The truth is I love Jesus Christ, I believe with everything that he is who he says he is as revealed in the Bible. I was brought up in the Catholic faith as Sol was, I went away from it like your Korean friends and skipped off somewhere else but told my parents I went to church, but I took a fresh look years later, a blank canvas as various events unfolded that I now believe were God drawing me to him properly and not to a dead religion of rules, regulations and traditions that were a mile away from God that desires relationship.
Some of the greatest intellectuals of the past have become Christians after rational investigation and critical thought about our existence, the evidence both historical and observed and from every perspective you can think of. It's never really been about the intellect but about the heart, I don't repeat that to offend but as a fact that I believe.
I'm not writing any of this in a defensive way, just stating what I believe, as Sol says, just data, you're free to agree, consider or discard.
Lastly what's this about poor humour, hope you're not talking about our UK Harry Enfield! Humour is very subjective and doesn't always travel well across cultures and generations, also it's about identifying with the characters, Harry would observe people within the UK and caricature them, because I remember the types I find it hilarious.
All the best mate!
