One of my good friends is subbing as a Sunday school teacher at his local church. We got into an argument today about the birth of Jesus-- he thought that Jesus was born on Christmas, whereas I believed that the Bible infers that he was born in spring (which it does).
Question: Has there ever been a time when you knew more about the Bible or another religious text than someone of that very faith? Details would be much enjoyed.
2007-12-20 05:52:14 · 34 answers · asked by nyx コト 6 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
True story: A dear friend of mine, who I roomed with in college, had gone to Catholic school all her life. She was the epitome of good, Catholic girl. Anyway, religion came up and another roomie of ours said that people who didn't believe in Jesus, etc, would end up in Hell.
Apparently, they have comparative religions classes in the Catholic school she went to. She was very confused, because she figured that everyone went to their respective after-life. I had to gently explain to her that damnation for everyone (not just Christians) who rejected Jesus was a core tenet of her religion...
2007-12-20 05:58:51 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 1⤋
Frequently. Ask a "believer" if they've ever studied the "other" religions. It stuns them that an open minded person can question their religion just the same as any of the thousands that have been out there at one time or another. The anciant Aztecs had their religion, who's to say they were wrong? If they were right, wouldn't that make christianity wrong? I feel awfully sorry for those people that believe on blind faith, feeling their way is the only way. I believe my way, millions have believed their way and the earth is still turning. Only the end will tell.
2007-12-20 06:01:07 · answer #2 · answered by Steve H 4 · 2⤊ 2⤋
all the time. i was a Christian and i studied the Bible quite a bit as a means of becoming more faithful to the Bible god. the more i read the less i believed and it's almost always the case that i'm more knowledgeable about the Bible than any Christian with whom i might debate. they generally rely on listening to some pastor, preacher or priest to read and interpret the Bible for them while these religious leaders cherry pick scripture for whatever agenda they have in mind (often political or invoking "us vs them" or tithing related).
2007-12-20 06:03:32 · answer #3 · answered by nebtet 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
It's a daily event. I've found that most Christians have never bothered to crack open that "good book." It's just so much easier to believe what their pastor and their parents tell them than it is to strike it out on their own. Kudos to you for actually knowing more about the birth of Jesus than what popular, commercialized, knowledge allows.
There's been a lot of swatting away what I've come to think of as "religious ramblers." Here's a few favorites of mine.
1) America was founded a Christian nation. No, it wasn't! That's why we have the first Ammendment, which guarantees freedom of religious expression--as well as making the claim that government shall favor no one religion over another.
2) That our founding fathers were Christian. Actually, most of them were Deists. They believed in a God... but not necessarilly the Bible.
3) That Atheists have no morals. So explain Abe Lincoln, please. Or Bill Gates, who runs the largest private charity in the world, and plans to give a good deal of his fortune to those in need.
As far as getting Biblical, here's two of my favorites: that Noah's Ark is pretty much a story about a man and his wife building a boat big enough to squeeze two of everything into in order to avoid a flood--but never explain the purpose of said flood. And the story of Job's ordeal just seems to shift around depending on who's telling it.
There's so much more, but that's all that comes to mind right now.
2007-12-20 06:13:32 · answer #4 · answered by writersblock73 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
This has happened to me a few times. I think the most common thing that I correct Christians on is the term X-mas. Many Christians believe that X-mas is the secular version of Christmas, because "Christ" has been removed. Those people often don't understand that the X comes from the greek letter chi which is the first letter in the greek spelling of Xristos.
2007-12-20 06:02:03 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 2⤋
Generally speaking, I have read the Bible more often than the more religious people I encounter on a daily basis. Interestingly, there is often an inverse relationship between the level of religiousess and the amount of actual religious study: many rabid fundies, for example, spend more time on "dino and human co-existence" websites than they do reading the actual Bible and/ or thnking about anything.
2007-12-20 05:56:52 · answer #6 · answered by Blackacre 7 · 5⤊ 2⤋
Dec. 25th was chosen as Christ's Birthday in order to assimilate all Pagan and other non-christian religions into celebrating his birth. It coincides with the Winter Solstice which these other religions celebrated.
By the way Christians, he was born in the warmer months. Ask your Pastor, Priest, or someone with credible knowledge.
2007-12-20 05:58:45 · answer #7 · answered by tHEwISE 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Not so much the actual text of the bible. I've read a lot of it, but my recall isn't so great.
But when it comes to the Catholic dogma -- which I was raised with, I would say I understand it better than the majority of practicing Catholics I've met. Talk to most Catholics about Catholicism, and it'll take about 3 minutes to realize they don't understand much of their own religion.
2007-12-20 05:58:10 · answer #8 · answered by David Carrington Jr. 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Most of the time here on R&S (actually in Society and Culture), I know more about believer's beliefs than they do. There are many that don't understand why translations differ, or what the various strengths and weaknesses of them are. Many don't understand the concept of original sin and why it's important in the grand scheme of the bible.
2007-12-20 06:53:15 · answer #9 · answered by Pirate AM™ 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
It happens all the time. Go to www.foru.ms. It is formerly Christian Forums and you can watch that type of thing happen all the time. Scroll down to the MISSION section and there is a subsection called DISCUSSION AND DEBATE. I live there. It's great.
I don't have any details because it happens so often on that site that it is hard to pick just one.
2007-12-20 05:58:35 · answer #10 · answered by Velo Princesse 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋