Christianity used to have Purgatory, and we don't hear much about that any more. Are there any other such beliefs or dogma that have been consigned to the past?
2007-12-23 21:17:02 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Gay Man: Interesting, thanks
2007-12-23 21:24:21 · update #1
Corporal mortification - sounds chilling doesn't it...I was actually thinking about this today as I came across a word with which I wasn't familiar - Cilice. Catholics used to be into self inflicted suffering in order to purge the body of gross desires such as the desire to feel the warmth of human contact.
2007-12-23 21:37:27 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Don't forget the seven deadly sins. Half of all Americans are fat in this country, including the late Jerry Falwell (bacon and eggs, anyone?). "The body is a temple" must have been mistranslated to "lard bucket." :-)
Purgatory for newborns is also quite unpopular, not to mention the sale of indulgences by the Church.
The Puritan's ban on Christmas and murder of homosexuals obviously didn't last, and the Salem witch trials didn't become the law of the land. "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" lost its meaning.
But the biggest change is the new rationalization about the Old Testament. Virtually every barbaric edict, law, and commandment is no longer applied to modern men and women, and Christians rationalize that Jesus overturned them. That's a pretty big swath of dogma that is no longer followed.
But I think it's pretty obvious from the past 2,000 years (see the Inquisition, Christianity in Rome, Crusades, Savonarola's bonfire of the vanities) that most of their ancestors believed otherwise. I'm thankful that progressive thinking has mitigated some of the most barbaric aspects of religion, though I doubt many Christians would credit the European Enlightenment for altering their perspective on individual rights. Now they seem to claim that the Bill of Rights is about God and that he gives us free will, when not long ago the same deity was justification for oppressing non-Christians or "heretics."
2007-12-24 06:03:32 · answer #2 · answered by Dalarus 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I think Purgatory has always been believed in by the Catholic church, and still is as far as I know.
Re: things that are being dropped because they didn't 'sell' well, I know that some religions are saying it's okay to be gay now. I even know a guy whose boyfriend is an Anglican minister. They're both in their 50's, and even live together.
2007-12-24 06:42:35 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Usury(charging interest on loans) was once forbidden by he 3 monotheistic religions. The ban has fallen out of vogue, Only Islam continues to have widespread opposition to charging and receiving interest payments. It was Illegal because of passages in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), Bible and Qur'an were seen to Forbid it.
As time went on, and new interpretations of the text became popular. Charging interest was allowed in first Judaism then Christianity.
Old religious texts are ambiguous and can support almost anything you want good example is Slavery in Christianity. Both sides clamed the bible was on there side.
2007-12-24 06:56:48 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well catholics do, and I hear about it all the time married into a catholic family.
Women wearing veils in christian churches and sitting on the otherside of the church.
Uh, a husband and wife are not required to sleep in opposite beds anymore, southern baptists.
2007-12-24 05:28:40 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Mormons of Salt Lake City, Utah, have 'abandoned' the taking of many wives, Catholics have officially 'unendorsed' (but theologically still believe in) exorcisms and I believe the Hindu god, Vishnu doesn't 'kill' the 'unbalancing forces of nature' anymore.
2007-12-24 05:22:49 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well, no one really argues that it's okay to have slaves as long as you treat them biblically anymore. Ephesians 6:5 says "Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ." Yet, somehow this isn't preached anymore...
2007-12-24 11:49:24 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes, that is why seeking the TRUTH is better, although truth does not sell very well, ask any politician, and is very difficult to accept.
I just wonder what the godless will drop, when "evolution" provides proof of intelligent design.
2007-12-24 05:31:05 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Hell is cooling down, fewer and fewer religions teach actual fire.
Now hell is a place of spiritual anguish and isolation from God, and it is the anguish that causes pain.
2007-12-24 05:19:55 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋