The year 2012 info

[Raven]

You can't disregard everything as not being the 'core message' of Christianity. I couldn't care less, but blindly disregarding VERY relevant points because it isn't the 'core message' is downright ignorant. Like most religions. Fingers in your ears yelling "LALALALALA CAN'T HEAR YOU." Infantile I believe is the word.
If those reasons weren't enough then I wouldn't even bother giving more if its going to be shot down that easily, no, they may not exactly be 'taught' by the religion, but they sure as hell span off from it.

The UK is going in the crapper, and fast. I can't stand this politically correct bullcrap and its only going to get worse.
But yes, I'm glad nothing is being pressed on me aside from not being able to fly St George's cross on St George's day, incase I offend a bloody Muslim. Nevermind that when Diwali comes around, my city is lit up more than it i s at freaking christmas. THAT offends ME, but nobody gives a damn. No, I'm not joking its actually that bad.

As for 'goodbye' being short for 'god bless ye' are you serious? I'd have said it meant 'safe travels' or similar: 'good bye' > 'good leave' > 'safe travel' etc.

[iron maiden]

The reason for that is everyone is afraid of speaking up because they want to be liked by everyone. It is this pointless fear that is causing the world to creep to a standstill and then hit reverse both culturly and is causing eache region of the world to become less diverse than the other.

[sabrebattletank]

The IRA, the Crusades, and the Inquisition were corruptions of Christian ideas. It is precisely because the core message has stayed the same that we are able to recognize those examples as not true to Christian values.

Well, are you saying that the Crusades IS a "core message" of Christianity?

Just because I didn't post the reasons doesn't mean I'm "blindly disregarding" them. It just means I haven't told you guys yet. :p

These are tired subjects, but I'll jaunx down a few links for you.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04543c.htm

"The idea of the crusade corresponds to a political conception which was realized in Christendom only from the eleventh to the fifteenth century; this supposes a union of all peoples and sovereigns under the direction of the popes." [Emphasis added]

Ok, "only" four hundred years is a long time. But look at when the idea came about: roughly nine hundred years after the start of the Church. (You can call the Catholic Church starting at several different time periods, maybe when Jesus told Peter "On this rock I will build my Church," or around 312 when Constantine had a vision directing him to put crosses on his soldiers' shields in a battle, for example.)

The "core messages" of The Way were long established by then.

Also, the KKK was persecuting Catholics -- surely self-persecution does not count as "peace and goodwill/"

[Mr X]

Thats not the point SBT, the point is that those things were caused by Christianity, intentionally or not. Corrupted or not, Christian ideas were the basis.

As for 'goodbye' being short for 'god bless ye' are you serious?

I'm being 100% serious. It is short for "God be with ye"

[AcneVulgaris]

If it wasn't for Christianity, people would be committing atrocities in the name of some other imaginary omnipotent being.  It's not the mythology that's to blame, it's the humans that make it up to justify their savagery.

[mrtwosheds]

I think I may have been missunderstood, I was not implying that the core message of Christianity has ever been anything other than what it is. My own Nation took its message of peace and goodwill around the world, It invaded, murdered, enslaved, stole and oppressed in order to do that... apparently. Or that was the reason used to justify those actions that built the empire by force and theft.
I agree with Jesus! And if I had a pound for every Christian I had met who lived by his teachings I would still be a poor man! Because his vision is impossible for humans to actually live out, we cannot be angels, demons we can do...

[sabrebattletank]

Thats not the point SBT, the point is that those things were caused by Christianity, intentionally or not. Corrupted or not, Christian ideas were the basis.

It's my point -- that every action members of the Church take should not be taken as the "core message" of Christianity.

Saying the IRA represents the "core message" of Christianity is like saying that al-Queda represents the core message of Islam. It's just wrong.

Anyway, I'm off this topic now.

Yay college!

[Feared_1]

Everyone, even non-Christians, should read Revelation, the last book in the Bible. It is VERY interesting when you form the symbolism to the modern world and find that many of the things described in there are happening or starting to happen.

Careful, though, some people can't handle the intense use of symbolism.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+1&version=NIV

[sabrebattletank]

Revelation was written about the Romans

[Warfreak]

Funny that we can find ways to apply it to every dark time in history however.

[sabrebattletank]

Yup.

[iron maiden]

Well it's very easy to do so. If i were to day a large number of people were going to die in the future, chances are that its going to happen. Just because someone says that it will happen does not mean that when a similar event happens, i fore casted the end of the world.[though that would be coll if i could.]

[Feared_1]

Revelation was written about the Romans

That's one of many, MANY views, however when it talks about a third of humanity being killed something tells me it's not just the Romans...

[Clavin12]

It's about the end of the world and the second coming of Christ. It uses huge amounts of symbolism and no one really knows who or what wile deliver it. It's not that hard to decipher the symbolism if you know your history and bible, but they don't name names they just telll you what kind of person or country is going to be the anti-Christ or the beast that comes up out of the sea.

[iron maiden]

it really is impossible to fore cast a specific end to the world because the world could end so many different ways. Nuclear Holocaust, meteor strike, gamma ray burst, just to name a few.