See, me, personally? I don’t like organized religion. I didn’t like discovering as a teenager that the denomination that I grew up with, which I thought was accepting and open-minded, in fact had a book that outlined what I was supposed to believe. I know, I know, it’s not concrete or anything, but it gave me pause. Especially when I found out that my ‘open-minded’ church welcomed gays in their congregation, but bans homosexual marriage in their churches and homosexuals from becoming ministers.

Here’s the thing. I recommend that everyone, and I do mean everyone, whether you’re Christian, agnostic, athiest, or pastafarian, whether you think my comments are accurate or heresy, I think EVERYONE should read Misquoting Jesus by Bart Ehrman. Do your own research. Look at the Bible and at Christianity and at all religions as historical elements, not as the word of God or as myth, but at the same time, understand the elements that are not historically proven. Go through, learn the stories, not just the parables. Don’t go into it with a mind of “this is all true” or “this is all total bullshit” or anything of that sort. Put that aside. Look at it as a work of historical literature, something like The Silmarillion. Suspend your disbelief, AND suspend your belief. Read it like a book. Just a book. Look at the development, understand it. Understand that Allah and the God of Abraham and Jesus’s daddy are all the same dude, and that Palestinians are the sons of Abraham just like the Israelites are, and that the argument stems from whether Palestinians should be considered such, since they come from an ‘illegitimate’ child, a child born out of wedlock.

Understand that while the Bible has a lot of answers, not just spiritually, but relating to current events as well, it should be taken with a pillar of salt. (Ha ha, I know, lame.) The gospels are not gospel. They were written by Jesus’s buddies, not by the hand of God. And a lot of their stories differ. One says that upon seeing Jesus alive on Easter morning, the women ran off singing and dancing and telling everyone that they saw that he had risen. Another says that they were scared shitless and didn’t tell anyone what they’d seen. Not only that, but Jesus hung out with these dudes in his adult years, and yet the Christmas story is written in Matthew. We don’t even know for certain if the disciple Matthew was the same dude that wrote the gospel of Matthew. Not just that, but imagine what would have happened to someone if they had written, “i think Judas is a pretty cool guy. eh did what Jesus told him and doesn’t afraid of anything.” No one would buy that. No one. They’d get executed, their gospel would either be completely eradicated or edited to say, “JUDAS SUCKS!”

Go ahead, look back through history at how many times the Bible has been snipped and edited and ‘fixed’ and translated, maybe accurately, maybe not.

That’s why I pick and choose what my beliefs are. It’s either that, or have someone else pick and choose for me. That’s why I am an agnostic Christian who also believes that God isn’t the only deity out there.

But I digress majorly.

Regarding the picture: If it was Jesus, he’d be walking just like everyone else.

And, in response to the argument above, regarding whether Christians or Muslims are worse mass murderers… Who freaking cares who killed more? It’s not a pissing contest. It’s human lives. Killing a single person in the name of religion is no less heinous than killing ten.

On that note, I leave you with a quote from a (fictional teleporting blue mutant) priest:

“More people have died in the name of religion than have ever died of cancer. And we try to cure cancer.” – Kurt Wagner, Nightcrawler, X-men.

How about this: sell you computer and donate the funds to an organization that combats snarky comments.

If this is supposed to be a jab at JP2, the maker should look up what this man did for the poor when he decided to take some time out of his “extravagant” lifestyle to crush communist oppression.

[41] “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, [42] but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Here is a case where Jesus chastises a woman for working and rewards the lazy one for neglecting her duties as a host to just gawk at Jesus. Interpret it how you will, that’s precisely what happens.

http://www.biblestudy.org/question/woman-washing-jesus-feet-and-its-meaning.html

In the passage where Christ’s feet are washed, it is suspected by some that Judas controlled the funds of Christ’s little operation and often stole from it. Most interpretations, however, portray Judas as he is portrayed in most historical texts from the time… He believe Christ had forgotten the poor, which was always Judas’s personal obsession.

Judas subsequently betrayed Jesus for the silver pieces so that he could give the money to the poor people Christ had begun to forget as the hour of his death grew nigh, and serve his own sense of justice. Judas was obviously disturbed, but a thief he was probably not. Many scholars believe that Jesus exploited Judas’s love of the poor in this passage to set him over the edge and ensure that he did betray him.

Indeed, the washing of Jesus’s hands and feet is one of the most hypocritical things Jesus was probably associated with in the bible. For a man who gave his entire life to serving the poor, it speaks volumes that he failed to be selfless and became selfish before the hour of his death. If we are to believe that Christ is incapable of sin, then certainly this act was to ensure Judas’s betrayal.

Qur’an (9:29) – “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.”

Here you go, Skippy.

Knowledge FTW!

Reaching the think-headed disciples . . . perhaps that WAS the “grunt work”.

I think that if its purpose is the same as it was when it started, that it has lost its way, its focus.

As have you, because you’re looking at the result, at the trappings, and thinking they’re necessary for its function. They’re not.

A small group managed to convey a meaningful message across a–granted, smaller–world two millennia ago. The population of the world is larger, but technology has bridged nearly every communications gap.

I say they’ve lost their way. And their leader is the worst, most ostentatious example of corruption and excess: The antithesis of the Jesus Christ mythos.

See?!! I KNEW it! I knew it all along.
That ole, “they’re more afraid of you . . . “-crap. I knew it was a crock! They’re vicious and evil and just waiting for us to fall asleep so they can . . . gods only know what!

(How did you know that’s my greatest fear? What IS it with those things? Hanging around, waiting to drop on my HEAD. Sick, evil MONSTERS; that’s what they are!)

Didja know that you’re probably killing ‘em by putting ‘em outside? I read that indoor species are totally different from outdoor species, and that the indoor species won’t survive out there.
::shrugs:: I dunno. I read it somewhere. Perhaps it’s wrong.
[Personally, I hope it's right! ::shudders:: I can't stand "S's" {See? I can't even say the word!}.]

“…Islam clearly orders thier followers to behead the infidels.”

A true infidel is someone who does not believe in Our Father and His Kingdom and desires the distruction of those who do.

A true Infidel is a terrorist, a Nazi, a Japanies Emperialist, a Russian Communist. They desire the eradication of the good and the just.

the whole of the bible, if taken literally both in a historical aspect and as a guidebook of what to do will lead to trouble. it’s meant to be metaphorical, like old wives tales – what to do in situations using simulated or exaggerated events.

it’s kind of like arguing if zeus was real or if hercules was an actual historical person. so what if they were as long as the lessons learned from their stories help someone in their life.

just saying. don’t take it too seriously but use it (or any other book) to enrich your own life and those around you by being a better person.

ROFLS!