Religion: Beauty and transcendence vs. rules

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

It seems to me that the world's religions base their most cherished tenets on the remarkable ability of mere mortals to rise above their petty behaviors and transcend their self involved, selfish feelings to love, forgive and help their fellow man.(woman)

YET...there are all these rules, which seem to indicate that even if you are the most caring, kind, unselfish and forgiving person on the face of the earth, you are doomed to burn in hell if you break one these(sex related) rules (birth control, abortion, homosexuality and pre marital sex for example)

WTF? MKJ

edited for grammer

[Canuckistanian]

1. Gee, if you can go to hell for pre-marital sex..

..then Heaven is a lonely place.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

3. LOL, so true! n/t

MKJ

[saltpoint]

2. That's right, dammit. One instance --

-- JUST ONE, mind you -- of same-sex fellatio or cunnilingus and all the promise of a transcendent hereafter is vaporized.

Those two things combined with a propensity for

.... jazz music ....

are the monkey bars on the playground of idle minds!

Burn, sinners!
_____

My advice is to ignore the rules as man-made control mechanism and strive to be good. Calvinism sucks.

[beam me up scottie]

6. But what are we supposed to use to

show the others how superior we are? :sarcasm:
:evilgrin:

[saltpoint]

7. What an ornery, wicked, wiley, and --

-- perfectly wonderful post, beam me up scotty. I loved it. Where have you been lately? Nice to see you again & in such fine form to boot!

[beam me up scottie]

8. Nice to see you as well, Crusoe!

I've taken refuge in A & A. Just posted a thread honoring the late great Lenny Bruce. Check it out if you're a fan.
:hippie:

[saltpoint]

10. I am and I will. Two weeks ago I rented LENNY --

-- with Dustin Hoffman and watched it. Mighty good film about a mighty controversial man. Hoffman does a nice job as Lenny.

[beam me up scottie]

11. Well they say great minds...

Stop over for a drink anytime!

[saltpoint]

12. Gracias, amigo bueno.

[bryant69]

4. Well

I don't know if you are asking a serious question or not. I will say that trying to decide between the transcendent and the rules is usually a false choice, in my opinion. It's the letter of the law vs. the spirit of the law. In truth, the two very rarely conflict, and a little common sense will put the two in harmony.

If you are serious about the two you might look at the writings of Jonathen Edwards - compare his personal writings on his spiritual life to Sinners at the Hands of an Angry God.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

9. A quick perusal of Edwards's essay and it seems that there is

an additional rule...
one must be born again.

snip>
How dreadful is the state of those that are daily and hourly in the danger of this (God's) great wrath and infinite misery! But this is the dismal case of every soul in this congregation that has not been born again, however moral and strict, sober and religious, they may otherwise be.
snip>

It really was a serious question...I can personally hearken back to my childhood, when, for my Catholic friends, it was a sin to eat meat on Fridays. They were convinced they would burn in hell if they did.
However, that rule is now moot.

If Mother Teresa had been other than a pious Catholic, and yet had accomplished the same humanitarian effect..would she still be as highly regarded? What if she had been secular? Would she be doomed to burn in hell?

BTW, thanks for the thought provoking response and for providing the literature to back up your argument. MKJ

[omega minimo]

5. Hasn't the Pope-apallooza and Schiavo Show revealed

how religion is used to consolidate power and control the masses?

As Church Lady would say, "How conVENient?!"



ed. for comic emphasis