Post #319,241
12/29/09 1:56:51 AM
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Psalm 137:9
Any entity that wrote that is not worthy of worship.
Yeah, I know - the context makes it less psychotic. Changes it from celebrating the slaughter of children to celebrating the slaughter of the children of some very bad people. No excuse.
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Post #319,256
12/29/09 7:29:51 AM
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That's the Old Testament
I do not study Christian theology but I am told the New Testament is much nicer. If we are to suppose the Bible was authored by a divine being, this being changed to a much nicer attitude since that chapter. One might judge based on a past crime but it seems vindictive to judge on a past attitude.
Of course, plenty of Christians adopt Old Testament-like attitudes. Presuming the New Testament attitudes are correct, this means plenty of Christians are wrong rather than their god not being worthy of worship.
The above assumes the Christian god is a singular, independent being and not multiple, subjective social constructs. Writing that the text shows the Christian god is not worthy of worship is meaningless. Rather, it is better to write that Christians pick and choose texts to justify their attitudes and those who choose Psalm 137:9 are ****ers.
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Matthew Greet
I'm not prejudiced. I hate everyone equally.
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Post #319,258
12/29/09 7:47:48 AM
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The whole psalm is a lament of the exiles.
Taking isolated verses out of all context has been troublesome in and out of the church down through the ages.
Psalm 137 is said to have been written by the exiles in response to the Babylonians asking the Jews to sing their Jewish songs. At the time, the Jewish national identity was closely associated with Jerusalem and the temple built there. The Jewish people in exile felt their disposesion quite keenly. The second half of the psalm, in particular, is highly poetic about how they feel about this. Thus verse 9.
I can research more about this psalm if you like.
Wade.
Q:Is it proper to eat cheeseburgers with your fingers?
A:No, the fingers should be eaten separately.
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Post #319,269
12/29/09 11:28:12 AM
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its a song
deity didnt write it or most of the old stuff, people wrote it. Deity handed done 10 commandments and 640 behavioral laws in exchange for some realestate.
Now on to the tune
7Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation thereof.
8O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.
9Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones. complaining about the iraqis killing jewish kids is what they are doing
Now psalms are songs written by david solomon and others some are cool others are annoying but the diety didnt write or claim to write them.
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Post #319,289
12/29/09 8:19:25 PM
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So, in short, what you're saying is
while one can't really draw too many conclusions about $DEITY from that, one can conclude that the all-too-human institutions that have grown up around said $DEITY's worship are not worthy of respect.
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Post #319,293
12/29/09 10:48:35 PM
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Which, of course, is exactly the same thing.
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Post #319,298
12/29/09 11:13:51 PM
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of course look at the beginning of any religion
islam
good ideas from $deity
xian good ideas from $diety
Buddhist good ideas from $diety
mormons good ideas from $diety
Zoroastrians good ideas from $diety
then the bidness managers take over
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Post #319,299
12/29/09 11:15:07 PM
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Re: of course look at the beginning of any religion
s/$deity/the bloke who made it up/g
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Post #319,300
12/29/09 11:18:23 PM
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mebee, I dont know for sure do you?
have my own ideas about that $diety has a wicked sense of humor "you dont always get what you want but you get what you need" sometimes you need to think about that. In my personal case I have always gotten job's promise because I havnt topped myself yet :-)
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Post #319,302
12/29/09 11:36:22 PM
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Heh
If I were a gambling man, I'd say that the odds are way better for the "a bloke made it up for shits/giggles/beer/women/money" than they are for "it was a supernatural omniscient omnipotent being, who's remained oddly silent on the big issues ever since".
I assume my dad (a very devout man) got what he needed when God decided to pop his aortic aneurism?
Mysterious ways, indeed.
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Post #319,304
12/30/09 12:18:05 AM
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In other words,
... that Psalm tells you a lot about the Jews state-of-mind at a particular point in history.
It is not difficult to see that throughout the lifetime of the Kingdom of Israel, they were told repeatedly by $diety not to futz around with the other $deities of the region or they would regret it. Lo and behold: they were carted off to moulder for a while a long way away.
Wade.
Q:Is it proper to eat cheeseburgers with your fingers?
A:No, the fingers should be eaten separately.
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Post #319,306
12/30/09 2:25:35 AM
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My actual thought on it
The entity what wrote that is a human being, celebrating triumph in war, fought under the rather harsh rules of engagement typical of that part of history.
I really don't have a problem with it as such.
But to me, it pretty much means anybody who claims to takes every word of the Bible as the absolute and literal Word of God either hasn't read it or is a psychopath. And in the case of this particular passage, ought to be watched very closely if he should happen to be stationed in Iraq.
And I think it is a fair response to any charge of being a "cafeteria christian".
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