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Is Jesus's "this generation will certainly not pass" valid grounds for scepticism?

Poem said:
It's problem whenever there is division surely?
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I disagree. From acrobatics to zebras, there's no problem with division. For whom are these particular divisions a problem?
Poem said:
If God is as powerful as we might assume, then we naturally set the bar high when it comes to proof don't we?
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I confess I have difficulty following rhetorical questions. Please do me a favor and rephrase this as statements of what you believe to be true. Not we, you. Thank you for understanding.
 
Cosmic Yak said:
Why does forgiveness come with a price? I thought the Christian god was supposed to be merciful? It's not mercy if I threaten to kill you for wearing cotton-polyester underwear, and only relent if you become my slave for all eternity: that's extortion.
Compare that with human systems of justice. In places that don't have the death penalty, some murderers who have served their time, and are deemed not to be a threat to society, can be released. There is no condition attached in the form of "you must now be a slave to the judge for the rest of your life". No- you are now able to re-enter society, and live your life. God shows no such leniency. On earth, you're not forgiven unless you obey, and in hell, you face punishment for all eternity. God's murderous rage and implacable authoritarianism do not, for me, constitute a sound moral code. You want an obstacle to belief? This is one of them.
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I agree that the notion of eternal punishment is a difficult one.
 
theprestige said:
I disagree. From acrobatics to zebras, there's no problem with division. For whom are these particular divisions a problem?
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A problem in the context of assertions of truth.
theprestige said:
I confess I have difficulty following rhetorical questions. Please do me a favor and rephrase this as statements of what you believe to be true. Not we, you. Thank you for understanding.
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Just that the church is so very divided which reflects badly on scripture. I would expect unparalleled clarity from the creator of the universe.

...unless God is forced to limit himself in order to uphold man's 'free will'.
 
I see no one has addressed my question. Why do we consider the words of the Bible divine? Couldn't other written words be just as or more divine?
 
acbytesla said:
I see no one has addressed my question. Why do we consider the words of the Bible divine? Couldn't other written words be just as or more divine?
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Sure. Why not? There might be a thousand languages to say "I love you", but only one might have meaning to you personally.

Very few are as legalistic as your take requires. Those that are, well... to Hell with them.
 
Thermal said:
Sure. Why not? There might be a thousand languages to say "I love you", but only one might have meaning to you personally.

Very few are as legalistic as your take requires. Those that are, well... to Hell with them.
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Really? You've clearly haven't spent time in a Baptist church where they bad mouth Catholics and other denominations.
 
acbytesla said:
Really? You've clearly haven't spent time in a Baptist church where they bad mouth Catholics and other denominations.
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Grew up in one. And again, to Hell with them if they use their religion to do evil. Most real-life, touching grass Christians I run across are totally down with the salad bar approach. Never heard the Sister I've mentioned here say a negative word about anyone, or their religion. She tolerates my heathen ass with a warm smile.

Not Every Christain is this comic book portrayal of nasty hypocrisy.
 
acbytesla said:
I was under the impression that it was the Western wall of the Temple.
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According to Traveling Israel:

The Temple was renovated a number of times until King Herod (who ruled between the years 37 BCE and 4 BCE) decided to rebuild it. He had a problem though: the Temple stood on the peak of a mountain where there was only limited space.

King Herod, who was known for his massive building projects, decided that he would build four huge supporting walls around the mountain peak and thus transform it into a great level platform.
On this man-made platform he rebuilt the Temple. The Western Wall is actually a small part (about one-seventh) of one of the large supporting walls.
 
Thermal said:
Grew up in one. And again, to Hell with them if they use their religion to do evil. Most real-life, touching grass Christians I run across are totally down with the salad bar approach. Never heard the Sister I've mentioned here say a negative word about anyone, or their religion. She tolerates my heathen ass with a warm smile.

Not Every Christain is this comic book portrayal of nasty hypocrisy.
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My lot were really into the turn the other cheek, forgive others, god loves everyone…. Until it came to Roman Catholics they are heretics, evil and monstrous and not Christians, worshipping graven images, praying to people, worshiping Mary. (Interesting this is what made me learn so much about Roman Catholicism, I was wondering what they did actually believe .) Mind you this was as much about local politics as it was about religion.
 
acbytesla said:
I see no one has addressed my question. Why do we consider the words of the Bible divine? Couldn't other written words be just as or more divine?
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Well it is axiomatic but then many Christian religions downplay the bible, for others it is up to the religion to define what you believe and that is not limited to the bible - most Catholic Churches such as the CofE take this approach, others will say it is irrelevant in many ways as to what the bible contains as it is your personal relationship with Jesus that should guide you. Remember the major Christian religions don’t agree on what is in the bible, the RCC has more books than most Protestant Christian religions, it even goes down to some of the the “big ticket” doctrines I.e. the CofE has a different 10 commandments than the RCC. (And if you want to really up the ante Mormonism has a lot of truly whacky stuff that is not shared by other self-claimed Christian religions!)
 
Darat said:
So eternal punishment isn’t an issue for many Christian religions.
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The protestants I grew up with were confident that a dead guy even got a last ditch chance to repent after he died. If he was still flipping off the almighty at that point, he was kind of asking for it.
 
Poem said:
A problem in the context of assertions of truth.
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Again I ask, for whom is this a problem?
Poem said:
Just that the church is so very divided which reflects badly on scripture. I would expect unparalleled clarity from the creator of the universe.

...unless God is forced to limit himself in order to uphold man's 'free will'.
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So it's a problem for you.

How do you intend to solve it?
 
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