God, Christians and Humanity

[Stella]

Originally Posted by shaddow1

Stella,
They dont really have to be lonely or un-lonelyangels . Sometimes all that is needed is a social conscience. Church fund raisings are always perfect arena to tap into this reserve of goodwill that people have. You dont hink God will come down hard on us of we take advantage of celebrations done in his honour to practise some of his teachings.

If its the only way people can be persuaded to offer their help, then why not go for it. Churches has always done different types of charities, so is it operating well indeed in Lebanon? I thought it was one of the problems.

[Abu Jaafar]

Originally Posted by CPL

Ok sorry I'm answering late, here's my answer for the main question.

I can say one thing about sects, they're ridiculous.

Here's a story of the sect my family belongs to, in 1710 the Greek Orthodox churchu split in the Levantine simply because one part wanted a patriarch, and the other part wanted another. So one group simply followed the Pope to set their own patriarch, and became Greek Catholics. What started as a ridiculous thing, people now take it seriously as a serious sect ha!

And I have two things to say about the church, it's elusive and hypocrite.

What about all those marble halls and golden cups? While it preaches about helping the poor.

What about the church's ban against condoms which lead to an AIDS disaster in Africa among naive believers? While it preaches against killing.

What about the middle ages where other beliefs were sanctioned, and men of science burned, and skeptics drown?

What about all the pedophile issues done by priests and bishops in which very few got penalized for it, and most of them got a tap on their hand?

What about interference in politcs? As I recall the Vatican was one of the first supporters of Taef, supporter of the Syrian regime in Lebanon, or 13 october.

And there's more and more and more and more....!!!


I know I'm a bit aggressive in my opinion, but I want you to tell me, when was the last time a priest knocked on your door without hoping to get paid for spraying some water around?

When was the last time a priest baptized for free? married a couple for free?

Rare are the times I see a priest take a cab. More often I see them in new cars.

They used to teach us that the Beatles are satanic, just to elude us with the fact that they, the church, are thieves.

CPL, you will find that Jesus and the prophets of old would have agreed with much of what you said... at least that is what I gather from the Bible.

Now, what I dont like is this secularism = no religion talk. I dont think that is right. Secularism in Lebanon is simply the establishment of justice and equality amongst the various peoples of Lebanon. Secularism deals with the sectarian prejudices. But to blame our problems on all these institutional religions (as corrupt as they often are and as good as some in them are) is not hitting the root of the problem. If its not religion, it will be social class, or region, or some other sort of identity by which to anchor your interests in.

Its good to focus on the negative and what we need to get rid of. But we need to do that hand in hand with the positive of what we need to be building; a true Lebanese identity that every Lebanese can adopt regardless of his sect, family, political affiliation, ethnicitity, social class, region, lifestyle, etc etc... and that is no easy matter.

[coralie]

Abou Jaafar
this thread was not opened to discuss secularisme in Lebanon sahddow1 raised a problem a humanitarian problem and was trying to figure out what kind of religious humanitarian justice our christianity preach when it spend millions of Dollars on building churchs in empty villages where no one is able to return cause they cant afford to rebuild (lack of funds) or to find work or ....

so please to all members stick to the topic thank you

[Marhoum]

إن المسيحيـّة في القرون الأولى، عندما كانت محتفظة بشبابها وقداستها وقوتها وفعاليتها، كان شعبها يجتمع في البيوت ( إقرأ أعمال الرسل ) لكنّها عندما انتصرت على الوثنيّة سيطرت على المعابد الفخمة للوثنيين، ودعوا التماثيل الوثنيـّة بأسماء القديسين، ونقلوا بعض الاعياد الوثنيـّة الى أعياد مسيحيـّة، كعيد الميلاد الواقع في 25 كانون الأول، الذي كان عيدا وثنيـّاً يدعـى : مولد النور.
أسفي على الكنيسة اليوم، مظاهر بدون قوّة مسيح القيامة

يامة

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