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Old 07-10-2013, 03:52 PM   #44
aiki-jujutsuka
 
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Re: Religion....No Competition.

Quote:
Benjamin Edelen wrote: View Post
This thread is evolving into a very strange thought experiment.

Graham, who is not shinto, is implying that shinto is better than other religions because shinto doesn't try to figure out which religion is better, while Ewen disagrees but is trying to talk around the fact that he thinks Christianity is better than other religions, despite (or perhaps because of) the readily available proof to the contrary.

I am interested to see where this goes.
Christianity as an instituted form of religion is fallible, like all man-made institutions religious or otherwise, and as a Christian myself I have had to wrestle with and confront its many mistakes, errors and injustices throughout the ages and into modern day. I have not denied in this thread that there have been legitimate grievances against Christianity. But that does not mean the fundamental principles, morality, ethics, teachings and indeed truth (if I may be so bold) of Christianity as a spiritual path established by Jesus himself as preserved in the Bible are not correct and worthy of pursuit.

Quote:
Those misguided practices came directly from scripture. Which interpretation is right? Which practice is true? Is truth absolute? Does truth matter? How can truth be ascertained?
Assuming these questions are genuine and not sarcastic or satirical I gave reason why snake handling is not considered orthodox practise within mainstream Christianity. While Mark 16:9-20 are still printed in Bibles, all versions of Bibles now bracket or at least footnote that these verses are not found in the earliest manuscripts of Mark's Gospel and are thus universally rejected by Bible scholars and translators as non-canonical, as they did not originate from the author himself. Only the writings of the authors of the books of the New Testament is considered inspired Scripture, not embellishment added later. To base a practise on the supposed teachings of Jesus is unwise and especially in the case of snake handling dangerous as these writings were not inspired by the Holy Spirit. The apostolic foundation of the New Testament writings creates an excellent criteria for how truth can be ascertained regarding so called Christian practises and traditions.
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