I remember when we had a similar thread like 7 years ago and I don't wana go back and read what I wrote but I've grown as a person since then. I completely agree with you. For some reason i hesitate to call myself an ex catholic but i'm sure I will start soon. I went to bible school and was confirmed and everything. Looking back, I am sure something sinister was going on back then, at the time as a child I didn't feel that way at all but. There were many times we were alone with those adults. It's creepy looking back and thankfully i think nothing bad happened to me but it could've to others. Suddenly the priest was replaced with no warning and the congregation continued as nothing happened. I wonder why...

    COUPLED There definitely is something off I tend to feel when around organised religion. The way I see it, I can be into the faith, but the idea of priests and stuff I find a bit... cringe?

        COUPLED Yeah, I suppose so. I wouldn't say that hierarchy is always bad, but I suppose for me it's mostly the idea of this one person supposedly having the authority to speak for God or Christ. That said, it's been a very long time since I had any exposure to the Church, so much of the impression I have of it was from when I was an angsty teenager. Maybe I'll visit the Catholic Church in my town someday...

            malmon Too many people I know that's had something bad happen to them have turned religious and into a different person. Not that change is bad but it can be

                a month later

                mauhs Nothing that I really want to voice on this forum - ain't the place for it~

                  mauhs Actually, now I'm curious, why study the Talmud if you're an atheist?

                    mauhs Well then you're certainly more mature than I was back then ^^'7

                      I'm going to try to finish the bible today

                      Saoru
                      Erm actually in Zechariah 13-3 "And if any one again appears as a prophet, his father and mother who bore him shall pierce him through when he prophesies."But they kinda go back on it in Malachi 4-5 "Behold, I will send you Eli'jah the prophet before the great day comes" and Jesus was confused to be Eli'jah when crying to God while crucified so I guess that is Jesus

                          Saoru

                          frenchfry

                          Which Bibles are you guys reading?

                          Zacharias 13-3
                          And it shall come to pass, that when any man shall prophesy any more, his father and his mother that brought him into the world, shall say to him: Thou shalt not live: because thou hast spoken a lie in the name of the Lord. And his father, and his mother, his parents, shall thrust him through, when he shall prophesy.

                          Malachias 4:5
                          Behold, I will send you Elias the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

                          Galatians 1-8
                          But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema.

                          Wasn't Elijah some centuries before Jesus? Or is the interpretation that Jesus was a sort of reincarnation of Elijah?

                              I am not christian, but I would regard it as an adaptive thing to be a cristian.
                              Being a subject of higher power or a servant is paradoxically empowering to a person's life;
                              and the example of Jesus divinity is something anyone could conceivably achieve and i feel that cultivating towards something above humanity is something necessary for a society and/or people , and Jesus in particular is probably the best example for divinity to follow.
                              Believing and internalizing that every good act will be rewarded, and evil one punished is good for a society ;
                              I regard a shame-based society as inferior to a guilty-based one.
                              heaven is supposed to be the earth we are living on right now, so it implicitly pushes you to care for the place you live and nature.

                              a society made of me would probably be more psychotic than one made by christians.
                              For example, I don't have any moral problem with eugenics I mainly just dislike the people espousing the idea;
                              Entertaining eugenicism, I feel gets you closer to psychopathy rather than morally rejecting the idea outright.

                              malmon if what they say violates pre existing commandments or just doesn't come true

                                  malmon
                                  Revised Standard Version, based on the American Standard Version

                                      mauhs if what they say violates pre existing commandments

                                      But then what's the need for a prophet that just reinforces existing commandments?

                                      frenchfry Interesting. I always feel like a lot of the modern translations would probably be too far from the original meaning...

                                          malmon I guess just to prophesize and be a spiritual role model

                                            a month later

                                            malmon Yeah so it's a given that you will lose some of the original meaning with modern translations. There is the Septuagint, which is the closest you will come to the original Greek of the new testament. So some words when read in a modern translation can be easily misunderstood. For example.

                                            Mathew 18:6 "If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

                                            "little ones" can be interpreted as children, but it really refers to those who are "little ones" in their faith, and could be easily led astray.

                                            In Greek mikrōn (μικρῶν) "little ones" refers to being small in number, quantity, or used figuratively referring to things like dignity. Meaning those that are small and immature in their faith.

                                            There are many study aids like the "Orthodox Study Bible" that provide more context for scripture. I read the NKJ for general reading, but of course it's a given that there's much more to be studied that the plain text, which is why Christianity is (should be) a holistic world view. There's definitely people way more qualifies to answer Theological questions than I in that regard.

                                            If you are curious about some passage there's https://catenabible.com/mt/1 this site in which you wan pick out a passage and see what the commentary both modern and historical are, it has a very mobile friendly interface.

                                              15 days later

                                              Saikou TL;DR. Do you think God will lay out the answers to your every qualm in a pamphlet for you? What kind of humility is that? The questions you're asking were answered 2000 years ago; you just have to use that independent thought which you are so proud of and take a modern approach. Jesus was very much of the spirit of the law, as opposed to the letter. This is why he states 2 true commandments: to love God with all your heart and to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Apply this to those which you call "contradictions" and they will drop like flies. How does God love us but allow some of us to burn indefinitely in hell? He doesn't. "B-B-B-But Corinthians 994-657 says-" If it is impossible for a loving God to do this, he does not do it. There is no rebuke.