@DavidStratton Hmmm... I think that is one difference between the true believer and the nonbeliever.
For the true believer of Christianity, the person treats Christianity as if it's real, without question.
I can't imagine doing that myself.
I think it's easier to adopt the Christian worldview, if a person is already born in a Christian family and learns Christianity by religious education.
@Anonymous 1. Virtually every day. 2. NRSV or NJB mostly, also KJV and the Vulgate because of how often they're referenced or alluded to by authors I read. 3. Yes. 4. Yes. (Genuinely spiritually manifest but probably not materially; though I can't really say that God's grace doesn't act in that way. I mean, it's grace.) 5. Yes, that's the point.
@Anonymous Transubstantiation does assert that the elements continue to resemble bread and wine as far as taste, etc., while having been substantively changed.
There is some pretty involved reasoning about how long the real presence is held to persist (eg in the case of digestion).
I was reading about penance a while ago and there used to be a whole range of specific offences relating to mishandling of the Eucharist. I think most of this is now much simpler.
For example, there was a specific (very harsh) penance you had to do if you attended Mass while drunk, vomited out the bread, and then a dog ate it.
The dog was not punished, however.
Aha, I found it: "Gif man husl aspiwe for druncennesse oððe for oferfýlle: fæste xl daga. Gif hund þæne spiwðan frete: fæste xl daga." That is- "If one vomits the host due to drunkenness or gluttony: he shall fast 40 days. If a dog then eats the vomit: he [the man] shall fast 40 days." This is the Old English Penitential, Bodleian Laud Misc. 482, f.18a-b.
In Why Do people believe in the Bible? [on hold], we have the following:
a question that is certainly a Truth Question: "when it's
obviously not true?"
a question that lacks a "constructive, fair, and impartial tone"
two answers from senior users that engage in apologetic
Truth-Answering right ...
Okay, I have a question that I can't ask in the SE as there is no right answer. HOWEVER maybe in this conversation I can formulate a specific question.
If Constantine brought Christianity to the Romans, one of the most brutal leaders in Rome and a sun god worshiper. And John Dee a known occultist translated the bible... how sure are we that we're practicing Christianity correctly?
I guess we'd have to look at Christians who were before the King James Bible that are still practicing today and see how Christianity in their denomination is different than the English speaking denominations.
I would discount any newer denominations (such as the Chinese) as they have potential to be influenced by the more modern versions of Christianity
We have a number of sources to that effect. The primary sources would be original language scriptural texts. Things like the Aleppo Codex, Dead Sea Scrolls, and other early period original text manuscripts.
The second is the writings of early church fathers. Augustine and his contemporaries
The last bit is that I believe that God is guiding his church and if it goes astray he brings about reformation or revival
true. I guess my assertion is that the RELIGION of Christianity differs from the teachings of the Bible and in some cases where they are the same, the translation could be suspect.
but I do agree that if God has his hand in it, he would correct the errors.
which is the same as your belief
I don't believe there's an "askable" question here. But I would be interested in knowing other people's opinions of this. Thanks for your time wax
@DanAndrews There are wide variances in practice and some of that is based on translational defects, other bits of variance are based on bad interpretation. To some degree I think we need to have faith that the spirit will determine the sincerity of our faith and intentions and filter it.
When i was finding an answer to this quesion in christianity.stackexchange.com,
i came across, this question but i felt a slap on my wrist :)
Is righteousness a prerequisite for salvation? NO.
But really, i see:
Matthew 5:20 "For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the P...
though one could choose a doctrinal position and ask for the arguments for/against it. For instance, one could assume that one might be righteous enough to save oneself and ask for the counter argument.
There is this 14-year-old prodigy programmer that can code so well he even dreams in code! He can code in many different languages too, and he attends college at something something Mines.
An ambitious learner, he hopes to finish his Master's by the time he turns 17, and then he shall go on for a PhD. His dream job is to work for Apple.
The father seems to envy his son's remarkable, impressive ability to learn and manipulate information, implying that the father was probably not a good student in school.
ha! My eldest son (now 20) was a stereo typical jock in school. Always made the varsity team no mater what sport. I envied my sons athletic abilities as I was a geek in school (6'3" but geek, chess club, math club, etc). I can relate to that story.
@Anonymous "work for apple"? Too bad, you know, cuz they don't really innovate anymore. What a waste that would be. He should free lance for a while first and learn what is practical. To paraphrase a pearl from my father: You can code a computer to do just about anything, but not every program can sell.
@fredsbend Apple's strength in the past 10 or so years is to find an underserved market in it's infancy and bring in a product that is better than anything that's currently available and just blow the pants off of everyone else.
They did it with the portable music player, they did it with the smart phone, an they've done it with the tablet.
@waxeagle It largely depends on whether you marry young or marry later in life.
@waxeagle I see that your family may run on a 20-year-life-cycle. My family seems to run on a 30-year-life-cycle; I only know that my grandparents' ages and my parents' ages include roughly a 30-year gap, and my parents' ages and my age have a 30-year gap.
I think it would be cool if a person could run on a 50-year-life-cycle. A person hits 50 years of age, marries, and begets offspring with partner.
But alas, ages younger than 18 may be too young, and ages older than 65 may be too old to bear children.
So, it's best to become parents within the 20- to 40-year-old age group.
@waxeagle Yes, they have done well previously, however, when looking at what was available in the past, you see that they did not actually innovate. All those items existed before. Apple just happens to have one of the most clever marketing teams that has ever existed. I don't admire Apple for any products they have made. I admire Apple for the ingenious marketing they have done in the last 15 years. Absolutely brilliant!
@fredsbend I disagree to some degree. While a lot of what they have done is pure marketing pizzaz. What they have managed to do is build a better mouse trap. There really isn't any comparison between my first gen Kindle Fire and my ipad.
@waxeagle You realize the iPad is just a big iPhone, right? Do you also know that Google and Apple were working together on a project that was abandoned. Apple made iOS with it and Google make Android. Neither is something new; they are watered down linux. What they have innovated is different ways to use it and the innovative hardware that we call smartphones.
bool sleep = false; int sheep = 0;
while(!sleep) { if(!sleep) sheep++; }
Inspired by a comment that asked if he dreams in coded sheep.
@fredsbend I sort of agree about that, and that was my initial reaction. I was in the hater camp when tablets first started appearing...I've actually changed my mind pretty dramatically.
Don't get me wrong. I would take and likely use an iPad if I could get one cheap or free. I'm not a hater of what Apple makes. I'm a hater of their attitude as a company.
Lately, though, when debugging my wife's iPhone, I find that there are a lot of things that are silly to me, but that could be because I don't use iOS and am familiar with Android. I know when I first started using OSX I was very frustrated with the little differences. People just don't like change I guess.
@waxeagle I've just bought myself a ZTE (Firefox OS). It'll arrive in a week or so.
"Vanilla" to mean "standard" is actually a general term, not specific to technical or sex (BDSM) discussion, though those are the two situations where I see it most often. — TRiG is Timothy Richard GreenAug 28 at 15:45
Basically, it means "non-kinky", but since no one can agree on what counts as "kinky" anyway ....
> "Erotic" is when you use a feather; "kinky" is when you use the whole chicken.
@Anonymous I don't think that would be possible. I'm in my mid-40s trying to raise three adopted/foster kids (plus a biological 10-year-old), and I barely have the energy for it. I don't know what's going to happen when they're in high school and I'm approaching 60. I can't imagine taking care of babies at age 50 and teenagers in late 60s.
In Why Do people believe in the Bible? [on hold], we have the following:
a question that is certainly a Truth Question: "when it's
obviously not true?"
a question that lacks a "constructive, fair, and impartial tone"
two answers from senior users that engage in apologetic
Truth-Answering right ...
When i was finding an answer to this quesion in christianity.stackexchange.com,
i came across, this question but i felt a slap on my wrist :)
Is righteousness a prerequisite for salvation? NO.
But really, i see:
Matthew 5:20 "For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the P...
The Upper Room
The Upper Room