Ideal age/Now mostly about Religion and Religious Upbringing

[Erenan]

Communion wafers are good! I could snack on them all day, to tell you the truth.

Actually, I've only had two in my whole life. Maybe I'm remembering incorrectly.

[LimpingFish]

No, they are tasty. In a bland, flavourless kind of way.

They seem to be made out of the same stuff as those little UFO shaped candies with the fizzy sherbert inside.

I'd go to church more if the communion wafers came with fizzy sherbert.

[Andail]

It's not some lousy candy! It's the body of Christ, you infidels!

[GarageGothic]

Mmm... body of Christ

[Helm]

haha GarageGothic!

[voh]

Wow! I can't believe it's not Jesus' body!

*munches on a wafer*

[lo_res_man]

Its a symbol, made in rememberance of what christians believe be the supreme sacrafice, a diety entering human form to die for all humnity. thats a pretty special thing. wether its "REALLY" jesus's body or not is a none  issue to me.

[voh]

Oh, I know it's symbolic. And out of respect for the symbolism I've refrained from taking the wafer and the wine at the service which was held when my grandmother passed away earlier this year. While some of my extended family wasn't pleased that I stayed put and didn't get up to take it, I thought it showed a lot more respect for my grandmother's chosen religion that I didn't do it, as I don't believe in the symbolism behind it.

Thankfully my parents understood, so it's all a-okay.

[Huw Dawson]

You know, if they supplied communion wafers with chutney dip and a coke I bet they'd get alot of people into church...

Alot of the Old Testament is contradictory and over-zealous. And probably wildly exaggerated.  And many many christians misunderstand that the Old Testament has it's vast majority consiting of metaphors...

- Huw

[LimpingFish]

They only becomes the body of Christ during the act of Communion.

Prior to that point, they're just little wafers.

I wonder who makes them? Can you buy them in little bags, or does a lifetime supply arrive in a big crate?

[Becky]

http://www.churchpartner.com/store/customer/cat-490.html

The idea of buying communion wafers in bulk strangely appeals to me.  I've never eaten one before though.

[Erenan]

There was this one time when a friend of mine got a paid gig playing trombone in a church service sixty miles away, and he asked me to come along for the ride so he wouldn't be bored. So I did, and I had two communion wafers because I sat through both morning services. Other than the wafers and the music and the doughnuts they gave us, it was pretty boring. And that's my brave story.

For what it's worth...

I was raised in a Methodist church, and then moved from that into a non-denominational Christian high school where I soon became one of those stupid angry Metallica fans. Looking back, I have to say that there wasn't much intellect in this high school spiritually or philosophically. Most of us, including myself, were young earth Creationists. Then, I went to university and became slightly more intellectual in my spirituality and an old earth Creationist. Then, I graduated from university and also graduated from Christianity to become a hopeful nontheist.

[LimpingFish]

The idea of buying communion wafers in bulk strangely appeals to me.  I've never eaten one before though.

They really do melt in your mouth. A bit like Skips.



Although, not really like Skips...at all.

[Meowster]

Gosh!


(2 Samuel 12:11-14 NAB)

    Thus says the Lord: 'I will bring evil upon you out of your own house.  I will take your wives  while you live to see it, and will give them to your neighbor.  He shall lie with your wives in broad daylight.  You have done this deed in secret, but I will bring it about in the presence of all Israel, and with the sun looking down.'

    Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord."  Nathan answered David: "The Lord on his part has forgiven your sin: you shall not die.  But since you have utterly spurned the Lord by this deed, the child born to you must surely die." 


Summary: God himself brings the completely innocent rape victims to the rapist.  And then he kills an innocent baby.

Are you sure you swear by everything in both testaments, Yodaman?

Look, there are lots and lots more:

http://www.evilbible.com/Rape.htm

You can look each individual story up in your bible if you like, just to be sure that website isn't lying to you. I must say, there are a few stories in there that I didn't see in my edition of the bible, but I don't have it any more... I must buy another! The above story that I posted, however, was in my edition from 6 years ago, so I can attest to that one.

Now, maybe since your God is so kind apparently, and certainly not a rapist etc etc... maybe you might consider that the people who recorded the bible and wrote it... could have done it incorrectly? Maybe they were wrong, and not really actually writing what God told them to?

I'm interested to hear your thoughts, SD.

[Erenan]

I don't have time to do it because I'm at work, but you should probably provide more context as to what actually happened surrounding those verses, because what you've provided is all talk and no action.

EDIT: Blah, edit your post while I'm responding, why don't you? : Maybe, nevermind.

[Meowster]

http://www.biblegateway.com

Amazing stuff!

Check out any of the stories you like, in any version of the bible.


Kill Brats
    From there Elisha went up to Bethel.  While he was on his way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him.  "Go up baldhead," they shouted, "go up baldhead!"  The prophet turned and saw them, and he cursed them in the name of the Lord.  Then two shebears came out of the woods and tore forty two of the children to pieces.  (2 Kings 2:23-24 NAB)

Killed by a Lion
    Meanwhile, the LORD instructed one of the group of prophets to say to another man, "Strike me!"  But the man refused to strike the prophet.  Then the prophet told him, "Because you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, a lion will kill you as soon as you leave me."  And sure enough, when he had gone, a lion attacked and killed him.  (1 Kings 20:35-36 NLT)


Some of these bible stories are hilarious.

I can't believe you believe in this stuff, yodaman.

And like it!

You strange, violent, perverted, bloodthirsty, woman-hating monster.

Or don't you believe in it?

What's more sick, yodaman? A man having sex with another man in a loving relationship, or you and your perverse beliefs of polygamy and rape and murder?

[Helm]

Obviously these women were repeatedly raped.  These sick bastards killed and raped an entire town and then wanted more virgins, so they hid beside the road to kidnap and rape some more.  How can anyone see this as anything but evil?

simple. Because a) the people they killed were infidels, therefore it's not really killing since they don't count. And b) women then knew their place and if they had a new master it didn't mean anything to them, they just fell into line, there was no rape.

[lo_res_man]

Well David did get a guy killed just so he could have his wife. A common king prerogative, but what makes the old testament God kind of different is that he was higher even then kings, even a king was under the law, In almost all recorded cultures from that time, kings WERE Gods. The idea of something being higher then a kings was one of the many steps that inspired modern democracy. One thing that helped it spread though western culture was holy text that agreed with a fundamental principle of democracy, all are under the law.

[Hammerite]

In the words of Isaac Brock:

"God takes care of himself, and you of you"

Most sense-making song about this subject (IMO):
Styrofoam Boots/It's All Nice On Ice, Alright
http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=15932

[Raggit]

While we're at it, everybody check out the Skeptics Annotated Bible, if you haven't already:  http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/