by Arlos » Tue Mar 17, 2009 8:56 am
Some Christian tenets are just fine. Indeed, I respect the lessons from Christ himself far more than I respect those of the religion that purports to follow him. If the entire Christian dogma was based around the one rule Christ declared to be the most important, to love oen another as you would love him, I doubt I would have any disagreements with them at all. Unfortunately, that is not how modern Christianity tends to operate, so on many issues I disagree with them completely.
Sex before marriage is just one example. I don't see anything wrong with it between two consenting adults, yet it's a "sin".
I also am just fine with gay people getting married to people of the same sex, and don't see how anyone or anything is harmed by allowing them to do so.
Heck, if you want a flippant example directly from the 10 commandments, what exactly is wrong with coveting a neighbor's goods? I can't want a Porsche if my neighbor just bought a new 911? TAKING it would be wrong, but DESIRING it is what drives capitalism, after all...
I also don't like the tendencies towards authoritarian dogmatic stances that religious groups get, especially if they have political power. I consider Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler and The Spanish Inquisition (who expects it?) to be cautionary examples of what potentially happens if religious groups are allowed temporal power. I could go on listing points of difference, but I don't think it's necessary.
Ultimately, as you know, there's lots of social items or things people do that I have seen you object to as perverted or "wrong" that I simply don't have a problem with, as long as the people involved with it are both or all consenting adults and no one is getting really hurt. Doesn't mean *I* have any interest in partaking, necessarily, obviously. I simply think that everyone has their own path to walk, and what is right for them is not necessarily what is right for anyone else, and neither I nor any organization have any right to try and force them off their chosen life path, so long as they aren't harming anyone thereby. Christianity, as a dogmatic institution, DOES try to so dictate, and that is why I cannot accept it as a dominant institution. (for one example, just see the Chick Tract people)
I completely respect your choice of how to live your life, in accordance with your beliefs and principles. I would never try and gainsay your choices, or tell you in any way that what you are doing is wrong, even though it's not in any way the path for me. So, as I said to begin with, I can respect your faith and your choices, without having any desire to live my life the same way, or under the same set of tenets. Until Dogmatic Christianity returns the favor of not trying to tell me that I am "wrong" for being Pagan and living my life by a different set of principles, I will be at odds with it, even as I respect the rights of the individual members to live their lives as they wish, just not any right to try and impose their choices on me.
-Arlos