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    What is a "religion"?

    An interesting perspective, Skeptic44. The atheists of my acquaintance have strenuously maintained that atheism is not a religion. However, they are quick to distinguish between "hard" or dogmatic atheism, which your definition applies to, and "soft" or pragmatic atheism, which is what they...
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    The Jesus Seminar

    What annoys Christians generally about the Jesus Seminar is its methodology, which is I think an acceptable one but not well publicized: to see what we can learn about the "real" Jesus using strictly historiographical, textual-analysis techniques. Obviously, if He was in fact the avatar of...
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    Format Problem With Main Forum Index?

    1. It appears to have been a one-time issue, FWIW -- before and after the sesson when I posted the OP, I've experienced no problems. 2. I'm running a normal Gateway PC with windows 2000 Prof. Edn. (now on Svc. Pack 4) and MSIE 6.00.2800.1106IS
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    Format Problem With Main Forum Index?

    After having read and posted on the new forum format for several days, I opened the board this evening to find that the main index spreads wider than a screen. There were no long strings (thread titles, etc.) evidently causing it. The problem appears limited to the main index screen, not...
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    Hindu-Muslim conflict over temple

    Nasty mess. FWIW, the article writer makes one error: Rama is not, strictly speaking, a Hindu god, but rather the incarnation (avatar) of Vishnu, one of several. Translated into Western terms, this would be like problems with a mosque built on the site of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
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    Promoting a gay priest to bishop

    I probably don't need to tell you that this issue pushed any number of my buttons. Needless to say, I've followed the issue closely, and can probide a fair amount of background data, as well as theological arguments on both sides. Just ask, or as erroneous data gets cited, I'll provide...
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    Does Jesus need Creationism?

    The whole Adam story, Creationism and all, gets in the way, for most folks, of what I believe that a proper relationship with God and Christ should be. The idea of sin is a bugaboo for many people -- they liken it to a criminal offense. And just as an infant or small child cannot be a felon...
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    If Jesus had not died?

    It's worth noting that the Resurrection is not, per Paul and the apparent standard of early Christianity even without him, a unique event that happened to Jesus, but that His Resurrection is the single prototype of something promised to all men -- or at least all who turn to and follow God...
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    Pierre Teillhard De Chardin - the noosphere

    Intuition, someone said, is reasoning with the subconscious. The noumenon, from a Platonic or other Idealistic viewpoint, even more real than the phenomenal world. Some strange phenomena over the last 40 years have convinced me that there are forces pervading the Universe that we haven't the...
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    Hell

    My own take on it is quite a bit at skew with anything I've ever seen anywhere else, but fits with what Scripture has to say was said about it, particularly by Jesus. Let me begin by telling you of two young men I knew, 25 years apart. Both were remarkable people who, being young and...
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    Back again!

    I'm back too -- had real problems when the board converted over, and thanks to Brian and Siege, I'm back among the posting.
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    Hot Button Topic: Islam and Peace

    If you've seen or heard any fundy. comments since 9/11, you know that they're bound and determined to paint Moslems as men given to hostility, and to quote the Koran as justifying it. Franklin Graham's comments mentioned elsewhere are only one example of many. Given that we have some devout...
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    Religious founders don't found their religion!

    Just noting, in connection with Omar's post, that the only purpose of the Koran is to preserve the Surahs -- they are, according to Allah, to be recited. (And remembering that one of my skills is to read aloud the appointed Scriptures in a way that brings them home to the congregation.) But I...
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    The Missing Books of the Bible

    Spectacularly good questions! I'm wondering whether the Septuagint versions will have readings more closely in line with the New Testament. (remember that "modern, more accurate translations" always refer back to early manuscripts as opposed to relying on the Septuagint -- but that Matthew at...
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    Is Christianity too fixated with Salavation?

    Can I get away with a "Me Too" post here? Because IMHO Siege said it all right there.
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    What has a soul?

    According to C.S. Lewis, this was the standard view during the Middle Ages. (I retyped a long passage from The Discarded Image to answer this question on another board, and can't find it right at the moment; I'll C&P it when I do.) Briefly, plants have "Vegetable Soul" with the properties...
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    Is Christianity too fixated with Salavation?

    ... uh, I meant "next-to-last paragraph"
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    Is Christianity too fixated with Salavation?

    On target, Bill. Though I'd say that I can put my trust in God and His promises, and that I have a job to do, right here and now, and I'm not too worried about what He'll do with me later on. He is, after all, a loving Father -- or else everybody's got it wrong as far as Christianity's...
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    Past Lives

    As a Christian I'm "not supposed to believe in reincarnation" but I have a fairly strong conviction that it's one method that God uses for reaching people --a teacher's "go back and do it over again until you get it right" on a cosmic plane, so to speak! :) And while I have a pretty good idea...
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    Promoting a gay priest to bishop

    Are you sure you want that much controversy on your comparatively baby board, Brian? We American Episcopalians beat you Brits to it by a few days -- the Rev. Canon Gene Robinson was elected Bishop of New Hampshire. Here's an abbreviated version of the AP story. The New York Times story, which...
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