Random Religion Thread

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Religion?

Catholicism
26
11%
Protestantism
25
11%
Eastern Orthodox
12
5%
Judaism
6
3%
Sunni Islam
8
3%
Shiite Islam
2
1%
European Neo-Pagan
10
4%
Tribal Religion
2
1%
Hindu
2
1%
Buddhist
11
5%
Shinto
0
No votes
Atheism
77
33%
Agnostic
23
10%
Other (specify)
27
12%
Mormon
1
0%
Scientologist
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 232

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Re: Random Religion Thread

Postby Saim » 2017-02-19, 3:24

TheStrayCat wrote:
Vlürch wrote:but the Bible says something about it being bad for people to call themselves Jews if they aren't really Jews, so... I mean, I don't really take the Bible literally, but still.


Doesn't the Qur'an say anything about people pretending to be Muslims when they actually aren't? :)


Yeah, Surat al-Baqara warns about "munafiqun" (hypocrites who claim to be Muslims but mock Islam behijd closed doors).

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Re: Random Religion Thread

Postby dEhiN » 2017-02-19, 6:03

Varislintu wrote:Because if you are talking about God, as in the Christian omni-God, then it's just weird that he's currently for example letting children starve to death or end up as house or sex slaves but cares to monitor your minor naughty thought processes and mete out little figurative slaps on your wrist over them.

I have to say, I never understood this argument. What's the purpose of it? It sounds to me like those who use it are basically saying that the Christian God (should He exist) should be interested in micro-managing people's lives in order to ensure no bad thing or no "major" bad thing happens. From what I recall of the Bible and the teaching of most churches, God is supposed to have given man free will. Plus if you start getting into prescribing what bad things God shouldn't allow by effectively overriding free will, then who decides what bad things shouldn't happen? Who decides what's "major"? As Vlürch said, different societies have their own rules on morality.

Also, I could argue that he's not currently letting children starve to death, but we as humans are. For example, using Christian theology, God created the world, meaning He gave us all the resources that are available on this earth. Perhaps with proper resource management we could ensure that no one starves to death, and instead of waiting or assuming for a deux ex machina type of act from God (because he's omni-whatever), it's up to us to do our part where we can.
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Re: Random Religion Thread

Postby Varislintu » 2017-02-19, 15:38

dEhiN wrote:
Varislintu wrote:Because if you are talking about God, as in the Christian omni-God, then it's just weird that he's currently for example letting children starve to death or end up as house or sex slaves but cares to monitor your minor naughty thought processes and mete out little figurative slaps on your wrist over them.


I have to say, I never understood this argument. What's the purpose of it? It sounds to me like those who use it are basically saying that the Christian God (should He exist) should be interested in micro-managing people's lives in order to ensure no bad thing or no "major" bad thing happens.


The purpose is to try to put things into a credible perspective and invoke some internal consistency. Since I don't believe in supernatural things, I approach this from the perspective of an avid consumer (and rarely, creator) of fantastic fiction. I can imagine reading a book with a planet ruled by an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, omniscient God roughly like the Christian God (that really exists). We are promised big themes here, big powers, great epic fates for the people as this God's pet project. Good vs. evil on a cosmic scale. But, then the God never does anything great. Never utilises his omni-powers. Doesn't seem to give a hoot about the big evils. Instead he spends his time turning on and off a reclusive individuals wi-fi, depending on how much this individual's thoughts please or displease it. :) Unless the book was a Pratchett-like satire, I'd find it bad world-building. Much more credible that something like a house elf (which Finns believed in for a long time) would be doing such petty and minor-scale thought-policing.

In this case, it's not quite right to descibe it as a non-Christian expecting the Christian God to micro-manage people's lives, it's more like Christians coming forth with their own conviction that the Christian God is micro-managing something in their lives according to God's reported values (I mean the God's reported ideas of right and wrong), and then the non-Christian pointing out that if God isn't applying its potency in matters of right and wrong in any of the big things, then it's sort of unlikely that they are dishing out little rewards or punishments in their lives. :hmm:

But yeah, a lot more could be said on this topic, but I don't have time right now -- promised to bake some lingon berry coconut buns. :)

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Re: Random Religion Thread

Postby Vlürch » 2017-02-19, 17:36

Saim wrote:
TheStrayCat wrote:
Vlürch wrote:but the Bible says something about it being bad for people to call themselves Jews if they aren't really Jews, so... I mean, I don't really take the Bible literally, but still.


Doesn't the Qur'an say anything about people pretending to be Muslims when they actually aren't? :)


Yeah, Surat al-Baqara warns about "munafiqun" (hypocrites who claim to be Muslims but mock Islam behijd closed doors).

The difference is that Jews are an ethnoreligiocultural group. The religion, ethnicity and culture are inseparable, no matter how hard some try to separate them; politics is a big part of it, too, at least AFAIK since I can't recall ever hearing/reading/whatever about any Jews living outside Israel who didn't blindly support Israel in every matter, excluding ethnic Jews who actively separate themselves from Judaism and Jewish culture. There was a documentary that came on TV once where some old Jews who were born in America and had lived their entire lives there openly admitted they'd commit treason if America stopped supporting Israel, which... well... I know not all Jews are like that, but still. Someone who isn't a Jew calling himself a Jew is more like a white person calling himself black than anything religious.

I'm a hypocrite by any organised religion's standards, but internally I'm not a hypocrite and that's enough for me. I don't care if it isn't enough for others, since I'm not a religious leader or politician or anything and no one has to argue with me about anything or listen to anything I have to say or write or whatever. According to all religions, I will end up going to hell when I die, but that doesn't bother me as much as it should according to religious people because I don't take my life seriously enough, and anyone telling me I'm wrong about things that they could just as well be wrong about themselves is wrong from my point of view. Sure, if I went to Afghanistan or Congo or whatever, I'd be killed immediately for religious as well as non-religious reasons, but that's why I'm glad I live in Finland where we have freedom of religion and shit.

...but I think Alfa TV should be banned or at least restricted somehow. I mean, rejecting evolution and shit? If there were tons of free TV channels in Finland and other religious channels, it wouldn't be such a problem, but it being one of the only dozen or so free channels... just wtf.

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Re: Random Religion Thread

Postby vijayjohn » 2017-02-20, 0:59

Vlürch wrote:The reason I feel like it absolutely has to be God (or an angel or whatever) that first cuts off my internet and then fixes it is that it always takes exactly as long as it takes me to thoroughly contemplate what I've done wrong recently and what I can do to not do it again. Sometimes minutes, sometimes hours, sometimes days, once or twice it's even taken a week or longer, but every single time it's the exact minute that I have the "ohhhhhh that's what I did wrong" moment that the internet works again. There's just no other explanation, at least not one that would satisfy every aspect of the thing; it could be the wire being shit, sure, but that's just the physical part of it.

I think this is a combination of the wire, coincidence, and willfully ascribing things to a higher power.
The difference is that Jews are an ethnoreligiocultural group. The religion, ethnicity and culture are inseparable, no matter how hard some try to separate them; politics is a big part of it, too, at least AFAIK since I can't recall ever hearing/reading/whatever about any Jews living outside Israel who didn't blindly support Israel in every matter, excluding ethnic Jews who actively separate themselves from Judaism and Jewish culture. There was a documentary that came on TV once where some old Jews who were born in America and had lived their entire lives there openly admitted they'd commit treason if America stopped supporting Israel, which... well... I know not all Jews are like that, but still. Someone who isn't a Jew calling himself a Jew is more like a white person calling himself black than anything religious.

The first person I ever made friends with on this forum was a Jewish atheist who was strongly interested in their heritage, studied both Hebrew and Yiddish, and could read (and I think write) both, but who was also a strong supporter of the Palestinians, a strong critic of the governments of both the US and Israel, and a participant in the BDS Movement, which is all about pressuring the Israeli government to reverse its policies regarding Palestinians.

Jews come from a fairly wide variety of religious, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds, just like Christians, Muslims, and people ascribed under all kinds of other religious labels do. It's just less obvious now because they also have a state that was created specially for them.
According to all religions, I will end up going to hell when I die

There are lots of religions that have no hell.
...but I think Alfa TV should be banned or at least restricted somehow. I mean, rejecting evolution and shit?

Please come say this to conservatives where I live. :silly:

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Re: Random Religion Thread

Postby Saim » 2017-02-20, 2:13

vijayjohn wrote:There are lots of religions that have no hell.


Like Judaism, for example. :D

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Re: Random Religion Thread

Postby Vlürch » 2017-02-26, 22:51

vijayjohn wrote:I think this is a combination of the wire, coincidence, and willfully ascribing things to a higher power.

True, but that doesn't exclude the possibility of a higher power being responsible for the combination in the first place.
Saim wrote:
vijayjohn wrote:There are lots of religions that have no hell.


Like Judaism, for example. :D

I keep hearing that, but how can that be when there are some pretty weird specifically Jewish conceptions of hell like Jesus in hot shit?

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Re: Random Religion Thread

Postby vijayjohn » 2017-02-27, 0:33

Vlürch wrote:
Saim wrote:
vijayjohn wrote:There are lots of religions that have no hell.


Like Judaism, for example. :D

I keep hearing that, but how can that be when there are some pretty weird specifically Jewish conceptions of hell like Jesus in hot shit?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell#Judaism

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Re: Random Religion Thread

Postby Vlürch » 2017-03-01, 17:59


The first sentence starts with "Early Judaism"... early...

Also, what the hell... I thought Alfa TV was the batshit insane anti-evolution propaganda channel, but apparently that's TV7? What is Alfa TV? Also, TV7 suddenly disappeared today, which is good if it was the anti-evolution propaganda channel, but... what is Alfa TV? All that there is on it is weird shit about third world countries or something, which suggests it is also a brainwashing missionary propaganda channel, but is it the one that was the anti-evolution propaganda channel...? Are/were there two anti-evolution propaganda channels? And what's up with the increase in Christian science denial on social media, and in general "Christian white nationalism"? I don't know if this is one of those Mandela effects or something, or if I've sheltered myself from retarded conservative bullshit too much and as such haven't noticed, but I thought Finland valued freedom of religion and secularism as important points of democracy, which doesn't seem to be the case anymore all of a sudden.

I mean, I know a big part of it is probably that there are ads commemorating veterans with shit and there's a quote by Mannerheim about "protecting the homeland, religion and blah blah". It pisses me off that Mannerheim is praised as a hero, when he was friends with Hitler and put tons of innocent people in concentration camps and was something like 95% Swedish and 4% Russian, only 1% Finnish. I don't have a problem with accepting that our independence is owed to Nazis, a lot of countries do, but no other country that I know of is so proud of their Nazi past while simultaneously denying that they were ever Nazis. :?

Why do "nationalists" always have to mix religion into it? Finland wasn't Christianised until the middle ages, and it was under the threat of being enslaved/killed by Swedes, so how the fuck can anyone call themselves a Finnish nationalist and claim that Finland is a traditionally Christian country? We're not, and religion should have absolutely nothing to do with nationality because freedom of religion and secularism are among the most important fucking things about democracy... and "Finnish nationalists" fight against that, as do the Swedish-speaking and Russian-speaking minorities... obviously, because Sweden and Russia are traditionally non-democratic, non-secular Christian countries that don't want Finland to be independent... so why the fuck do Finnish nationalists, both left-wing and right-wing, want to become just like one and/or the other?

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Re: Random Religion Thread

Postby Michael » 2017-03-01, 22:48

Vlürch wrote:Also, what the hell... I thought Alfa TV was the batshit insane anti-evolution propaganda channel, but apparently that's TV7? What is Alfa TV? Also, TV7 suddenly disappeared today, which is good if it was the anti-evolution propaganda channel, but... what is Alfa TV? All that there is on it is weird shit about third world countries or something, which suggests it is also a brainwashing missionary propaganda channel, but is it the one that was the anti-evolution propaganda channel...? Are/were there two anti-evolution propaganda channels? And what's up with the increase in Christian science denial on social media, and in general "Christian white nationalism"? I don't know if this is one of those Mandela effects or something, or if I've sheltered myself from retarded conservative bullshit too much and as such haven't noticed, but I thought Finland valued freedom of religion and secularism as important points of democracy, which doesn't seem to be the case anymore all of a sudden.

I mean, I know a big part of it is probably that there are ads commemorating veterans with shit and there's a quote by Mannerheim about "protecting the homeland, religion and blah blah". It pisses me off that Mannerheim is praised as a hero, when he was friends with Hitler and put tons of innocent people in concentration camps and was something like 95% Swedish and 4% Russian, only 1% Finnish. I don't have a problem with accepting that our independence is owed to Nazis, a lot of countries do, but no other country that I know of is so proud of their Nazi past while simultaneously denying that they were ever Nazis. :?

Finnish society seems to have been plagued with the same type of Patriotism™ that has infected large swathes of my own country (the "MURKA #1 FUCK YEAH" kind). It definitely sticks out against all other Nordic countries in that respect.

When I was at this mountainside restaurant in Athens, I saw a fellow tourist who had a black leather jacket plastered with the Finnish flag and various pro-Christian and pro-nationalist slogans and icons, reminiscent of something a member of a motorcycle gang would wear. I think I even saw a "Fuck EU" patch on there (surprise surprise). That led me to do some research on conservatism in Finland and to find out Finland's "special case".

Why do "nationalists" always have to mix religion into it?

Because religion and ethnicity have been intertwined since time immemorial. Religion has always functioned as a key institution of ethnic/national consciousness, especially in Europe. That is why it is hard not to mix religion into fervent nationalism.
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Re: Random Religion Thread

Postby vijayjohn » 2017-03-02, 0:36

Vlürch wrote:

The first sentence starts with "Early Judaism"... early...

Did you actually read through that section or just stop there and assume that that meant modern Judaism does have a hell?
Michael wrote:Finnish society seems to have been plagued with the same type of Patriotism™ that has infected large swathes of my own country (the "MURKA #1 FUCK YEAH" kind). It definitely sticks out against all other Nordic countries in that respect.

When I was at this mountainside restaurant in Athens, I saw a fellow tourist who had a black leather jacket plastered with the Finnish flag and various pro-Christian and pro-nationalist slogans and icons, reminiscent of something a member of a motorcycle gang would wear. I think I even saw a "Fuck EU" patch on there (surprise surprise). That led me to do some research on conservatism in Finland and to find out Finland's "special case".

How odd. This is the first time I've heard anything about anything like that in Finland. I would have associated such attitudes with some Eastern European country, like Poland.

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Re: Random Religion Thread

Postby Vlürch » 2017-03-02, 4:07

Michael wrote:other Nordic countries

Finland isn't really Nordic, though, and at least personally I cringe when people say that it is; in my experience it's the Swedish-speaking minority that wants Finland to be seen as a Nordic country because their varity of Swedish is more or less like an extension of the Scandinavian dialect continuum. Since Finnish isn't a Germanic language and we've never had our own proper monarchy, at least in my opinion it's somewhat patronising to call us Nordic. It's also too often used as an excuse to allow Sweden to dictate what laws we must change to "get in on the club" as if we still didn't have independence, and in spite of all the laws that are adopted from Sweden, Norway and/or Denmark, Finland never gets in on the Nordic club because we simply aren't worthy of it; like, I'm not complaining because I'm increasingly coming to realise that that's the second worst realistic possibility that could happen politically (the worst is becoming part of Russia), but I wish more people admitted to themselves that Sweden has never had and will never have Finland's best interests in mind.
Michael wrote:"Fuck EU" patch on there (surprise surprise)

Well, the EU is starting to become more and more dysfunctional and it's always been too heavily centered on Germany. Ever since Merkel basically told Erdoğan that the EU is going to do anything he asks if only he doesn't flood us with potential terrorists, no matter what the official line is, the EU really is like a Fourth Reich because that's what Erdoğan wants it to be for him to want Turkey to be a part of it. So the more politicians push for "benign censorship" like that of "hate speech", the easier they're making it for literal Neo-Nazis and Islamists to gain the support of people. It's like the saying "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". Most people don't like Nazis or other extremists, but if they are the only ones that criticise the suppression of freedom of speech and pushing of laws that simply couldn't possibly have any other purpose than to distract from the real issues (like focusing on transgender bathroom rights instead of discussing and trying to understand what the reasons for the increase in radicalisation are), most people are sooner or later going to become at least a little bit sympathetic towards them because on that regard they have a point.

So, the EU has a lot of good, and it's good in theory, but in practice it's just never going to work so the harder it is made for member states to leave, the more states are going to want to leave. Since there's already talk of special EU-wide military and police forces and shit like that, that rubs a lot of people the wrong way because it's too much like what the Third Reich and Soviet Union had. I guess in Finland it's easier to note that, since we don't have insane bans on the display of Nazi and Communist symbols that make it impossible to learn from the past.
vijayjohn wrote:
Vlürch wrote:

The first sentence starts with "Early Judaism"... early...

Did you actually read through that section or just stop there and assume that that meant modern Judaism does have a hell?

I skimmed through it, and the impression I got is that Judaism generally has a concept of hell even if it isn't literal.
vijayjohn wrote:How odd. This is the first time I've heard anything about anything like that in Finland. I would have associated such attitudes with some Eastern European country, like Poland.

Geographically speaking, Finland is an Eastern European country... and at least my mum keeps telling me that we were like a client state of the Soviet Union all the way until its dissolution.

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Re: Random Religion Thread

Postby vijayjohn » 2017-03-02, 4:28

Vlürch wrote:
Michael wrote:other Nordic countries

Finland isn't really Nordic, though

Yes, it is. "Nordic country" doesn't have anything to do with the Nordic languages; "Nordic languages" is merely a calque from, well, the Nordic languages.
Well, the EU is starting to become more and more dysfunctional and it's always been too heavily centered on Germany. Ever since Merkel basically told Erdoğan that the EU is going to do anything he asks if only he doesn't flood us with potential terrorists, no matter what the official line is, the EU really is like a Fourth Reich because that's what Erdoğan wants it to be for him to want Turkey to be a part of it. So the more politicians push for "benign censorship" like that of "hate speech", the easier they're making it for literal Neo-Nazis and Islamists to gain the support of people. It's like the saying "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". Most people don't like Nazis or other extremists, but if they are the only ones that criticise the suppression of freedom of speech and pushing of laws that simply couldn't possibly have any other purpose than to distract from the real issues (like focusing on transgender bathroom rights instead of discussing and trying to understand what the reasons for the increase in radicalisation are), most people are sooner or later going to become at least a little bit sympathetic towards them because on that regard they have a point.

So, the EU has a lot of good, and it's good in theory, but in practice it's just never going to work so the harder it is made for member states to leave, the more states are going to want to leave. Since there's already talk of special EU-wide military and police forces and shit like that, that rubs a lot of people the wrong way because it's too much like what the Third Reich and Soviet Union had. I guess in Finland it's easier to note that, since we don't have insane bans on the display of Nazi and Communist symbols that make it impossible to learn from the past.

how many facepalms
I skimmed through it, and the impression I got is that Judaism generally has a concept of hell even if it isn't literal.

It has a concept of a sort of Purgatory that is not entirely physical, that is comparable to a very intense feeling of shame, and where it's impossible to stay more than one year. That sounds like a pretty far cry from "hell" to me.
Geographically speaking, Finland is an Eastern European country...

There is literally no definition of Eastern Europe I can find that includes Finland, including the geographical definitions.
and at least my mum keeps telling me that we were like a client state of the Soviet Union all the way until its dissolution.

Irrelevant. Afghanistan was a client state of the Soviet Union until the late 1990s and is located nowhere near Eastern Europe.

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Re: Random Religion Thread

Postby Babbsagg » 2017-03-02, 21:25

Vlürch wrote:Most people don't like Nazis or other extremists, but if they are the only ones that criticise the suppression of freedom of speech


You mean, the same extremists and nazis who beat up journalists at their rallies and spam them with death threats on Facebook and Twitter?
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Re: Random Religion Thread

Postby księżycowy » 2017-03-02, 21:53

vijayjohn wrote:
Vlürch wrote:
I skimmed through it, and the impression I got is that Judaism generally has a concept of hell even if it isn't literal.

It has a concept of a sort of Purgatory that is not entirely physical, that is comparable to a very intense feeling of shame, and where it's impossible to stay more than one year. That sounds like a pretty far cry from "hell" to me.

I think a far more telling line in the Wikipedia article is:
Judaism does not have a specific doctrine about the afterlife

I will caption this by saying that I am no expert on Modern Judaism, but I do know a fair amount about the Old Testament and the Judaism it represents.

There are thoughts and concepts that can be seen as "hell." The major problem is that both the Hebrew Scriptures and Judaism tend to emphasis the here and now over that of any afterlife. But there are clear signs that at least groups with in Judaism have believed in a place we could call Hell, and I would hazard to guess that some still do. I think it's too much to categorically say that Judaism does not have a concept of Hell at all. Doing a web search on the topic brings up plenty of pages that say that Jews do believe in some sort of Hell.

Christians on the other hand are overly focused on the afterlife, and on Heaven and Hell. Thanks in large part to Jesus' own words. And as Jesus was Jewish, it seems that many at his time at least had some concept of Hell. And of an afterlife in general. Christian concepts are largely build on Jewish ones, whether from the OT, or from Jesus' time (and a bit after).

I also do not agree that Gehenna (or Sheol, or whatever you'd want to call it) is anything like Purgatory. Historically speaking, there is a strong sense of "in" and "out" in Judaism. Either you are in God's good graces, or you're not. being in a place like Gehenna implies, to Jews at least, that you are cast out (I'm thinking of Jesus' own words in Luke 13:28 here). Now, maybe Modern Judaism has loosened the strictness of this in/out paradigm, that I don't know. But Biblically speaking I don't think this sounds very much like Purgatory. I see Gehenna as a complete separation from God (even if for only a year), where as Purgatory is a place that is neither Heaven, nor completely apart from Heaven (as in God). Shame means ostracization in Judaism. Again I don't know what the Modern views on these things are.

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Re: Random Religion Thread

Postby Johanna » 2017-03-03, 2:29

Vlürch wrote:Why do "nationalists" always have to mix religion into it? Finland wasn't Christianised until the middle ages, and it was under the threat of being enslaved/killed by Swedes, so how the fuck can anyone call themselves a Finnish nationalist and claim that Finland is a traditionally Christian country? We're not, and religion should have absolutely nothing to do with nationality because freedom of religion and secularism are among the most important fucking things about democracy... and "Finnish nationalists" fight against that, as do the Swedish-speaking and Russian-speaking minorities... obviously, because Sweden and Russia are traditionally non-democratic, non-secular Christian countries that don't want Finland to be independent... so why the fuck do Finnish nationalists, both left-wing and right-wing, want to become just like one and/or the other?

You know who else suffered under Swedish religious oppression? Regular Swedish farmers and crofters!

The Swedish crusades into Finland during Medieval times weren't anything regular people did, only militia men who couldn't really say no since it was their only chance of employment (the guild system back then set everyone's career in stone from about the age of your early teens, and women had even less choice). And their lords of course...

And a few hundred years later when Swedish nobility caused a famine or several in Finland, they did so in the western half of the kingdom too... Believe me, most Swedes today have no love for the people in charge back when Finland was under Swedish rule, and most people who actually lived back then didn't either.

Once the 1400's came around, few Swedish (or Finnish) families were made noble, instead the King preferred to hand out titles to Germans and French mostly, noblemen whose families that had no connection at all to the people they were in charge of, so it was even easier to see them as commodities rather than human beings.

So, now when we've established that Finns and Swedes hate the old order equally...

When it comes to democracy, Sweden is once again a double-edged sword. We got universal suffrage in 1919, with the first elections falling under that in 1921. But we also denied certain minorities basic human rights for a long time after that, like Roma and non-straights and non-cis. But we have tried to make up for it lately with various anti-discrimination laws. Not to mention that when it comes to gender-equal marriage, we are way ahead of Finland, you got it two days ago while we've had it for almost eight years.

Oh, and is Finland's history any better when it comes to the Roma and Sami minorities? After 1809 or 1917 I mean?

I'm not even going to address the fact that we just got compared to a country where non-straights are under increasing pressure and beating your wife just got downgraded from a felony to a misdemeanour. As long as you don't break any bones that is, but bruises are very much OK... A country that didn't become democratic even on paper until the early 1990's by the way.
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Re: Random Religion Thread

Postby linguoboy » 2017-03-20, 14:26

At the risk of necroing, here's an article I stumbled across while searching for usage examples. It criticises "mission tourism" and references a book called Toxic charity which apparently goes into detail about its negative aspects: https://www.baptiststandard.com/news/baptist/18228-some-church-leaders-seek-end-to-mission-tourism
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Re: Random Religion Thread

Postby Johanna » 2017-03-21, 0:03

linguoboy wrote:At the risk of necroing

admin

In a Random thread, when you've got something to say? Never. Also, less than a month wouldn't even qualify in a regular thread ;)


linguoboy wrote:here's an article I stumbled across while searching for usage examples. It criticises "mission tourism" and references a book called Toxic charity which apparently goes into detail about its negative aspects: https://www.baptiststandard.com/news/baptist/18228-some-church-leaders-seek-end-to-mission-tourism

It looks a lot like the secular volunteer programmes very common in Europe, but with a very Christian slant. A typical example is when people want to make a difference for orphans, but instead of volunteering for an orphanage, they do it at it for 6 months to a year, so the kids living there have to relive the trauma of being abandoned over and over and over again...
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Re: Random Religion Thread

Postby vijayjohn » 2017-03-22, 1:35

It seems to me that there is a chance that missionaries are used for espionage. If that's true, then it would seem to me that even changing the way they do missionary work wouldn't be enough.

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Re: Random Religion Thread

Postby Varislintu » 2017-04-03, 17:39

Vlürch wrote:Also, what the hell... I thought Alfa TV was the batshit insane anti-evolution propaganda channel, but apparently that's TV7? What is Alfa TV? Also, TV7 suddenly disappeared today, which is good if it was the anti-evolution propaganda channel, but... what is Alfa TV? All that there is on it is weird shit about third world countries or something, which suggests it is also a brainwashing missionary propaganda channel, but is it the one that was the anti-evolution propaganda channel...? Are/were there two anti-evolution propaganda channels?


I've also noticed Alfa TV, but I haven't noticed that it would be anti-evolution. They ran a series of German (!?) mini-documentaries about vaccines that were pro-vaccine so they are not completely anti-science, at least. At first the channel also triggered my spidey-sense, because it has very religiously themed programs, but I've warmed up to it a little bit. I don't think they're batshit crazy fundies behind it. I've even watched some of it, like a docu on Doctors without Borders.

I don't think the channel should be banned by any means, like you suggested earlier in this thread, even though I think I may never have seen anything as ghastly as those US middle-class "white gospel" music shows. I think they may be a crime against music, gospel music, and baby Jesus. :shock:


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