A lack of definitions

[Wertbag]

Recently I've come across a lot of examples of Christianity lacking definitions.  Most recently was the discussion about being made in the "image of god" but no one really knows what that means.  Is image a physical shape?  A mental ability?  Something about our personality?  What do we have that animals do not?

Similar to what exactly a soul is.  Do only humans have one?  What does one do?  Why do our memories and personalities change if we are recorded on an immaterial soul?  If they aren't recorded on the soul, then what exactly would transfer away at death?

 

Then I came across a discussion around Noah's Ark where the YEC Christian said "there was around 14,000 Kinds of animals" but when asked to define a "Kind" it got very vague.  It seems to be whatever the Christian requires, as the specifics seemed to change:  "You know, it's animals that can breed", "So in the case of ring species the two animals on each end of the chain are different "Kinds"?", "Well, no, they are still the same kind...  It's just kind of obvious, you know?"

 

Then we come to the 10 commandments.  "No Graven images" at least until the Ark of the covenant, then stick golden statues on top of that.  So what images are allowed?  Is the cross a graven image?  Should a Christian do carvings at all?  And "You shouldn't take the Lords name in vain", but no one knows what his name is, so what exactly are we not allowed to say?  If God is an immaterial force, then surely it doesn't even have a name?  When asked He said "I am what I am", that would be nameless, but some religious folks took that to mean that phrase was a literal name.  So what exactly are we not meant to use and what usage is not allowed?

"Honour your father and mother", what is honouring?  Does it require action or just thought?  What if your parents are abusive or horrible people?

If working the Sabbath is a crime worthy of death, what exactly counts as "work"?  An old man collecting sticks was considered death worthy, but unless he intended to sell those then that wouldn't be work in a commercial way, so are we talking about any physical exertion?  Should we be stoning emergency service workers to death for daring to work the Sabbath?

 

Western society is "based on Judo-Christian values".  What values?   Has the changes away from racism, slavery and segregation moved us further from Judo-Christian values, and if so is that a bad thing?  Did giving women the vote insult God?

 

"The Bible is literal!" except when its not.  Some parts are poetry, or parables, or just stories, but if that is so then how do you choose which parts are true and which are moral stories?  Which parts applied to the people of the day and which are we meant to still to follow?  How do you define "inspired"?  Is 100% of the writing inspired, or are some of the parts historic records or news reports on events?  

 

You don't even want to ask a Christian to define "secular", "atheist", "humanist" or "agnostic".  Some Christians just seem to use all such terms to mean Anti-Christian, there are often no distinction between such terms, even with them being blended in the same sentence.

[mwc]

     You bring up a lot of mysterious things.

 

          mwc

 

[◊ Weezer ◊]

Your list is a good representation of the things that led me "astray".   

[alreadyGone]

You make many valid observations here.

 

Words have meanings.

In my opinion/to my observation:

Humans lie all day, every day, to themselves and to everyone around them by playing around the edges of words and their true meanings, exploiting the inherent ambiguities of language.

 

It's one thing I began to observe with deliberation as I left the xian belief-system, to gauge this in believers versus non-believers, in my limited subjective way.

 

I never saw any difference in how easily believers will fall to using edge-case-ambiguity to move their apologetics forward across the table, as compared to the way non-believers do in any other discussion or debate.

For what that may be worth.

 

People do so love the power of being able to use the subtle edge-case ambiguity inherent in some words to deliberately deceive. We celebrate it in fact, across all strata of society.

 

Imagine a virus which destroyed the vocal-chords of everyone who contracted it.

And it swept the world in a global pandemic until all had been effected.

 

 

 

 

 

[Wertbag]

3 hours ago, alreadyGone said:

You make many valid observations here.

I was just about to reply to your tithing joke and you edited it before I could...  was just gonna say that as a Catholic we don't tithe, we don't just give money for the hell of it, we give out of pure guilt 

[alreadyGone]

Yeah.. I've a neurotic habit of editing myself. Thought the joke a waste of your thread and..

 

Mornings are the roughest.

Gotta go out for a walk now and repent.

I'm thinking somehow to attempt a caffeine withdrawal.

I am surely losing my mind.

 

I hope you woke today to find yours. 

 

Edited to add:

If I do got a 'soul', it's a damned shabby one.

 

[◊ Weezer ◊]

3 hours ago, alreadyGone said:

Yeah.. I've a neurotic habit of editing myself. Thought the joke a waste of your thread and..

 

Mornings are the roughest.

Gotta go out for a walk now and repent.

I'm thinking somehow to attempt a caffeine withdrawal.

I am surely losing my mind.

 

I hope you woke today to find yours. 

 

Edited to add:

If I do got a 'soul', it's a damned shabby one.

 

 

  I've had days like that.