"And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive."
Matthew 21:22
I just had a short thought which is a wee bit too long for Twitter.
Matthew 21:22 says that if you have faith, your prayers will be answered, guaranteed. It's saying that if a faithful Christian pray right now for all suffering, hunger, sickness and hyenas to vanish clean off the continent of Africa, it will be so.
Supposing that the Christian God exists and the Bible is true. This can only mean two things.
- No faithful Christian in the world ever had prayed for the cessation of misery in Africa. None cared enough to kneel down by the side of their beds at night and spend a couple of seconds whispering: "Jesus, please fix Africa." Because apparently faithful Christians are all unfeeling apathetic assholes, right down to the very last one.
- No Christians in the world has faith. That's why none of their petitions to Jesus worked, and Africa remains a shithole of starvation, AIDS and genocides.
Let's carry that line of reasoning a little further. Revelations 21:8 states, "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone" - meaning that those who are horrible or faithless would go to hell. Considering that there can only be two possible types of Christians in the world (horrible and faithless), each and every one of them will have damnation to look forward to in the afterlife.
You may argue that being indifferent towards the plight of wretched Africans does not make that person abominable, but that would only mean that heaven is full of assholes.
Considers the Bible to be
a fun-filled puzzle book,
k0k s3n w4i
6 comments:
I'm going with the bible is full of baloney.
Cool.
/writes down contradiction for future reference.
navin: throw in some condiments and garnish and you'll have a great baloney sandwich.
Rewarp: it's not exactly a contradiction per se. it's more of a socratic logic bomb.
Matthew 21:21 Jesus answered them, "Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done. 21:22 Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive."
Now the presumption that Christians have been given a blank check, eg. "Whatever i want, i shall have!!!" is a classic example of failing to understand biblical text in its proper context. Not to mention utterly ridiculous.
Because a few chapters later in Matt 28:18 Jesus said: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." The implication is that it is ultimately up to God that decides how mountains are to be moved.
The whole debate about why God allows suffering, sin, Africa, AIDS, etc and why aren't we living on Sesame Street is another hot topic altogether.
Btw about the fig tree, you should know that when a fig tree's leaves start to bud there will be a tiny fruit called taksh( immature fig but edible and sold in Jerusalem markets to be eaten) that appear in the leaf axils.
So when Jesus came across the fig tree, he had every reason to expect something edible on it, however he found nothing but leaves. The tree appeared to be fruitful, but it only had outward signs of bearing fruit (leaves) and was worthless.
The bible can be easily misleading, even to Christians! IF you truly want to understand the Bible, reading it with narrow scepticism and contempt doesn't help.
Anonymous: "Because a few chapters later in Matt 28:18 Jesus said: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." The implication is that it is ultimately up to God that decides how mountains are to be moved."
that's weak. god decides how mountains are to be moved, but it is by the authority of god as well that any prayer made in good faith would be answered. it's quite clear. your apologetic made no sense whatsoever.
"The whole debate about why God allows suffering, sin, Africa, AIDS, etc and why aren't we living on Sesame Street is another hot topic altogether."
yes, god is a real dick, huh?
"Btw about the fig tree, you should know that when a fig tree's leaves start to bud there will be a tiny fruit called taksh( immature fig but edible and sold in Jerusalem markets to be eaten) that appear in the leaf axils.
So when Jesus came across the fig tree, he had every reason to expect something edible on it, however he found nothing but leaves. The tree appeared to be fruitful, but it only had outward signs of bearing fruit (leaves) and was worthless."
another weak apologetic. mark 11:13 is worded such, "And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet."
the explanation given within the book for the tree's fig-lessness (taqsh or otherwise) was that it was not the season for it yet. the fig tree is clearly allegorical for the temple. then there's also the issue of a clear contradiction between mark's and matthew's accounts of the same event. in mark, the fig tree only withered after jesus lost his shit at the temple. in matthew, the curse's effect was observed immediately (the disciples who witnessed it even remarked how quickly it happened). clearly, the bible's narrators are unreliable - and this is what you base your entire worldview around? conflicting two-thousand-year-old reports about a magic man?
"The bible can be easily misleading, even to Christians! IF you truly want to understand the Bible, reading it with narrow scepticism and contempt doesn't help."
funny. that's what my muslim and hindu friends say about their holy books. if you are unsceptical about fantastic stories of miracles, then you'd believe in any nonsense - and then try to make lame excuses for untruths or contradictions within the object of your faith.
Maybe it'll take Mormons' undoubting devoutness to counter the problems in Africa ... just send 'Elder Cunningham' and 'Elder Price'. ;-)
(don't forget to bring the frog ...)
Srsly tho, kindness in humanities still do accounts more than prayers here, maybe not in spades but in small steps, within each own's capacity and ability? (cue Jewel's "Hands" song)
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