Why does it seem the SL population hates Christians?

Fanatism is fanatism, no matter what colour you paint it with, either religious or atheist. And it is an abominable thing, just like murder, racism and the rest of crap we humans have invented.

Jesus (or any other person that you yourself consider "enlightened" must be indeed quite sad to see that many of the people who brandish his name as if it were a halberd didn't understand a single word of what he tried to accomplish. Must be quite frustrating to tell people to love each other and see how a bunch of fanatical idiots distort it into a parody.

I think the majority of the SL population have a "live and let live" approach, but it's always the biggest asses that make the biggest impressions.

Googled a bit harder and you might have found the answers

http://www.win.net/ratsnest/archive-articles-4/fog0000000021.html

Diligentia maximum etiam mediocris ingeni subsidium ...

Didn't Jesus preach tolerance?

I'm going to hell I guess as well.

Next you'll be telling me that cake and rum aren't the body and blood of Aimee Weber.

I thought it was pie?

I'm DELICIOUS!

Nice dodge; you could have at least Googled the response that was already out there, which basically blames it all on the Jews and still says boys kissing is A HUGE SIN. How about I find some, from the new testament, that I have problems with:

1 Peter 2:18 "Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh."

Colossians 3:22 "Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord."

1 Timothy 6:1 "All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God's name and our teaching may not be slandered."

Matthew 10:24 "A student is not greater than the teacher. A slave is not greater than the master."

Revelation 2:22-23 "So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds."

Killing children? Slavery? Nice.

The vast majority of Christian are good, moral people who use their religion as both inspiration and moral code. Those who are brainwashed are a different entity entirely.

Regards,

-Flip

Seems to me nobody's stopping you from saying what you feel. Among the things listed by Flipper and others that annoy non-Christians is this constant drumbeat of self-martyrdom. Christianity virtually runs the United States. You're not martyrs.


Get serious. There are reasons for that "power" -- one, the basic message of love and forgiveness is an attractive one to human beings. And two, since the state endorsement under Constantine and the state enforcement during the Dark Ages, that particular religion has had the singular luxury of reinventing history for itself. The real power behind Christianity has been political, not spiritual.


Utter baloney. It only guarantees that the government will not endorse or restrict the exercise of a religion. You can choose to interpret it as allowing you to worship as you please (which would be true). I interpret it to also mean I don't have to put up with other people's superstitions being shoved into my face. Both are equally valid.

The human animal seems to require faith of some kind -- most do, anyway. I acknowlege that, and respect it. But I refuse to sit quietly while some people attempt to cast aspersions on my LACK of belief as if it automatically makes me immoral or 'evil'. My integrity is a matter of personal choice, not a product of someone else's commandments.

http://del.icio.us/ ?

Ty, i'll say this. I've got nothing wrong with Christians as long as they don't outright tell me that i'm going to hell and claim with their 100% certainty that every belief they have is right. You don't (seem to anyways) and that's great. Unfortunately there's people out there like Lewis Nerd who do and make a bad name for the whole faith. People who get attacked by people like him, tend to blanket the whole faith in rage when they should be targetting an area of it. It really can't be helped.

Unfortunately, there's nothing you can do to get people like Lewis to calm their fire and brimstone religious zeal they inflict upon others, and certainly you don't want to have to give up proclaiming your faith. Unfortunately it'll just have to be something you'll have to deal with, but know that not all of SL hates christians. However much of SL may have disfavorable opinions on Christianity since much of SL is gay, bi, lesbian, or transgender, and let's face it. Christianity threw the first punch in that realm.

I think Christian texts are a really good example of how the teachings and overall good-ideas of Jesus can get turned into THAT in 2000 years by people with agendas and opinions over generations.

Its really a shame that a text that was told orally initially, and translated many, many, many times is taken so literally. The base message, a quoted in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, is quite simple: "Nearly 2000 years after one man got nailed to a tree for saying how great it would be if people were nice to one another for a change..."

How did that get changed into GAYS ARE EVIL! PRE-EMPTIVE STRIKE! WWJD! A real shame, because most Christians stick to the basics of a base moral code, but the louder brainwashed crowd bring much negative attention.

Regards,

-Flip

I don't think the SL population as a whole hates Christians, Ty. To the contrary, there's a vibrant Christian Community here.

That said, I do think that the politics of the average SL citizen are a bit further to the Left than the U.S. population as a whole, much like the western world is a bit left of the U.S.

Many on the left see evengelical christains as extremists, much like Al-Queda are extremist Muslims. While I personally agree that some evengelicals are extremists, I don't believe they all are. Much like some environmentalists are extremists, but not all are.

I'm sure if you were a hardcore environmentalist, and placed your firmly-held beliefs in your profile, you might be a target for folks who like to be a jerk as well.

It is my belief that ALL stereotypists are extremists!

MM

That's neat.

I bumped into Jesus at Macworld Boston many years back. Homeboy wasn't carrying his wallet, so I offered to buy him lunch. Seemed like a cool opportunity to hang out with a cool guy.

Anyway, turkey clubs in hand, Jesus and I had a seat in a crowded sammich shop and got to talking.

"So what's up with J-Money these days," I began.

"Eh, you know. I told all these guys I would come back some day and hook them up with a mad-pimped crib up in paradise. I guess I gotta get around that, here in a few years," Jesus was saying, his voice taking a slight weariness.

"You don't seem too pumped about it."

"Yeah, well, I didn't count on these guys going so crazy about it. They made all these little clubs based on my name and they got nasty with everyone who didn't join their particular club. Even if they were in another club that was also dedicated to me. Didn't matter. It's like, dude, just chill the fuck out. Did you read any of that stuff my guys wrote? At all? I told you to be compassionate, not treat eachother like crap." The Lord finished this last with a bit of a sigh.

I frowned, but pressed on. "You think you let them take it too far?"

Now intense, The Lord continued, "You know, I never liked writing. At all. I was always more of a nature guy. So I figured, well, I'm not going to bother writing any of this stuff down myself. I got a bunch of guys, they're dedicated, they're going to get it all in print once I'm gone, I may as well focus on the here-and-now. Should have taken more control of the process. Even come to that, though, by the time they got around to making their little clubs, they were making shit up on their own anyway, each club coming up with little differentiators so that people would particularly want to join it. And it's not like I can babysit mankind or anything -- that misses the whole point of my mission."

"So now what? These guys are all treating eachother like shit. And the ones who don't believe get treated like crap by those who do."

"Yeah. Now you see why I'm not exactly looking forward to showing up and dealing with these dudes. They're going to be so pissed off when I tell them how many won't be coming with me."

"What do you mean?" Now I was fascinated.

"Well, they're running around bashing non-believers and outsiders over the head with their thick leather books. That kind of runs counter to my goals and reduces the number of people I can get to understand my message. That really sucks. You think I'm going to be hooking up those idiots with a phatty crib up in paradise? Hell no. These guys are making me look like a horse's ass just to satisfy their own insecurities."

Now I understood, "So these guys who run around announcing to all who will listen that they are leading righteous lives while at the same time being unwelcoming and prejudiced against others are deluding themselves without actually helping you?"

Jesus nodded, "Well, yes, exactly that. To be sure, all the humble, patient and gracious adherents wil be coming up with me, regardless of what Jesus Club they joined. But you think I want a bunch of shit-stirrers coming up and making trouble? Come on. I'm the project manager for an entire universe. I don't have time for that kindergarten shit."

There was a pause. I looked at The Lord for a moment, considering my words.

"Jesus, do I get to come with you? I never really joined any of those clubs, but you seem like a cool guy."

Jesus Christ smiled at me, smacked the table and rose with a sudden jauntiness that was completely at odds with his brief weariness. I suddenly felt very, very good.

"I think you know whether or not you come with me is up to you," the Son of God told me. He clapped me on the shoulder and walked out of the sandwich shop.

He was whistling something by Johnny Mercer as he left. He'd never touched his sandwich.

Exactly, and not to mention that one of Jesus' teachings was that you didn't find God in a church or through Rabbi (since at that time peasants were told they could not directly talk to God because they were unworthy, they had to go to Church and channel god through a Rabbi there), and he taught that God was in everyone one of us and we didn't need such orders. (part of the reason why he was killed, this didn't bide to well for the papal power at the time), but the ironic part is that after he gets crusified some 600 years later, it turns into a papal power with priests and popes saying that only they are worthy of talking to god again. So it all goes full circle in that human greed and lust for power will always change things to what suits them best.

Or if I put into my profile the basis of my own beliefs, I'd catch flak too. If you don't want flak, don't go public with your personal feelings and opinions.

The SL community as a whole is pretty live-and-let-live I think. But there will always be the anti-gay/anti-furry/anti-conservative/anti-liberal/anti-sex/anti-escort/anti-anything bunch who feel like they have a right to scream and yell about other people expressing their opinions but also scream equally loud when they're called out themselves. Those screamers are vocal, but they're not in any majority that I'm aware of.

EDIT: Enabran, that's a Hall of Fame quality post.

The simple answer is St. Paul, who despite his purported redemption, continued to propagate Pharisaism under the auspices of Christianity. But it's more than that. There are distinct traces of Gnosticism in Paul's thought: being caught up to the "seventh heaven", borrowed straight out of Gnostic Christianity's concentric model of the spiritual world, his rejection of the corrupt "sarx" (flesh, in english).

Paul took the worst aspects of his pharisaical movement and Gnostic Christianity, stuck them in a blender with his visionary experience on the road to Emmaus and managed to synthesize Christianity into a movement that was probably not only unrecognizable to its founder but also to many contemporary Christians (witness the number of epistles Paul sends out in which he is "correcting" the practices of other Churches).

Just this Quaker's 2 cents (who is one to talk about the dangers of visionary experiences).

wow...did you write that?

So answer his new charges coming from the New Testement then.

Religious evangelizing is not a good way to win friends on a left-leaning web forum.

Me? The following quote pretty much sums up my opinions on religion and my own personal faith system (which I do take fairly seriously, but I realize it's not infallible.)

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
--Ben Franklin

And there we are.

Nobody said you can't say what you believe. But just because you're a Christian doesn't mean you get a free pass from criticism either.

It isn't the power "behind the name of Christ" that worries non-Christians, it's the worldly power that Christians have used against us over the centuries.

That said, anybody who im's somebody and rants about something in his or her profile is an idiot. The o.p. should immediately file an abuse report every time that happens. Hopefully that will weed out the idiots or at least make them change their behavior.

Harassing somebody because of his or her religious beliefs is a direct violation of the TOS and whoever does it should be banned. Permanently. There's enough of that crap in the real world, we don't need it in SL.

Actually it isn't what the Bible says. The Bible says that nothing can be added or taken away from the Law. That means that the New Testament (which was added) isn't a valid part of the Bible. So, no, the Bible doesn't say that.

Awesome story Enabran.

I also liked how the movie Dogma did it.

Rufus: He still digs humanity, but it bothers Him to see the shit that gets carried out in His name - wars, bigotry, but especially the factioning of all the religions. He said humanity took a good idea and, like always, built a belief structure on it.

Bethany: Having beliefs isn't good?

Rufus: I think it's better to have ideas. You can change an idea. Changing a belief is trickier. Life should malleable and progressive; working from idea to idea permits that. Beliefs anchor you to certain points and limit growth; new ideas can't generate. Life becomes stagnant.

Just goes to show you that even doing favors for the Son of Man doesn't buy you a ticket into heaven. I will never do a favor for anyone ever again. EVAR.

MM