Alright, time for all your Christian/Church/Religious/Clerical questions to be answered by a professional pastor with a Masters of Divinity (and also NCSU alum). Shoot.

7/12/2012 10:12:14 PM

[NO]

7/12/2012 10:12:49 PM

ITS A TRAP

[Edited on July 12, 2012 at 10:14 PM. Reason : dgeee]

7/12/2012 10:13:02 PM

Troll

[Edited on July 12, 2012 at 10:15 PM. Reason : troll]

7/12/2012 10:13:36 PM

What's the main difference between Catholics, Baptists, Jews, Protestants, Methodist, Mormans, Jehova's Witnesses, and those who attend the church of Latter Day Saints?

7/12/2012 10:14:29 PM

SO TUFF. fucking pricks!

7/12/2012 10:14:30 PM

when will i die?

7/12/2012 10:14:58 PM

No trolling here. No evangelism here. No bullshit. Time to get NC State up in this BIATCH. Just open honesty about religious questions and questions you never had the chance to ask a pastor.


There are only superifical differences between the various sects.....truth be told.

7/12/2012 10:17:36 PM

Anal sex GOOD?

7/12/2012 10:19:12 PM

In before leonispro

7/12/2012 10:20:28 PM

good luck having a serious thread in Chit Chat

ibnsfw

7/12/2012 10:21:02 PM

Dear Computer Guy,

What is the context of the ANAL SEX act???

7/12/2012 10:21:11 PM

Does it matter?

If I ever had a lady say ok to laying the pipe there?
is it different if my friend and his bf lay pipe?

7/12/2012 10:24:46 PM

I don't think you should say BIATCH if you are a pastor.

7/12/2012 10:26:38 PM

About 1/3 of the worlds population claims to be christian. Out of those I would imagine less than half actually adhere to the religion. So...if only Christians go to heaven, why would God design such a shitty system where ~80% of the population will burn in hell forever?

7/12/2012 10:30:36 PM

Why do people rely on misinterpreted translation?

I really do believe to really understand the true bible you have to compare the greek/hebrew versions with context.

What language did Jesus speak?

Why is it an unforeseen matter if Jesus really was married?

Why do people think that god would create a person, that since the beginning of understanding their own sexual attraction to be gay, would be thrown into hell for acting on the an aspect of how we were created in god's image? (sorry if that is a horrible sentence, I don't know how to correctly write it.)

Why does god give men more of a sexual appetite and ability to come almost every time? (not saying there aren't sexual women that come every time, it just seems more that a man can come quicker and easier than a woman. Also, contact boners.)
[Edited on July 12, 2012 at 10:40 PM. Reason : I'm ok with the cursing. ]

7/12/2012 10:34:25 PM

^ I thought you were serious until the last one came.


(one of my arguments to the weird interpretations of baptists is " have you read the greek version???")

[Edited on July 12, 2012 at 10:38 PM. Reason : -]

7/12/2012 10:37:07 PM

they are serious, DP.

7/12/2012 10:37:44 PM

poor attempt at pun.

7/12/2012 10:38:38 PM

Are devout Catholics going to hell because of their belief in penance?

[Edited on July 12, 2012 at 10:50 PM. Reason : e]

7/12/2012 10:48:25 PM

What if God was one of us?

7/12/2012 10:48:30 PM

It's about biology.

we need to spread our seed everywhere...

women know this.


Is punchmonk saying she wouldn't mind giving up the power for some power loving?

7/12/2012 10:49:04 PM

Quote :

"Why do people rely on misinterpreted translation? I really do believe to really understand the true bible you have to compare the greek/hebrew versions with context. What language did Jesus speak? Why is it an unforeseen matter if Jesus really was married? Why do people think that god would create a person, that since the beginning of understanding their own sexual attraction to be gay, would be thrown into hell for acting on the an aspect of how we were created in god's image? (sorry if that is a horrible sentence, I don't know how to correctly write it.) Why does god give men more of a sexual appetite and ability to come almost every time? (not saying there aren't sexual women that come every time, it just seems more that a man can come quicker and easier than a woman. Also, contact boners.) [Edited on July 12, 2012 at 10:40 PM. Reason : I'm ok with the cursing. ]"

Answers:
The Bible was written in mainly Hebrew and Koine Greek. Scholarly debate on the meaning of various words continues to this day and most serious Christians are attempting to figure out what these various words meant in their context in order to more faithfully live out what is understood to be the Word of God. I should mention to most Christians the 'Word of God' is also Christ, whom we rely on the Gospels to understand how to act/be in our ever-changing world. In other words, the Bible is a collection of book written by many people in a language that continues to escape and elude us to this very day, even the best-trained and most pious of scholars.

Jesus spoke Aramaic. He probably spoke enough Greek (the lingua franca of the day) to get by and interact with the evil Roman, pagan oppressor, lol.


It doesn't matter if Jesus was married or not. Jesus was most likely celibate during his ministry; but if he was married, this did not change his ministry. We do not know about Jesus' life from 12 to 30. He could have been married.

There are two ways to respond to this: one is to say that the Fall affected every aspect of creation, from the most innocent form of life aging and dying to a corruption of our sexual attraction. Homosexual attraction is thus a result of the Fall that is not in God's original designs.

The other way to say this is to look at the Adam and Eve story. Adam simply means 'person' in Hebrew, with some saying it may also mean 'soil or dust.' Only until Eve is created is there any distinction between male and female created. Why was the female created? In order to give the man companionship. If we extend this logic, then committed homosexual relationship can provided companionship to others' heart. There is therefore nothing wrong with homosexual attraction per se, only that Christian homosexual relationships take a covenant, public form that would ensure communal responsibility.


LOL, no straight or gay Bible answer on that one. But a man who treats his wife like Christ treats the church will make sure she is satisfied. Ugh....oh man I can't believe I just typed that.

7/12/2012 11:03:52 PM

Catholics are not going to hell.


I know many pastors who use much more vile language than 'BIATCH' when in the company of one another.

7/12/2012 11:06:00 PM

Quote :

"About 1/3 of the worlds population claims to be christian. Out of those I would imagine less than half actually adhere to the religion. So...if only Christians go to heaven, why would God design such a shitty system where ~80% of the population will burn in hell forever?"

Christianity is not of God's design. It is of Man's. You are confusing a relationship with Christ to adherence to something different than a relationship with Christ.

7/12/2012 11:07:46 PM

Or I should say that actually Christianity took shape in the early first-century as a movement within Judaism. As it took hold in Gentile provinces it began to take on a character of its own distinct from Judaism. In other words, Christ came NOT to provide a religion but a relationship.

7/12/2012 11:08:55 PM

SO when John was in the salt mines at an old age do you think he was having visions or do you think he was just going crazy/senile for an old guy? If he was the latter, then why do we even have the book of revelation? to scare people? to be able to create awesome dark movies?

Do you think the current day bible is complete and have you studied any other text that would possibly back up your answer?

Is dogma ever righteous?

Can you give me some scripture that talks about original sin? I don't really believe in that.

Why do churches have a bureaucracy? At what point should I live at Walden Pond?

Why should a christian rely on the bible if they don't completely get it? Maybe God breathed but def written by men

7/12/2012 11:19:41 PM

In what denomination are you ordained?

7/12/2012 11:31:32 PM

what makes your religion more correct than all the other religions?

7/12/2012 11:34:47 PM

Quote :

"What's the main difference between Catholics, Baptists, Jews, Protestants, Methodist, Mormans, Jehova's Witnesses, and those who attend the church of Latter Day Saints? "

The difference between a Baptist and a Lutheran? Lutherans acknowledge each other in the ABC store.

7/12/2012 11:36:33 PM

Quote :

"I know many pastors who use much more vile language than 'BIATCH' when in the company of one another."

really? i would think they would hold themselves to much higher standards than i hold myself. is that not usually the case? (seriously here)

7/12/2012 11:43:38 PM

Why do you think the Bible is the word of God? (other than because it says so)

7/12/2012 11:48:21 PM

What's the deal with earlier mythologies having some of the same stock type character histories for their gods and demigods as later religions have?

[Edited on July 13, 2012 at 12:00 AM. Reason : .]

7/12/2012 11:58:16 PM

Quote :

"What language did Jesus speak?"

English. Jesus was British.

7/13/2012 12:00:24 AM

Quote :

"Why does god give men more of a sexual appetite and ability to come almost every time?"

it all goes back to the fact that humans have large brains

a large brain requires a large head, which means that

1. for the baby's head to fit through his mama's vagina, he has to be born very early in his development, when he is helpless and will require years of nurturing

2. giving birth is really, really painful, meaning the woman is likely to die (at least in the old days) and will at any rate be incapacitated during the latter stages of her pregnancy, and unable to care for the children she already has

all this means that it is not necessarily to the species' advantage for the woman to fuck all the time and be constantly prego. ergo, she doesn't have as much desire to.

7/13/2012 12:25:29 AM

Quote :

"what makes your religion more correct than all the other religions?"

[Edited on July 13, 2012 at 1:37 AM. Reason : asdf]

7/13/2012 1:37:15 AM

Quote :

"Time to get NC State up in this BIATCH. "

7/13/2012 1:45:46 AM

Quote :

"really? i would think they would hold themselves to much higher standards than i hold myself. is that not usually the case?"

Ask Jim Bakker.

Or Ted Haggard.

Or the million other pastors that don't come close to the standards you hold yourself.

7/13/2012 2:03:22 AM

my childhood preacher (married with two kids) was screwing a member of the church (married) in his church office. Then he was all arrogant about being fired. Turned out that's how he lost his job at his last church.

7/13/2012 1:37:31 PM

Supplanter's question make me think of Gilgamesh.

7/13/2012 1:44:26 PM

I like the sequence in religulous where it shows lots of jesus stories of earlier religions.

7/13/2012 1:46:35 PM

Quote :

"Why do churches have a bureaucracy? At what point should I live at Walden Pond?"

Churches have a bureaucracy ideally in order to better promote the ministry of the church. Like almost anything, most things do better with some structure. Although I won't say some bureaucracies in the church are not about God but about human power.

I think you should live at Walden Pond (or its contemporary equivalent) just for shits and giggles.

7/13/2012 5:12:16 PM

My questions are for real. I am christian that questions my own religion ALL THE TIME. I would not bull shit about this because it does mean a great deal to me.

7/13/2012 5:15:00 PM

why did god create people that will surely live out their entire lives in ignorance of christianity, only to then create the punishment (being consciously tortured in fire for all of eternity) for their ignorance (which was no fault of their own) ?

[Edited on July 13, 2012 at 5:40 PM. Reason : dick move]

7/13/2012 5:39:08 PM

Why do you worship a false idol?

7/13/2012 5:40:54 PM

Proper role of Christians vis-a-vis the environment: Stewards/Caretakers or Dominion?

Not a troll question. I was raised baptist/methodist and had/have a serious questioning of faith due to numerous occasions of being told by supposed Christians that everything was placed here for humans to rape and pillage as we see fit. That just doesn't jive with my entire moral being.

7/13/2012 7:02:15 PM

In light of the fact that your beliefs are among the most appallingly preposterous fabrications known to man, u mad bro?

7/13/2012 7:20:13 PM

Quote :

"What's the main difference between Catholics, Baptists, Jews, Protestants, Methodist, Mormans, Jehova's Witnesses, and those who attend the church of Latter Day Saints?"

Quote :

"There are only superifical differences between the various sects.....truth be told."

This is the only thing I have a problem with mainly because most of these "sects" as you called them encourage something that is

Quote :

"adherence to something different than a relationship with Christ."

7/13/2012 9:08:01 PM

7/13/2012 9:51:00 PM

why does god only reveal himself on pieces of toast to lunatics ?

[Edited on July 13, 2012 at 11:13 PM. Reason : what up wit that]

7/13/2012 11:13:28 PM