Red Letter Christianity

[carpedm9587]

He is. And he can't find his pocket watch, either.

Well - we have something in common. I'm not missing entire fingers, but I did lose the tip of my left middle finger just below the nail in a college accident. I have to be careful when kids notice it and ask to see it, or I end up flipping them the bird!

[Mountain Man]

Further, you can't seriously think that a discussion board is an actual representation of what people are in real life. There are a number of people here who boldly attack me and my character, but I'd bet you a round of root beers these same people would be cowering little weenies if they met me in real life, and would never talk to me that way. Likewise, no doubt, there are a number of us who would not talk to other people like we do here.

TheologyWeb was explicitly established as a forum for debate (the slogan used to be "We debate theology... seriously!"), and this is still how many of us approach this website. It's also a public forum which shapes my interaction since I'm rarely trying to convince the person I'm directly debating and am more interested in simply getting arguments and ideas out into the open where others can see them and decide for themselves. I admittedly have a sarcastic and confrontational streak in me that I keep in check in my personal interactions -- for instance, I'm a lot more circumspect when posting comments to personal friends and colleagues on Facebook, and when I recently engaged a coworker to address some of his misconceptions about Christianity and he literally laughed in my face, I simply walked away -- but when publicly debating pigheaded anti-Christians and hypocrites? I look to the example of Jesus and the Apostles who never pulled their punches.

[Mountain Man]

Now please show me where Jesus uttered the words, "Prattling Pilate" and "Horrible Herrod" and all of the rest of the childish taunts.

There are actually several examples in the Old Testament in particular where a prophet would subtly change an ideological opponent's name to turn it into something derogatory, or they would deliberately invoke something that was culturally offensive as a form of mockery (such as Elijah taunting the prophets of Baal by suggesting that their god wasn't answering their prayers because he was on the toilet). Then there's Jesus who often dispensed with subtly and straight up called his opponents "a pit of vipers" or "a white washed tomb full of dead men's bones", language that would have been regarded as egregiously offensive in the first century. A lot of these examples are often "lost in translation", either because the English language doesn't accurately convey the nuance, or people are simply ignorant of Biblical culture and aren't aware of how certain words and phrases would have been understood at the time.

[Mountain Man]

As for the idea of "Red Letter Christianity", no thank you. The context around Jesus' words is just as important as the words themselves. To pretend that the "red letters" are somehow more important than all the rest of scripture strikes me as heretical.

[Cow Poke]

As for the idea of "Red Letter Christianity", no thank you. The context around Jesus' words is just as important as the words themselves. To pretend that the "red letters" are somehow more important than all the rest of scripture strikes me as heretical.

Yeah, I'm kinda drawn to the "red letter" parts, but not in isolation -- context is crucial.

Reminds me of the story of the guy who was desperate for "a word from God", so he decided to close his eyes, plop his Bible open, and just point at a verse, then open his eyes to see what God was saying...

First attempt:

Matt 27:5 So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

Puzzled, he decided to try again....

Luke 10:37 ....Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

Worried, he decided to try one last time:

What you are about to do, do quickly.

[Mountain Man]

Perhaps we can start with any post from MM in which he changes the name of the person to whom he is responding to some grade-school taunt...?

It only took until post #14 to expose the real intent of this thread. It would have been more honest if you had titled it "Do tWeb Christians agree with Mountain Man's debate style?" with a simple yes/no poll. Why act like you're interested in elevating the level of discourse in general when it's obviously me specifically that you have a beef with?

I'll also make note of the irony of your attempts to shame me into "correcting" my behavior with your own insulting language (your use of the phrase "grade-school taunt" was not accidental).

[One Bad Pig]

It only took until post #14 to expose the real intent of this thread. It would have been more honest if you had titled it "Do tWeb Christians agree with Mountain Man's debate style?" with a simple yes/no poll. Why act like you're interested in elevating the level of discourse in general when it's obviously me specifically that you have a beef with?

I'll also make note of the irony of your attempts to shame me into "correcting" my behavior with your own insulting language (your use of the phrase "grade-school taunt" was not accidental).

Carpe is an example of the rarely seen demographic "holier than thou atheist."

Strangely enough, it doesn't come across any better than the more typical holier than thou Christian.

[carpedm9587]

There are actually several examples in the Old Testament in particular where a prophet would subtly change an ideological opponent's name to turn it into something derogatory, or they would deliberately invoke something that was culturally offensive as a form of mockery (such as Elijah taunting the prophets of Baal by suggesting that their god wasn't answering their prayers because he was on the toilet). Then there's Jesus who often dispensed with subtly and straight up called his opponents "a pit of vipers" or "a white washed tomb full of dead men's bones", language that would have been regarded as egregiously offensive in the first century. A lot of these examples are often "lost in translation", either because the English language doesn't accurately convey the nuance, or people are simply ignorant of Biblical culture and aren't aware of how certain words and phrases would have been understood at the time.

If that's the kind of person you want to be, MM, and you want to justify it with an appeal to the bible - so be it.

It's not the kind of person I want to be.

[carpedm9587]

It only took until post #14 to expose the real intent of this thread. It would have been more honest if you had titled it "Do tWeb Christians agree with Mountain Man's debate style?" with a simple yes/no poll. Why act like you're interested in elevating the level of discourse in general when it's obviously me specifically that you have a beef with?

I'll also make note of the irony of your attempts to shame me into "correcting" my behavior with your own insulting language (your use of the phrase "grade-school taunt" was not accidental).

You're sounding like CP... "this is about me, isn't it..."


You were a handy example, MM - not the subject matter at hand.

[carpedm9587]

Carpe is an example of the rarely seen demographic "holier than thou atheist."

Strangely enough, it doesn't come across any better than the more typical holier than thou Christian.

Interesting. I'm trying to find a claim I made that suggested that I was better than anyone else at any of this, and I'm not finding it. Can you point me to it?

[Mountain Man]

You were a handy example, MM - not the subject matter at hand.

Right... which is why I'm the only person to be explicitly named with one of my posts served up as an example.

What could possibly make me think that I'm the real target of this ostensibly general grievance?

[Sparko]

Interesting. I'm trying to find a claim I made that suggested that I was better than anyone else at any of this, and I'm not finding it. Can you point me to it?

How about the previous post of yours?

If that's the kind of person you want to be, MM, and you want to justify it with an appeal to the bible - so be it.

It's not the kind of person I want to be.

[Mountain Man]

If that's the kind of person you want to be, MM, and you want to justify it with an appeal to the bible - so be it.

It's not the kind of person I want to be.

In other words, your "Where is this behavior exhibited in the Bible?" argument just blew up in your smug little face.

As my pastor once said, Jesus was always loving, but he wasn't always nice.

[rogue06]

Carpe is an example of the rarely seen demographic "holier than thou atheist."

While not extremely common I'd hardly characterize it as rare.

[carpedm9587]

Right... which is why I'm the only person to be explicitly named with one of my posts served up as an example.

What could possibly make me think that I'm the real target of this ostensibly general grievance?

An example is an example. I'm not familiar with anyone substituting names, so I used the one I know. I could as easily have pointed to Rogue's or Sparko's mocking memes. Maybe they would have decided the thread was all about them. But if you want to make the entire thread about you...go for it.