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It's just that she's crazy. Christianity in no way encourages abuse of children or even people who are demon possessed.
Psalm 127:3 ESV [3] Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.
Matthew 19:13-15 ESV [13] Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, [14] but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” [15] And he laid his hands on them and went away.
Luke 17:2 ESV [2] It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.
It's just a paranoid/crazy person masquerading as religious.
Edit: turns out she isn't even a Christian, she's a Mormon. I guessed she was a Protestant Christian from your message.
Oh boy! Bible verses taken out of context! Let's look into these, shall we?
Deuteronomy was about preparing Israel for the coming of Messiah. It's not a command for today's Christian people. Same with Exodus. They exist as historical record.
Psalm 137 is lamenting what Babylon did to Israel. It was an eye for an eye rhetoric, as the Babylonians had murdered their children. Again, Psalms aren't prescriptions. They're songs written by a Jewish king.
Mormons aren't Christian. They reject the Trinity for a start and have additional scripture, just like Islam with their Qur'an or Jehovah's witnesses with the Watchtower publications.
Ah yes, the continuously exhausting tradition of Christians who believe in one doctrine introduced hundreds of years after the death of Jesus Christ (trinitarianism) denying the beliefs of Christians who believe in other doctrines introduced after the death of Jesus Christ.
Our beliefs have much more in common than you think.
The trinity is literally in the Bible and Jesus Himself literally referenced it.
The concept of the trinity defined by the Nicene Creed is vastly elaborated compared to the verses in the New Testament that refer to it. At the same time, there are several instances where the trinitarian view of God is nonsensical, such as when the Father announces His acceptance of Jesus' baptism, or the numerous times Jesus stated that He was "returning" to "His Father". How would a single being return to Himself? Why would He engage in ventriloquism at the scene of His baptism?
Regardless, we both believe in Jesus Christ, even if we believe in different things about Him. We are therefore both Christians.
What you described the trinity as being was Modalism, which the Nicene creed doesn't teach. The definition of the trinity is in the Athanasian Creed.
To lay what the Bible clearly teaches:
There is one God. Jesus is God. Jesus always existed. The Holy Spirit is God. The Holy Spirit is referenced in both testaments. The Father is God. The Father always existed. Jesus prays to the Father. The Father and the Holy spirit are both present alongside each other at Jesus' baptism. Jesus flat out equates the Father, Son and Holy Spirit together when talking of Baptism.
God is above creation and our laws. We only understand our unitarian nature - that we can only be in one place at one time. Just like how we being three dimensional creatures can only relate to three dimensions. So it wouldn't make sense for God to abide by our laws, but to be manifest in three persons spanning time and space and the laws of this universe.
This is exactly the same doctrine as the Godhead. God the Father is God. God the Son, Jesus Christ, is God. The Holy Spirit is God. Three together in unity, all present during the baptism of Christ. All eternal.
I don't see a disagreement here.
No it isn't, Mormons believe in three gods and that the father was once a human like us.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics-essays/becoming-like-god?lang=eng&id=p18#p18
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/godhead?lang=eng&id=p2#p2
Okay, but you're talking about an entirely different doctrine now: Deification.
Regardless, I consider myself a Christian because I worship Jesus Christ. Every religious service or act I have ever participated in has been done in His name. The most significant doctrines I believe in were preached by Him.
I find the idea that because I don't believe in the Athanasian Creed I am therefore not a Christian to be absurd and impossible to support authoritatively. You are, of course, entitled to your own opinion on this matter.
I reject your opinion entirely.
So you're claiming that there is a context where beating children to death with rocks is a good thing? As a humanist, I'm glad I don't have to make desperate excuses for those kinds of doctrines. Are you suggesting that the Old Testament is not the word of your god? Because if so, we would agree.
The Old Testament isn't just a historical record for your religion. It is the moral foundation upon which your entire belief system is based. If the old Testament is a weak, rotten, crumbling, amoral structure, then all of Christendom never had legs to stand upon.
And it is.
Didn't say it was a good thing. Description, not prescription. King David was angry, generally this falls under "imprecatory psalms". Basically nobody in the Bible was perfect apart from Jesus which is the whole point. Selfish laws are given and screwed up things happen. Saying the Old Testament is a literal word of God is unfortunately an oversimplification which even some Christians don't pay too much attention to as they should. It's a historical record of God's people. Sure there are good lessons and things to learn in there, and it demonstrates why we needed Jesus. But basically everyone has some form of shortcoming apart from Jesus. It's there for honesty (criteria of embarrassment) rather than for flat out glorification.
Christianity is hinged primarily on the Life, death and most importantly - resurrection of Jesus Christ. When God became incarnate as a man and lived the perfect life to die a death we all deserved.
Then the word of your god is imperfect. Especially so for corrupting the moral behavior of humanity for some 4000 years. Had your scriptures condemned slavery, genocide, child sacrifice, torture, rape, and war from the beginning, your religion could hold the high ground. But it condoned it instead, just like all the other religions. Just like the bloodthirsty kings and greedy priests who made it up in the first place to justify their lusts. Just like Christians have always used it to oppress others and enrich themselves.
Seriously though, you ought to read your Bible. And while you do, I dare you to ponder these questions:
"How would I know whether this is the word of God, or if Satan wrote it pretending to be God? If Satan wrote it, how could it be any worse? If God wrote it, why isn't it any better?"
You basically just skipped over what I said, because the Bible is not literally the word of God. The old testament was the compilation of scriptures that the second temple Jews used in the time of Jesus that Jesus mentioned, and the New Testament were all written first generation/apostolic accounts of Jesus and theology. So of course there's going to be descriptions of evil, compromises made with evil to fulfill the greater picture, concessions, etc. Even Jesus made this clear about Old Testament law:
Matthew 19:8 ESV He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.
So when it came to laws regarding Israel, they had to have laws to prevent immorality from leaking in and also have laws about keeping slaves as taking slaves was normal in that society. But it is worth mentioning that the slaves were treated better in comparison. Israel could barely behave with these concessions nevermind without. And in the grand scheme of things, you're forgetting this is a finite life compared with infinity.
Heck. People nowadays cannot even obey Jesus' "do not divorce your wife" law. We still need framework to compromise with that.
I'm glad you agree that it literally is not the word of god. But it is a book which condones all those things I listed before, which means that it also is not a book of morality or wisdom. Any book which says that it's ok to kill, enslave, and rape children, or to beat people to death with rocks for who they love may, indeed must, be completely distrusted in every way by a modern reader. At best it is a collection of unreliable historical texts by ignorant, backward, corrupt leaders of an ancient world.
But that leaves you with the problem of believing that these people got it right when it comes to the existence of the god you worship today. It further leaves you with the problem of the history of your religion being one of ruthless adherence to the worst teachings of the Old Testament. Whereas the modern interpretation of a kind, gentle, loving Christianity is a totally modern fiction meant to erase the crimes of European colonialism.
I'm astounded that you'd try to convince anyone that slavery is something you can handwave away. The fact that your religion ever condoned it ought to be considered proof that you've been tricked into devil worship the whole time.
Matthew 5:17 is showing that Jesus fulfills them and brings them to realisation. Not enforcing them.
Protestants don't reject the Trinity?
Jesus was the fulfillment of the old laws as they were in preparation of His coming. And it depends what law Jesus was referring to. In John 8 He literally stopped a stoning which would have been justified under said law.
As Jesus said: Matthew 22:37-40 ESV
and St Paul also wrote about this:
Galatians 3:15-29 ESV
Christianity - The Gospel is Good News. As we are free from this law through Christ. And we can be freed from our sin.
Catholics and Orthodox, despite being ecclesiastical, still recognise Protestants as Christians even if lesser Christians. Oneness pentecostals aren't considered Christians either. Denying the trinity is weirdly enough the first sign of being a cult.
So the first the Bible is saying something you want it to say to make the argument "Christianity bad", and whenever teaching has context provided and is elaborated on further on in the scripture, then it's a "contradiction".
Got it.
Oh, that's weird, cuz she sure sounds like one....
That's Christian. You even say so yourself right afterwards:
You really just took what I said out of context.
"I guessed she was a Protestant Christian from your message"
Because you started talking about Protestants.
Mormons are as Christian as Muslims are Christians.
Don't they read the Bible though. I don't pay much attention to what they say but they definitely go on about the bible so surely they are Christian they're just a different flavor.
So do Muslims. They both claim the original ways got corrupted and they have a prophet who came back to restore the "true" faith.
Although Mormons seemingly/arguably revere the Bible and Jesus more than Muslims do, the entire religion is basically alien to Christianity, even being polytheist (Islam is still Monotheist like Christianity)
It's like Joseph Smith wanted to create a religion for personal power, so just started with Christianity as a foundation and then completely distorted it beyond recognition, that it basically doesn't resemble the original faith any more than Islam does
Lol
Neither does the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or its members, who read and believe in the same verses you quoted.