No way? Yahweh.

I don't understand why people say "I trust God". He had his own son nailed to a cross, FFS.

People in the middle ages got it right. "I do what God tells me because he scares the crap out of me."

I was raised Catholic, went to a Catholic high school (was voted most likely to become a priest), and now I'm firmly an atheist. I read the bible multiple times and had a few bible study classes.

It's consistently amazing to me how little most christians know about what's in the bible. It's always entertaining to see their reactions when I correct them during an argument, or even when they say things like "The Bible says God won't give you more than you can handle" or "God helps those who help themselves." Those things, and lots of others that people attribute to the bible aren't in there anywhere. A lot of times it feels like I'm discussing a movie with someone who only read a review of it.

Or Prince of Egypt which has one of the best soundtracks and great animation. I'm not a Christian but even I know about the damn plague that got those little Egyptian kids.

I send a pestilence, a plague

Only if simultaneously being willfully obtuse and ignorant.

For example, in Mark, Matthew, and Luke, Jesus forbids those going out to minister from brining a purse or money.

This necessarily prevents monetary collections.

So why is the church okay with taking your money today?

In part, rationalized by Paul's arguments in 1 Cor 9 against the earlier Christian community there that don't think it's appropriate to profiteer off ministering.

But then even more, at the last supper in Luke, Jesus explicitly says "Hey guys, remember when I said not to carry purses? Let's reverse that and now definitely carry purses."

Except this addition to the last super in Luke-Acts is missing in Marcion's version of that gospel, which is probably preserving the earliest extant version of it.

So while yes, you could in theory fit Jesus in the NT to agree with Paul that churches and those ministering have a right to profit from it and should definitely collect money from people (like they do in Acts 5 where an older couple who holds back money are both struck dead before Peter) - an even halfway critical eye should see that the historical Jesus was far more likely to have been against such practices given the widespread accounts of his ban, the earlier attitudes in Corinth, its embarrassing nature to be added in after already collecting money, and the late nature of the reversal.

And to see that much like biological evolution, ideas evolve over time too, and the version of Christianity we have today isn't necessarily the one closest to the original form, but simply the form that was most adaptive through the fall of the Jerusalem temple, the endorsement of Rome, etc.

So yes, few people might know or see it this way, but that is largely because they don't bother looking into their preconceptions and would rather believe a superficial picture that agrees with what they think they know (and I'm not only talking about Christians here either).

Except the one that actually makes the world a better place.

"Tattoos are a sin."

"Dad, you have a tattoo."

"Yeah, but Jesus forgave me."

MTG a cheater? No way, I always thought she was a woman of faith. SMH ... /s

Nah, that's Section 230 where the creator isn't responsible for what its users do.

Nah, they have that covered with the free will clause.

no no don't you see that's a facile argument? sky daddy gave us free will to do evil so we had to choose him because... that is... because there... uhm

I'll always think of Jim Jefferies on this topic.

The bible, that’s god book, as far as I know the devil hasn’t brought out a book yet, haven’t heard his side of the argument. God’s just writing shit about him, and the devil’s being the bigger man and saying I’m not even going to comment, talking shit about me like that.

Hey, you be nice to Lilith. This sloppy excuse for a fetid meatsac calling itself MTG has nothing on the Mother of Monsters.

God works in mysterious ways.