Thoughts and Prayers: The Religion Thread

Settled law. If the Supremes say anything else all hell is gonna break lose.

 

Can't. Hold out. Any. Longer.

Thriving mega church = prosperity gospel.
There is a reason the congregation is called "the flock."
I don't need any other human teaching me about religion, and that includes my own father-in-law and two retired preachers all of whom hold doctorates of divinity and who I would fight a bear for. My relationship with the grand architect of the universe is mine and mine alone. I don't need to be taught about spirituality. I experience it every morning when I get up and see the sun rise or fog rising on a frosty morning.

 

I can go along with this and have always said I felt much the same whenever I was at my special, happy place.

But much of the Bible is difficult to read and parse, and it helps to have someone who is actually educated about it and can speak to and clarify a lot of things. Also, Bible groups often make good, positive, helpful communities.

 

Meant to put this here, instead of the Politics thread ...

You may have read that Louisiana passed a law that requires the 10 Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom in the state. But did you know the politicians didn't just copy and paste them straight from a Bible? They edited the 10 Commandments.

x.com

 

And if they turn out to be a child-molesting sack of shit, well, at least they helped you feel good about yourself.

 

Two points:

1. Folks need to remember that, every time you click on a link to X, you lose a tiny bit of your soul. *

and

b. Even though I payed that price and clicked on the link, I didn’t see an explanation of how the Ten Commandments were edited. Perhaps my soul is still too pure to see the entire post?

* Fortunately for me, my beliefs embrace the renewal of lost bits of soul through the practice of adding extra garlic and basil any time I open a jar of store-bought spaghetti sauce.

 

* I knew there must be a reason I'm so soulful... for a white boy. If there wasn't some form of renewal my twitter links would have rendered me a vampire many months ago.

 

A. Sorry, I still haven't figured out how to embed Tweets like the old days.

B. Here's the Louisiana version of the Commandments per the bill ...

I AM the LORD thy God.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven images.
Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is thy neighbor's."

Here is the KJV version ...
I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
Thou shalt have none other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee. Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.
Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Thou shalt not kill.
Neither shalt thou commit adultery.
Neither shalt thou steal.
Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour's.

Now, you can make an argument they just shortened them to fit on a poster. But I'd argue shortening, say, the one about keeping the Sabbath holy changes its meaning completely when you remove the "thou shalt not do any work."

 

If they really wanted to tighten it up:



Me, me, me.

My day. Mine.

Nope.

Don't.

Nope.

No back talk.

Nope.

Nope.

Nope.

Don't even think about it.

 

Do you think they edited the last one just to get ass out of there?

 

A scene from my favorite midrash:

 

Not to mention they completely omitted Commandments 11-15.