"Huh? Muslim terrorists have attacked the Trade Center twice, the embassy in Beirut twice, the barracks in Beirut, Pan Am 109, and the Achille Lauro." 6 terrorist attacks for a religion which holds a great percent of the population isnt very bad
Yo Jenyar, (sorry I am a later, tater) Regarding our humanity, Quote J: "We shouldn't shed it - that's the problem." I agree. If one looks at the consumerist world around you, it seems deeply sad that we seem to have forsaken or neglected our spiritual aspect. Unfortunately, human nature in all it`s deviousness has create consumer spirituality - example: Christianity (papal splendour,tithing, TV worship etc,) which does not help or assure the honest spiritual seeker at large. Quote J: "Rejecting God has made it impossible to forgive humanity - to forgive ourselves." I think you said it there in a nutshell. From Hebrews 19: "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." Ah . . . gentle hope, but then . . . Hebrews 19: "19Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God,..." This bloody ritual and rhetoric leave me cold. What preferable options are there for our present age? The Christian obsession with blood and ritual is self defeating in my opinion. But cool brother, I have open ears and much to learn. I still find religious paraphanalia gets in the way of my connection with my higher power. Allcare.
You forget that Hebrews was written for - yes, you guessed it - Hebrews! The author was using imagery that they could understand, to make it clear where Jesus fit in and what its relevance was to them. They knew what the "Most Holy Place" stood for, they knew the Hebrew Bible said blood was required for the cleansing of sins, they knew the curtain referred to the division between the sinful world and God, and that only the high priest could enter beyond it. Do you see know how much he said in only that one sentence? You don't come from such a ritualized society. If the book was called "Capitalists" and referred to malls, the rituals of consumerism and self-worship, would it still have left you cold? Personally I find that non-religious paraphanalia gets in the way of God's connection with us.
