kBOY: Your post on November 08, 2015 10:13PM is fantastic. I pasted the whole post into my list of freedom verses and statements.
[[ whose ‘misdeeds’ were discounted as having no effect on his father/son relationship ]]
Wow. Put that way, ninety-five percent of most preaching is a waste since it normally focuses on the congregant’s/believer’s performance and way of life. The cults and even some main stream churches use the fear factor of eternal punishment, church discipline and shunning to leverage money, obedience, slave labor, arranged marriage, sex and whatever else the top few want.
Wikipedia states that Marcion, a leader in early Christianity, rejected the deity described in the Hebrew Scriptures and in distinction affirmed the Father of Christ as the true God. If Marcion’s view had gained the field, our Bibles wouldn’t have much of an Old Testament included. I can understand this view relative to the fear factor because without an Old Testament, the fear factor has little traction.
The prodigal depiction of deity is a “serious upgrade;” thank you, kBOY. Jesus, in effect, has accomplished what many like Marcion wanted to do. Fear, manipulation, leverage, bullying, force, and violence are unhealthy. I believe much religious mental illness is caused by laboring under a bad/evil/fear mongering image of God.
Whether God exists physically or not, religion remains a hot topic. I want my deity to be tender, loving and all accepting for the sake of my own sanity as well as being able to hold my own in the conversation.
[[ whose ‘misdeeds’ were discounted as having no effect on his father/son relationship ]]
Wow. Put that way, ninety-five percent of most preaching is a waste since it normally focuses on the congregant’s/believer’s performance and way of life. The cults and even some main stream churches use the fear factor of eternal punishment, church discipline and shunning to leverage money, obedience, slave labor, arranged marriage, sex and whatever else the top few want.
Wikipedia states that Marcion, a leader in early Christianity, rejected the deity described in the Hebrew Scriptures and in distinction affirmed the Father of Christ as the true God. If Marcion’s view had gained the field, our Bibles wouldn’t have much of an Old Testament included. I can understand this view relative to the fear factor because without an Old Testament, the fear factor has little traction.
The prodigal depiction of deity is a “serious upgrade;” thank you, kBOY. Jesus, in effect, has accomplished what many like Marcion wanted to do. Fear, manipulation, leverage, bullying, force, and violence are unhealthy. I believe much religious mental illness is caused by laboring under a bad/evil/fear mongering image of God.
Whether God exists physically or not, religion remains a hot topic. I want my deity to be tender, loving and all accepting for the sake of my own sanity as well as being able to hold my own in the conversation.