Any Christian Mermaid/ Mermen out there?

[Mermaid Isabel(:]

But she said she follows the bible 100% that's doing certain things ....

[Kishiko]

I would like to quote a few passages from an article I have read before on the subject of, "Why do Christians not follow some Old Testament teachings?"

"The reason we don't is that the Old Covenantal system, that involved such harsh punishments, has been done away with. We are under a new covenant. Jesus said in Luke 22:20, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood."

This new covenant was prophecied in the Old Testament in Jer. 31:31, “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah." It is referenced in 1 Cor. 11:25, 2 Cor. 3:6, Heb. 8:8, 9:15; and 12:24.

Second, the Old Testament times were very difficult, and there were many nations that warred against Israel. Also, the devil and his demonic horde were constantly working to destroy Israel in order to invalidate the prophecies of the coming Messiah--to therefore prevent the Messiah from being born and delivering his people. Therefore, God instituted laws, as difficult as they were, that were consistent with the culture of the times, that ensured the survival of the Jewish nation, that helped to maintain social structure, and also reflected the harshness of the law."

so that's an answer to the first part of your debate. But then you might say, "Well then why are you so harsh on otter sins?" Good question.
Here's one reference from 1 Corinthians 6:9-11


"Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."


This doesn't mean we are supposed to judge eachother. However, we should also not give approval for these sins

James 4:12 Says...


"There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?"



In Revelation, it speaks of the fate of those who do not follow God, and have committed and not repented for these New Covenant sins

Revelation 21:8 ESV


"But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death."

I hope this helps a little bit!

[PearlieMae]

Eskimo: 'If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?'

Priest: 'No, not if you did not know.'


Eskimo: 'Then why did you tell me?'

[Echidna]

lol Pearlie xD

regarding the organization-thing:
I guess it's the same approach the Gnostics used to have.
They were the first Christian sect who held that no-one needed a priesthood or a (heavily funded) organisation to converse with God.

They were very popular due to their "tolerance" regarding older religions and cults, and of course they were declared heretics by the current Roman-Catholic Church and (nearly) all their writings were burned because, well I guess you can guess that for yourself.

That aside, the bible is just a collection of older, pagan tales from Babylonia and Sumer, as well as a lot of Egyptian myth, and astrological symbols throughout the so-called New Testament.

Everyone who ever bothered to read a few sources knows Christianity is a parody on the very ancient suncult, and every sun god out there (Helios, Mithra, Ra, Horus, Marduk...the list is longer than my arm, and most of them precede Christianity by millenia) has exactly the same "life story" as Jesus (aka born by a virgin, had 12 disciples/brothers, bore titles like "Light of the World" "the lamb" etc, was crucified, 3 days dead, then resurrected and ascended to heaven.)
You don't need to know much about astronomy or pagan cults to see what's up, nor do you need to be able to read cuneiform or Ancient Egyptian, though it certainly helps.

As it is, I salute everyone who instead worships his noodly eminence with the many appendages.

[Kishiko]

lol Pearlie xD

regarding the organization-thing:
I guess it's the same approach the Gnostics used to have.
They were the first Christian sect who held that no-one needed a priesthood or a (heavily funded) organisation to converse with God.

They were very popular due to their "tolerance" regarding older religions and cults, and of course they were declared heretics by the current Roman-Catholic Church and (nearly) all their writings were burned because, well I guess you can guess that for yourself.

That aside, the bible is just a collection of older, pagan tales from Babylonia and Sumer, as well as a lot of Egyptian myth, and astrological symbols throughout the so-called New Testament.

Everyone who ever bothered to read a few sources knows Christianity is a parody on the very ancient suncult, and every sun god out there (Helios, Mithra, Ra, Horus, Marduk...the list is longer than my arm, and most of them precede Christianity by millenia) has exactly the same "life story" as Jesus (aka born by a virgin, had 12 disciples/brothers, bore titles like "Light of the World" "the lamb" etc, was crucified, 3 days dead, then resurrected and ascended to heaven.)
You don't need to know much about astronomy or pagan cults to see what's up, nor do you need to be able to read cuneiform or Ancient Egyptian, though it certainly helps.

As it is, I salute everyone who instead worships his noodly eminence with the many appendages.

All of us were being very respectful of one another's beliefs, and it's very rude and inconsiderate to come in and just bash the entirety of Christianity. I respect what you believe, but there is no reason to so blatantly insult and defile the beliefs of so many others.

[Mermaid Michelle]

Religion is the act of performing actions and religious ceremonies in order to gain favor from a deity. According to the Bible God already looks at us with favor and love that was the whole reason that Christ died for our sins, it was an act of love and the only way that sin could be nullified. A religious person tries to say that they have earned God's love. I am saying that I had done nothing to earn God's love but he gave it to me any ways. Now I act not to earn not out of fear but out of thankfulness to the love that God has shown me. It is a relationship that God wants not a distant causing relationship. p.s. I say this not to sound rude but just for perspective. Many people want to pick individual verses of the Bible such as the shellfish comment but don't recognize that after Christ God lifted the ban on certain different foods and other things. When you take the Bible as a whole it is very loving.

[Kishiko]

Religion is the act of performing actions and religious ceremonies in order to gain favor from a deity. According to the Bible God already looks at us with favor and love that was the whole reason that Christ died for our sins, it was an act of love and the only way that sin could be nullified. A religious person tries to say that they have earned God's love. I am saying that I had done nothing to earn God's love but he gave it to me any ways. Now I act not to earn not out of fear but out of thankfulness to the love that God has shown me. It is a relationship that God wants not a distant causing relationship. p.s. I say this not to sound rude but just for perspective. Many people want to pick individual verses of the Bible such as the shellfish comment but don't recognize that after Christ God lifted the ban on certain different foods and other things. When you take the Bible as a whole it is very loving.

i agree with this 100%. Being a Christian does not mean being perfect, it means doing our best to follow the Will of God, love one another, and repent for our sins.

Also, so, I think they were confused by your last post because I think there was a typo or two in there.

I hate religion God wants us to build a relationship with Him. I try to follow the Bible 100%

The beginning part didn't make much sense, but I understand about building a relationship with God and trying to follow the teachings of the Bible

[Mermaid Michelle]

yeah the last post was confusing

[PearlieMae]

All of us were being very respectful of one another's beliefs, and it's very rude and inconsiderate to come in and just bash the entirety of Christianity. I respect what you believe, but there is no reason to so blatantly insult and defile the beliefs of so many others.

Sorry, but there was no Christian bashing in Caltuna's statement. I wouldn't be so quick to jump to conclusions until you have all the facts.

[Kishiko]

Sorry, but there was no Christian bashing in Caltuna's statement. I wouldn't be so quick to jump to conclusions until you have all the facts.

there were a lot of assumptions and untrue statements made about the origins of Christianity. Stating that the Bible is a "parody" and "pagan tales"m and it also had criticism regarding funding of the church. Now if she did not mean it to be insulting, then I apologize, but I found it extremely insulting.

[PearlieMae]

I didn't see anything about funding, but the mythos about much of Christianity can be found almost verbatim in other/older religions.

I'm at work and can't elaborate now, but I will.

[AniaR]

I've actually studied religion and I think I gotta leave this thread lol there's an awful lot of ignorance on what it actually means, and Im sorry. following the BIBLE is religion. I think people are majorly confusing religion with spirituality. I just... ah... You can say something like, I follow God but am not religious. A lot of people believe in God but aren't religious. You can say, I believe in something but I don't know what etc. but you can't really say I follow all of the Bible but I'm no religious. When you follow a set down list of rules like that that IS the religion and I guarantee you your interpretation of it lands under one of the many many sects whether you realize it or not. That's like saying, "I don't bake I just follow the recipe!" well, you are baking. you're following the recipe to be able to bake. You may suck at baking even when following said recipe, but the act you're doing... is baking! Even if you take parts out or add parts in

[Kishiko]

I've actually studied religion and I think I gotta leave this thread lol there's an awful lot of ignorance on what it actually means, and Im sorry. following the BIBLE is religion. I think people are majorly confusing religion with spirituality. I just... ah... You can say something like, I follow God but am not religious. A lot of people believe in God but aren't religious. You can say, I believe in something but I don't know what etc. but you can't really say I follow all of the Bible but I'm no religious. When you follow a set down list of rules like that that IS the religion and I guarantee you your interpretation of it lands under one of the many many sects whether you realize it or not. That's like saying, "I don't bake I just follow the recipe!" well, you are baking. you're following the recipe to be able to bake. You may suck at baking even when following said recipe, but the act you're doing... is baking! Even if you take parts out or add parts in

I think ink there was just a type in her original post. She even admitted a few posts up that it was confusing, and she never said she wasn't religious, many people just assumed that's what she meant.

[PearlieMae]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origins_of_Christianity

http://www.patheos.com/Library/Christianity.html

EDIT: I recant my 'did not see funding' statement...it was with regard to the Gnostics.

And yes, I have also studied religions. "According to the bible" is not everyone's default.

[Kishiko]

So because some Wikipedia page says there are pagan roots or Hellenistic Roots it's true?
And as for the second article about its origins being Judaism, of course it is. Read the Old Testament, that was the Old World religion... Until the coming of Christ when believers then accepted Christian teachings


Sent from my shellphone using Mertalk

[PearlieMae]

So because some Wikipedia page says there are pagan roots or Hellenistic Roots it's true?
And as for the second article about its origins being Judaism, of course it is. Read the Old Testament, that was the Old World religion... Until the coming of Christ when believers then accepted Christian teachings


Sent from my shellphone using Mertalk

I knew this was going to happen and I am going to bow out of this conversation.

I am not going to get into a huge discussion over the origins of Christianity or the contemporary permutations of what the original faith started out to be. I don't have the time nor the inclination to dig out my masters thesis on religion and political control of the masses. I put up the link to the Wikipedia page (AND the Patheos page) to expedite explanation. And yes, there ARE verifiable roots to pre-Christian religions being appropriated by Christians to suit their political power grabs. And the Christianity most contemporary religions adhere to would better be referred to as Paulism - written, oh, 400 years AFTER Christ. Not to mention how kings and popes have re-written the bible to fit their personal agendas.

It really riles me when most __________ (insert any religious flavor here) believes THEIR religion has the hotline to God and everyone else is wrong.

[BayouMermaid]

Wow. This thread got crazy in a short amount of time.

I'm Roman Catholic.

[Nyx]

As of right now I'm Catholic, however, when I'm a little older I want to go on my own search and see if it really is the religion for me.
My family and I are really weird about religion though. We take a lot of other teachings from other religions; I always thought it was normal but I guess not? <XD

[Merman Dan]

It really riles me when most __________ (insert any religious flavor here) believes THEIR religion has the hotline to God and everyone else is wrong.

Agreed. The first commandment prevents me from taking Christianity seriously, as monotheism makes no sense to me whatsoever. YMMV

[PearlieMae]