Service

[maggiebee]

Wonderful service today finishing off the story of Peter from Acts. Much food for thought. I've tried reading passages from the bible on my own, but nothing beats a good preacher explaining things. Sometimes actions seem very strange but fall into place when you know the background. Hope you're all having a peaceful Sunday.

[benhilton]

Thank you Maggie , hope you're having a peaceful Sunday too .
We had different readings to you today - yours sounds like the one we had last week for st. Peter and Paul 's day .
I think it's always better to hear the readings in a church than read them at home , and having the priest/vicar there to explain them in the homily is a bonus .
All the best .

[beso]

That is how religious texts work. Each preacher selects passages from the confusing plethora of contradictions and interprets them to suit their own agenda.

[maggiebee]

Not at all beso, there's no hidden agenda. Sometimes you need to know the historical background to any situation before you can interpret it. WW1 for example; if you didn't know the background how would you explain how the assassination of Franz Ferdinand sparked a world war? There have been other assassinations which didn't result in world conflict so why this one? Need to know the history.

[naomi24]

You shouldn’t rely upon anyone to explain biblical history to you. There are too many contradictions so people tend to pick the bits that best suit their own religious agenda. Witness Goodlife’s posts. I guarantee he disagrees with your preacher.

[benhilton]

Beso you are wrong and need correcting . With the RC church ( globally the biggest by far ) the priest does NOT select the readings . there is a pre-ordained cycle of readings .
The Sunday mass is a 3 yr. cycle - year A is Matthew's gospel , year B is Mark's gospel , year C is Luke's gospel . John's gospel is read during the Christmas and Easter periods of each year . Also on Sundays there are two readings , one OT and one NT . During this 3yr cycle we work our way through all of the four Gospels , and a large part of Acts and the letters of Paul . We are currently on cycle B working our way through Mark .

The weekday readings are on a 2 yr cycle , year 1 and 2 . Again all the gospels are covered and the weekday reading combined with the Sunday readings cover a good part of the OT too .

If you don't believe me here is a link to the USCCB website ( the UK RC website doesn't have an equivalent facility ) where you can click on their calendar for any date of the year and the readings , response , allelulia and Gospel for that day will come up - you can see what the readings will be well in advance . If you looked at the readings daily you would see how extensive the coverage of the Bible is .
link :http://www.usccb.org/

[benhilton]

http://www.usccb.org/

[naomi24]

//the Sunday readings cover a good part of the OT too . //

... but not the bad parts.

[benhilton]

Come on Naomi , you know what I meant . We get the " bad bits " of the OT too - only last week , possibly one of your favourites....
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/063015.cfm

[naomi24]

benhilton, no, not a favourite of mine. Unless, like God, the preacher/listener has a very skewed concept of a righteous man I simply don’t understand why anyone would consider that story morally acceptable. It isn't.

[Khandro]

//I simply don’t understand why anyone would consider that story morally acceptable.//
Well there's a surprise! - there's so much we all don't understand, admitting it is the first step. Good morning naomi!

[naomi24]

Good morning Khandro. I don't know what you're talking about, but no surprise there. ;o)

[beso]

naomi //I simply don’t understand why anyone would consider that story morally acceptable.//

Cognitive Dissonance. They have been so indoctrinated for so long and have so much invested in the idea that the Bible is the infallible word of God that they are literally incapable of considering any alternative.

[Khandro]

beso;//the idea that the Bible is the infallible word of God//
I think you are confusing the bible with the Koran and the ordinary Christian outlook to that akin to 7th Day Adventists.

[beso]

So it is just an old book written by ignorant misogynist then?

Without its status as "the word of God" the whole edifice falls.

[Khandro]

beso; Do you expound on other subjects you know little about, or do you restrict you homilies to Christianity only?

[beso]

Khandro, do you ever post anything intelligent our do you limit yourself to smart-arsed comments?

[beso]

benhilton //With the RC church ( globally the biggest by far ) the priest does NOT select the readings . there is a pre-ordained cycle of readings . //

So you get the party line rather than the individual priest's.

Bottom line is that the worshiper delegates the responsibility for morality to someone else, leaving them vulnerable to manipulation.

As such the standard Roman Catholic is ignorantly prejudiced against whole groups of people because the church tells them to be.

[benhilton]

Maggie posted a positive upbeat question . I responded positively to it .

Beso in your comment @ 09.48 on Monday you stated something which was factually wrong and followed it with a highly contentious opinion .
At 17.44 I demonstrated to you , with a reference link , that the statement you made was factually wrong .
Having been shown to be wrong , you then come back with a series of highly contentious statements and thinly veiled insults . You have demonstrated that you know very little about Roman Catholicism .

If I went on to another section of this forum and behaved the way that you did , having posted an answer that was demonstrably wrong , what would the reaction be ?

Supposing I went on to the Crossword section responding to a question , say " Bright colour , six letters , 2nd R , 4th N "
Supposing I gave the response - " The answer is BROWN but no doubt the brainwashed sycophantic thesaurus-bashers that we have on here will continue to deny it " -
What would the reaction be ?

[beso]

benhilton // Beso in your comment @ 09.48 on Monday you stated something which was factually wrong ....... You have demonstrated that you know very little about Roman Catholicism . //

At that point there had been no mention of the RC church. There are many churches other than the RC where preachers choose whatever they want.

In the case of the RC church the oligarchy chooses the readings and the interpretation, cherry picking what suits their agenda.

BTW maggie I never said that there was "hidden agenda".

[beso]

benhilton @beso //you then come back with a series of highly contentious statements and thinly veiled insults//

My statements are confronting to some but contentious they are not.

For example:
beso //As such the standard Roman Catholic is ignorantly prejudiced against whole groups of people because the church tells them to be.//

As evidence I cite the currently topical policy of overt discrimination against homosexuals for no reason other than ignorant prejudice.