Offshoot discussion of "what religion are you" thread

[Rían]

Originally posted by Insidious Rex
So then according to god gays aren’t allowed to appreciate stained glass?

Do you think pedophiles should be allowed to "appreciate the stained glass"? (IOW, have sex with young children) No? Well then, you put boundaries on sex, too, just like I do. We just happen to set different boundaries based on different standards and different authorities. (and don't say I'm saying homosexuals are the same as pedophiles, because I'm most emphatically NOT saying this; all I'm saying is that BOTH you and I have areas where we think sex is not appropriate, so my stained glass analogy where a certain subgroup of people are allowed to handle it is a valid one.)

So then republicans can buy their own choice of who they want to be god just cause they have the money and the residences of heaven are stupid enough to think its actually an ok idea?

You kinda lost me here - I wasn't making a comment on the Gray Davis situation, I was only making the point that some people seem to think that they're basically on the same level with God, and God only happens to be in charge thru a quirk of fate or something, and one can somehow get Him "out of office" if He turns out to be unpopular with enough people.

How about: god as old wise shoa lin priest who is constantly spouting fabulous quotes that make you think but who allows his hot headed student to learn the hard way about life decisions and does NOT micromanage… that’s how I always imagined the Christian god.

I think that God lets us learn the hard way the vast majority of the time - that's what consequences are. And AIDS is one consequence of the choice of many people to engage in a promiscuous lifestyle, to the point where innocents are affected, too (which is always the way with sin, anyway, altho it is not always so visible as with the AIDS problem). Also, if He were constantly micromanaging, it would negate our free will, which He has chosen to give to us to quite a large degree. (BTW, I assume by "micromanaging", you mean taking away the natural consequences of our free will choices - is that right?) However, He certainly has the power and authority to "step in" whenever He deems necessary.