re: This isn’t a great look for the pentagon. They appear to claim Mormons aren’t Christians

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Even the ancient pagans weren't worshipping wood and stone idols - they were worshipping the pagan gods that the statues represented

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Correct

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This notion that the statues in various churches is the same as worshipping idols is simply nonsense made up by people with theological axes to grind. No thinking rational purpose would be persuaded by such specious nonsense.

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It’s not the same but there’s a nuance there.

In the OT, Yahweh didn’t want the Israelites worshipping other gods, and idols were the primary tools used in the worship of those other gods. The Catholic Church takes the position that’s the real crux of the issue - that Yahweh simply banned idols because he banned the worship of other deities by the Israelites. Our priest even gave a homily about that subject during lent. He used a terrible example though - he used the golden bull incident as an example of how “God” didn’t want the Israelites to worship other gods.

Let me explain. Exodus 32 reads as follows:

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3So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.”

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So it’s clear that they connected the golden bull to Yahweh, in fact, the bull represented Yahweh. To be clear, they made the golden bull, identified the golden bull with the god who delivered them from Egypt, and proclaimed a feast in the name of Yahweh (not some other god).

Then we have this:

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7And the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. 8They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’”

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So Yahweh is specifically mad at the Israelites (that they broke the commandment not yet given to them) for using a divine image to represent him.

So when the priest was reading exodus, he skipped over the part of the verse where they proclaim a feast day to the Lord. That right there made me realize the priest knows and doesn’t want to read it to the church. It’s especially embarrassing if the church would have realized that it was Yahweh himself that made the golden bull in exodus 32:24:

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24So I said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”

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So it’s not the mainstream Jewish position that Yahweh crafted the golden bull, but it is one of an assortment of Jewish traditions that it was Yahweh. I think this shows the exodus is a composite text of several authors. That’s just my opinion.

But the Catholic position is that use of divine images is OK as long as it’s in the worship of Yahweh. I don’t see it that way though. I don’t think the Yahweh of the book of Exodus would like all the images of the father, son, holy spirit, and Mary in and outside the churches.

I think the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Muslims correctly interpret the original intent of that first commandment in Exodus 20, which is why they forbid divine images in totality.

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When these haters go to Hell, their Eternal Punishment will be to be forced to argue with a Demon about Theology whilst burning in fire.

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My advice is don’t stoop to the level of Foo. Just because someone disagrees on the exact nature of the universe doesn’t mean they deserve endless torture for eternity due to a thought crime - a crime that they cannot control. We believe things based not on a choice to believe but because we are convinced that something is true. Being convinced or not convinced of something or anything isn’t the fault of the one who is convinced or not.

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My advice is don’t stoop to the level of Foo.

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You mean not to stoop to the level of following God's Word?

You realize Jesus spoke more about Hell than Heaven in the Gospels? He even spoke more about Hell than love. That's how important it is. I'm surprised a biblical scholar like yourself would not know such things.

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Just because someone disagrees on the exact nature of the universe doesn’t mean they deserve endless torture for eternity due to a thought crime - a crime that they cannot control.

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People deserve Hell due to sin. One sin against an infinite and infinitely holy God deserves an infinite punishment. That's what Hell is.

You think that it's no big deal to sin against God, so you think Hell is unfair. Your ignorance of Christianity betrays you yet again.

I was curious about the JW reference

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You obviously do

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Why would you say that?

Squirrel owns him regularly even in the face of the intellectual dishonesty Foo engages in regularly.

There is a weird meme on this board where proving people wrong who continue to display the behavior that was proven wrong, who are then proven wrong again, is somehow a bad thing. Ask me how I know this.

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Why would you say that?

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Because he constantly brings Foo up and Foo never brings him up.

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Squirrel owns him regularly

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The guy who rants about odd made up occult stuff and Jehovah's Witness stuff? Do a little google searching on some of his old rants, it's all JW stuff.

I get why you would pick such a side.

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Ask me how I know this.

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Oh by now I know how you think.

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The guy who rants about odd made up occult stuff and Jehovah's Witness stuff?

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Again...what?

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I was curious about the JW reference

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I think it’s because I point out some things I think JWs interpret correctly, such as John 1:1 in their Bible with Jesus being (a god) divine rather than being (THE God). Also like today I think I mentioned the JWs correctly interpret the the exodus 20 commandments (same as rabbinic Judaism).

Narax is pretty much a hateful retard. Pay him no mind.

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Due to the dramatic drop in quality of posters since 2016,

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PRAISE THE LORD. I made the cut by a decade.

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I think it’s because I point out some things I think JWs interpret correctly, such as John 1:1 in their Bible with Jesus being (a god) divine rather than being (THE God). Also like today I think I mentioned the JWs correctly interpret the the exodus 20 commandments (same as rabbinic Judaism).

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Repeatedly over many many posts...

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Narax is pretty much a hateful retard. Pay him no mind.

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Yup the lying Jehovah's Witness who pretends to be an atheist (While repeatedly stating he thinks JWs are correct on things...) Not to mention all those odd insights you have on that religion, and ignoring you might be the only atheist on the planet that thinks the JWs are right about God...

But yes, tell SFP to pay no mind, you are a good atheist ally...

fricking fossil.

Retire before you turn to dust