aussiepwr #fundie

aussiepwr #fundie huffingtonpost.com

[On wealthy televangelists.]

When did Jesus speak against Having a large amount of money? Jesus said that the Love of money is the root of all evil. Are we supposed to live poor and oppressed lives to follow Jesus? He even had a wealthy tax collector as one of his disciples (Matthew). When Jesus told his followers to leave all behind and follow him, it meant that they had to be willing to give everything up - even their lives to follow him. It doesn't mean that they had to be poor, otherwise the guy under the bridge downtown is more 'spiritual' than i.

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old comment by tranz2deep

@Wehpudicabok

You missed the classic:

Render unto Caeser that which is Caeser's; render likewise unto God that which is God's.

@Xotan:

No, they "sample" the Bible, with about as much reverence for the original intent as hardcore rappers sampling snips of 80s music for yet another screed about drugs, guns, and 'hos.

...yeah, I went there.

Oh, the camel bit is a classic case of what happens when morons try to sample, spcifically trying to belabor the point. One popular theory is that when King James was trying to be immortalised as the Bible Guy, he had the neding bit taken off of Camel-hair, or rope.

A rope through the eye of a needle is equally impossible and carries the point that having more things makes squeezing through with your morals harder and harder.

So, why the change? The sarky side of people likes to imply that he was a War Against Drugs type and didn't like rope--also commonly made from *hemp*--in his precious Bible he was trying so hard to make readable by the populace.

I actually prefer that over the more likely scenario that he simply discarded the subtler message and went with a camel as they're bigger, figuring that the peasants needed the visual aid.

old comment by Brendan Rizzo

Interesting. Your second sentence contradicts what you say in your first sentence. (Although you happen to be wrong. Jesus didn't say that; Paul did, and the full quote is "The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil." This is one of the few areas where I agree with Paul completely.)

However, there is one place in the Bible where Jesus speaks out against money. (And for a fundamentalist, one place should be all you need.) Did He or did He not say that "it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God"? That is about as unambiguous as it is possible to be, Mammon-worshipper.

Well, at least this fundie isn't American. Rather refreshing considering where 80% of the quotes have come in the last several months.

old comment by Anon-e-moose

"When did Jesus speak against Having a large amount of money?"

Matthew 19:21-24.

"Jesus said that the Love of money is the root of all evil. Are we supposed to live poor and oppressed lives to follow Jesus?"

Yes. Your own Scripture says so.

"He even had a wealthy tax collector as one of his disciples (Matthew)."

Former tax collector.

"When Jesus told his followers to leave all behind and follow him, it meant that they had to be willing to give everything up - even their lives to follow him. It doesn't mean that they had to be poor, otherwise the guy under the bridge downtown is more 'spiritual' than i."

He has more chance of entering the Kingdom of Heaven than you. The first shall be last, and the last shall be first', and all that jazz.

And that was "Annihilating Fundies Using Their Own Beliefs Against Them". Join us next week, as we see further demonstrations of Sun Tzu's quote from his "The Art of War":

'Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles'

The equivalent of snatching a terrorist's AK-47 from him, and opening up such (on full-auto) on him, giving him the full 30-round clip - in the head.

Just ask Winston Churchill, aussiepwnd. How he - via 'ULTRA', especially Bletchley Park and Alan Turing's 'Bombes' & the first digital computer 'Colossus' decoding the Nazis' Enigma-encrypted transmissions - he ultimately knew more about the Wehrmacht than Hitler's high command did. Bletchley Park was his 'Goose that laid golden eggs - but never cackled'. Knowledge is power.

And we Atheists know more about your 'beliefs' - and the basis of such - than you do. Thus we can destroy you with your own weapon: the Bible.

old comment by Horsefeathers

"When did Jesus speak against Having a large amount of money?"

Something about a camel and the eye of a needle, if I recall correctly. And if that was too vague for you he also said, in no uncertain terms, that you were to sell all of your shit and give the money to the poor if you wanted to follow him.

"Jesus said that the Love of money is the root of all evil. Are we supposed to live poor and oppressed lives to follow Jesus?"

Uh, yes, nimrod.

"He even had a wealthy tax collector as one of his disciples (Matthew)."

Who bummed around with Jesus, who was destitute. You'll note that they didn't exactly live the high life.

Uh huh. So, "sell all of your useless shit and give the money away, then you can follow me" doesn't mean that you have to be poor?

And yes, the guy under the bridge downtown would be seen as more spiritual than you by damn near every religion but Christianity, which worships the Almighty Dollar rather than just the Almighty.

old comment by JSS

Weren't the tax collectors kind of looked down upon in the Gospels? Now all the sudden they're fine by Jesus because Matthew was one, but then again none of the disciples of course were perfect. I don't know about you, if I was truly willing to give everything up for Jesus, and with all the poor people out there, I probably wouldn't be living in something like this...

(Pat Robertson's house)

If they're truly willing, why haven't they given everything up already? Are they waiting for 'God' to actually tell them to, just like he told Pat about the mass terrorist attack of 2007?

And who's to say that guy living under the bridge downtown isn't more spiritual than you?

old comment by Anon-e-moose

So why isn't aussiepwnd here going Walkabout to bring the Good News to the Aboriginals in the Outback, pray tell...?

Money, nore fine raiments they not have; nor a Toyota Landcruiser. Only the barest essentials - and their millennia-old knowledge of the bush - ensure their survival. And yes, even more spiritual than you are they, with their stories of the 'Dreamtime' and age-old legends that are woven into their culture, and how they lived simply for thousands of years before the hand of the White Man had set foot there.

They have been oppressed too. Infinitely worse than your supposed 'Persecution', little fundie.

In summation: why isn't aussiepwnd going Walkabout? Because he loves his money & possessions too much. Nope, no hypocrisy on your part, fundies, nosiree! [/hyper-sarcasm]

old comment by Anon-e-moose

@#1373705, Brendan Rizzo

A needle can be simply made in a steelworks (those which make custom one-off commissions) scaled up so that said 'thick rope' can be threaded through such easily. Oh, and even with a 'camel', either have a needle built scaled up so that said camel can walk through it's eye easily, or butcher a camel, cut it up, put it in a liquidiser, load syringers with the resulting camel 'smoothie' and inject such through the eye of a needle.

The Bible doesn't stipulate the size of the needle ('rope' or 'camel' passing through such), nor that the camel has to be intact, does it?

Therefore science can not only own heaven, but God.

[/smartarse]

old comment by Amadaun

Yay WASPy cluelessness. Asceticism has fallen by the wayside, this form of Christianity thinks 'poor people are mockable' is a good premise for 'Jesus didn't object to the accumulation of wealth.' Because he did. Very vocally and at length.

Of course, he also was leading a sufficiently anti-establishment movement that he wanted his guys to ditch their families, too, so things-Jesus-said would actually make a fairly unworkable premise for a stable religion.

...okay, that was me being accidentally blasphemous there. Heh.

The bridge guy very well may be. If he's there voluntarily for religious reasons, he sure as taxes is more spiritual than you.

aussiepwr #fundie huffingtonpost.com

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