I think Big Jim was merely pointing out that, if you do believe in the Bible and the teaching of Jesus as portrayed in the Bible, that you also have to acknowledge that he had a Socialist approach to things.

That is probably the most frustrating aspect of discussing anything with someone of the Christian faith... in order to respect their beliefs, you also have to accept the fact that their beliefs won't allow them to respect yours. It's a hard thing to do. And then, in order to argue a point, you have to frame it in the context of their beliefs instead of your own.

To me, that is the single largest reason why these conversations can never go anywhere... and there's really no way around it.

And when someone disrespects your beliefs while you are making an effort to respect theirs, it's hard to resist the desire to push back a bit.

Everything, regardless of how much you believe it is infallible, is open to interpretation. People have been picking and choosing Bible passages to promote love, hate, tolerance, bigotry, everything in between. They'll all claim they have the right of it, and that everyone else is misguided or lost.

If I were the creator of all, I would choose a medium less open to interpretation to present salvation to my creations (if such a thing were even necessary). If there were a chance that one of them would be lost for eternity because my words were unclear or being taken out of context, I would find a way to bring clarity again. If I were to forgive them, I would not require anything. Forgiveness by itself, is an act of compassion that moves beyond the ego. True forgiveness requires nothing but the act itself.

So am I a more understanding and compassionate person than God is a creator, or is it possible that we, and our religions, project our own jealousy, ego, need for control, on God? That we created God in our image so that we can feel in the right, wage our wars, practice our hipocrisy with the excuse of a sinful nature, so that we don't have to truly change or acknowledge our own uncertainties about what comes next. Better to trust someone else's words and come up with things like faith so that we can move beyond the search, embrace false security, and move on with our short little lives.

...and then occasionally argue about it with others along the way.

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