Orathaic, that's fair.

Mario, that sounds good, but it's getting pretty far afield from Jesus' more concrete analogy.

Today's Bible reading is Luke 7
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Luk&c=7&v=1&t=NLT
which ends with this story:
36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. [fn8] 37 When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. 38 Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.
39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!”
40 Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.”
“Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied.
41 Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver [fn9] to one and 50 pieces to the other. 42 But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”
43 Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.”
“That’s right,” Jesus said. 44 Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.
47 “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” 48 Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”
49 The men at the table said among themselves, “Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?”
50 And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

My own personal view of that one is that Simaon was setting Jesus us. It's kind of like "See what kind of prophet this Jesus is, he doesn't even know the character of that woman who is touching him". As I understand it Simon is letting something happen that he shouldn't be. That is he's letting this woman come into his house and accost his guest without doing anything to get rid of her. He says himself "She is a sinner" and it would have been his responsibility not Christ's to send her away. So this seems like another test for Jesus, who turns the test around on Simon by using the incident to show that repentence is a virtue. Jesus also again assumes the right to forgive sins, and points out that the woman's faith is what saved her. It's both a message of hope that repentence will save you no matter how sinful you are, and a warning that you are never too good to need forgiveness.

Well put.

Must admit I've only read the above post in this thread, but for Heaven's sake !!!
Jesus Christ, you guys really tie yourselves up in knots, don't you?

I'd have considered it untying knots with two basic messages:

1) There is always hope no matter how badly I screw things up.

2) I'm no better than anyone else, and I'm responsible for even my small mistakes.

Simply admit when you screw things up, and don't go around thinking I'm batter than anyone else. It's sensible and basically pretty laid back, which was a departure from Simon and the Pharisees, who associated social standing with righteousness.

**better**

Today's Bible reading, Luke 8, contains the story of Jesus raising a little girl from the dead, along with a list of some of the women who were supporting his ministry (verses 2 and 3), a parable and its explanation, and more. :-)
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Luk&c=8&v=1&t=NLT#1

Who is this you talk of, is he a Prophet?

I mean Luke, Mark, Matthew & Ringo...... were they Prophets !!

Nigee, I don't see the point of your posts. Say what you mean; tell us what's bothering you. We can handle it. :-)

Mujus ..... ditto.
I buy my tomatoes at the grocers.
I get my fuel from a petrol station
If I want to eat out I'll go to a restaurant
All these things I know so if I needed religious indoctrination where would you propose I go........ please don't say my nearest Diplomacy website, it would just sound stoopid.
Maybe you feel somebody or everybody needs to know what you're reading today, I for one don't.
I respect your right to post what you want as long as you respect my right to post what I want in response ...... does that sound fair

Curious word choice, indoctrination. There is the connotation that one is trained (I assume you mean to think a certain way, one that is other than thinking for one's self? Anyway, Mujus is merely inviting discussion about a certain set of books. That's about as far from indoctrinatin as you can get. This doesn't even approach the most basic levels of indoctrination, (like basic training in the military for instance).

Your post treats this religion as if it were a product to be bought when someone wants it. If we go with that analogy, we don't say "Why are you bringing this up here" when someone recommends a restaurant that they particularaly enjoy, nor do we worry when the tomatoes and fuel are advertized in any number of different ways in many different places. That being said though.

Religion isn't a product, it's a way of life. It's part of the culture of millions of people in a similar way as cuisine, arts, music, and clothing. The guy's not doing anything more heinous than speaking of some books that he has found to be powerful in his life.

CrazyA
Take a look, he was questioning my posts, I was just responding. I'm happy for him and you to write what you want as long as you allow me that same freedom, does that sound fair....

Yes,

I was aware of that, and I don't really question or object to your posts. I was a little curious about the underlying assumption about religion that were revealed in the post though. It's fair enough that in a public forum you can say what you like even if it's off-topic or mocking the topic. That's not so much an issue for me as the assumption that people are indoctrinated into religion or that it's a product and you know where to get it if you want it.

***Sidenote I was curious and spoke to the co-worker we were referring to the other day. She was agnostic until converting to Christianity as an adult.

If my tone is off today, my apologies. Just spent 5 hours in the hot Georgia sun doing houshold maintenace for a lady across town. I don't actually think I'm being rude, but it never hurts to be sure in that situation.

CrazyA
I'm a bloke, I'm not sensitive enough to know if your tone is off :-)

It's indoctrination because if you were in Saudi Arabia you'd be expounding about the merits of Islam right now. The only reason you believe Christianity to be the truth is due to the cultural milieu in which you were raised, which for people begins at birth. Christianity pulls no punches about their desire to indoctrinate the youth, nor do most religions.

Religion is most certainly a product. It's a multi-billion dollar business. The product being sold is a false sense of security and certainty, playing off people's fears.

Putin, why keep repeating this same anti-religion crap over and over? We get it. It's not your thing. Let those who like it talk about it without you

Because your religion isn't an intellectual hobby or something like taste in music, it's a programme for world conquest.

Mine isn't.
You must be thinking of Islam.

Putin, you are rude, but right. ;)

Nope - Matthew 28:19. It's right there, a command to conquer the world for Christianity.

But lol @ at you whining about religion bashing while attacking Mormonism and now Islam.

"Go therefore[c] and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,"

That's not a programme for world conquest, nor is it a command to conquer anything? It says to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit." We covered this earlier. You don't baptize people into your political structure.

The Great Commission directs the apostles to spread the word to the ends of the earth. It also directs the apostles to baptize other people into the faith. It was historically given to a group of people numbering less than 150. It's hardly a plan for world domination.

Some have tried to use Christianity to dominate other, no doubt. There is no really good argument to be made for this being the intention of Christ in the Great Commission.

It is a great quote for purose of the Church on earth. I like that you keep coming back to it.

The disciples were not the slaves of Christ though. There isn't any literary evidence to support that in their relationship. and the call to baptize is not the call to conquer.

What he said.

And mormonism doesn't qualify as a religion. It's a Fraud perpetuated on gullible people to the enrichment of its leadership. I spent 30 years a victim of said fraud; I'm allowed to bash it if I want to.

And Islam does have the call to Jihad, so I granted you that one.

" It says to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit." We covered this earlier. You don't baptize people into your political structure. "

In the verse just prior to that one it says"‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.". Authority means political structures.

It says baptize *nations*, nations are political structures. The entire world shall be under Christian dominion, that's what this is saying.

The Lord's Prayer says "Thy *kingdom come*, thy will be done, *on earth as it is in heaven*."

The most important single creed of the Christians has a call for Christian dominionism. Christ's "kingdom" shall rule the earth. World conquest.

Well, The Book of Mormon and the Koran do rest outside the scope of a conversation about readings from the Holy Bible.

I'm no authority about Islam, but I think the Jihad is supposed to be a defense of the faith. Mormonism is right out of my experience except from having a few friends who are Mormons.