This is what I get for having Facebook friends from my time in Arkansas:
GIRL: So...I bought this prenatal yoga DVD a few months ago...I finally decided to try it this morning...that woman is crazy!! She's dressed in some all white dress and head wrap telling me I have to chant and do yoga to make my baby happy...
WOMAN: Now I aint no ramedass or anything but like that :) but i dont think yoga is the key to keeping your baby happy or it would be in the bible lol!!!!
(Note incorrect spelling of Ram Dass)
GIRL: Haha!! I only watched til she started chanting! Then I got scared!!
WOMAN: my point exactly!!!!! lol oh comprimise and chant Jesus is Lord!!! lolol
(Reading the Bible over and over must not actually help you learn anything about spelling)
ME: I don't think the Bible has any tips on child rearing. Of course, if we only did what was in the Bible, we would have very different lives, like no cars, for example.
MAN: Carolyn needs to read her Bible more! Lots of Child rearing stuff in there and what has that got to do with cars? (Seriously? He couldn't understand why I mentioned cars? Pretty simple point of logic I'm trying to make here.)
ME: I'm not Christian, but I have read the Bible. Not many kids in it.
My point is that we don't only do things that happen in the Bible. If we did, we'd all be shepherds. Something not existing in the Bible is not a reason not to do it. Even Christians do many, many things that are not in the Bible and there's nothing bad about that. Cars aren't in the Bible, but we drive them and that's fine, right?
By the way, GIRL, I agree with you about the chanting. I am Hindu, but I find the chanting on exercise DVDs really creepy!
(Okay, I admit I turned a bit nasty at this point) Actually, here's what I learned about kids in the Bible: It's good to murder your children if you think God wants you to (Abraham) and playing favorites is a great idea (Joseph)
(And he got nasty right back) MAN:I worship as a Christian and don't believe in worshiping animals. Matter of fact Carolyn,I think God put animals on earth so we could have steak with our mashed potatos and chicken with our curry!
ME:Worshiping animals is a total misunderstanding of Hindu principle, by the way, so now you just sound ignorant.
I'm only saying that it's totally okay to do things that don't happen in the Bible, Christians do all the time and that's NOT a criticism, it's just how things are. The Bible didn't specify every behavior for all time and there's nothing wrong with that.
Is this coming across like I'm saying it's a bad thing, like you're not a good Christian or something because that is not at all what I'm saying. You do everything the Bible tells you to, that's great. You also do other things that the Bible doesn't mention, that's fine. You don't do things the Bible tells you not to, all good. Do you see what I mean? There's nothing not Christian about doing some things that the Bible never mentions.
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Still waiting to see if MAN responds. Facebook is going to give me an aneurysm one of these days.
Hi aamba,
ReplyDeleteThis is your site :) - Convert that Girl/Woman/Man to Hinduism
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/
i got your point.
ReplyDeletebut as an aside ,
you said "Actually, here's what I learned about kids in the Bible: It's good to murder your children if you think God wants you to (Abraham) and playing favorites is a great idea (Joseph)".
don't you think in that same logic,
hinduism teaches us
to behead our mother if the father orders so . (parashuram)
or it is ok to have romantic relation-ship with your aunt by marriage (radha-krishna.)
- basu
It's true, by that point I was getting too frustrated. I think all religions have these weird stories and things that we should not take literally! I didn't mean to say that Hinduism doesn't have them, it sure does!
ReplyDeleteI was just waiting for some examples of child rearing in the Bible, but no one gave me any.
The whole point here was not that I thought they should know more about Hinduism or that Christianity is bad or wrong. I really only wanted to say that you can be a good Christian and do things that the Bible doesn't mention.
Apparently impossible to understand. sigh.
Thanks for that website, too, really neat stuff!
ReplyDelete"I really only wanted to say that you can be a good Christian and do things that the Bible doesn't mention."
ReplyDeleteyes, i understood that.
and yes, i agree with you that it is needed to be taken symbolically . i suppose most of the religions give a lot of importance to the concept of sacrifice.
- basu
THIS is why I have a Facebook profile that I don't use for more than to occasionally look at photos that I couldn't view without an account.
ReplyDeleteI never try to argue with people about the bible because they'll twist it into whatever they want it to say and then hide behind it when that doesn't work.
As Gandhi said- “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
I didn't used to use Facebook much, then I got addicted to the games. It's a problem!
ReplyDeleteI am just thinking about that poor mother, trying to figure out what to do during her pregnancy, trying to make her "baby happy" (whatever that means, but I hope she does not try to make her teen happy, that never works)...
ReplyDeleteAnd got dragged into this religious discussion.
Poor baby. Poor mum.
www.inaier.blogspot.com
Yeah, the GIRL asked us very politely to please stop arguing on her wall. She's a very sweet girl and I'm sure she'll do fine!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, Christians (at least the ones I know) will openly criticize other religions, but as soon as you make a statement or point out something to them that might change/ challenge their views, they go into lock down mode, blinders are slapped on and their mind shuts down to anything new. This is why I find most Christians sound ignorant about their own faith and others, because they are only repeating what they have been taught and anything contradictory to these teachings (even if found in the bible) they do not know how to handle it and shut down like an overloaded circuit.
ReplyDeleteJai Siyaram
"it is ok to have romantic relation-ship with your aunt by marriage (radha-krishna.) "
ReplyDeleteOK what??? Contrary to popular believe the Rahda- Krishna romantic thing didn't happen as they were CHILDREN. Krishna left Vrindavan when he was 10 and Radha stayed in Vrindavan.