ᴠᴀɪɴɢʟᴏʀɪᴏᴜꜱ ᴀᴘᴇ

Freethinker. Empiricist. Misanthropic Humanist.

[ᴠᴀɪɴɢʟᴏʀɪᴏᴜꜱ ᴀᴘᴇ @VaingloriousApe]

God: I'll spread a narrative in which I am objectively the greatest source of evil, death, & suffering. In it, I'll deceive innocents, murder families, drown most living beings, slaughter firstborns. Hell, I'll do *genocides.*

Surely they'll grasp the underlying message of love.

[ᴠᴀɪɴɢʟᴏʀɪᴏᴜꜱ ᴀᴘᴇ @VaingloriousApe]

@kraywhiseheart Christians: wHat if wOmnen wOre wHaT Men dO?!

[ᴠᴀɪɴɢʟᴏʀɪᴏᴜꜱ ᴀᴘᴇ @VaingloriousApe]

@1WithABullet @RandalRauser But: I do not think Jesus is condoning home invasion here. He is simply using metaphor to explain how God [the stronger man] is able to cast out a demon [the householder.]

[ᴠᴀɪɴɢʟᴏʀɪᴏᴜꜱ ᴀᴘᴇ @VaingloriousApe]

@1WithABullet @RandalRauser [God, or Jesus acting on behalf of God] "attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up his plunder."

Jesus (or God) is able to "divide the plunder" [the possessed human] of the householder [the demon].

[ᴠᴀɪɴɢʟᴏʀɪᴏᴜꜱ ᴀᴘᴇ @VaingloriousApe]

@1WithABullet @RandalRauser Jesus is the housebreaker who takes souls away from the demon. The demon is the "strong man" attempting to preserve his possession: the soul of the possessed person.

[ᴠᴀɪɴɢʟᴏʀɪᴏᴜꜱ ᴀᴘᴇ @VaingloriousApe]

@1WithABullet @RandalRauser Of course it doesn't. Christians do.

[ᴠᴀɪɴɢʟᴏʀɪᴏᴜꜱ ᴀᴘᴇ @VaingloriousApe]

@1WithABullet @RandalRauser Obviously you are free to pick and choose verses to build a version of your faith that suits you. That is the proud tradition of Christianity.

[ᴠᴀɪɴɢʟᴏʀɪᴏᴜꜱ ᴀᴘᴇ @VaingloriousApe]

@1WithABullet @RandalRauser Nope. I'm merely pointing that metaphors do not confer truth claims onto the things which they compare. A metaphor succeeds or fails by the precision of its parallel, and can be successfully descriptive even if both things compared are manifestly false.

[ᴠᴀɪɴɢʟᴏʀɪᴏᴜꜱ ᴀᴘᴇ @VaingloriousApe]

@1WithABullet @RandalRauser Metaphor attempts to create a correspondence between two things. That doesn't mean the speaker is condoning both—or even necessarily one— of the statements; metaphor is illustrative.

[ᴠᴀɪɴɢʟᴏʀɪᴏᴜꜱ ᴀᴘᴇ @VaingloriousApe]

@1WithABullet @RandalRauser Context matters: He is talking about demons in Luke. It is a metaphor—or do you imagine that demons are fought with swords?

It sounds like you've fit Jesus' teachings in among your personal priorities. You don't need to convince anyone else. Self-defense is the law of the land.

[ᴠᴀɪɴɢʟᴏʀɪᴏᴜꜱ ᴀᴘᴇ @VaingloriousApe]

@1WithABullet @RandalRauser Point me to the verses describing their armed resistance following Jesus' command to put away the sword, and you might have a point. Instead, Jesus said "those who live by the sword will die by the sword," a general injunction against violence.

[ᴠᴀɪɴɢʟᴏʀɪᴏᴜꜱ ᴀᴘᴇ @VaingloriousApe]

@1WithABullet @RandalRauser Why would Jesus think that persecution was going to come to pass, when that persecution was a myth created by early Christians? Are you saying that the Prince of Peace was arming His followers for an eventuality that never happened?

[ᴠᴀɪɴɢʟᴏʀɪᴏᴜꜱ ᴀᴘᴇ @VaingloriousApe]

@1WithABullet @RandalRauser That persecution was a myth created by early Christians. It does not make sense that Jesus would be taken in by a urban legend—especially one that wouldn't exist until long after His death.

[ᴠᴀɪɴɢʟᴏʀɪᴏᴜꜱ ᴀᴘᴇ @VaingloriousApe]

@1WithABullet @RandalRauser So He could teach a lesson. He knew He'd tell them to put those swords away when they most wanted to use them.
I'm not sure why you're so worried about Jesus' teaching. Nobody's going to make you go become a Christian. You can obviously defend yourself by man's law, if not God's.

[ᴠᴀɪɴɢʟᴏʀɪᴏᴜꜱ ᴀᴘᴇ @VaingloriousApe]

@grcastleberry I admire your commitment to the bit.

[ᴠᴀɪɴɢʟᴏʀɪᴏᴜꜱ ᴀᴘᴇ @VaingloriousApe]

@1WithABullet @RandalRauser Jesus' message of radical pacifism is a consistent point He came back to again and again. Jesus went meekly to His death, and expected His followers to do no less. Talk about this with a Christian��they will explain it to you with more patience than I can muster. Take care.

[ᴠᴀɪɴɢʟᴏʀɪᴏᴜꜱ ᴀᴘᴇ @VaingloriousApe]

@1WithABullet @RandalRauser Are you asking why Jesus would speak in metaphor? As he does throughout the Gospels? What a bizzare view you must have of scripture if you think every verse is meant literally.

[ᴠᴀɪɴɢʟᴏʀɪᴏᴜꜱ ᴀᴘᴇ @VaingloriousApe]

@RCReed40 Any contortions necessary to give their god all credit. And any contortions necessary to absolve Him of all responsibility.

[ᴠᴀɪɴɢʟᴏʀɪᴏᴜꜱ ᴀᴘᴇ @VaingloriousApe]

@1WithABullet @RandalRauser You clearly haven't read the preceding verses, if you think that verse is in reference to "insults." And you clearly haven't been exposed to Jesus' teachings, if you think they include a loophole for self-defense.

[ᴠᴀɪɴɢʟᴏʀɪᴏᴜꜱ ᴀᴘᴇ @VaingloriousApe]

@BasedMikeLee Sounds like we need some central planning to counter these pesky free market problems.