BF2S Forums Disclaimer: Jesus' love subject to change

Yeah, the whole 'if... but...' thing gets on my nerves as well.

Braddock wrote:

sergeriver wrote:

This Saturday my niece had her first Communion.  My brother married a Catholic girl and he has no problem with her daughter being brainwashed by Catholic priests.  Anyway, we were at this Church, and the priest opened with some crap like "If you love Jesus, he will love you".  Wtf?  After some blah blah I couldn't stand all that BS, I told my wife I had to go to the bathroom and went to the local McDonald's and had a coke.  I returned to the church when the ceremony was over.

If you want Jesus to love you, you must love him first?  Does Jesus work that way?  Is this a Catholic BS or do all Christians believe this?  Where is the disclaimer, Jesus' love subject to change?

As a lapsed Catholic (lol...I love that term, like I've 'failed' at being a catholic or something) I can tell you that Jesus seemed like a decent bloke from what we can make out of his documented existence but the church that grew out of his legend has turned out to be the biggest pile of morally corrupt, contradictory bullshit to ever grace the planet. Even as a kid I was picking holes in the logic of Catholic indoctrination...concepts like Satan, purgatory and original sin just sent my bullshit-o-meter off the chart. I prefer to think of Jesus as a revolutionary...an ancient Che Guevara style figure whose beliefs and views were so radical that many thought him to be not of this world while others thought of him as a heretic. He was very much human but merely ahead of his time in his thinking.

Those are kinda my feelings about Jesus, the person not the myth that resurrected and did lots of miracles.  I think the Catholic Church has used his image in a very bad way and the marketing is worse than the real person.

sergeriver wrote:

mikeyb118 wrote:

"If you love Jesus, he will love you".
Probably an oddball priest, conditional love is not a feature of the Catholic faith.

It shouldn't be, but when the guy goes "if..." you feel that your love means your money in his pocket, and that's a terrible message for 10 years old kids.

I doubt young children pay attention in church, when I was forced to go it was more of an endurance trial than a time of enlightenment.

mikeyb118 wrote:

sergeriver wrote:

mikeyb118 wrote:

"If you love Jesus, he will love you".
Probably an oddball priest, conditional love is not a feature of the Catholic faith.

It shouldn't be, but when the guy goes "if..." you feel that your love means your money in his pocket, and that's a terrible message for 10 years old kids.

I doubt young children pay attention in church, when I was forced to go it was more of an endurance trial than a time of enlightenment.

When I was young the local mass was a combination of Latin and badly mumbled Gaeilge...I might has well have been listening to white noise!

sergeriver wrote:

If you want Jesus to love you, you must love him first?  Does Jesus work that way?  Is this a Catholic BS or do all Christians believe this?  Where is the disclaimer, Jesus' love subject to change?

Actually the Bible says "We love because he first loved us." (1 John 4:19)

If anyone's interested there is a good book giving some insight into the actual times of Jesus called the Jesus Dynasty by James Tabor. It has some speculation especially near the beginning of the book, but it gets much more well grounded further in. It relates what Jesus' original views were based on historical documents available and then shows how the Pauline transformation took over despite Jesus indicating that his brothers were to lead the movement.

Paul basically claimed to have divine revelations from heavenly Jesus that overrode a lot of what Jesus had said and left behind in his legacy on earth, through his brothers etc. When the kingdom of heaven failed to materialize on earth as Jesus and his disciples believed was imminent, the followers of Jesus after his death were spread and recoiling from Jesus's death and the lack of a kingdom of heaven on earth (aka the upturning of the existing establishment, and rulers placed over the 12 tribes of Israel as mandated by God, not by man). As the years passed on and hope faded in a kingdom of heaven on earth materializing and one after another of Jesus' brothers got whacked by the establishment, the faith found rekindling in Pauls views of faith based deliverance etc. It was a good book just for the historical context, even though there are several parts of speculation that seem pretty stretched.

Anyways, I am a believer, but not in Catholicism. The priest always acts like a believers gateway to God, which is complete bullshit amongst many other complaints I'd have against Catholic belief.

True belief in God reveals itself in ones heart and more importantly in one's actions. Words are nothing, and can so easily say anything, but action shows what a person truly believes in. Anyone can get on a soap box and preach the gospel if they try, but to actually do the right thing, to be called to action, when you know something is wrong and to do something about it, rather than to take the easy route out, that is what shows when a person really believes in God and the things that encompasses, like love, faith, compassion, etc.

There is some evidence to suggest that Jesus Christ was not a name, but rather a title, and there may have been more than one.

How the heck do we even know he was some fancy-pants son of god?

It is an allegory for simple folk in how to manipulate the universe. nubs.

Take a basic world religions class before spouting off baseless hypothesis.

The priest was talking bs.  I was referring to the hypothesis by those above, serge, not you.

Lotta_Drool wrote:

sergeriver wrote:

This Saturday my niece had her first Communion.  My brother married a Catholic girl and he has no problem with her daughter being brainwashed by Catholic priests.  Anyway, we were at this Church, and the priest opened with some crap like "If you love Jesus, he will love you".  Wtf?  After some blah blah I couldn't stand all that BS, I told my wife I had to go to the bathroom and went to the local McDonald's and had a coke.  I returned to the church when the ceremony was over.

If you want Jesus to love you, you must love him first?  Does Jesus work that way?  Is this a Catholic BS or do all Christians believe this?  Where is the disclaimer, Jesus' love subject to change?

You should see what alter boys have to do to be loved by Jesus.

Lol!

Good one.

Anyways...can't think of anything to say, so here's a GIF of a bunny with a pancake on it's head: