Christian Martial Arts Union

[lunghushan]

"The Enemy" is a proper noun for Satan, Lucifer, the Devil, the fallen archangel of the worship angels who wants to bring about the destruction of mankind. For someone who doesn't believe in him, the whole notion is ridiculous.

For those who do believe that he exists, the conviction is deeply held and unshakable.

Even for those who despise Christians, to understand them, that other person must perceive that the Christian hates what Lucifer tries to do to them and to other people. A true Christian desires that others life a life free of the horrible things that Satan doess. It is a form of love.

No, I was raised Christian and we never used the Evengelical 'the enemy'. It wasn't like that. There was Satan and he was the deceiver, but not 'the enemy'. Evangelicals use a different thing, and they're much more into labeling others as evil to gain followers. That, IMHO, is hate speech.

I've worked on a lot of teams at work that raise morale by calling others 'the enemy' and lowering them to subhumans. It's pretty typical human behavior and what they use to get people to kill others in war.

[SevenStar]

Lol hypocrite.

Response: how is that hypocritical? I was just saying that I would pray for them and I never said I was better than them!

Rebuttal: But the fact that you need to pray for anyone, in your sense, implies that they are somehow lost to something that you understand. This is rude.

Why do you think that the devil will attack you through CMA? Who told you this? If god is always protecting you, why the heck do you NEED A UNION FOR CHRISTIAN MARTIAL ARTISTS???!??! If you're a christian, you're already protected, right? At least MORE protected. So do you not trust enough in the power of your individual humanity to resist evil? I just don't get why you can't stay out of how your western view has so innacurrately deemed "the spiritual aspects of CMA and Qigong." WTF? You obviously don't get the Chinese religious mentality. Just explain why you need to make a Christian Martial Arts union if all of the members were going to be Christians already?!??!?!

Why do alcoholics join AA? Why do people join fraternities, become masons, etc? The collective. there is strength in numbers. A christian fellowshipping with other christians in whatever environment is less prone to any outside temptaion, whatever it may be.

[Shaolin Wookie]

I don't know why you're pretending to be an authority on something you're not. I don't know why, when confronted with this fact, you just retreat deeper into this pretension. It seems rather silly.

Thank you.

I always consider it a compliment when Christians call me pretentious and silly.

[laugarkuen]

Thank you.

I always consider it a compliment when Christians call me pretentious and silly.

I'm not a christian but I'm happy to call you pretentious and silly if you want

[SevenStar]

Why is it OK to be anything...OTHER than a Christian ???? We havnt blown up buildings, declared that Israel should be wiped off the Map, made our women 3rd class citizens and trained our Youth to hate an entire race of people ?????

dude... christians have been among the BIGGEST killers of mankind. During the crusades, they slew hundreds, maybe thousands of muslims - the defenseless women and children as well.

[Shaolin Wookie]

If you had studied the field you'd be able to provide references from which each of your statements are coming.

I'm not really responding to your challenge of my qualifications. Technically speaking, I'm not qualified to make these statements, because I don't work in the field of biblical archaeology.

But I am able to formulate my own opinions.

Some of my favorite books on this subject (not ranked, just listed):

1. The Holy Babble.....uh, I mean Bible. One needs nothing more to prove the logical, historical, moral fallacies of Christianity than this piece of remarkable.....well, I don't know what the **** it is. I didn't need anything more than this remarkable piece of......[insert appropriate noun]....to decide to overturn its entire theology and morality. Its history? Well, I always loved the Crusades, and anything on the Albigensian Crusade.....or anything involving the Languedoc during hte pivotal periods of heresy and heresy-suppression. My investigations into the matter of religion through research was a byproduct of this decision.....simply to find out why other people left, why anyone in their right mind might believe in it (besides the whole brainwashing thing), and how it has survived.

2. James, the Brother of Jesus--Robert Eisenman (I'm only going to list this one book by Eisenman, but they're all top-notch in my opinion.....thanks to him we have access to the Dead Sea Scrolls ). It's a mammoth tome filled with historical analyses, based on contemporary sectarian movements and contemporary historical analysis. It especially focuses in on the whole James "half-brother" relation to Christianity. Plus, he, more than anyone, gives a picture of the chaotic political climate of the times.

3. Elaine Pagels....again, any of her books. I think they're okay...not quite "great." But informative nonetheless.

4. Caesar's Messiah. This book is pure propaganda with a completely ridiculous conclusion, and really should never be taken seriously...and yet, I loooooove it. I find it hilarious, and it only goes to show that the Babble's "history" can be used to prove anything. Still, some of his points are very valid--others are out there, man. That thing about "fishers of men" and the battle at Galilee where Jews were drawn from the waters and beheaded---that had me laughing for days.

5. Josephus.....how can you not like Josephus? He called the Romans infidels, but quickly turned coat and deified Vespasian when threatened with death. Sabbatai Zevi, anyone? ( )...if you don't know ole Sabbatai...do some research. I'm sure you'll find it interesting. There are Jesuses in his histories....but they're political rebels (terrorists)....no mention of the Christ cult, though.

6. Dead Sea Scrolls.....and all the Gnostic gospels. They're strange, mystical, and representative of many different schools of thought in the early years of Christianity. My fav. when I was Christian was the Gospel of St. Thomas. Now I don't really like any of them...but they are certainly informative.

7. The Cheese and the Worms. Okay, this isn't a religious book, in a sense. But it give a picture of what religion meant to the layman 500 years ago in Italy. Which was.....really friggin' WEIRD!!!!

8. Tribus Impostoribus....Traite des Trois Imposteurs. I had to search to high heaven to find a copy of this....then hit the motherload at the UGA library 2 years ago, found 3 different folios from three different eras in the original french (I read just enough French/Picard to slog through 'em), and an English translation. Photocopied them all for my own personal collection. Cannot be ignored, as this was the seminal text in biblical potshotting (my made up word) throughout history. It was destroyed every time it popped back up, and has been attributed to countless authors (its later manifestation attributed notably to Spinoza).

9. THomas Paine, Age of Reason. Read it. Learn it. Love it.

10. Celsus. On the True Doctrine. The first and greatest critique of Christianity. Also the reason I refer to Christians as barbarians.

11. Spinoza. I looooooovvve Spinoza. Yeah, I'm an atheist, and some called him one (wrongly, as he was more agnostic), but his analysis of religion was remarkable. One of those guys that paved the way for bibilical deconstruction.

12. Fuerbach. The Essence of Christianity. Fantastic examination of Christianity.

13. NIETZSCHE!!!!!!! He's crazy, angry, and fed up with backwards Christian morality. I never used to consider him an authority on religion because of his tone. But I've come around to it since. "Will to Power" and "The Anti-Christ" were truly great books......

14. BRITTO!!! (a.k.a. Pelagius). A guy I admired during that period of serious questioning in matters of religion. I managed to track down a rare examination he had executed on St. Paul.....which was rare back then. Nowadays you can find many books published based solely on Pelagius and his writings. I own many of them.

15. Averroes. Tahafut al-Tahafut (Incoherence of the Incoherence). Not a Christian critique...but a muslim one of Islaam. One of the great religious philsophers taking on al-Ghazali's evisceration of the Greeks/esp. Aristotle.


These are just a few of my favorites. I couldn't possibly list them all in one post, and I'm sure nobody is interested. But for those who are, including yourself, they're some good books to read, in my opinion.

But as I said: you don't need anything more than the Holy Babble to decide to give up religion on intellectual and historical grounds. I didn't, anyways.

[Shaolin Wookie]

WHY the mention of Jesus, the God of the Bible is so offensive, when tolerance is the battle cry of the day? Why is it OK to be anything...OTHER than a Christian ???? We havnt blown up buildings, declared that Israel should be wiped off the Map, made our women 3rd class citizens and trained our Youth to hate an entire race of people ?????

In short:

WHY the mention of Jesus, the God of the Bible is so offensive, when tolerance is the battle cry of the day?

But not the battle cry of the past (up until the twentieth century or so, so we're basing this on the "believe or die" credo, recently rehashed in shape and form by Puff Daddy and his "vote or die") . And most of us don't like the fact that this "toleration" includes public condemnation of non-christian personas, the outright denial of scientific endeavor (or, assimilation to it [which is more offensive] while restructuring it.....Kansas, for instance), the brainwashing of little children, and the whole concept of Hell (Very much the icon of Toleration, don't you think?). How 'bout toleration for abortion? How 'bout toleration for suicide? The "tolerance" you speak of is "tolerance" of things "permitted" by a very "intolerant" and morally closeminded group.

Why is it OK to be anything...OTHER than a Christian ????

B/c according to Christians, it's not okay to be anything other than a Christian.....at least in the long run. Just remember JDK....you were born an atheist, and had to be edumacated in the Christian ways.

We havnt blown up buildings....

Oklahoma, silly.
The Murrah Federal Building...if I remember correctly.

...declared that Israel should be wiped off the Map...

No, but as for the inhabitants of said country..... (note: should be your expression).

...made our women 3rd class citizens...

This is friggin' ridiculous. Read it again. Then again. Then again. Seriously, dude..... You're beating the Muslims by a whopping 87 years on this one.

...trained our Youth to hate an entire race of people...

Hmmmm.....how 'bout the human race?

[NJM]

I can't remember, but I think I touched on this elsewhere. Christians are not supposed to put themselves in a position to associate with "worldy" people, particularly within marriage - "be ye not equally yoked in the spirit." I guess in a sense you can look at it as superiority complex, as christians are supposed to associate with fellow christians, and hopefully convert non-christians to christianity. It's not so much about caring what others think, but protection of the soul. If you are in pursuit of a holy life, living by the Word, what benefit do you get from hanging around atheists? None. They cannot help you live a more godly lifestyle. They may be more inclined to engage in activities that a christian should not. THAT is why there is a delineation.

I defy this notion on the grounds that it is completely immoral and stagnant.

[BlueTravesty]

so much vitriole it was posted twice...

[lunghushan]

I can't remember, but I think I touched on this elsewhere. Christians are not supposed to put themselves in a position to associate with "worldy" people, particularly within marriage - "be ye not equally yoked in the spirit."

Actually, Paul pretty much says Christians shouldn't get married at all, unless they can't control themselves, in which case it is better to be married than fornicate.

http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/bible/1c...rinthians7.htm

This quote is one of the best in the entire Bible, IMHO:

"Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek a separation. Are you free of a wife? Then do not look for a wife. If you marry, however, you do not sin, nor does an unmarried woman sin if she marries; but such people will experience affliction in their earthly life, and I would like to spare you that."

I used to use it every time my parents bothered me about getting married.

[JDK]

dude... christians have been among the BIGGEST killers of mankind. During the crusades, they slew hundreds, maybe thousands of muslims - the defenseless women and children as well.

I stated this once before..what you are refering to is The Roman Catholic Church/Institution "convret or die Crusades. ( Slaughters)

They have nothing to do with Biblical Christianity

Here iare some truth and facts very few people want to talk about:

http://www.chick.com/information/religions/catholicism/

[lunghushan]

I stated this once before..what you are refering to is The Roman Catholic Church/Institution "convret or die Crusades. ( Slaughters)

They have nothing to do with Biblical Christianity

Here iare some truth and facts very few people want to talk about:

http://www.chick.com/information/religions/catholicism/

Dude, bottom line is nobody really follows 'Biblical Christianity'. Certainly not Christians. Why do you think I quit the church? Because they don't practice what they preach.

You can't say that Catholics aren't Christians. Pretty much every denomination denounces every other denomination. Just because you say Catholics aren't Christians doesn't make it so.

[unkokusai]

Why do you think I left the church? .

They kicked you out 'cause they, like everyone else, couldn't stand you.

[Li Kao]

Christianity Cliff Notes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNN19b0Ufoc

[JDK]

Dude, bottom line is nobody really follows 'Biblical Christianity'. Certainly not Christians. Why do you think I quit the church? Because they don't practice what they preach.

You can't say that Catholics aren't Christians. Pretty much every denomination denounces every other denomination. Just because you say Catholics aren't Christians doesn't make it so.

I agree.
Hypocrisy in the church hs run amok.

Most pick up their coat of christianity at the church door on their way in...and then hang it back up till next week on the wayout. Sad..but true.

However...............

There are some who DO practice what they preach...and whiley no means anywhere near perfect, we try our best to obey God and live good clean moral lives, and to love our neighbor as ourselves, which is according to Jesus Himself,,,
The Most Impotant Commandment of all.

There are phonies and hypocrites everywhere...just ignore them, and have a personal one on one realtionship with our Creator....and that's all you need to do

Just try it...ask the God of the Universe to reveal Himself to you in Jesus name.. I will pray for you..and let me know in a few days, or weeks when He makes himself know to you in an unmistakable way.

What have you got to loose???????????

JDK