Some Theological (and other) Thoughts on Vaping
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You didn't expect a God reference in a thread with the word "Theological" in the title?
How many people are old enough to remember the church parking lot after the service, loaded with people smoking including the pastor?
Unfortunately too many people go through a legalistic phase and worry more about every little thing you do rather than if you have a genuine relationship with God and what the outpouring of that relationship looks like. When they extend one finger to point at your sin they fail to notice 3 pointed back at them selves over unspoken sins in their own lives, like they have it all together. Modern day pharisees.
Unfortunately too many people go through a legalistic phase and worry more about every little thing you do rather than if you have a genuine relationship with God and what the outpouring of that relationship looks like. When they extend one finger to point at your sin they fail to notice 3 pointed back at them selves over unspoken sins in their own lives, like they have it all together. Modern day pharisees.
You didn't expect a God reference in a thread with the word "Theological" in the title?
I like to read about religious thisandthat every now and again to remind myself why I don't go to church. I was pleasantly surprised with the first bit though
I wasn't to preach to the anti-religion crowd.
My point is that just about everyone has a religious person in their life. And most of us have judgmental people in our lives. Unfortunately, they are often the same person. And they wrap their judgment and condemnation in the Bible. You are not going to reach those folks with logic because their argument is based on their faith. You have to speak their language to reach them. So you have to reach them where they are using their basis of truth to do so. If someone had health problems with vaping, I am not going to try to convince them using arguments about how fashionable it is or how great it tastes. In order to reach them, I'd need to address health concerns with medical evidence. So if you have someone who brings in theological arguments against vaping, this is one response to them that speaks their language.
Sadly what constitutes the modern church has become... less than. Less than what it could be. We were given the Great Commission to spread the good news, not use guilt and fear-mongering to collect converts like baseball cards. Salvation is exceptionally and deeply personal. Doing an alter call or passing out tracts MIGHT possibly slightly maybe do something... but in all likelihood they are pointless wastes of time. No one should fear "hell" more than they love God. Anyone using fear as a means to bring about redemption is doing it 100% wrong.
I'll chill on the religion, but someone who feels a deeply personal connection with whom they believe to be their Creator is a right we all share as humans. The old and modern Church has done too many horrible things to be forgiven by secular society... we've lost face, and rightly so.
As a Christian, I practice my faith in a post-modern church state of mind. That's not to say I don't believe that church isn't good. Churches do amazing things for the poor, sick, and needy. We need to focus on that, and not "saving sinners". That is entirely between God and that person.
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I'll chill on the religion, but someone who feels a deeply personal connection with whom they believe to be their Creator is a right we all share as humans. The old and modern Church has done too many horrible things to be forgiven by secular society... we've lost face, and rightly so.
As a Christian, I practice my faith in a post-modern church state of mind. That's not to say I don't believe that church isn't good. Churches do amazing things for the poor, sick, and needy. We need to focus on that, and not "saving sinners". That is entirely between God and that person.
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Agree 100%. Can't add anything to improve a perfect summation.
I have this knee-jerk tendency to generally ignore 3000-year-old mythologies of desert-dwelling tribes when it comes to making decisions in life, even while I acknowledge that I've unconsciously inherited many of my values (as have we all) from the Judeo-Christian tradition.
I'm with Nietzsche on this. We've spent 2000 years bending the teaching of a radical Jewish preacher to suit our own interests. You'd think that by now we'd have had the courage to invent some new gods.
I'm with Nietzsche on this. We've spent 2000 years bending the teaching of a radical Jewish preacher to suit our own interests. You'd think that by now we'd have had the courage to invent some new gods.
Awesome. I'm glad you have a belief system that makes you feel like a better person, just like me!
EDIT: I re-read this and sounds sarcastic out of tone. I promise I'm not being sarcastic.
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EDIT: I re-read this and sounds sarcastic out of tone. I promise I'm not being sarcastic.
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Well said Rocketpunk. We Christians need to stop worrying about being Christians, Catholics, Protestants, Presbyterians, Orthodox, Baptists, Calvinists, Wesleyans, Lutherans, etc and focus on following Jesus. Jesus was radically inclusive, preferring to hang out with tax collectors, prostitutes and other sinners. When asked why, he told the sanctimonious Pharisees (those more concerned with strict adherence to the law, the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law) the Dr. was there to help the sick, not the well. It's a long road but we don't walk it alone
If the original poster can like your post, then I'll just leave it at that.
Awesome. I'm glad you have a belief system that makes you feel like a better person, just like me!
EDIT: I re-read this and sounds sarcastic out of tone. I promise I'm not being sarcastic.
Ya, but that's the thing, I don't have a belief system that makes me feel like a better person.
I wasn't "liking" the fact that he skipped the main point of the post, but rather the "I was pleasantly surprised with the first bit" bit. I like it when A rational thought from a religious person surprises people. But I *don't* like it THAT rational thought from a religious person surprises folks.
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It's times like this I remember why I'm an Atheist.
No offense to anyone but the whole god, bible, blah blah blah should be excluded from the forums all together. As a general rule two things should never be brought up in online discussions, politics and religion. They never end well.
No offense to anyone but the whole god, bible, blah blah blah should be excluded from the forums all together. As a general rule two things should never be brought up in online discussions, politics and religion. They never end well.
I wasn't trying to turn this into a discussion ABOUT religion. It is about a category of objections to vaping. With the countless threads addressing the POLITICAL objections to vaping, I don't think my little one on religious objections is going to harm anyone.
Government politics aka (I hate Obama, please discuss) posts and the politics of vaping in general as in state/local bans, Casaa stuff and other topics that revolve around vaping are completely different things. Religion is just religion.
As fellow vapers we should never attack a poster about his reason to vape, whatever his reason may be. This IS about vaping, not about religion. Even if he finds his reason to vape is based on his beliefs, he deserves our respect as a fellow vaper. He did not ask for your beliefs to be the same as his own, or for any commitment on your part. Any attack on the poster is purely selfish and hateful.
As far as politics goes, it's almost impossible to separate the two. After all, it is gooberment decisions and the applicable laws that will determine if you have the privilege or not.
As far as politics goes, it's almost impossible to separate the two. After all, it is gooberment decisions and the applicable laws that will determine if you have the privilege or not.
This is my problem with some Atheists while I agree religion can and is used for not so good means, just because you don't believe dose not mean it should go away.
Expecting Christians to not voice their beliefs while at the same time voicing yours is just as hypocritical as most atheists claim Christians are.
Our differences are our strength. One of the true undeniable evils is intolerance. That one little word is a source of daily grief for people all over the world.
Ive kind of lurked threw this thread since it started and IMO it seems to be positive for the most part.
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