March 15, 2013

Comment Response

by Ronald W. Clark, Jr (author's profile)
This post is in reply to comments on:  Daily Journal 1/14/13 to 1/17/13 thumbnail
Daily Journal 1/14/13 to 1/17/13
(Feb. 6, 2013)

Transcription

Dear Schneehase

Good morning, my dear sweet friend. I received the comment last night and as always I enjoy hearing from you, whether it be here or through snail mail.

Now, I'm more of an agnostic than an atheist. I leave the possibility of creation open. We could have had a creator who created and moved on, or created and died out. You can't blackmail the dead. Jesus will never show up because he was not Christ the son of God/God in the flesh. And the evidence is there in the biblical text. Matthew 12:40, Jesus said the only miracle they would see was that, that after 3 days and 3 nights in the tomb that he would rise, yet he did not spend 3 nights in that tomb. If you want to we can discuss this. I'll take you through the Jewish days, Genesis 1:1-31 showing you the Jewish day, show you Luke 23:54, Jesus is placed in the tomb on Friday evening, and the body is missing Sunday morning. I'll show you that and everything else that destroyed my faith, if you really want to discuss that on the blog.

A lot of times in my journal I'm making comments on how I feel at that moment. I'm frustrated, this cell's driving me nuts. I've prayed and hoped for death to come only to wake up again and again in this cage. This is hell on earth.

The holier than thou comment. Next time a proponent says that, tell them you're following your faith and then ask them what their excuse is, playing God, taking lives. As for the Prozac. I agree users depend on it, you can see that with me. I don't like having to take any medication. Yes, I've been on and off Prozac for 25 years. I was taking it on the street. It was my dad's, but I was taking it. Right now it's not working for me. :( Hopefully it'll kick in and start working for me.

You can now write me using j-pay.com e-mail service, which is cheaper than overseas letters. I think I told you about that in my last letter.

I'm going to wrap this up, because I'll be writing responding to your letter over the weekend. This new stationery, I did this because you didn't like my skulls. I've got some others as well, tiger, raccoon, birds, bears and I'll be doing other stuff. I hope you like it better.

Please take care, my dear sweet beautiful friend. Write soon.

In peace, love and friendship
Ronnie :)

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Schneehase Posted 11 years, 9 months ago. ✓ Mailed 11 years, 9 months ago   Favorite
You have been right - I like the two drawings here. ;-)

Well, Ronnie, it´s YOUR opinion that Jesus will not show up in flesh and blood because he is not God´s son.
I believe otherwise and neither of your "arguments" is going to shake that belief.
I´m quite good with the Bible myself so I know all that stuff that may seem as a proof that Christianity is not right but I have no difficulties in explaining that to myself so that´s absolutely no evidence against my faith.

No three days in the grave?
No three full days, if you mean that.
Good Friday - one day.
Saturday - second day.
Easter morning - part of the third day.
No problem, no proof of not being right.

Well, as I already told you:
I know you don´t want to believe in Jesus -
so that´s okay with me.
Just don´t write nonsense about God like that "cruel and playing around with us" stuff.
Even if you don´t like me to compare my relationship with God with the one others (and I) have with our relatives and loved ones, I do compare it because that´s what it is for me. And I don´t like bad things to be spread about my loved ones - especially none that I believe to be not true.

Just one thing to think about....
if the apostles didn´t see Jesus alive after his execution but only lied about that or even were the ones to have stolen the corpse - do you really believe they would (all of them twelve! - as Judas Iskariot was replaced) have agreed to die as martyrs for that?
Maybe one could argue they thought such a lie would have another effect but as soon as it became dangerous, every normal person would have stopped that lying....

Schneehase Posted 11 years, 9 months ago. ✓ Mailed 11 years, 9 months ago   Favorite
You know, Ronnie, you have to keep in mind that it took some decades after Jesus´ death and resurrection until the gospel was written down.
Before that, people only told their children and others about what had happened.
Maybe you can imagine when Mark, Matthew, Luke and John asked people what they remembered, that they said "Jesus said he would build up the temple again in three days or on the third day or so".
I think it´s very likely that they didn´t know the exact literal quotations anymore - or one remembered it correctly, the other one a little different.
That´s probably why some scenes are slightly different - for example with the two criminals executed with Jesus: One gospel said they both mocked at him, one says one of the two showed remorse and asked Jesus for mercy. I suppose some people told the others "I only heard them mocking at Jesus too" - and others had heard the remorseful criminal whom the first ones didn´t pay any attention for.

That´s what I mean when I wrote to you I supposed you had been taught a typical Bible belt faith: Taking everything literal and as a kind of scientific....If there stands the world has been created in 6 days then that´s exactly what happened and as there were no dinosaurs mentioned, then there were no dinosaurs, and either you believe that completely or you say, "can´t be true at all" and make your "q.e.d" below it.

I have a more spiritual access to my faith.
I´m keeping in mind how the gospels were written down, and for me, the most important is the spirit that radiates from the Bible.
For me, the question is, can that be true, and my answer is yes.
If there seem to be contradictions, they are probably caused by human mistakes in "delivering" everything to the next generations until it was written down.

(And as for the contradicition between the creationists and Darwin...I do believe in Darwin´s theory but I don´t believe it was all only by chance. Somewhere the bible says for God one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day...so that´s my explanation for the "six days"....and don´t take that literal again: Six times a thousand years means six thousand years.....
The bible uses a lot of symbolic speech.
When Jesus said we should forgive seven times seventy times, I don´t believe he meant you should make a notch into your bedpost every time you forgive and if your 490 are full, you don´t have to forgive anymore - but that quotation means "endlessly often - always".
I hope you understand what I mean with the obvious difference in our understandings of the bible and faith. ;-) )

Schneehase Posted 11 years, 9 months ago. ✓ Mailed 11 years, 9 months ago   Favorite
A kingdom for an edit button. ;-)

Just one more thing:
You know what was what convinced me most that Christianity may be right with its teachings?

It was the scene at the crucifixion where Jesus said "forgive them, they don´t know what they´re doing".
I mean, NO normal individual would have said such a thing, he?
You see yourself what they´re often saying: An eye for an eye and so on. They want revenge. And you often want it too. Can´t imagine you praying that way for Warden Reddish or so. Let alone if you had been nailed to the cross and were dying slowly and cruelly.
That´s not human, that´s divine.
At least, that´s my opinion.
That´s what I mean saying, for me, the spirit of the gospel says much more than possible slight contradictions with dates and so on.

Ronald W. Clark, Jr Posted 11 years, 8 months ago.   Favorite
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