In the Friends we hold that every person can experience (and speak) the divine. But of the Bible the only thing we actually put any emphasis on is the sermons, that is, Jesus expressing the divine.
If that seems complicated, I'll try to simplify it with a really, really bad analogy.
How do you know the light side of the force vs the dark side?
You just know. It's where it comes from. If you're not trying to transgress, if you're trying to protect yourself and others and avoid harm, that is the light side and if you're trying to inflict harm, to assert your will, that's the dark side. Simple as.
I said earlier "Men created divisions, not god."
To which the reply came as a quote from Genesis about Babel. But the thing is... where did that come from? I don't mean the quote, I mean the will behind posting the quote? It comes from a place of duplicitousness. It's an attempt to gotchya, to litigate. There's nothing divine about it, and it doesn't negate the spirit of what I said, which is effectively that god doesn't care about flags or invisible lines on the ground. Your concern for others can't end because of a distinction, arbitrary or otherwise.
And this is why I only really look to the Sermons for inspiration because the rest of the book is contradictory.
You're what I call a "litigatious christian", ie, one who uses texts as a set of loopholes to be exploited.
In the Friends we hold that every person can experience (and speak) the divine. But of the Bible the only thing we actually put any emphasis on is the sermons, that is, Jesus expressing the divine.
If that seems complicated, I'll try to simplify it with a really, really bad analogy.
How do you know the light side of the force vs the dark side?
You just know. It's where it comes from. If you're not trying to transgress, if you're trying to protect yourself and others and avoid harm, that is the light side and if you're trying to inflict harm, to assert your will, that's the dark side. Simple as.
I said earlier "Men created divisions, not god."
To which the reply came as a quote from Genesis about Babel. But the thing is... where did that come from? I don't mean the quote, I mean the will behind posting the quote? It comes from a place of duplicitousness. It's an attempt to gotchya, to litigate. There's nothing divine about it, and it doesn't negate the spirit of what I said, which is effectively that god doesn't care about flags or invisible lines on the ground. Your concern for others can't end because of a distinction, arbitrary or otherwise.
That's Calvinism.
I'm not a Calvinist.