The devil can cite scripture for his purpose.
That applies to me as well as to you of course. — andrewk
It's sad, for sure, but Agustino isn't American, German, or Francois. — Bitter Crank
I do though. Being a Christian is about following the ideas or teachings that one believes to have been given by Jesus of Nazareth, not about following a bunch of dogmas and rules written by a beastly bureaucracy of bishops.You cannot claim that the Decalogue is not Christian if it is Catholic. — Akanthinos
As per the Catechism : "1858. Grave matter is specified by the Ten Commandments, corresponding to the answer of Jesus to the rich young man: "Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and your mother." The gravity of sins is more or less great: murder is graver than theft. One must also take into account who is wronged: violence against parents is in itself graver than violence against a stranger." — Akanthinos
Why do you think you feel that way?And ridiculously chauvinistic — Akanthinos
Why do you think you feel that way? — andrewk
I'm not a Huguenot — andrewk
I inferred - correctly, as it turns out - that that's what you meant, and my response was in relation to that meaning of the term. I am not any sort of Christian now, much more inclined to Eastern mysticism, although I am sympathetic to love-based versions of Christianity.It's just a catch-all anachronistic term with which Francophones refers to Protestants of all shapes and colours. — Akanthinos
We are still at cross-purposes. You are interpreting my statement that the Ten Commandments are not Christian as meaning that one cannot be Christian and believe they still apply, whereas what I mean is that being Christian does not mean one has to believe the 10 Comms still apply.From "Decalogue is Jewish not Christian" to "Catholicism isn't Christian" to "True Christians aren't Catholics". — Akanthinos
What an erudite abbreviation! It was only yesterday that I first heard an explanation of the chi-rho symbol, on this In Our Time podcast about the emperor Constantine. After 50+ years of either being a Christian or being surrounded by them, I finally learned the meaning of that chi-rho symbol.XPian — Bitter Crank
The Right To Free Speech is the Right To Lie — Agustino
Then there would be no use for the word, as no governments has ever been able to meet that specification for a theocracy. A theocracy is a government run by the church leaders. Those countries are theocracy by that definition. Most? Don't you mean all? You can't even have the rule by clergy without people willing enough to listen to the "god given" mandates. — yatagarasu
Theocracy belongs in the same category as capitalism and communism; none of these have truly been executed in the absolute sense in the real world, nonetheless, the theory exists. Theocracy is rule by a god, not by the religion's leaders. Lots of superstitious people are easily manipulated into thinking that they are serving a god, but in reality, they serve another person. So until they can prove the existence and authority of their god, then they don't serve any god, but man. — Waya
Through most of history, humans were socially separated into two classes; ruling class and a peasant class. — wellwisher
Theocracy is defined as the rule of government by priests that act as a conduit for God or a god. That form of government has existed and still does. Whether or not they actually have God/god's authority is another thing. Also, Capitalism has been achieved in a sense. The capital is owned and controlled by private citizens, communism has never been achieved on any large scale. — yatagarasu
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