I’m curious about who still practices their faith.

That isn't limited to the Church or any other organized religious grouping. I get this same ability out of Masonary/DeMolay, fandom, SCA, BDSM community and the Poly community. Sadly, this isn't always true within a given Church either. I have been to churches within a denomination in some places where I will never step foot in their buliding/congregation again, and others that I will be more than happy to. And having traveled during my stint in the Navy, I have been to a large variety of churches and Churches.

 

You do realize that this is also the same Church that shuffled around its pedophile priest and hid them, and would not turn them over to the law for several decades. Exactly how is that within Christian Doctrine?

 

Wrong... What was denied is the belief Brigham Young ordered the attack. The Martial Law order did not tell the people down there to kill anyone. Especially women and children. Unlike what happened at Hann's Mill and that massacre where the Anti-Mormons have never admitted wrong doing. You seem to think you understand the hierarchy of the Church, but you don't. I bet you also hate Trump for no good reason as well...

 

since those reasons are going to be subjective, how would you even determine if its a good reason or not? Would you consider using Dr. Sex Demons as a valid medical source a good reason to hate him?

 

It seems that you would be out of your comfort zone if you were listening to the Yeshua character spin his stories. He didn't go for that stuff that you like.

 

IMHO I believe Mary was given a great honor in being the vessel that brought the Lord into the World. She, however, was of the human condition, a sinful nature. God placed within her an embryo of His own unique making.

 

You still don't seem to address the "sin nature" that has been present in every human being since Adam. God could have NO part in it. Jesus is referred to as the second Adam. Adam was made out of the dust. No prior DNA. The Baby Jesus did not need existing DNA. Please don't take this as argument. This is what I have come to believe in my search of the Scripture.

 

I guess that’s good. The bishops in the Mormon church are paid nothing and the missionaries in the Mormon church have to pay for for their own international trips out of their own pockets!

 

Adam still had to have some kind of DNA to pass on to his own kids. And given that sin is not a genetic component, the DNA would be immaterial as to the nature of the person. Basically I have two separate arguments based on two separate premises. For the premise that Jesus' DNA was a clone of Mary's, it would mean that Mary was most likely an XY woman. For the premise that the DNA of Jesus was placed wholesale into Mary, I am noting that the DNA of Adam is just as good as any, and would fit a good sense of Irony.

Adam being made from dust means nothing as far as DNA goes. At best, it would mean that Eve is a clone of Adam (since she came from his rib) and sex with her was the ultimate in masturbation. But even ignoring that, both of them had to have DNA in order for the rest of us to have DNA. DNA created out of the blue by God, but DNA nonetheless.

 

Trump has nothing to do with this and historians generally agree that young did not order the attack but created an atmosphere of deep hatred that encouraged it. To this day the church refuses to apologize for it and has even formally returned the only man actually executed for the massacre to come back into the good graces of the church.
This is short, please watch
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It means the 1st Adam was the original DNA. The Second Adam was another original. Jesus had DNA but it was original. Carried none of the "sin nature" resulting from the fall.Another thing.....John the Baptist was a "rabbi" of sorts. Possibly unrecognized by the Pharisees. Would you purport this wild man, a Nazarene, to be married? He was a foreshadow of the Christ.

 

Depends ... is there incense, bells, chanting, or anything like that involved? I love all that stuff

 

I'm aware. Jesus Humphrey Christ was no fan of the bells & whistles!

Luckily that doesn't matter to me, what with being a non-believer

 

I'm not sure what you are saying about a 1st and 2nd Adam.

DNA doesn't carry sin to begin with.

His status as sinless or not held no bearing upon the Sacrifice. He too could well have been married. I don't purport that Jesus was married. I only purport that being married and even having children through that marriage would do nothing to disqualify him as the perfect sinless sacrifice.

 

It most definitely carries a "propensity toward sin" or the "sin nature", just as the DNA can carry a propensity to alchoholism or cancer.

 

While it is true that Christ has existed from eternity past, He is here called the second man or second Adam because He came from heaven to earth many years after Adam. Christ came as a human baby with a body like all other humans, but He did not originate from the dust of the earth as had Adam. He “came from heaven.”

 

I spend a lot of time on biblical study but haven't attended a church regularly since I was in my 20's, and that was a long long time ago.

I grew up as Lutheran, but Lutheran Social Services turned it into a funding mechanism for abortion and Muslim causes. If anyone is wondering how Ilhan Omar ended up in Minnesota, it was Lutheran Social Services that sponsored her entry and her agenda.

I've been watching a TV church service lately by someone named David Jeremiah, which Fox business carries on Sunday morning. He seems to be someone I can relate to.

 

The Bible says that sin is genetic in several passages.

 

Please cite.

 

I'll tell you how it's possible. Throughout history every Saint had been calumniated, so bishops tend to hesitate before accusing someone. Also the first one to be accused was the Cardinal in Chicago, and later on the boy admitted it was a lie. Also in Christianity, people repent, and the Church is not to judge.

I remember many decades ago, reading a book by a Catholic theologian who said he saw satan enter the Church. Well satan certainly did. How in the world they allowed a priest who was obviously possessed to get away with it for so many years without sending him to some home, is beyond me. But then again people of that type can be very deceiving.

But those things happen in every denomination and in every organization and in the same percentage. It's a reflection of the society in that time and place. That it was happening in Europe as well, means that it was a universal Western problem.

But Jesus also had a human physical nature. He was fully a man physically and felt pain as well - so God must have used Mary's physical nature as well. I think that's the Orthodox Church position on it, but I'm not sure. What I do know, is that the nature of Christ was argued au nauseum in the early Church.

 

I think the pedophile priests thing in the catholic church is just a simple matter of power corrupting. These priests are held up by the non-priest followers as icons of morality and beyond reproach, so naturally it will be a breeding ground for hidden evil. And naturally the church itself will seek to hide that evil, for fear of losing its good image. I would expect the same to happen in any system, religious or not, that takes this sort of structure.

 

You don't need a church, mosque or temple to have religion or spirituality..

 

How could the Bible say that sin is genetic, and at the same time say that everyone has a free will? Isn't that an oxymoron?

 

I tend to agree with that. I noticed that spirituality and sanctity also seems to be an inherent trait. As an example; 'saintly' Princess Alice, who was Queen Victoria's second daughter, would go incognito to homes of poor women after they gave birth, and help them with their work. Her second daughter in turn became Saint Elizabeth, and her statue can be seen on Westminster Abbey.

Elizabeth was not only one of the most beautiful women in the world, but also the richest, after her husband Grand Duke Sergius died. She became a nun and used her immense wealth to open a monastery and hospital in Moscow and took care of the worse cases herself. Many times the smell of gangrene was so strong, that her clothes had to be burned. During the revolution, the Bolsheviks threw her down a mine with some other Romonovs, and then tossed in hand grenades.

The surprising thing, is that she was named after an ancestor who was a Princess and famous German Saint in the Middle Ages, who would sneak out without her husband's knowledge and feed and take care of the poor.

So can spirituality and 'sanctity' also be an inherited trait? I think so! It doesn't mean though that people cannot choose.

 

Parishes are different just like people, so don't blame all for what goes on in a few. I'm Greek Orthodox and have seen the worse, especially as far as Church politics are concerned. But that's because I was in wealthy parishes, so they were not exactly devout. They were more of a social and self serving club, with a bit of faith thrown in.

People do need church services to tend to their needs, but as far as spirituality goes, I prefer monasteries. Originally they were not welcome for not modernizing and adapting to the place and the times, but mostly for taking the donations away from the churches. So the monasteries are now thriving as the churches die.