God and war

St Paul regarded women as the instigators of original sin, inherently immoral, a temptress of men, and to be subordinate to men at all times. There were the odd exceptions, but even they were to be regarded with reservation. In other words, Paul was a chauvinist, even for those days.

The original sin bit was decided back in Genesis I would have thought. And thinking about it, right through the Bible over thousands of years.

The extreme Moslems have followed in Paul's footsteps although Mohammad raised the status of women compared to what it had been. The fact is that in every religion, after the passage of centuries, we lose sight of the basic message, and also some of the teachings or practices become outdated.

I have recently read two novels by Naomi Alderman, one called Disobedience, the other called The Liar's Gospel. They both have a religious theme and I thought they were very thought provoking as well as a good read.

False Gods are not God
[this is a conversation followed on from another thread that is not in the religious topic].

Thou shalt have no other Gods but me

I think we are just using words, but mean the same thing.
You can correct my wording if you want to.

There are gods and God.
I am pretty sure you and I mean the same thing actually.

Jews Christians and Moslems worship the same one God, so I've always thought. But in different ways. And in their mythology recognise the existence of other spiritual beings.
As opposed to many other religions who worship many different Gods.
Who can say who is correct?

No soon, you and I do not mean the same thing

There is only one Christian God. (The one we should be at church worshipping at the moment, if we weren't such lazy gits)

At least one of my daughters will be doing just that. [proud].

Can anyone tell me what happens to female martyrs? We know that males get rewarded with all sorts of disgusting things, what about females?

Everyone gets judged whitewave. I am not sure if that answers your question or not.

TriciaF. Yes there are other spiritual beings, both good and bad.

Jews and Christians worship the exact same God. To the letter. They just dont believe that Jesus came.

They believe that Jesus was there, soon, they don't say that he never came. He was a historical character.

I have just ordered a book called "Who is the "Kosher Jesus"? How the Criteria of Historical Jesus Research Can Tell Us Who Jesus Wasn't" which should be interesting on the subject of the relationship between Jesus and his fellow-Jews.

soon, the Jews did not and do not say Jesus did not come, they acknowledge he did, they do not acknowledge him as the Messiah and so are still waiting for the Messiah, like Muslims they accept Christ as a prophet but not the son of God

I always forget that bit, Elegran and Anniebach. I stand corrected.

Going back to God allowing wars, if you believe in the promise of eternal life, then what happens in this life does not really matter compared to what happens when you die. What is 70, or however many years you live, compared to Eternity?
If you then take a long view of life on Earth (and maybe other planets) from the moment it was created, it has moved forward in many ways, as has humanity, but we still have a long way to go. We generally only learn lessons by experiment and making mistakes. If there were no wars, we would not appreciate peace, or understand what is needed to help maintain it. We need to want it, and like a family that go for counselling because they want to stay together, countries need to want to stop wars and turn to other means of solving disputes. As has been pointed out, we were created with free will, and many people (arms manufacturers for example) do not want peace because they profit from war.
If you believe in an eternal life, where your sins are forgiven and there is only happiness (as described by some who have had near death experiences say), then that still allows for a loving deity being in control.

I have no idea where soon stands in her faith

For me forgiveness can only be given if repentance is genuine . Arms dealers for example , they know their massive wealth comes from selling arms which will kill and maim, how can they say at the end of their lives - I am sorry I made my wealth by selling guns and bombs , I did it without thinking of the consequences , or, I did it on the spur of the moment , that isn't repentance it's trying to get off the hook

I was pleased to see there is a place for threads about "religion/spirituality" on Gransnet - after all, at our time of life, we should have worked out what we believe - but why does the topic arouse such aggression? Even from some who claim to be Christians...But the idea that there will be less wars is, I'm afraid, unbiblical. The Middle East is heading toward the ultimate war, Armageddon (no, I'm not a Jehovah's Witness, though I defend their right to their beliefs!). It is in the Bible. Israel will be surrounded by its enemies (sound familiar?), and they will attack. Just the fact of Israel's existence as a state, whatever you think of them politically, is a sign that God's timetable is going forward. Yes, he could zap all the evil in the world, but he gave us free will and we have consistently used it to make wrong choices. I said to a neighbour recently, "if God just 'zapped' IS he would have to zap all of us." No-one is good, not one.. but Jesus was, and is, and every single one of us needs Him, because there is "salvation in no other name". Call me dogmatic if you like, that's what the Bible says.

Was hesitant about writing this because of being ridiculed yet again , but no, I want to tell you

As some know I was at a vigil last night where we prayed for those who will suffer from more bombing and my candle stayed lit even in the wind

Went to bed and was crying at the thought of the fear ,pain and death children will endure , felt bit cross with God. Put radio on , radio started to crackle, a kettle on my bedside table was on fire, smoke coming out of it yet it was half full of water. Electrics fused, no light, radio, telephone, internet etc, batteries in torch flat, no signal on mobile phone. Couldn't fix the fuse by touch , walked back through living room , well groped back, on my desk was the vigil candle alight. So in all that darkness there was the candle .

In the darkness we are inflicting on the people in Syria and in this country by bombing Syria I know God will be in there with them .

Glad you wrote that post.

I am still formulating a response to the 2 posts before that.

I wonder whose side god is on this time.

Well, I would think he would be against evil. Don't you think that's what IS are?

God does 'do' sides, but don't tell the Americans , they think God is American

If there is a god then he should stop the wars and create peace or help humans to find a way to make peace. If god is a woman there would be no killing I am sure