Jul 7, 2018 08:16 PM
Are We Killing Religion By Loving Celebrities?
https://www.worldreligionnews.com/religi...elebrities
EXCERPT: . . . talking about celebrities. We know when they marry, when they break up, the names of their children, where they vacation, what they eat, what their hobbies are, and all of their drunken mistakes.
But do we know as much about religion? Americans have a difficult time answering questions about their own faith, let alone the religious doctrine of others. But we seem to remember that Daniel Radcliffe is an Atheist, or that Mark Wahlberg goes to church every day. You can find a plethora of information about which celebrities have seen God, lost God, are looking for God, gave up on God, love God, hate God, don’t believe in God but are spiritual; the list goes on.
When John Lennon said of The Beatles “we’re more popular than Jesus” he was referencing a cultural shift that continues at a breathtaking pace. With digital technology, we can track everything about a celebrity and feel a connection [...] This has led to similarities between celebrities and deities becoming more pronounced. We call our celebrities “idols.” More people visit [ulr=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TMZ]TMZ[/url] than church on a daily basis. We create shrines from celebrities when they die. People talk with a fevered pitch about how Chris Pratt has created “meaning” in their life. People pick apart Ariana Grande’s Instagram posts looking for hidden meaning.
Social psychologists believe humans fill our lives with meaning and value to avoid thinking of the inevitability of death. This is called Terror Management Theory. Religion is one way individuals give sense to their life. Celebrity worship is a different tactic for the same urge....
MORE: https://www.worldreligionnews.com/religi...elebrities
Why Jesus Doesn't Care If You Get An Abortion
https://www.worldreligionnews.com/religi...t-abortion
EXCERPT: . . . Because abortion is never directly restricted in the Bible. While there are some references to it in the Old Testament, the New Testament never mentions it. Jesus, while he mentioned the importance of helping the poor over a dozen times, never interrupted the Sermon on the Mount to say “and before I forget, don’t get abortions.” It wasn’t like abortions were not around. The medical procedure goes back thousands of years to ancient Greece and Rome. Jesus knew they existed. In fact, every person quoted in the Bible would have known they existed. But none of them gave even a single line to explicitly condemn it.
So why are Christians opposed? This is where interpretation comes in.
[...] But the problem is that God and the womb are from Psalms, which some biblical scholars have said is a series of poetic expressions that should not be interpreted literally. Or that the concept of what a child is was also never explicitly defined. Early Christian texts added abortion as a banned activity but included it with things like perjury without giving enough scriptural support.
This is the problem of interpretation; it depends on which lens you use. For some, this could mean that any contraception should be banned. For others, it means that abortion should be banned when the fetus becomes a human (which matches the Iowa law), or it could be a complete ban. It is inconsistent.
This matches the history of abortion in the United States. When abortion was banned in the 19th century it was not religious groups, but doctors who were pushing for it....
MORE: https://www.worldreligionnews.com/religi...t-abortion
https://www.worldreligionnews.com/religi...elebrities
EXCERPT: . . . talking about celebrities. We know when they marry, when they break up, the names of their children, where they vacation, what they eat, what their hobbies are, and all of their drunken mistakes.
But do we know as much about religion? Americans have a difficult time answering questions about their own faith, let alone the religious doctrine of others. But we seem to remember that Daniel Radcliffe is an Atheist, or that Mark Wahlberg goes to church every day. You can find a plethora of information about which celebrities have seen God, lost God, are looking for God, gave up on God, love God, hate God, don’t believe in God but are spiritual; the list goes on.
When John Lennon said of The Beatles “we’re more popular than Jesus” he was referencing a cultural shift that continues at a breathtaking pace. With digital technology, we can track everything about a celebrity and feel a connection [...] This has led to similarities between celebrities and deities becoming more pronounced. We call our celebrities “idols.” More people visit [ulr=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TMZ]TMZ[/url] than church on a daily basis. We create shrines from celebrities when they die. People talk with a fevered pitch about how Chris Pratt has created “meaning” in their life. People pick apart Ariana Grande’s Instagram posts looking for hidden meaning.
Social psychologists believe humans fill our lives with meaning and value to avoid thinking of the inevitability of death. This is called Terror Management Theory. Religion is one way individuals give sense to their life. Celebrity worship is a different tactic for the same urge....
MORE: https://www.worldreligionnews.com/religi...elebrities
Why Jesus Doesn't Care If You Get An Abortion
https://www.worldreligionnews.com/religi...t-abortion
EXCERPT: . . . Because abortion is never directly restricted in the Bible. While there are some references to it in the Old Testament, the New Testament never mentions it. Jesus, while he mentioned the importance of helping the poor over a dozen times, never interrupted the Sermon on the Mount to say “and before I forget, don’t get abortions.” It wasn’t like abortions were not around. The medical procedure goes back thousands of years to ancient Greece and Rome. Jesus knew they existed. In fact, every person quoted in the Bible would have known they existed. But none of them gave even a single line to explicitly condemn it.
So why are Christians opposed? This is where interpretation comes in.
[...] But the problem is that God and the womb are from Psalms, which some biblical scholars have said is a series of poetic expressions that should not be interpreted literally. Or that the concept of what a child is was also never explicitly defined. Early Christian texts added abortion as a banned activity but included it with things like perjury without giving enough scriptural support.
This is the problem of interpretation; it depends on which lens you use. For some, this could mean that any contraception should be banned. For others, it means that abortion should be banned when the fetus becomes a human (which matches the Iowa law), or it could be a complete ban. It is inconsistent.
This matches the history of abortion in the United States. When abortion was banned in the 19th century it was not religious groups, but doctors who were pushing for it....
MORE: https://www.worldreligionnews.com/religi...t-abortion
