Jews for Jesus Ad depicts Jesus Christ going to Auschwitz Gas Chambers ; "That Jew Died For You" - Polidicks

[QUOTE=StrawberryClock;44655247]I consider myself a Christian, and I think that instead of wasting your time trying to convert people you could just spend that time [I]trying to actually apply Jesus' teachings and be a better person.[/I][/QUOTE] Matthew 28:19-20 (KJV) 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Spreading the word of God =/= Converting people in my opinion, but the Bible is open to interpretation so we'd get nowhere debating the exact meaning of those verses. I just like to point out that a lot of people (including Christians) like to talk big to feel good, but in reality do little to change people's lives. It's easier to try to convert people and promise it's going to help them than actually helping them out.

[QUOTE=StrawberryClock;44655440]Spreading the word of God =/= Converting people in my opinion, but the Bible is open to interpretation so we'd get nowhere debating the exact meaning of those verses. I just like to point out that a lot of people (including Christians) like to talk big to feel good, but in reality do little to change people's lives. It's easier to try to convert people and promise it's going to help them than actually helping them out.[/QUOTE] Conversion would be the ultimate good. If you don't believe in Jesus then you go to hell, so what could possibly matter more than converting as many people as you can in order to save them? Also, that passage seems pretty clear to me. It's Jesus telling people to baptize others into the Christian religion. Not sure what's debatable about it.

[QUOTE=Explosions;44655472]Conversion would be the ultimate good. If you don't believe in Jesus then you go to hell, so what could possibly matter more than converting as many people as you can in order to save them? Also, that passage seems pretty clear to me. It's Jesus telling people to baptize others into the Christian religion. Not sure what's debatable about it.[/QUOTE] My father was a theologist. I can assure you that pretty much every verse of the New Testament is open to interpretation and can't always be taken at face value, and the semantics of certain words are very important not to misunderstand. For instance, becoming a "disciple" doesn't mean becoming a Christian, since Christianity didn't exist at the time. You can't take it out of context, since it's relative to all the other mentions Jesus makes of what being a disciple consists of. I don't really want to open that can of worms though. There's a reason why theology is a discipline in and of itself and I do assure you the Bible is very open to interpretation. My father's interpretation of the New Testament was, in its essence, "don't be a jerk, be a good human being, do instead of talk about doing" and pretty much warned people about becoming obsessed with the afterlife instead of the present, and he was very much a proponent of the idea that if there is a judgment after our death, it will be based on our actions and not our faith.

[QUOTE=StrawberryClock;44655609]My father's interpretation of the New Testament was, in its essence, "don't be a jerk, be a good human being, do instead of talk about doing" and pretty much warned people about becoming obsessed with the afterlife instead of the present, and he was very much a proponent of the idea that if there is a judgment after our death, it will be based on our actions and not our faith.[/QUOTE] I'm sorry, but everything you said here runs contrary to the classical take on the New Testament. Read the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus' answer for everything is "don't worry about shit because it'll all be better when you die as long as you believe in me."

[QUOTE=itak365;44653557]Also individuals born to an "Aryan" parent and a Jewish parent could technically apply for exemption from the Nuremberg Laws and be officially recognized as Aryan. If the spouses were married before 1935, they were called "Privileged Spouses" and received official exemption ([URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosenstrasse_protest"]There was an attempt to deport them in 1943 in Germany, though.[/URL]) If you had more than 2 Jewish grandparents you were considered fully Jew and fell under the Nuremberg Law provisions, so there were an absolute fuckton of loopholes. Apparently if Hitler had decided to eliminate every single person of any Jewish ancestry, the army would have lost thousands of men and there would have been significant public unrest.[/QUOTE] My Great Uncle Helmut, who I have mentioned before, is actually married to a Jewish woman, and his mother was Jewish, making him a Jew. He was excluded to his service in the Wehrmacht.

[QUOTE=Explosions;44655735]I'm sorry, but everything you said here runs contrary to the classical take on the New Testament. Read the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus' answer for everything is "don't worry about shit because it'll all be better when you die as long as you believe in me."[/QUOTE] Why do you think there are so many different denominations of Christianity? They all interpret the Bible differently. That's how it goes. That's how I interpret it, and I think it's made me a better person than some people I know who are more obsessed with being a good Christian than a good human being. I think we both made our points. I don't see any reason to further continue this exchange since it's pretty much my opinion vs yours.