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The rest of this thread seems to have wandered into the philosophical, which really isn't appropriate given the forum, but I'd be happy to continue off line if you feel the need


It's appropriate enough for the lounge, which is by definition the "off topic forum". But I agree that sometimes the philosophical discussions upset some of the patrons, who then say something inappropriate that gets the moderator to lock the thread. I also agree that offline may be a better place for some of the more abstruse discussions.
That said, I would like to respond to a couple of your points in public, since they were made in public


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Despite the numbers, your statement above is nothing more than an Argumentum ad populum, a popular falacy commonly invoked in such situations. It doesn't prove that their interpretation and understanding is any more right or wrong than yours, just that it's different.



IT wasn't intended to prove right or wrong, just that the long standing, educated opinion does not support the extremist viewpoints of the personality cults that spring up. And that's the real point. The Bible is not their source of inspiration, the personality of their leader (and their own susceptibility) is such that they would follow him if he used a menu from Denny’s as inspiration.

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It doesn't change the fact however that their source of inspiration is wide open for different interpretations, from mild to extreme, as you have already, although unwittingly, acknowledged



I seldom do anything "unwittingly" Brad. It would be rather foolish to claim that any written work is not open to interpretation. In fact, using the methods of "proof texting" that that the fringe groups do, the New Collegiate dictionary could be interpreted in such a way as to justify anything.



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One tenent of your example, the protestant church, is: " By faith in Jesus Christ we receive God's gift of eternal salvation..."

What happens if you don't believe? You can focus on the reward all you like, but it doesn't remove the punishment should you fail. As you have already noticed, "all who don't agree are damnned", seems to be a fairly common theme as well, regardless of focus.



There's that context thing again . The tenets of the Protestant Church can be traced back to its beginnings, that is, as a response to the teachings of the Roman Church. In this case, it is a response to the teaching that salvation could be purchased from the Roman Church, and that faith alone was not sufficient. By taking it out of context you have (unwittingly? ) given an excellent example of misconstruction of the original intent of the teaching.
I'm happy to continue the discussion off, or on line. But right now, it's a BEEOOTIFUL day here, so I'm ridin'

Contra todo mal, mezcal; contra todo bien, también