Gruesome crucifixions mark PI Easter ritual.......

[tommyjones]

Common sense? In a religion thread?

You do realize you just opened up a whole new can of worms, don't you?

exactly, how can you use common sense to interpret a mystical book full of supernatural stories????

 

[mAlice]

Common sense? In a religion thread?

You do realize you just opened up a whole new can of worms, don't you?

If they had common sense, they'd be able to tell the difference in "make" and "wear". Someone has to make it, for someone to wear it.

 

[libby]

Would Starman consider the life John the Baptist lived self abasement? Purposely living on locusts and honey and wearing goat's hair, if memory serves.

 

[Marie]

But there's a huge difference between that and Marie's declaration that "Christ wouldn't sanction such a thing." Who is she to speak for Christ? Why can't she back it up in scripture?

Why does worship that is different have to be "wrong?"

Who am I no-one!
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=4 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>JOB 25:4 How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?
</TD></TR><TR><TD>25:5 Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight.
</TD></TR><TR><TD>25:6 How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

I think if you have a high view of God, if you have fearfull revrence of God or love God you wont take foolishness lightly.
God tells us what worship is in scripture, this dosent fall into any of the catagories.
PSA 89:7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.

So I am sorry that you take offense to my personal opinion, or the way I see we are to honnor God In scriputre. But I 'll stand on my statement that God would not aprove.
Show me one place in scripture were this behavior would be viewed as an honorable scarifice!

 

[libby]

"Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of His body, that is, the church" (Col 1:24).

So, while I'm quite certain that Paul was not actually saying anything was lacking in the suffering of Christ, he most certainly does seem to be saying that there is merit in suffering for the sake of others.
We are called to imitate Christ, right? What did Christ do, exactly? He suffered and died for the sake of the world. Our suffering would not have the infinite merit His suffering did, but it seems it must have some.

 

[tommyjones]

"Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of His body, that is, the church" (Col 1:24).

So, while I'm quite certain that Paul was not actually saying anything was lacking in the suffering of Christ, he most certainly does seem to be saying that there is merit in suffering for the sake of others.
We are called to imitate Christ, right? What did Christ do, exactly? He suffered and died for the sake of the world. Our suffering would not have the infinite merit His suffering did, but it seems it must have some.

i thought that suffering was part of what made saints.
granted their works are also counted, but saintliness is often times associated with suffering.

 

[2ndAmendment]

Would Starman consider the life John the Baptist lived self abasement? Purposely living on locusts and honey and wearing goat's hair, if memory serves.

I wouldn't. Living a simple life free of worldly encumbrances is not self-abasement.

Cutting yourself, spreading fecal matter and urine over your body, doing things to harm yourself is self-debasement.

 

[2ndAmendment]

"Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of His body, that is, the church" (Col 1:24).

So, while I'm quite certain that Paul was not actually saying anything was lacking in the suffering of Christ, he most certainly does seem to be saying that there is merit in suffering for the sake of others.
We are called to imitate Christ, right? What did Christ do, exactly? He suffered and died for the sake of the world. Our suffering would not have the infinite merit His suffering did, but it seems it must have some.

Suffering for the sake of others is not the same thing as self-abasement. Flagellation brings attention to the person and is not done for the benefit of others are far as I can tell.

 

[2ndAmendment]

i thought that suffering was part of what made saints.
granted their works are also counted, but saintliness is often times associated with suffering.

That is a misunderstanding of saints. All believers in Jesus as Savior and Lord are saints according to the Bible. The Catholic church recognizes certain people as being saints, but that is not Biblical.

 

[libby]

i thought that suffering was part of what made saints.
granted their works are also counted, but saintliness is often times associated with suffering.

Heroic virtue makes a saint, and surely it is heroic virtue to endure suffering, particularly at the hands of others.
Again, while I consider the ritual in the Philippines extreme, I suppose one could argue that it is a spiritual exercise. What if a Christian was practicing the faith underground in the Soviet Union, as they had to in Rome? They risked imprisonment and death, to be sure. What about spending some time each day suffering in the flesh, trying to build your strength should you ever face such a situation.
Doesn't the military do the same? They are in controlled survival situations to give them a bit of practice, I suppose, for the real thing. Why not for Christ?
We drill ourselves in everything from karate to mathematics until it comes naturally. We (as a society) mortify ourselves at the gym with the goal of a beautiful physique.
Self imposed suffering for love of Christ, either to empathize or to be ready for the possibility of martyrdom, seems quite appropriate to detach from this world and the flesh and to store up treasures in Heaven.