Original Sin?

Quote: FrGamble

It's one thing to be doing fine it's another to be doing great. You can try to deny it but you were not made to be mediocre. In fact just settling for fine is more proof of original sin. You were made to be awesome and we all need some help to get there.

I see [plenty of mouth breathers on a daily basis who appear to have been made to be mediocre - I believe Aldous Huxley referred to them as "Deltas"

Quote: aceofspades

I see [plenty of mouth breathers on a daily basis who appear to have been made to be mediocre - I believe Aldous Huxley referred to them as "Deltas"

"Expendibles". "Red Shirts". "Bit Players". If we're all exceptional, where does that set the average?

Not that I don't get your point, FrG. Just funnin'.

Quote: FrGamble

You were made to be awesome and we all need some help to get there.

That certainly wasn't the message of Jesus.
He said love one another, be kind, and
if you can get thru this awful life by obeying
gods laws, you might get into heaven. He
said nothing one being mediocre or awesome.

He never gave any good goat recipes or said
anything about personal grooming, but they
might have thrown those gospels out.

Quote: Evenbob

That certainly wasn't the message of Jesus.
He said love one another, be kind, and
if you can get thru this awful life by obeying
gods laws, you might get into heaven. He
said nothing one being mediocre or awesome.

He never gave any good goat recipes or said
anything about personal grooming, but they
might have thrown those gospels out.

EB, you might well enjoy this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Lamb-Gospel-According-Christs-Childhood/dp/0380813815

Evenbob, I think you should reread the Gospels. Start with Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's Gospel (Mt. 5-7).

"Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect."

Quote: FrGamble

Evenbob, I think you should reread the Gospels.

No goat recipes. I would remember..

Quote: FrGamble

Evenbob, I think you should reread the Gospels. Start with Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's Gospel (Mt. 5-7).

"Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect."

But if we are born sinful, how can we ever be as perfect as the "Heavenly Father". It seems Jesus was either (a) setting us up to fail or (b) attempting to turn men into gods

Quote: Evenbob

No goat recipes. I would remember..

I've had barbecued goat. It was pretty damn good, actually.

Quote: aceofspades

But if we are born sinful, how can we ever be as perfect as the "Heavenly Father". It seems Jesus was either (a) setting us up to fail or (b) attempting to turn men into gods

Remember that Original Sin is not about being born sinful, but rather the teaching that our perfect original state has been marred by sin. We hear the echo of our glorious nature and heavenly destiny by seeing that our sin is a discordant note in us that we attempt to silence.

Jesus is (a) setting us up to fall into His arms and (b) attempting to turn men and women into saints.

Quote: aceofspades

But if we are born sinful, how can we ever be as perfect as the "Heavenly Father". It seems Jesus was either (a) setting us up to fail or (b) attempting to turn men into gods

Actually Chrsitianity either found or developed a rather ingenious way of turning human nature against itself. Unfortunately this also creates the problem of explaining why an all-loving god would allow evil to exist. More unfortunately the idea of an all-loving god promising paradise proved to be to attractive to dismiss, thus all the double-think around Christianity (beginning with the A is Non-A regarding the nature of Jesus).

But there's hope. See, until rather recently life was largely, to borrow a quote, nasty, brutish and short. it still is in many places, but not in the West. Under such circumstances it makes sense to be told to endure suffering and privation in order to achieve salvation. In the modern Western world, though, where life is pleasant, civilized and long, things have been changing for a rather long while.