As relating to the Exodus

Recently doubt has been given as to the validity of the Exodus as given in G-d's Word.


Some people would argue that just because there is an absence of evidence does not mean it never happened.
Some people would say that there was one tribe of Israelites who was appointed to clean up each place they stopped at, thus wiping away any possible evidence.

Both of those may be true. However, it is not the lack of evidence of their travel, but rather the lack of evidence of the arrival that truly casts doubt on the Exodus scene as literally described.
Surveys of ancient settlements (such as pottery and etc) suggest that there simply was no great influx of people around the time of the Exodus, which is said to be sometime between 1500 and 1200 B.C.
If people had suddenly arrived from Egypt, then their pottery and stuff would be different than that of the native Canaanites, yet no archaeological evidence shows this to be the case.

If you look at both history and the Bible, a different possibility occurs. Exodus happened. But it was not quite as large scale as previously though, but rather small-scale.
There are various rabbis and the like coming to the same conclusion. Some have went public, and others say something along the lines of "It is true, but not something that should be said too publicly."
And that is among the Jewish scholars who were encouraged to look into this stuff!
Among Christians, it is considered a deep sin to let scientific and archaeological evidence cast question on faith. Many are too close minded to even consider it, and those that do are seen as non-Christian heathens.

However,
1) A tradition cannot make a historical claim and then refuse for it to be evaluated by history if it can be done. There are some parts of the Bible that rely on faith alone, and others that correlate to history.
2) Facts should be able to line up with faith. If one fails to line up with the other, question should be brought to both. G-d gave us brains for a reason people, and for it to be insisted people should not make a study and open-minded inquiry to this area unintentionally cast doubt on G-d by implying He gave us brains but does not want us to use them.
3) Our faith should not rest on whether the Exodus was small or large-scale. At Passover, it is said we should see ourselves as if we were part of the Exodus. Whether the Exodus was 3 people or 3 million people, we are still able to do this.

Let me conclude with saying this:
In Jeremiah 16:14-15, it is prophesied that the liberation from Babylon will be more important than the Exodus. This is interpreted as inferring that when the Messiah comes, the history of the Exodus will fade. That does not mean we should not remember the Passover and the Exodus, of course not! But we also need to remember it is not the specifics of history, but rather liberation that is the central theme of faith.

Homosexual Adopting

OK, this is another issue that has been annoying me here lately.

I agree that homosexuality is a sin. G-d's Word is quite clear on this issue. But yet you must realize this is a political issue, not a religious one. I do not believe anyone truly needs that much convincing that in the US at least, there is a separation of church and state. You need more reasoning than "They live in sin!" to exclude gays from adopting children. . . VALID reasons and not gross over-generalizations such as they are child abusers or some inane crap like that (There are at least as many straight child abusers as gay child abusers).

So the gays live in sin? Does that mean we are to remove every child from every home that does not completely rely on the Word? Perhaps in a theocracy we could get away with it, but as far as politics and the government go, the constitution is a far more powerful device than the Bible.

I am all for evangelism and leading the world to G-d, but unless you can find a legal, constitutional reason to do something, QUIT shoving your beliefs upon areas that have no business intermingling with religion.

The only reason to keep gays from adopting is out of mass homophobia and hypocrisy. Rather than going and pointing out their sins and why they should not have children, get off the high horse and evaluate yourself and your own attitude.

On The Golden Compass

Honestly, the Golden Compass will not lead a single true Believer to Atheism. You wanna know why? Either they are too weak in their faith and the knowledge of Yahweh to draw the connections, or they are strong enough in their faith to not be effected by stuff such as it. I am willing to bet that if you take any random 10 Christians off the street who has never heard of the series and had them read it, 8 of them would be unable to draw the parallels, and the other two would see the intended symbolism but still keep their trust in G-d, yet all 10 no doubt would find at least one good lesson to take out of it because regardless of Pullman's intention, there really are good lessons to be found.

Now then, either shut the heck up about the series and deal with it, or actually read it rather than taking the word of some pastor who has never read it and is receiving his information through third-hand sources himself and has no idea what in the world he is talking about besides the fact in the series they "kill G-d!" Who cares what deep symbolism can be taken out of it, who cares that it can teach you valuable lessons about how the unbelieving world views G-d so that you can better reach them! We must all go out and "protect" the world from ideas and concepts and completely govern what they think so that we can throw the world back into the freaking DARK AGES!

AND FURTHERMORE!!!
Just because you dislike what Pullman supports is no reason to reject him completely. Just because you disagree with a stance or viewpoint is NO reason to completely cast it down and trample all over it without even taking the decency to find out where that person is coming from in the hopes of actually maturing and learning something over the course of it!

But NO! You must protect people from their own minds and warn them about the dangers of something when you truly have no idea what the hell you are talking about. It is one thing to actually know what you are talking about and trample it down with valid, consistent arguments, and yet quite another to run about saying "O MAH GOSH!!111! THEY KIL GOD AND R ANTIG-D!11!11 B3W4R3 AND RUN AW4Y!!!111"

Protest against something all you will, but NEVER try to warn them off and insult people and undermine their intelligence and the beauty of the human mind by trying to protect them from thoughts and trying to keep them from being able to make their own informed mind!