Yes, I believe that God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are one and the same, it's integral to Catholic belief.
ok. I know catholics who see this as an addition later. like celibacy for priests etc thats why i asked
He's mentioned in all 3 major pieces of holy scripture, not to mention countless pieces of independent evidence. There's more evidence to prove the existence of Jesus (as a person) than the existence of Caesar, I can't be arsed to look now, you can if you really want to.
I'm not sure when it was added, but it's in the creed so if I didn't believe it I'd be a hypocrite. Which I'm not, btw.
as some one who doesnt celebrate it, because to do so would be hypocricy based on my views and beliefs I can honestly say it doesnt bother me as such what is interesting is that you mention control. To me the ones who follow/celebrate and adapt it yet dont believe are already being 'controlled' true freedom would be to give it 2 fingers no? I work on christmas eve and would day if I could. Its funny how many athiests are happy I do so they can celebrate
Hmm, a lot of Christians say that... Ah. They do usually tend to add that as an afterthought though if pressed for extra info.
i wasnt implying you were. As i said it was a genuine question. Its something I have debated on a few occassions among friends
Why do Christians always pick Caesar for this? There's a lot of evidence that he existed and none for Jesus. Go with Plato. That works far better.
Thousands of people claimed to be the son of god around that time, just like people claim to be psychic and can tell the future these days.... So someone called jesus would have existed yes. Whether kings gathered at his birth from far and wide, and he turned water into wine and all that stuff then that is alot more debatable, maybe chinese whispers if you may. But can't people exchange gifts without believing anything? why is belief brought into it? what happens if people enjoy just being able to exchange gifts amongst family members and friends?
questioning certain aspects is a bit different to denying his existence to me. and i suppose the hypocrisy comes in the picking an choosing. For example its fine using probability to make a point, the problem arises when some accept the probability of something else when it is much higher and that is the problem for me with the second half of what you say in response to me. Enjoy and celebrate do what you want, but then dont try to cover up with 'its not christian' etc To be controversial for a second, if you believe in God and believe the torah/bible/quran are his words then homosexuality is not acceptable. its that simple either you are a bad christian/jew/muslim for engaging in it or are not any of those. dont try and justify is the point for me
I actually agree with TFWNN about the homosexuality issue. If you're actively gay, then how can you be a part of a religion that says that you should be killed for it? Leviticus 20:13.
