Plain Jane:
You say it is not worth your time to review my questions to you.
But....
a) You are willing to take the time to write about how my questions have no merit.
I said no such thing. Sending me off to review your posts was a demand on my time that was not fair to me. If you have questions ask them. But don't expect me to go find them.
b)You have written several posts about how other people don't deserve to have their questions answered, either.
Evidence?
c)You have written posts listing all the topics you will not address and why.
What is wrong with that?
d)You have also written more than once of how educated and knowledgeable you are on this or that topic.
Certainly. There is not likely to be anyone here who has the depth of knowledge I have on the subjects that really interest me. The difference between me and so many here is that I don't offer opinions on subjects I don't know.
That takes time and effort, plus it seems to be needlessly raising the level of hostility on this site, affecting you and everyone else here.
That isn't possible. What is new is that you have run into a theist who pushes back hard and won't take garbage from anyone.
Wouldn't it be easier to just answer the questions or say you don't know?
If I am asked actual honest questions, I am glad to answer them and I have. Too many questions are dishonest. Then there is that cute trick many of you have of telling me that I haven't answered a question because you don't like the answer. But nothing comes close to being as funny or annoying as Velkyn (or, at least, pre-ignore Velly) who, no matter what the actual issue I was addressing was, responded with an incoherent diatribe that covered dozens of issues in both the Old and the New Testaments. It would have required me to write a multi-volume set of books to answer all of that. No thanks. If I am going to write a book, I want to be paid for it.
Beyond that, I am not blowing you off. I have invited you to ask whatever questions you wish. But no, I won't go hunt for them.
You spoke about how a teacher should answer a student. If my teen daughter honestly asked you what she should do to be a good Christian, would you give her a mean, sarcastic remark? What would you tell her? To start studying ancient Aramaic?
Of course not. What has the intellectual pursuit of philosophy, history or Near Eastern studies got to do with being a good Christian?
To save you the trouble of locating and excavating my secret, well-hidden posts, here are some questions I want you to address: How does a Christian know whether a particular passage in the bible is meant literally, metaphorically or allegorically?
You bring to your reading the same tools of literary analysis that you started learning in Junior High School. The Bible is full of metaphors, similes, hyperbole (exaggeration), etc. One of my favorite examples of something really silly that gets thrown at us all the time is the demand to know why we can't move mountains, since Jesus said if we had just a little faith we could tell a mountain to hurl itself into the sea and it would do so. Well, lets think about that for a moment. What sort of world would we be living in, if some subset of people could move mountains at will? Would Mapquest be of any use to us? Honestly, even if one didn't know that this sort of hyperbole is a regular feature of rabbinic teaching, we use it all the time. Why would we not recognize it when Jesus uses it?
However, it is equally true that the Bible books were written in a very ancient culture in languages we don't know that have their own idioms and expressions. So a good commentary is absolutely necessary for study purposes.
What passages are the most important and what can be ignored or interpreted as the person sees fit?
None of them can be ignored. None of them can be interpreted as one sees fit. Peter addressed that question when he wrote that no interpretation of scripture is a matter of private judgment.
How does a person know if the church they are in has the correct interpretation of the bible? [/i]
You can't. That is the fundamental problem of Protestantism. Having adopted "sola scriptura"
scripture alone as the rule of practice, and holding to a "every man can interpret it for himself" philosophy, Protestantism shot itself in the foot from the beginning. Since everyone can interpret it for himself, and since there is no reading, no matter how bizarre that can't find a few believers, we get the 34,000 or so sects and denominations that show no sign of slowing down. A Protestant who is lucky, might land in a church with sound teaching. If there are good classes available and an informed preacher, an individual would receive a lot of sound teaching. But how would he know?
Why would anyone have to be a genius or a scholar of some arcane discipline to know what Jesus or god wants? Most people around the world do not have the time or ability to study ANE languages or become doctoral level historians.
Not one single person needs to know any ancient language of obtain a Ph.D in history to know what God wants. But quite obviously, humans being what we are, many of us are curious about these things. Many of us long to know about the past and that requires formal study. No Christian qua Christian needs to bother with it.
Are none of them worth your time either? Or does everyone have to learn whatever it is you think we need to know before you deign to respond without sarcasm, hostility or insults?
I respond (if I respond) as I am spoken to. When you make hostile, insulting, and sarcastic claims to knowledge that I know are garbage, I will call you on it. It really is that simple. Address me civilly and you will get civility back. Address me as a whole slew of the gang here have, and it will call forth the appropriate degree of sarcasm in return.
BTW, religious discussion sites often don't even want atheists to participate. Once you say you are an athiest, forget about it. Ban city. We like talking to theists on this site, because they won't talk to us on their sites.
I think what you mean is that they won't let you insult Christ. But yes, I have seen that they are too quick to ban.
You have not been banned--why are you talking about being banned without a second thought? 
Because you all have a well-deserved reputation for aggression and for banning people. You have a top dog who deletes posts (theist posts, of course) whenever he feels like it-- and he feels like it when he can't answer them. He has removed my ability to give karma which is ok-- it was more amusing than anything else to smite some of the most aggressive types here, but it goes to show you. I will offer a weeks wages if you can show me where a single one of the nastiest people here who have repeatedly given me negative karma (many of them moderators
) have had their karma privileges revoked. There is such a double standard here it is unbelievable. And fascinating.
