Perhaps in future you could address the subject at hand and not start your own subject in the middle of another one.
I think you are assuming, as many do, that Christianity is the breed of piety you have come to know. I have very often posted here that there are reasons for not being a Christian. That is one of the reasons why I seek to reveal the spirituality behind Christianity, which is inclusive by nature, not exclusive. Whilst the hope of resurrection is very present, the teachings of Christ have to do with life now. Christ is understood by Christians as the turning point in Jewish piety with regard to God’s presence. No longer need people call for God to „tear apart the heavens and come down“, for He is here, in Christ, in you and in me. That is how we share in the nature of God, by being his image.
I would differentiate and say that we are not God, but that God should be allowed to work within us. People should be able to “see†God at work in the Church – which is unfortunately not always the case. I also think you are right about life needing explanations and that it isn’t conceivable to live a life without surprises.
I agree that some Christians are counter-productive in their approach to people outside of their traditions. They often give the impression you have expressed, although I’m sure that they generally don’t mean to. As for being intellectually lazy, that isn’t something that is only a characteristic of religious people. Although people in our countries are given the chance to educate themselves, very few do more than they need to get through.
On the other hand, the exclusiveness of some Christian beliefs do lead those Christians to remain within their own assumptions and rarely question themselves. Their trip to church seems to serve only the purpose of confirming what they already assume.
but this totally ignores the greatest christian expansion in history…
at the very least 8 million butchered in the name of manifest destiny and the figure is probably closer to 40 million (and some estimate as many as 140 million)… the europeans never counted, they were too preoccupied being christian
but what are a few million slaughtered heathens when compared to the righteous glory of the white christian european flexing his loving christian sword (oh wait, wasn’t that jesus himself?)
If the history books didn’t omit such information then schoolkids would actually know what their predecessors did and might no longer be satisfied spending their lives pumping gas and playing tetris and might demand higher standards of government. As it we demand and receive quite low standards of government…
The numbers are just those from the 20th Century and are not complete of course, I just wanted to show what I meant by “millions of atrocities” - however, look again, there are millions of “slaughtered heathens” on the list.
Yes, we should not, either, forget all the natural disasters and calamities that have resulted in the loss of entire cities and peoples.
But really, Bob, this shared nature of God, a shared symbolism of the highest order, is epitomised in the wheel of fortune/providence.
If anything it is surely this metamorphic-centric nature of the cosmos that we humans should align ourselves with in the final analysis.
Of course, it is not easily done: Jesus was just one who has been crucified for telling the truth!
As Caesar rode around on his chariot, triumphant, waving to the crowds, there was a slave whose job it was to whisper in his ear, ‘Remember master, you are mortal,’ and we, the living, should bear in mind that this life does not last long, perhaps, in other words, we are often too easily carried away with what we regard as reality.
Those who understand the saying, all is illusion, know the truth, but nevertheless know the duties they are bound to perform whilst dressed in that ‘cloak’ that is called, ‘human being.’
Sorry I don’t have much to do with ILP these days.
I’m simply writing to you.
I was surfing and came across this:
“Of all the external regulations of the old law defining the cases in which a man was considered to have defiled himself, Jesus said: Know all of you, that nothing from outside can defile a man, only what he thinks and does can defile him.”
well not all Christians are like that. for me, it just takes knowing what God was doing before Jesus came (or rather, before He sent Him lol). Israel was considered God’s chosen people, and at that point, He knew that fully expressing their situation would be too much for a people like that, and He still could communicate His commands through prophets, etc. but when they took it to the extreme, ignoring what God implied by certain things, then He was forced to step in.
many people were saved before Christ, but that’s because they didn’t need Him at that time to get to God. the way the Jews ended up, they somewhat distorted that way, blocking the real way of humility and servanthood, so God had to take action.
Out of our 6 billion people, within the time range of over a life time, you’re basically talkin’ about 3% of people dieing in armed conflict.
If these statistics remain constant, and I don’t join the military/live in a troubled state, I consider my chances of death-by-armed-conflict to be close to 0%.
Despite the religious tendancy to say that humanity is so “evil”, and life is so awful, I don’t believe you.
The moralist bible “wisdom-literature” was, in many ways, a reaction to a diseased, dieing, corrupt culture. Ofcourse these people are going to come up with some sort of wacked-out idealist world-view, but does that make it right, even if people deside to preach it?
