Religion Discussion Thread

[CBear3]

No, the real question is probably whether Christ and the disciples were speaking Hebrew or Aramaic, and how those stories were passed along in the next 100 years. It's likely Christ was fluent in Hebrew because of the scriptures (he was Jewish after all) but his ministry was open to so many outsiders that he very well might have been telling stories to the religious unaffiliated/uneducated in Aramaic and those were passed along before being translated into the early Greek manuscripts.
You also used a story in that post that many Christian scholars believe is a paraphrasing of an event at best, and then attribute a reasoning to Jesus's actions not mentioned in the scripture. It doesn't appear in either of the 2nd century texts and only shows up 200 years later.

[CBear3]

I feel like a lot of people use religion as a safety net. It's comfort food for them. I can understand and appreciate that. It's like meditation or listening to music. I would never fault someone for doing something that makes them feel safe and comforted. That part of religion I can understand. Unfortunately that's just one part of it. So, while I still think the world would be a better place without religion and everyone was just kind to each other, I know that's never going to happen.

I have often said that Jesus the teacher is just as relevant to society as Jesus the Messiah. At least my formulation of him.

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

I have no problem with faith but I do have issues with organized religion as they're frequently a means of control in some shape or form. Like, the US as a country doing despicable things and me still living here is one thing, because it doesn't require my believing with my soul that something is true and good. I don't really care about the US beyond me living here

that said, Idk how someone can be a devout catholic despite the dark, dark history of Catholicism. It's responsible for so much evil throughout the last 2000 years and IS STILL DOING EVIL THINGS (abuse of children and protecting priests) that I cannot imagine how people still are willing to believe in it. I bring up catholicism specifically because I was brought up Catholic and my mom and sister are devout


idk. life is tough and we're searching for answers so that's why I don't really poo poo faith. I'm more just confused how people can follow religions that have shown how evil they've been over a long time

[CBear3]

There's the religion, and then there's The Church. It's like voting party over person. I believe in the ideals, but the people putting those ideals into place are fallible human beings with their own flaws.
The specific church I grew up in had a wonderful priest and youth program coordinator and many of my peers who were servers would say the same. If I never turned on the news I'd have nothing ill to say of the KC Diocese. Much the same people love their own representative but hate Congress as a whole.

[Pavel Bure]

The entire teaching of Christianity is living for death and fearing the one that is supposed to love you unconditionally. It both tells you that you have free will and that God is omnipotent and nothing happens without him (God’s plan). As MIMH said, it’s a modicum for control and contradictory to itself.

[CBear3]

[Pavel Bure]

What part/s?

[Freddy Rumsen]

No, the real question is probably whether Christ and the disciples were speaking Hebrew or Aramaic, and how those stories were passed along in the next 100 years. It's likely Christ was fluent in Hebrew because of the scriptures (he was Jewish after all) but his ministry was open to so many outsiders that he very well might have been telling stories to the religious unaffiliated/uneducated in Aramaic and those were passed along before being translated into the early Greek manuscripts.
You also used a story in that post that many Christian scholars believe is a paraphrasing of an event at best, and then attribute a reasoning to Jesus's actions not mentioned in the scripture. It doesn't appear in either of the 2nd century texts and only shows up 200 years later.

Hebrew wasn't a popularly spoken language in the 1st century, so couldn't be that. It was mostly restricted to the priestly and scholarly class and situations in a way Latin was in the Middle Ages. Galilee where most (if not all) of the disciples including Jesus were raised was as much a Greek speaking area as Aramaic. It was the most Hellinized part of Roman Israel. Luke and Paul were native Greek speakers, and Matthew being a tax collector means his lingua franca is going to be Greek as well. The Greek of John's gospel is some of the most eloquent Greek of antiquity. Mark in Greek reads like one long run-on sentence and is pretty basic, however, it's still Greek one would expect from a barely literate Galileean. A lot of the Old Testament quoted in the New Testament is from the Septuagint. I forget the exact number but somewhere around 300 of the 350 quotes in the NT come from the Greek OT, vs. the Hebrew.

John 8 is found as early as 175 AD.

[Freddy Rumsen]

The entire teaching of Christianity is living for death and fearing the one that is supposed to love you unconditionally. It both tells you that you have free will and that God is omnipotent and nothing happens without him (God’s plan). As MIMH said, it’s a modicum for control and contradictory to itself.

Today in Reddit Atheism...

[Pavel Bure]

The entire teaching of Christianity is living for death and fearing the one that is supposed to love you unconditionally. It both tells you that you have free will and that God is omnipotent and nothing happens without him (God’s plan). As MIMH said, it’s a modicum for control and contradictory to itself.

Today in Reddit Atheism...

Hitchens certainly is more eloquent.

[CBear3]

The entire teaching of Christianity is living for death and fearing the one that is supposed to love you unconditionally. It both tells you that you have free will and that God is omnipotent and nothing happens without him (God’s plan). As MIMH said, it’s a modicum for control and contradictory to itself.

You're mashing several different Christian theologies together to get here. If Christianity is living for death why is suicide a sin? What is eternal life? Christ talks a lot about achieving it, but not a lot about what it entails. He doesn't describe eternal pleasure or heaven.
If you mean it's about living a life that is rewarded or positively acknowledged in the afterlife, there's some truth to that. It's about including the outcast, it's about giving to the poor, it's about rejecting excess. You can either take the approach that Jesus taught us the way, or you can say that Jesus told us that's the path to eternal life and I want the reward so I'll do the work before my physical death.

Several Christian theologies support fatalism. There are Churches that believe that God's hand is in everything. Or when a loved one dies an unnecessary death that it was part of His plan. I don't personally prescribe to that theology, but it's out there and "valid." Why would God have sent his son to atone for our sins if he could have fixed our wickedness with a snap of his fingers? I very much believe in a God that has set things in motion and is letting his creations play things out. Much the way we used to setup a play on those electric vibrating football games.

The early Christian Church was not a juggernaut of control and consumption. It was handfuls of people telling His story over dinner on a Wednesday night. I honestly think that any Church that doesn't challenge your thought process and one where you're not welcome to do the same is a failing one. Jesus's life itself makes up a tiny portion of the Bible, so I feel there's plenty of things to interpret.

When Freddy mentions His Church leadership was all male, he leaves out the practicality in it being so due to the times. Akin to neglecting the the world Washington lived in and deciding he's not worthy of praise because he also owned slaves, it's viewing the world through a 21st century lens. Meanwhile, the first to the tomb and the first to see the resurrected Jesus are a woman. The biggest reveal in history is not to his male disciples, despite them being at the tomb between the two stories, but to the possessed woman he helped save and taught the good news...

[CBear3]

Also, my favorite part of the adulterer story is that the author mentions Jesus kneeling down to write in the dirt. Like was he drawing smiley faces or what? Matt Canada's offense?

[dodint]

If Christianity is living for death why is suicide a sin?

Can't take tithings from dead people.

[CBear3]

Badum-tiss!

[dodint]

It's snarky but it's not untrue.

[Freddy Rumsen]

If Christianity is living for death why is suicide a sin?

Can't take tithings from dead people.

No one cares more about taking money than the government.