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| quote: | Originally posted by teknotexan
How can this comparison be validated? Heaven's Gate was an isolated group of people, kept in one single place, all engaged in the same daily activities, and all peacefully went to their graves on their beds. The apostles were all ALONE, TORTURED, MAIMED, POOR, PERSECUTED, HATED, and COMPLETELY UNAWARE OF THE FATE OF THE OTHER APOSTLES!! How in the hell does Heaven's Gate come close to the deaths of the apostles? The apostles never renounced their faith, and knew how dangerous the message they were delivering. They knew that they would die hated, betrayed, poor, and alone1 The Heaven's Gate crew twisted the word of the Bible into some fucked up idea linked to a comet, and knowingly forced everyone there to NOT INTERACT WITH the out side world!
Fuck that, let's talk Jim Jones and the People's Temple!!! Over 700 people drink the kool-aid, for what? Were they all poor, alone, and totured? NO, I am sorry, but there is NOT A SINGLE COMPARISON I CAN FIND THAT CAN COME CLOSE TO THE PAIN AND SUFFERING AND PURE FAITH TO THE APOSTLES!! It is all about reason and logic! Why would a person who has nothing to live for, who need do nothing accept remand what he has said, choose to die a disgusting death? Where is the logic in that? THERE IS NO LOGIC! What on earth could cause a person to do such a thing? PURE FAITH! Apostles where not isolated in a hut somewhere, all committing suicide!! THEY WERE TORTURED TO DEATH, NOT A COWARD TAKING THEIR OWN LIVES, and to even think there is ANY RESEMBLENCE OF Heaven's Gate followers and the apostles is horrid and repulsive!
/end rant |
you continue to miss the mark. faith is a powerful thing. it can compel people to relinquish their lives, freedoms and comforts for the promise of immortality and eternal bliss. millions of fearful and ignorant believers throughout history have made the sacrifice under the banners of many living and dead faiths. most did so under the same conditions of being "alone, tortured, maimed, poor, persecuted and/or hated". some died through religious war, some died through religious persecution, some died through religious ceremony, some died through religious coercion. some had so much faith in a sun god that they sacrificed their first-born child or themselves to be brutally murdered on an alter as a gift to bring a good harvest next season. someone who dies for the welfare of the community sounds like a more compelling sacrifice that someone who dies out of stubbornness. the fact that you attribute personal sacrifice to the apostles alone reflects upon your contextual ignorance of religious studies as a whole. faith in religion has been around for thousands of years before the apostles, and christianity was never an original concept. the sooner you reject those archaic doctrines, the sooner you can begin enjoying life for what it really is and stop using the narrow dogmas of your faith to make other people's lives miserable.
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