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| quote: | Originally posted by Theresa
I personally don't have a doubt that Jesus was a man who walked the earth and made a significant impact on people.
Whether he was "gods son" or not, I don't know, and is something I find to be far fetched, but could not be assed to dispute it, since really... who the hell knows? None of us were there 2000 years ago.
With my religious background, I know enough to make an educated judgement when I say that I do not think that the religious sects are truly representative of the core meaning to what they are/were intended.
With that being said, I do not think badly of anyone who believes/participates in their religion... I only think poorly of those who do not understand or agree that there ARE mistakes and errors in the teachings, and in the documentations of such.
Anyone who tells me that they think the bible is word for word the original scripture from when it was written, and should be taken in a *literal* way, is IMO, a bloody nutter, and TOTALLY irrational. |
You know...I was watching that documentary posted here a few weeks ago on "the most hated family in America" - the godhatesamerica.com / Westboro Baptist Church people - and I remember one scene where the interviewer, Louis, asks one of the men holding the 'God Hates Fags' signs what Jesus would have done if he were there. Not surprisingly, the man replied something to the affect of "Oh, Jesus would grab a sign and hold it up right here beside us. He hated fags, too, blah blah blah".
I think this man was right.
I'll certainly not deny that Christianity and several other religions have their merits - they play upon a very, very potent human component - faith - and as such, have the potential to be very powerful forces of positive or negative change within somebody's life. Ultimately, individual decision is the key factor within any choice that somebody makes for themselves or even for others sometimes, but that isn't to wholly discount the impact of religious teachings within people - hope is a very interesting and complex thing, even if it is a vain and futile endeavour, in some cases. It seems to me that Christians, in this case, are just another brand of people who believe, really, whatever they want to believe, and try to justify its correlation towards established religious doctrine. But when *hasn't* this been a primary component of religious belief? People believe in God because they want to - perhaps some cases are far deeper than others, but religion is a personal choice, through and through, despite the great shadow of Christian hegemony we can see only when we question the very nature of established "morality" in western society.
It seems to me that, according to the book, Jesus was no different an authority than much of the gospels, themselves. That is to say, scripture became law merely for the fact that it was scripture. Sort of a 'do as I say or else' mentality that most religions and books speak in the tone of, as though believing in the "evil" deeds of "sodomizers" is justified by nothing more than the words of a text that is so archaic, its only perpetuating source of authority is derived from its mysterious origins and translation errors. As though the sort of "negative space" that the words create - as though the things the bible just forgot to mention, might just be the very things that damn us all in the end.
But what do you think?
Jesus is certainly made out to be a pretty laid-back guy - his most common quotables, I'd say, have to do with loving your enemy as you would your neighbour and turning the other cheek when faced with violence. But what if these are just the results of thousands of years worth of lies? Son of God or not, Jesus is said to have put forth a philosophy which certainly imitated previous frameworks, but took a very revisionist perspective towards the (then) whole of human moral conduct in accordance with religion. It's significance cannot be refuted, only its validity for, despite your very own beliefs, the very fact that you believe or don't believe in something has little to no affect on whether the next person does. So what gives? There are several instances of hatred and wrath from divine sources in the bible - Jesus was even known to lose his temper over things which, frankly, aren't really all that important to people nowadays. Would he be the paragon of serenity and love for his fellow creatures like most of modern Christianity would like you to think (keep their bias in mind) or would he be a total fucking **** in sandles, waving his cardboard sign at you on the side of the road, spreading the "good word" of how evil homosexuality is because, according to the "good book", it is an abomination of the Lord, His father?
I'm gonna have to go with #2.
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There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
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