The inscrutability of Christianity
The inscrutability of Christianity
Every now and then you just have to laugh at the joke called Christianity. I mean, the whole thing is just utterly absurd. We've had learned intellectuals studying these writings for 2,000 years and still no one can make sense of it. It's hilarious.
It' just so absurdly absurd. First, of course, we have to recognize that Judaism/Christianity/Islam are not "normal" religions. They may dominate now, but they were extremely strange from the start. Now Judaism may have seemed bad with its unusual reliance on written scriptures, but at least for Judaism the interpretation of the scriptures was rooted in something that could fundamentally be debated, the law. In addition, at least the Jewish scriptures were mostly logically conceived and have some kind of coherent framework at their core.
Once you get to Christianity, arguably the meaning of writings is even more important than it is for Judaism, yet the writings that Christianity are built upon are a disaster. It's just a plain fact that there is no coherent core to Christianity. Its a religion built upon confusion and misconceptions across a collection of forgeries that were largely written in direct contradiction to one another. So whereas Judaism has a consistent ideological and philosophical spine to it, and operates within a functioning framework, Christianity is just random nonsense. Its just literally random nonsense.
And you think about all these theologians who have dedicated their lives to trying to make sense of this mess. You may as well study ink blots to try and comprehend the meaning of the universe. Christian scripture is like a collection of random pages from diaries found in an insane asylum. And the funny thing is, average people are supposed to put their faith in this stuff and trust their immortal souls to what their priest/pastor tells them, while dedicated scholars working on 2,000 years of study can't figure out what any of it means. LOL!
It's pretty amusing...
It' just so absurdly absurd. First, of course, we have to recognize that Judaism/Christianity/Islam are not "normal" religions. They may dominate now, but they were extremely strange from the start. Now Judaism may have seemed bad with its unusual reliance on written scriptures, but at least for Judaism the interpretation of the scriptures was rooted in something that could fundamentally be debated, the law. In addition, at least the Jewish scriptures were mostly logically conceived and have some kind of coherent framework at their core.
Once you get to Christianity, arguably the meaning of writings is even more important than it is for Judaism, yet the writings that Christianity are built upon are a disaster. It's just a plain fact that there is no coherent core to Christianity. Its a religion built upon confusion and misconceptions across a collection of forgeries that were largely written in direct contradiction to one another. So whereas Judaism has a consistent ideological and philosophical spine to it, and operates within a functioning framework, Christianity is just random nonsense. Its just literally random nonsense.
And you think about all these theologians who have dedicated their lives to trying to make sense of this mess. You may as well study ink blots to try and comprehend the meaning of the universe. Christian scripture is like a collection of random pages from diaries found in an insane asylum. And the funny thing is, average people are supposed to put their faith in this stuff and trust their immortal souls to what their priest/pastor tells them, while dedicated scholars working on 2,000 years of study can't figure out what any of it means. LOL!
It's pretty amusing...
Re: The inscrutability of Christianity
Scholars are working very hard to make sense of this because fear only lets them go so far. So Jesus is Truth but see, it doesn't make sense because it got corrupted and interpolated and all we need is some archaeology and literary criticism to salvage this and save our collective face.
It's fear of earthly oppression and not fear of the Divine or whatever that does this. What do you expect? Humanity has been culled and conditioned into this for centuries. In my parts, as little as 80 years ago, I would've been killed by the State itself if I participated in any debates resembling the stuff that goes down on these forums. It's got nothing to do with soul or sin or even stupidity or delusion, just earthly power.
Reason has been kidnapped, turned into an immutable Word.
People's assembly has been kidnapped, turned into an immutable Church.
The Universal Man was kidnapped, turned into Our Man.
The Father has been kidnapped, turned into the Father of our Savior.
Ethics have been kidnapped, turned into commandments.
I find it horrifying, not funny.
But such is the economy that had taken place. Having the option to challenge this mess is a historical anomaly, though, and we should take the opportunity to do so.
It's fear of earthly oppression and not fear of the Divine or whatever that does this. What do you expect? Humanity has been culled and conditioned into this for centuries. In my parts, as little as 80 years ago, I would've been killed by the State itself if I participated in any debates resembling the stuff that goes down on these forums. It's got nothing to do with soul or sin or even stupidity or delusion, just earthly power.
Reason has been kidnapped, turned into an immutable Word.
People's assembly has been kidnapped, turned into an immutable Church.
The Universal Man was kidnapped, turned into Our Man.
The Father has been kidnapped, turned into the Father of our Savior.
Ethics have been kidnapped, turned into commandments.
I find it horrifying, not funny.
But such is the economy that had taken place. Having the option to challenge this mess is a historical anomaly, though, and we should take the opportunity to do so.
Re: The inscrutability of Christianity
nice imo geo, of course politics will use religion i guess, being as they are prolly two sides of the same manipulated fiat coin eh
found this guy yet? https://biblicalhistoricalcontext.com/i ... sh-things/
("israelite-origins-putting-away-childish-things")
while i wouldnt suggest going to any who say they know for Scriptural interp, i would say that the Bible does make sense when certain rules are understood, and taken into account? But first i would dismiss any attempted renderings of literal historical accounts, which genre i dont even think exists in Scripture
"The best cure for Christianity is reading the Bible" SClemens
found this guy yet? https://biblicalhistoricalcontext.com/i ... sh-things/
("israelite-origins-putting-away-childish-things")
while i wouldnt suggest going to any who say they know for Scriptural interp, i would say that the Bible does make sense when certain rules are understood, and taken into account? But first i would dismiss any attempted renderings of literal historical accounts, which genre i dont even think exists in Scripture
"The best cure for Christianity is reading the Bible" SClemens
Last edited by bbyrd009 on Tue Feb 16, 2021 12:23 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Re: The inscrutability of Christianity
"average people are supposed to put their faith in this stuff and trust their immortal souls..."
wadr suggests that the definitions they use are the right ones, when the Bible Itself will tell you
test everything, and keep what is good
and that "soul" is the same root as "life," see
but the Bible does say, plain as day,
Who is it that disturbs my rest
you and your sons will be here with me
No one has ever gone up to heaven...
all go to the same place
he who seeks to save his soul will lose it
so "immortal" i dont know where we got that from, not the Bible though i guess; weird tho, huh? that we just assume that?
we make "eternal" (from "aion: a space of time, an age") into "forever," and then its off to the races lol
There is only One Immortal...
so, imo anyway, anyone who inclines to religion gets what they seek, after all,
what did you go out into the wilderness to see?
the heir is under servants while he is a child, and is no better than a slave, even though he is lord of all
come out of her, my people
etc
or iow religion is a great way to get you to right here, questioning![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
wadr suggests that the definitions they use are the right ones, when the Bible Itself will tell you
test everything, and keep what is good
and that "soul" is the same root as "life," see
but the Bible does say, plain as day,
Who is it that disturbs my rest
you and your sons will be here with me
No one has ever gone up to heaven...
all go to the same place
he who seeks to save his soul will lose it
so "immortal" i dont know where we got that from, not the Bible though i guess; weird tho, huh? that we just assume that?
we make "eternal" (from "aion: a space of time, an age") into "forever," and then its off to the races lol
There is only One Immortal...
so, imo anyway, anyone who inclines to religion gets what they seek, after all,
what did you go out into the wilderness to see?
the heir is under servants while he is a child, and is no better than a slave, even though he is lord of all
come out of her, my people
etc
or iow religion is a great way to get you to right here, questioning
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
Re: The inscrutability of Christianity
I just wrote a blog post about why Christianity makes so little sense apart from the dominance of Platonism in Western culture.rgprice wrote: ↑Tue Jan 12, 2021 6:06 pm Every now and then you just have to laugh at the joke called Christianity. I mean, the whole thing is just utterly absurd. We've had learned intellectuals studying these writings for 2,000 years and still no one can make sense of it. It's hilarious.
...
Once you get to Christianity, arguably the meaning of writings is even more important than it is for Judaism, yet the writings that Christianity are built upon are a disaster. It's just a plain fact that there is no coherent core to Christianity. Its a religion built upon confusion and misconceptions across a collection of forgeries that were largely written in direct contradiction to one another. So whereas Judaism has a consistent ideological and philosophical spine to it, and operates within a functioning framework, Christianity is just random nonsense. Its just literally random nonsense.
It may sound simplistic, but I think we have forgotten how all-important Platonism was in the intellectual cutlure of antiquity, esp. late antiquity. Since Heidegger and Bultmann, more or less, scholars of religion and their allies in Christian theology have tried mightily to separate Christianity from Plato, unconvincingly.
In the post I focus on the idea of Christ as being in the “likeness” of both God and man. I don’t have to tell anyone here about how important that basic concept is in the Philippians hymn, and also in the Johannine writings. It’s not a Jewish idea at all, but a Platonic stopgap for the inadequacies of a merely Jewish, merely monotheistic Judaism in the Hellenistic era. The LXX and Philo were a product of Hellenism, and so forth. Some marriage or other between Plato and Moses was inevitable. Jesus is the “likeness” or image of the invisible god, but there is no idolatry.
Re: The inscrutability of Christianity
Jesus, of Nazareth
“John Doe, from Nowhere”
“John Doe, from Nowhere”
Re: The inscrutability of Christianity
Crucifixus est dei filius; non pudet, quia pudendum est.
Et mortuus est dei filius; credibile prorsus est, quia ineptum est.
Et sepultus resurrexit; certum est, quia impossibile.
Et mortuus est dei filius; credibile prorsus est, quia ineptum est.
Et sepultus resurrexit; certum est, quia impossibile.
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Re: The inscrutability of Christianity
As much a I hate to commit the secular sin of resurrecting an old thread, I gotta ask: If this is all just a laughable joke, why are we all spending so much time studying, think, and writing about it?
Nobody here is a bullshit thinker, so what we're thinking about can't be bullshit. it might not be the bullshit that the faithful are slinging, but we are all looking for *something*, and there must be some reason why we're looking for it *here*.
We can't read the Illiad with the same devotional attitude that the greeks did, and we know that Plato isn't the cutting edge of philosophy either (heck even Plato knew that the answers he was giving were mostly bullshit, see "Parmenedes"), but we still read all those old texts and mine gems from them. Even as mathematical text as Euclid we don't read to get up to speed on geometry.
Yet, here we all are, still here, devoting endless hours and years of our lives to the closest possible examination of these texts. If its bullshit, surely the best thing to do would be to try to stop the conversation and just get everybody to move on to something else.
What *isn't* bullshit, anyways? Let me know, and lets all go study that instead....
Nobody here is a bullshit thinker, so what we're thinking about can't be bullshit. it might not be the bullshit that the faithful are slinging, but we are all looking for *something*, and there must be some reason why we're looking for it *here*.
We can't read the Illiad with the same devotional attitude that the greeks did, and we know that Plato isn't the cutting edge of philosophy either (heck even Plato knew that the answers he was giving were mostly bullshit, see "Parmenedes"), but we still read all those old texts and mine gems from them. Even as mathematical text as Euclid we don't read to get up to speed on geometry.
Yet, here we all are, still here, devoting endless hours and years of our lives to the closest possible examination of these texts. If its bullshit, surely the best thing to do would be to try to stop the conversation and just get everybody to move on to something else.
What *isn't* bullshit, anyways? Let me know, and lets all go study that instead....
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Re: The inscrutability of Christianity
Is the blog public access? I can't access it.Irish1975 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 13, 2021 10:32 amI just wrote a blog post about why Christianity makes so little sense apart from the dominance of Platonism in Western culture.rgprice wrote: ↑Tue Jan 12, 2021 6:06 pm Every now and then you just have to laugh at the joke called Christianity. I mean, the whole thing is just utterly absurd. We've had learned intellectuals studying these writings for 2,000 years and still no one can make sense of it. It's hilarious.
...
Once you get to Christianity, arguably the meaning of writings is even more important than it is for Judaism, yet the writings that Christianity are built upon are a disaster. It's just a plain fact that there is no coherent core to Christianity. Its a religion built upon confusion and misconceptions across a collection of forgeries that were largely written in direct contradiction to one another. So whereas Judaism has a consistent ideological and philosophical spine to it, and operates within a functioning framework, Christianity is just random nonsense. Its just literally random nonsense.
The Christian "Trinity" codified 381 CE was ultimately derived from the metaphysical and Platonic trinity of Plotinus.It may sound simplistic, but I think we have forgotten how all-important Platonism was in the intellectual cutlure of antiquity, esp. late antiquity. Since Heidegger and Bultmann, more or less, scholars of religion and their allies in Christian theology have tried mightily to separate Christianity from Plato, unconvincingly.
In the post I focus on the idea of Christ as being in the “likeness” of both God and man. I don’t have to tell anyone here about how important that basic concept is in the Philippians hymn, and also in the Johannine writings. It’s not a Jewish idea at all, but a Platonic stopgap for the inadequacies of a merely Jewish, merely monotheistic Judaism in the Hellenistic era. The LXX and Philo were a product of Hellenism, and so forth. Some marriage or other between Plato and Moses was inevitable. Jesus is the “likeness” or image of the invisible god, but there is no idolatry.
For example see p.289 "the History of Western Philosophy", Bertrand Russell - 1945