Asante said:

Reductionism is even worse, go pick on them.

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Bill_Oreilly said:

Muslims are worse. Go pick on them...if you got the balls, of course

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trees said:

hardcore Christians enjoy it, they get satisfaction out of prayer. they are like the most hardcore roleplayers, RP'ing their whole life around the lore of Christianity. Spiritual people are similar, they're all spiritual and stuff, because they like it, whether they realize that or not, its a big source of their satisfaction and enjoyment which all people need in some form. but I think that its not a great one, there are way better - more impressive and worthwhile ways to get satisfaction and enjoyment in life

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Bill_Oreilly said:

Muslims are worse. Go pick on them...if you got the balls, of course

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Tantrika said:

Bill_Oreilly said:

Muslims are worse. Go pick on them...if you got the balls, of course

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Islam is effectively an extension of Christianity,
which is effectively an extension of Judaism
picking on anything further up the chain picks on Islam as well

Islam basically does to Christianity,
what Christianity did to Judaism,
which is to take a big chunk of the core beliefs
then proclaim to have the most up-to-date version
of what God wants

criticizing the literal belief of God in one tradition
automatically criticizes the literal belief of YHWH or Allah in the other

All three comprise the Abrahamic religions

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akira_akuma said:

Christians believe in thought-forms that are tied to literal non-existence. they believe a "God" runs everything in the universe, and from the foundation of their beliefs, they act.

their actions, logic, and propensities, are based around a literal non-being; from which one can only logically conclude that their actions, logic, and propensities (like the propensity to prayer, for example), come from nothingness.

and logic needs to be fielded to have any value.

so in the case of christianity, it's values are based on destroying logic into nothingness.

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qman said:

Jesus was a Jew, OP is anti-Semitic.

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PatrickKn said:

Alan Watts - Jesus and His Religion

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Alan Watts said:

So obviously an omnipotent and omniscient man would not really be a man. So even if you take the very orthodox Catholic doctrine of the nature of Christ, that he was both true God and true Man, you must say that for true God to be united with true Man, true God has to make a voluntary renunciation – for the time-being – of omniscience and omnipotence… and omnipresence for that matter. Now therefore if Jesus were to come right out and say “I am the son of God” that’s like saying “I’m the boss’s son,” or “I AM the boss,” and everybody immediately says that is blasphemy. That is subversion. That is trying to introduce Democracy into the Kingdom of Heaven. That is –– you are a usurper of the throne. No man has seen God.

Now, Jesus in his exoteric teaching – as recorded in the Synoptic Gospels – was pretty cagey about this. He didn’t come right out there and say “I and the Father are one.” Instead he identified himself with the Messiah described in the second part of the prophet Isaiah, “the suffering servant who was despised and rejected by men.” And this man is the non-political Messiah, in other words. It was convenient to make that identification even though it would get him into trouble.
But to his elect disciples as recorded in Saint John, he came right out “Before Abraham was, I am.” “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” “I am the resurrection and the life.” “I am the living bread that comes down from Heaven.” “I and the Father are one, and he who has seen me has seen the Father.” And there can be no mistaking that language.

So the Jews found out and they put him to death – or had him put to death – for blasphemy. This is no cause for any special antagonism toward the Jews. We would do exactly the same thing. It’s always done. It happened to one of the great Sufi mystics in Persia who had the same experience. Now, what happened? The Apostles didn’t quite get the point. They were awed by the miracles of Jesus. They worshipped him as people do worship gurus, and as you know to what lengths that can go if you’ve been around guru-land. And so the Christians said “Okay, okay: Jesus of Nazareth was the son of God but let it stop right there! Nobody else.” So what happened was that Jesus was pedestalized. He was put in a position that was safely upstairs so that his troublesome experience of cosmic consciousness would not come and cause other people to be a nuisance. And those who have had this experience and expressed it during those times when the church had political power were almost invariably persecuted. Giordano Bruno was burnt at the stake. John Scotus Eriugena was excommunicated. Meister Eckhardt’s theses were condemned. And so on, and so on. A few mystics got away with it because they used cautious language.

But you see what happens. If you pedestalize Jesus you strangle the Gospel at birth. And it has been the tradition in both the Catholic Church and in Protestantism to pass off what I will call an emasculated Gospel. Gospel means “good news,” and I cannot for the life of me think what is the good news about the Gospel as ordinarily handed down. Because, look here – here is the revelation of God in Christ, in Jesus, and we are supposed to follow his life and example without having the unique advantage of being the boss’s son. Now, the tradition – both Catholic and Protestant Fundamentalist – represents Jesus to us as a freak! Born of a virgin, knowing he is the son of God, having the power of miracles, knowing that basically it’s impossible to kill him, that he’s going to rise again in the end. And we are asked to take up our cross and follow him when we don’t know that about ourselves at all! So what happens is this: we are delivered, therefore, a Gospel which is in fact an impossible religion. It’s impossible to follow the Way of Christ. Alright. Many a Christian has admitted it. “I am a miserable sinner. I fall far short of the example of Christ.” But do you realize the more you say that the better you are? Because what happened was that Christianity institutionalized guilt as a virtue. (enthusiastic applause) You see, you can never come up to it. Never. And therefore you will always be aware of your shortcomings, and so the more shortcomings you feel the more – in other words – you are aware of the vast abyss between Christ and yourself.

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trees said:

hardcore Christians enjoy it, they get satisfaction out of prayer. they are like the most hardcore roleplayers, RP'ing their whole life around the lore of Christianity. Spiritual people are similar, they're all spiritual and stuff, because they like it, whether they realize that or not, its a big source of their satisfaction and enjoyment which all people need in some form. but I think that its not a great one, there are way better - more impressive and worthwhile ways to get satisfaction and enjoyment in life

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akira_akuma said:

PS: Patrick, that's all nice and stuff...but people are dead set on their beliefs, and the majority of christians think that gnostic readings are heretical.

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