Is Christianity a Shtick?

[60's guy]

Look dude.... I was born and raised a Christian. I had that shit shoved down my throat just like the tens of millions of other American kids who were indoctrinated from birth. <---- a form of child abuse, in my view.

Undoubtedly, you have every right to be pissed off that your parents, or grandparents attempted to shove a belief in Jesus Christ down your throat. Something you couldn't believe in or embrace at a point in time before you actually began to think for yourself. Your story is no different to my experience 60+ years ago when my grandmother was constantly preaching to me. My grandmother was no different in comparison to any other grandmother, or mother of any other faith, Jewish, Buddhist, Amish, Hindu etc. It's understandable that parents and grandparents of every faith teach their children accordingly to their own beliefs.

To fast forward, my grandmother was a Baptist. My mother was Lutheran, who fully expected it that I commit. I didn't commit to any variation of organized Christianity.

I learned at lot from my mother and grandmother.

And I would never, ever, ever label them as child abusers.

 

[Serendipity Records]

BARELY!

How so?

 

[Gtoboy]

Nice. You surprised me with a level of intelligence akin to that of my chickens, which is better than the AI bot I thought you were.

The first book of the New Testament (which comprises only a part of the Bible) to be written was started about 17 years after Jesus died and rose. Contrast this with the oldest source we have on Alexander the Great - which was written over 200 years after his death and the fall of his supposed mega-empire.

The Gospels were widely accepted from the time of their writing as 1) not being forgeries and 2) portraying facts about Jesus' life. Explicitly about the resurrection, St. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians that there were over 500 witnesses who had seen Jesus after his resurrection.

As far as extra-biblical proof, "There are [...] numerous Jewish and Roman sources (e.g. Josephus, Suetonius, Tacitus, Pliny the Younger, and rabbinic tradition that talk about Jesus". (Wikipedia - "Historicity of Jesus").

Jesus' greatest political enemies, the Jews (surprise, surprise!), did not deny Jesus' existence in contemporary texts, but rather attempted to discredit his action

99% of everything in the above paragraphs is not true and cannot be proven. CIte all your sources if you make claims like this. The Council of Nicea decided which gospels to add to the new testament and what to leave out ~400 years after the supposed life of JC. A lot more was left out of the new testament than was put in and much of it contradicts those that were included.

The letters of Paul are included as gospel even though he was not even around when JC was supposed to be preaching.

Making statements such as "It's a fact that..." without proof is textbook dogmatism.

 

[PorterhouseMusic]

Buddy got his intellectual starter kit for Christmas and came here to try it out.

 

[Serendipity Records]

99% of everything in the above paragraphs is not true and cannot be proven. CIte all your sources if you make claims like this. The Council of Nicea decided which gospels to add to the new testament and what to leave out ~400 years after the supposed life of JC. A lot more was left out of the new testament than was put in and much of it contradicts those that were included.

The letters of Paul are included as gospel even though he was not even around when JC was supposed to be preaching.

Making statements such as "It's a fact that..." without proof is textbook dogmatism.

WTF...

Nice. You surprised me with a level of intelligence akin to that of my chickens, which is better than the AI bot I thought you were.

I have chickens; AI "leverages computers and machines to mimic the problem-solving and decision-making capabilities of the human mind" (IBM).

The first book of the New Testament (which comprises only a part of the Bible) to be written was started about 17 years after Jesus died and rose.

The New Testament contains 27 books written in Greek by 15 or 16 different authors between 50 C.E and 120 C.E. (oup.com)
John A. T. Robinson, Dan Wallace, and William F. Albright dated all the books of the New Testament before 70 AD. (wikipedia.com)

Contrast this with the oldest source we have on Alexander the Great - which was written over 200 years after his death and the fall of his supposed mega-empire.

"We have ancient narratives of Alexander’s life, written between 30 BCE and the third century CE—hundreds of years after his death. The earliest known account is by the Greek historian Diodorus, but we also have histories written by other historians, including Roman historians; these writers are called the Alexander historians. They interpreted written accounts from shortly after Alexander’s death, penned by those who fought alongside Alexander on his campaigns." (khanacademy.org) Note that these are interpretations of earlier texts which are now lost.

The Gospels were widely accepted from the time of their writing as 1) not being forgeries and 2) portraying facts about Jesus' life. Explicitly about the resurrection, St. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians that there were over 500 witnesses who had seen Jesus after his resurrection.

Jesus was, is, and always will be a controversial figure. However, it would seem that people reading these writings so soon after Jesus' death (& assumed resurrection) would have strongly disputed these claims if they weren't true. But they did not. I would recommend the "Acts of the Apostles" as good reading on the subject.

As far as extra-biblical proof, "There are [...] numerous Jewish and Roman sources (e.g. Josephus, Suetonius, Tacitus, Pliny the Younger, and rabbinic tradition that talk about Jesus". (Wikipedia - "Historicity of Jesus").

Self-contained source.

Jesus' greatest political enemies, the Jews (surprise, surprise!), did not deny Jesus' existence in contemporary texts, but rather attempted to discredit his actions.

Also from Wiki.

So. You satisfied? You are officially only 1% correct, and 99% irrational.

 

[dogooder]

85% of the folks on the planet can't think outside the box and I can't fault them. They have been indoctrinated since birth and never stood a chance.

 

[Serendipity Records]

Just don't let that shit creep into civics and government - I have a real problem with that.

So, "separation of Church and State"?

Apart from the fact that Christianity (and certain other religions) forbids it, why does, say, pedophilia get so much flak? Like, objectively. Why are people so ticked off when someone is caught wanking while looking at child porn? We wonders, yess we wonders, precious.

 

[ez_willis]

How so?

That's for you to figure out.

 

[Serendipity Records]

That's for you to figure out.

So you're telling me what I believe?

 

[ez_willis]

So you're telling me what I believe?

You're the best Christian ever. You're a true man of God, delivering His message to the masses. Here on HR.com.

Better?

 

[ez_willis]

So, is Christianity a shtick or not?

​

 

[Papanate]

So in the Political Humor thread, @PorterhouseMusic contends that the Christian belief in Jesus' resurrection is a joke. Fair enough:

Now it's a fact that Jesus existed. But are these claims well-founded?

So - serious question @PorterhouseMusic: Do you believe that Alexander the Great existed?

You have to decide for yourself - I personally believe the entire Bible is an Allegory of collected works - meant to be an example of what is the best way to live.

 

[PorterhouseMusic]

So, is Christianity a shtick or not?

​

It seems to me that the golden rule is all one (or more than one) needs.

 

[ez_willis]

It seems to me that the golden rule is all one (or more than one) needs.

I was asking the proclaimed Christian that asked a bunch of heathens and rejects if Christianity was a shtick or not.

 

[TAE]

and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He [Jesus] said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. Love God above all else. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

 

[dogooder]

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”​

 

[Ujn Hunter]

The only thing jesus is good for is stepping on his face so that FUZZ comes ripping out of my Guitar Amplifier. Like Behemoth says: "Christians to the Lions!"

 

[mjbphotos]

Jesus was, is, and always will be a controversial figure. However, it would seem that people reading these writings so soon after Jesus' death (& assumed resurrection) would have strongly disputed these claims if they weren't true. But they did not. I would recommend the "Acts of the Apostles" as good reading on the subject.

98 percent of Jesus's fellow Jews could neither read nor write.

 

[brassplyer]

I haven't even looked at the thread yet, I just chuckled at the thread title.

 

[PorterhouseMusic]

And here I thought the amusing part was the guy started this thread based on misunderstanding and/or misconstruing what I said to begin with.