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Originally Posted by GobbHayte
why shouldn't people "pick and choose" what to believe when, as has been stated elsewhere in this thread, all religous texts were written after the events they concern by people with their own agenda to impose.
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Correct that most religious texts were written a LONG time after the event (the writers of the 4 Gospels weren't even second generation witnesses). It's interesting though that you then go ahead with the following....
Quote:
Originally Posted by GobbHayte
Liberal christians like the basic message jesus taught about love and tolerance for all of humanity and respect him for standing against the totalitarian religious authorities of the time, but reject the messy, contradictory and dogmatic writings that came after his death.
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Ah, but those 'messy, contradictory and dogmatic writings that came after his death' are the ONLY source for the 'basic message Jesus taught'. In what way did he stand 'against the totalitarian religious authorities of the time'? He preached that taxes should be paid to the occupying Roman forces and observed the Jewish religious traditions of the time (being himself a Jew). The anti-Semitic lies propagated by the early church and 'St.' Paul were entirely untrue. The jewish people at the (supposed) time of Christ were famously argumentative but would NOT have been remotely interested in collaborating with the Romans to crucify another in a long line of people claiming to be the Messiah (see
Amazon.com: Jesus : A Life: Books: A.N. Wilson for more information about the historical background to First Century Judea, A N Wilson knows his stuff and the book is excellent). 'St.' Paul claimed to have been converted whilst travelling to Damascus to persecute the infant church there, supposedly on orders from the High Priest of Jerusalem....the fact that the Jews NEVER persecuted the early church and that the High Priest of Jerusalem had no authority in Damascus doesn't dissuade Paul from telling this whopping lie about his conversion.....and if he could lie about this what else could he spread about Jesus and his death? Remember 'St.' Paul is the main voice of the New Testament, the man who shaped the christian perspective from which the Gospel writers approached their subject....
Quote:
Originally Posted by GobbHayte
jesus doesn't really come in to my view of the world,
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...clearly, as you seem to have next to no insight into the issue...
Quote:
Originally Posted by GobbHayte
but i don't have a problem with people who follow his basic message of "don't be complete pricks to each other" and reject all the bollocks written about him centuries later.
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See previously made point about provenance of the 'message' of Jesus.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GobbHayte
religion is not "the problem with the world" the problem with the world is arseholes, specifically arseholes who think everyone else should think and act like them and who brainwash weaker arseholes into doing their dirty work for them. some arseholes use religion to do this, others use political ideology, but it's all the same shit really.
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In the world we live in sadly religion is being used by all sides as an excuse for the worst kind of horrors. So it's very much 'the problem' with our current world.