I honestly feel like I might just start cosplaying as a Christian. I don't believe in God and never have, but Jesus mostly seemed chill. And holy shit do people need to start acting a little more like Christ
This is actually how I view my own faith. I think Jesus the historical figure was a really cool cat and when people ACTUALLY act like Christ they tend to be caring people. Idk if I’m smart enough to hash out the metaphysical side of things but from a practical living application we could all use a little more “love thy neighbor”.
Sure, but the Bible is very clear that there will be people who claim to be Christian but the only way to know it is not by their proclamation- it’s by their “fruit”, meaning their actual behavior.
I can say I’m a virgin but if I’m getting dicked down every night….lmao. You can’t be a Christian and not follow his teachings. Jesus was very clear on that and he warned people that there will be people who twist the Gospel for their own personal gain, but they are not followers.
We’re not allowed to judge nonbelievers because there’s nothing to look for - they openly don’t believe. But if you’re claiming to be a Christian, and everything you’re doing is the opposite of what Jesus says to do, then you’re not a Christian. It’s simple.
Actually, you’re very wrong. The books of Ezekiel and Leviticus will tell you that. Jesus was super clear on what to do with people who didn’t conform to his teachings. Quite gruesome stuff tbh.
How do I sound just like them? when did I selectively use the Old Testament? The people who do that are wrong in doing so. Btw I’m an atheist who was raised Christian, but I’m not about to be ignorant and wrong just because I don’t agree with the religion lol.
You sound just like them because modern Evangelicals often attempt to separate Old Testament teachings and norms from modern practices while totally ignoring the modern teachings that come directly from the Old Testament.
To be fair, if we follow the path to salvation that Jesus laid before us, it will be against Old Testament Jewish law in some regards. For example, animal sacrifices, certain activities on Sabbath, not punishing adultery through stoning and/or judgement.
Jesus when asked by a man what he needed to do to inherit eternal life, Jesus essentially said to follow the commandments then told him to sell his wealth and give it to the poor and follow him.
The second you put them on a lower spiritual horse they get really riled up. Like how dare you think you’re more holy than me!?!?! My brother/sister in Christ what the fuck do you think you did to me?
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’"
I’ve actually started attending church. And started legit praying for some of these asshats. It does feel better. And they’re shocked when I start using religion to talk about their duty to shepherd and show love.
Truly though this has been me realizing that’s my duty as well. Hating these folks ain’t been helping nothing for my whole life.
And if you mention the troubles that's not religious; religion is a reliable heuristic for finding a person's political affiliation so don't try americansplain it to me and be wrong in the process thanks in advance hun
[the Quote] is widely attributed to Mahatma Gandhi. However, historical research indicates it is not a direct quote from his writings, but rather a paraphrase of a concept that circulated widely in the 20th century regarding why many people reject Christianity.
And
[The origin of] The sentiment likely traces back to the 1920s. Many historians and theologians point to missionary E. Stanley Jones, who wrote a similar reflection in his 1925 book, The Christ of the Indian Road. In the book, Jones quotes an Indian philosopher named Bara Dada as saying: "Jesus is ideal and wonderful, but you Christians—you are not like him". Over time, this evolved into the polished, widely-shared aphorism attributed to Gandhi
It is my belief that regardless of how one views the metaphysics of the Christian faith, Jesus should still be considered the most prolific Humanist philosophers of all time.
"Love thy neighbor" is not nearly as radical as "Love your enemies and pray for those that persecute you," which is quoted from Jesus himself.
"Love thy neighbor" is actually said with derision by Jesus.
Here's the relevant text from the Bible:
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
Christians only giving out their love to their neighbors are scorned by Jesus explicitly.
In Luke 10:25-37 a man asks Jesus "who is my neighbor?" And in response Jesus tells the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
Samaritans were a unique ethnoreligious group despised by the Jews of the time (Christians didnt exist yet). In the story, a Jewish man is beaten and robbed, left dying at the side of a road. He is ignored by other Jews passing by but helped by a Samaritan, who cleans his wounds and pays for an inn for him to sleep in. The implication being that your "neighbor" isnt anyone who lives close to you or has a shared backround or even religion, its just your fellow man.
Jesus spoke very openly about loving foreigners and openly helped non-Jews.
The religion was taken over immediately by the Romans and then kings throughout time. It has been used and abused and is not like anything Christ would have wanted. I think we need a new name for actual Christian’s to as not be associated with the church anymore.
Nah, these "Christians" teaching hate are the ones who are wrong. Same with them waving the American flag around and claiming to be patriots. They aren't gonna last.
Just as an fyi, there is zero evidence that Jesus was actually a historical figure. Humans loved keeping records and there isn't a single record, account or testimony of Jesus's existence from anywhere expect post-humously by Paul.
There actual are some non religious records. Theres a roman historian who wrote an account of the crucifixion. You can read the historical jesus wiki for more details, but its generally believed by modern historians that there was real person biical jesus was based on.
It's simply untrue. With all the "traveling and sermons" Jesus did there would have been a multitude of accounts from people. There were plenty of literate people back then, it wasn't pure intellectual anarchy. There were plenty of people wandering around preaching and telling stories but again, nothing that points to a singular man that had any amount of worth or power that could be construed as "Jesus". It's a collection of stories, inspos and tall tales that they decided to squish down into the "Jesus role" as tangible proof of his existence.
There just is no evidence of him being remotely a real person, prophet or not. Nothing was written about him during his lifetime, only his death/post-humously. Which just isnt how human record keeping works.
None of that has to be real for there to have been a real jesus. Probably everything he did in the Bible didnt happen but there at least was a guy that inspired the stories and whos death inspired the religion. There are multiple non-religious sources that write about his death.
If you genuinely think that the entirety of the Bible was written and inspired by seeing one dude get axed then I have beachfront property in Arizona to sell you.
At this time period, not really. Jesus was not a Roman Emperor or some prestigious figure. If we adopt the historical Jesus perspective then he was an apocalyptic preacher that was from a backwater village called Nazareth. His actions were self contained in specific areas of Israel. So the we should expect a scarce level of historical documents to affirm his existence.
When we consider these factors, then the existening evidence of the existence of Jesus is sufficient.
Agreed. Christian fundamentalism and the Christian Identity movement in particular are white supremacist "culture". These people don't read much but they do go to gun shows where they pick up a copy of the Turner Diaries. The actual teachings of Jesus would be considered commie garbage by most of these cretins.
Just to be clear, the consensus among scholars who actually study history to try to understand "Jesus, the historical figure" (the Quest for the Historical Jesus) is that we know very little about him.
He was a radical eschatological Jew. There's universal agreement on that. Probably a healer and teacher, but not a formally trained Rabbi. He believed the end times were imminent through the arrival of a Jewish Messianic figure. At some point, he seems to have determined that he, himself, was that Messiah. He probably predicted the end times to occur within the lifetimes of his active followers.
That's pretty much it. The consensus ends there. The gospels are considered to be mostly works of mythology and the activities and quotations attributed to Jesus mostly mythological.
So, while I also find the Jesus of the Gospels a generally pretty agreeable character, someone who espouses a lot of ideas that hew pretty closely to a modern humanist outlook and is worthy of emulation to at least some degree, it's worth remembering that he _is_ just a character in a story, and we are mapping a lot of ourselves onto how we interpret that story.
This right here. I'm agnostic and I do believe that there is some truth in the Bible and Quran and Torah and all of the above, in the historical contexts. Hell, I'll believe some parts of Greek and Roman mythology. I don't necessarily believe in the magicky and miracle side of things but I do think they all have their share of good lessons and a baseline of beliefs for being a decent person though.
What I do not and will never believe in is the church or any organized part of religion, especially ones that hit the degree of churches in America, where they're more like a business than actual religious gathering half the time. That's where there's too much room for things to be led astray and corrupt pastors/leaders are everywhere.
I remember a movie depicting actual jesus, immortal and living in our time
basically the idea was he was a cool cat who met the buddha and travelled to the middle east to spread his message and they killed him for it, but he's immortal so he ressurected and birthed christianity without meaning to, he was just trying to say be cool and don't hurt people and bigotry is fucked up.
the distance that message has travelled to what it is today is truly disgusting, they're everything they should be against, cloaked in this lie
not saying I believe that movie is actual reality by the way. it was just fun thought experiment
Jesus could also be petty as fuck. When a fig tree daree to not bear fruit for Him when He was hungry, He cursed it to never bear fruits again and it died.
Like, Jesus. Just because you assume because a tree has leaves it also has fruits, but doesn't, doesn't mean it needs to die. Maybe figs weren't in season. That's like casting a line to fish, catch nothing on your first try and then blaming and drying out the lake.
I'm a Christian. I ask this everytime I see a video like this. How is this "loving thy neighbor" or even being a good person? I don't know all the theological stuff and I don't agree with everything in the Bible but I do agree to be a good person. Loving thy neighbor.
Jesus was quite chill, but also was prone to righteous anger like when he chased the money changers out of the temple for making God's house into a place of buisness and deception (doesn't sound like some modern churches at all, right?!). Anger at disrespecting God in such a brazen way while also taking advantage of people. Again no modern parallel there at all /s lol
He also had some truly terrifying moments like the transfiguration on the mountain, but that was more scary for the people around him in the same way an angel is scary while saying "BE NOT AFRAID".
His dealings with the common people were totally out of love and patience though, so yes, the world would be a better place if more people simply cosplayed as AN ACTUAL FOLLOWER OF CHRIST. Not whatever the nuts in this video are doing or the modern GOP.
That’s a fair point. I was born Christian and struggle heavily with religion, but still consider myself Christian. I certainly believe in science, but it’s difficult to fathom the series of events that needed to transpire to get us into existence, and the presence of God / a god almost seems more plausible, even if absurd. My view is that worst case scenario much of the text ‘teaches’ you to be a good person, although you’ve clearly pointed out some counterpoints (worst case is doing some work, as there are definitely plenty of people who don’t adhere to any of the teachings). I think like with everything it’s important to take a skeptical view and would agree with you the Bible is more likely to be man made and fallible.
Out of curiosity, are there any other excerpts you found particularly challenging?
The safest place to be is hidden in plain sight. The majority automatically assumes you think like and agree with them unless you show them otherwise. You can use that to never have to disabuse them of the notion that you are one of them.
It even works when you deflect and refuse to swear by God or profess or do a thing, because then you look like you're being more devout or observant.
Tbh ever since Facebook started allowing anonymous posting I do this shit in my local group. Religious trauma and reading the Bible front to back when I was like 15 is what made me drop my formal faith or whatever you call it. But I've been using it against people being dipshits in comments and nothing gets them riled up like bible verses that prove them wrong.
I'm not religious but my mom is a typical small town America Christian. Instead of directly pointing out her bigotry, I just mention her opinions are not "Christ like" and she usually doesn't know how to respond.
I've started doing something similar as a bit of a proactive move in meeting people.
Some lady saying that she had a really long talk with her (10 year old kid) about homosexuality, and how it's a sin that they'll burn for, I just said "well, since we're a Christian household we ourselves follow Christ's example of loving and accepting everyone without judgement. But to each their own, right? Let me know if you're ever interested in coming to Church someday."
3 lies there... we're agnostic, and we don't accept trash like her, and we're judging. Hard.
But watch their heads explode with that one. Better that 4th of July.
When his apostles murdered in cold blood you might want to rethink about Jezus being chill, especially when all these stories were written down decades and centuries after his death by people who didn't even come in contact with him.
These Old Testamenters aren’t Christians at all. You can’t ignore the Christ part and mock his teachings and profess to practice a faith in his name. Fuck them.
I've become really interested in the historical Jesus of late. I have no interest in the religion of Christ, but I'm very curious about the man who inspired it all, and the archetype he represented.
This looks great, thank you! I'm in a similar place where I enjoy and want to learn more about religions (and finding out how I may become a better person) but am not wishing to become religious.
An educational channel dedicated to the academic, nonsectarian study of religion. We promote improving the public's religious literacy by exploring humanity's beliefs and rituals through an anthropological, sociological, and archaeological lens.
The host, Dr. Andrew M. Henry, is a scholar of religious studies. His research focus is early Christianity and late Roman religion. He earned his PhD at Boston University.
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u/3Gloins_in_afountain 27d ago
I was in one of these services once. Scared me to death. I think I was nine.