Christainity Is Not A Religion

Originally Posted by Mind's Eye

Because it seemed like the thing to do at the time...

What do you think Christianity is?

Originally Posted by Rin

What do you think Christianity is?

I think it is just what I said in the first place; a man made system of fear and guilt.


For starters, let's take a look at the Old Testament in the Bible. There is no archaeological evidence whatsoever to support that Moses or Abraham ever existed. There is no historical or archaeological evidence to support that an Israelite named Joseph was ever second in command in Egypt under the pharaoh. All of the mass invasions recorded in the old Testament where Israel took possession of the so called promised land did not happen either. Historical records and modern archaeology have proven these facts and has shown that the supposed history of the Bible is not accurate at all. Some of the foreign lands that Israel supposedly defeated in the old testament and put there kings to death did not even have kings when these invasions supposedly took place; They were small farming communities or towns that were just starting out ... showing that the OT was actually written at a much later date than the dates given in the books themselves.

And to go hand in hand with that, there is no archaeological evidence to support that Jesus ever lived either. If all of the stories about him healing, preaching and causing such an enormous fuss in the town, cities and villages where he lived were true, why is there no record of it? There were a number of noted Jewish historians alive at that time, and none of them ever mentioned Jesus at all....

So if the records show that the Bible as a whole is historically inaccurate and none of its main characters never existed, then what does that say about the belief system? It may be a "religion" but it is a false ideology being fed to the masses as being a historically truth. And it is a "religion" that has caused much fear, violence and unrest in people's personal lives and in the world.

Hence: It is a man made system of fear and guilt.

[ciel_perdu]

Originally Posted by Mind's Eye

I think it is just what I said in the first place; a man made system of fear and guilt.


For starters, let's take a look at the Old Testament in the Bible. There is no archaeological evidence whatsoever to support that Moses or Abraham ever existed. There is no historical or archaeological evidence to support that an Israelite named Joseph was ever second in command in Egypt under the pharaoh. All of the mass invasions recorded in the old Testament where Israel took possession of the so called promised land did not happen either. Historical records and modern archaeology have proven these facts and has shown that the supposed history of the Bible is not accurate at all. Some of the foreign lands that Israel supposedly defeated in the old testament and put there kings to death did not even have kings when these invasions supposedly took place; They were small farming communities or towns that were just starting out ... showing that the OT was actually written at a much later date than the dates given in the books themselves.

And to go hand in hand with that, there is no archaeological evidence to support that Jesus ever lived either. If all of the stories about him healing, preaching and causing such an enormous fuss in the town, cities and villages where he lived were true, why is there no record of it? There were a number of noted Jewish historians alive at that time, and none of them ever mentioned Jesus at all....

So if the records show that the Bible as a whole is historically inaccurate and none of its main characters never existed, then what does that say about the belief system? It may be a "religion" but it is a false ideology being fed to the masses as being a historically truth. And it is a "religion" that has caused much fear, violence and unrest in people's personal lives and in the world.

Hence: It is a man made system of fear and guilt.

I agree that the religion of Christianity has caused a lot of fear, violence and unrest, but there is a huge difference between what I would like to call Churchianity, and Christianity. Jesus taught the Kingdom of Heaven. A spiritual Kingdom of Love and Faith, that resides in the heart of all who would let it. There are so many differences between what true Christianity is, compared to religion. Some examples would be, religion says, ''don't eat this, don't drink that, go to this building, wear this, don't wear that, worship on this day, make this day holy, do this special action, fulfill this special ritual, blah, blah, blah''. Jesus didn't teach any of these things.

I think if you could stop reacting against religion, you may see how your bias is causing you to 'throw the baby out with the bath water'. We do have some historical records that Jesus was a real person, i.e. the gospels. That's not much different from any other account of a person or event in the past. But my guess is you have some reason to WHY those records aren't true, too?

On my side, I couldn't really care less whether the bible was historically accurate or indeed whether it was written by a little green martian. What I do know is that those words 'attributed' to Jesus, hold the key to meaning of life and the universe, and if people could just stop being so religious and surrender to his spirit, we would have a beautiful world.

Christianity as taught by Jesus is NOT a religion. Christianity as practiced by the majority of Christians in the world today, unfortunately IS.

Jesus Christ's Parents was both Jewish from the house of David and Abraham.
He read the Torah in Temple and spoke with the Rabbi's even celebrated passover.
Matthew 5:17 KJV says: Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
But in my opinion Christianity vaguely has anything to do with Heaven just mostly Sheol or Hell.
People who obey the law and try not to sin goes to Heaven people who do not go to Hell.

Jesus was a rabbi. He taught in the temple. Also a carpenter. Maybe supported the red sox at the local coliseum Its the tune that matters not the piano or its player.

Originally Posted by Mind's Eye

Hence: It is a man made system of fear and guilt.

It is a system dealing with metaphysical aspects of life. Therefore it is a religion.

The methods and techniques used of how the ultimate metaphysical goal can be reached may consist of, for you, good and bad elements.

To qualify a system as Religion it does not need to restrict itself to only the things you approve of.

[Seawolf]

Originally Posted by Rin

It is a system dealing with metaphysical aspects of life. Therefore it is a religion.

And it is often unknowingly used as a weapon against those who seek answers.

I'm not really too sure that Christianity is a system used to manipulate people or make them stay in line. I mean what does that make the Pope and all the other Christian leaders?

Atheists? Agnostics? Pagans? Scientologists? Behind this "facade" of this Christianity, what DO they believe?

I think, maybe, at one point it was used to control masses, but just maybe. That was hundreds of years ago, which means that the current rulers and leaders, they weren't even born yet, and when they were taught Christianity, they were probably little children too.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that maybe Christianity is used to manipulate, control, get money, etc., but probably not intentionally. Who knows, maybe they really do think that what they are doing is right, and that they honestly believe that they can ask forgiveness for whatever "bad" stuff they did. Perhaps, they are not scaring us with the intention of scaring us. Perhaps, they too, are scared.

I know most of us think that it's ridiculous to be able to simply "Sin" and then SINCERELY ask for forgiveness and that would make everything ok, but I can look back to where I used to be and I can remember thinking that all of that made sense.

And I agree with Seawolf. Countless times we have heard the Hell threats. But if you noticed, Christianity is also what caused us to seek answers in the first place, and I think that's something I personally can thank it for.

[norseman]

"I think, maybe, at one point it was used to control masses, but just maybe. That was hundreds of years ago"

Tell that to the poor of South America and Sub-Saharan Africa ! Also, to a limited extent, the priest-ridden people of Eire.

I live in a priest-ridden Catholic 3rd-world country where priests try to get involved with politics and laws concerning morality :)))