Ruskin wrote: Also, what about the prostitute Jesus was so fond of?I would be careful calling her a prostitute as many scholars believe that was a label given to her by organized religion to demean her by a male dominated hierarchy which did not want a woman to have any status within the church.
More importantly, look at what you just did. You used her (supposed) sin to devalue Jesus simply because he associated with her. This is human nature and a massive stumbling block.
Example: People follow someone because they see only the part of them that shows the higher self. Then it comes out that behind closed doors they are doing things that many might find offensive (have sex, do drugs whatever). If the followers learn of this they then say "they are wicked and therefore not a beacon of truth" completely disregarding all else. They throw the baby out with the bathwater. What they fail to understand is that what they saw previously was a clothed person and what they now see is his nakedness... the whole person, both light and dark. Wow, epiphany, I am the "Alpha and the Omega"! Light and Dark, life and death, everything that is... is I. (sorry but had to blurt it out hot off the presses)
Geordie Ross wrote:He had more interest in the lower classes, outcasts and scum of Jewish society than the elites so those were the people he hung around with there.Word!
Ruskin wrote:Logic is a problem. Not because it is illogical in and of itself but because the lack of knowledge and wisdom that we base our logic on is flawed.
Surely god, as a perfect being, should create a logically sound and undeniably true message that cannot be refuted by a rational mind.
If I give you a calculator with only 1's and 0's with only a + and - sign, how good can the results be? The very fact humans believe they know so much when in fact they are still ignorant of the majority of the universe... is the epitome of arrogance.
Geordie Ross wrote:Perhaps that's exactly what he did? Though he did "hide it in plain sight" to some extent.I could've sworn you were one of the atheists here that I had previously debated. Am I confusing you with someone else? They say the memory is the first thing to go and I can't recall what the second thing is, heh heh. Anyways, I agree...
Ruskin wrote: Should we assume that aliens have a fascination with inserting probes into human rectums?Why the heck not, we seem to like it? Ok sorry, inappropriate joke as my wife is constantly telling me through her laughter
Zengirl wrote:For me, the resurrection is a metaphor for spiritual awakening or re-awakening.
Just to point out that there was no resurrection in the earliest Bibles. That story was added on later (I think it may have been a century later? I can't remember the research exactly now without having to look it up). No-one witnessed the resurrection at the time (to my mind this is because, obviously, it is something impossible and didn't happen). It was a story written into one of the many versions of the Bible at a later date.
Present awareness wrote:I've been screaming this from the rooftops for decades and called insane or at best lost. Maybe the wilderness isn't quite as empty as it feels. I would add that regardless of manipulation (intentional or not) I believe there is much truth to be gleaned from it if one can sift through the debris to find the hidden treasure... argggg matey. Dang, where's a pirate emoticon when you need one? xDenegue wrote: So, what was Paul talking about in his letters, that we know were written before the destruction of the Temple around 70AD?Have you actually seen these letters supposedly written by Paul? Even if you did, would you understand the language they were written in? You are putting your faith in other people, whom claim to have read these letters and interpreted them correctly. That is the problem with books like the bible, which have been edited and changed over the centuries, no one knows for sure, how much was added and how much was thrown out, because it happened to conflict with the story they wanted to sell to the masses.