(August 18, 2013 at 7:53 pm)Drich Wrote: Maybe that is because there are no "good" people.

"Why do you call me good? Do you not know that no one is good but the Father?"

Good at being a mercurial shit stain.

(August 18, 2013 at 7:53 pm)Drich Wrote:

(August 18, 2013 at 6:54 am)NoraBrimstone Wrote: So, was he more like David Blaine or Dynamo? They do pretty cool tricks like that, too.

Don't you think it a little weird that a supposedly good man with all these magical powers of healing didn't heal all the lepers? Whoever wrote that particular story didn't understand the concept of magical healing powers, or "good people".

Maybe that is because there are no "good" people.

I did an elective unit in marketing last year. One of the things I learnt is that an effective way to market something is by creating the problem for the consumer, of which they never had to begin with, and then explain to them how this artificial problem can be solved via your product. On that note, I reject your illusion that there are no good people. Your product - Jesus - isn't of any use.

(August 16, 2013 at 11:25 am)fr0d0 Wrote: Supernatural events cannot be proved to be supernatural.

But maybe we can get to the point where we go "HMMMMMMMM."

Like for instance people are able to walk upon water if they carry a copy of the Bible, but the moment they hand it to someone else... =SPLASH=

We would be able to confirm that they are walking upon water, which shouldn't be possible, and we could link it to a specific action (carrying a copy of the Bible) but we could not explain the physics behind it. That would get us pretty close, wouldn't it? Almost like those guys on TV who go to haunted locations and walk around in the dark with their night-vision goggles screaming "WE CAN HELP YOU, JUST TALK TO US" at the walls!

(August 18, 2013 at 12:15 am)Drich Wrote: Dont forget, Christ healed lepars, brought a man back from the dead after he began to decompose, scraped scales of the eye balls of the blind, reconstituted withered limbs, even reattached a severed appendage, among hundreds if not thousands of other things. I would assume being resurrected had something to do with that power he had or had access to.

All of what was done is indeed explainable. Just maybe not to where any of us can explain or even comprehend the explaination even if we heard it. Isn't it a little presumptuous to think that just because something can be explained you are smart enough to decipher what has been explained to you?

And kings cure scrofula with a touch until 1825 when apparently this wouldn't work anymore.

Quote:In the Middle Ages it was believed that "royal touch", the touch of the sovereign of England or France, could cure diseases due to the divine right of sovereigns. Scrofula was therefore also known as the King's Evil. From 1633, the Book of Common Prayer of the Anglican Church contained a ceremony for this, and it was traditional for the monarch (king or queen) to present to the touched person a coin – usually an Angel, a gold coin the value of which varied from about 6 shillings to about 10 shillings. In England this practice continued until the early 18th century. King Henry IV of France is reported as often touching and healing as many as 1,500 individuals at a time.
Queen Anne touched the infant Samuel Johnson in 1712,[2] but King George I put an end to the practice as being "too Catholic".[citation needed] The kings of France continued the custom until Louis XV stopped it in the 18th century, though it was briefly revived to universal derision in 1825.
In the 18th century, Elizabeth Pearson, an Irish herbalist, proposed a treatment for scrofula involving herbs and a poultice and extract of vegetable; and in 1815, Sir Gerard Noel presented a petition to the House of Commons advocating her treatment.[3]

People believe all sorts of crap.

(August 19, 2013 at 9:33 am)FallentoReason Wrote: ...an effective way to market something is by creating the problem for the consumer, of which they never had to begin with, and then explain to them how this artificial problem can be solved via your product.

That's and interesting thought. I doubt the early Christians considered Man's sinful nature a marketing strategy. At the same time it does seem, some evangelical churches have in inordinate focus on and exaggeration of human depravity.

(August 19, 2013 at 7:29 pm)ChadWooters Wrote:

(August 19, 2013 at 9:33 am)FallentoReason Wrote: ...an effective way to market something is by creating the problem for the consumer, of which they never had to begin with, and then explain to them how this artificial problem can be solved via your product.

That's and interesting thought. I doubt the early Christians considered Man's sinful nature a marketing strategy. At the same time it does seem, some evangelical churches have in inordinate focus on and exaggeration of human depravity.

I don't think it was a conscious decision to "package" Christianity that way, but it certainly seems like it's almost necessary for there to be such a component; this problem in the human condition that one was previously unaware of, which is the fundamental sales pitch of the religion. Without this fatal cosmic truth about our human condition, there would be no point in signing up to the relative religion.

(August 19, 2013 at 7:46 pm)FallentoReason Wrote:

(August 19, 2013 at 7:29 pm)ChadWooters Wrote: That's and interesting thought. I doubt the early Christians considered Man's sinful nature a marketing strategy. At the same time it does seem, some evangelical churches have in inordinate focus on and exaggeration of human depravity.

I don't think it was a conscious decision to "package" Christianity that way, but it certainly seems like it's almost necessary for there to be such a component; this problem in the human condition that one was previously unaware of, which is the fundamental sales pitch of the religion. Without this fatal cosmic truth about our human condition, there would be no point in signing up to the relative religion.

You'd be surprised how convincing a sales pitch can be at the point of a sword.

(August 19, 2013 at 8:28 pm)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote:

(August 19, 2013 at 7:46 pm)FallentoReason Wrote: I don't think it was a conscious decision to "package" Christianity that way, but it certainly seems like it's almost necessary for there to be such a component; this problem in the human condition that one was previously unaware of, which is the fundamental sales pitch of the religion. Without this fatal cosmic truth about our human condition, there would be no point in signing up to the relative religion.

You'd be surprised how convincing a sales pitch can be at the point of a sword.

Or mental torture ("You're a sinner, you're going to burn in hell! Accept Jesus as your Lord and saviour.")

(August 19, 2013 at 8:34 pm)FallentoReason Wrote:

(August 19, 2013 at 8:28 pm)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote: You'd be surprised how convincing a sales pitch can be at the point of a sword.

Or mental torture ("You're a sinner, you're going to burn in hell! Accept Jesus as your Lord and saviour.")

The difference being only the temporal proximity of the sword. Oh, and it's existence, of course.