(January 27, 2015 at 2:54 pm)SteveII Wrote: So, the question remains, why does Christianity survive til today when so many other religions cease to exist?

Because people are too ignorant to recognize it as the mythology it is.

(January 27, 2015 at 2:43 pm)SteveII Wrote: I am sure you have read the NT. Can you find anything to support your claim that Christianity is about money? I think the teachings on greed and self-sacrifice are pretty clear.

Yeah, like I said, it's easier to get people to accept the weird concept of tithing if you first pepper your narrative with a bunch of stuff your audience already wants to hear. Stop thinking in these absurd binaries and actually read what I'm saying: you can't say that the church isn't about money, when such a big part of the process is tithing, why the bible says that not tithing is robbing god, and that it curses you to abstain from it. For all this talk of greed and self sacrifice, your religion then turns around and says "also, pay the preachers ten percent of your money, or god will get so pissed at you that he'll curse you."

It's also why so many religious figures who have so-called visions of the afterlife end up having god conveniently tell them to stress the importance of tithing. The bible might be full of one message, but the church is full of money, just waiting for the tithe-demanders and apologists to take it.

Quote: Do you think it wrong for me to assess whether someones actions mirror that of the teachings in the NT and then say they were not behaving like a Christian.

If you're assessing someone based on the NT, are you also taking into account how many slaves they own? Because Jesus was totally cool with owning slaves... or is that bad to you anyway?

See, you already decide what does and doesn't count as part of the NT yourself, which leads me to ask: how do you know your interpretation of the bible fits with the author's original intent? And if you can't tell me that, why should I care what your opinion of christianity is?

Quote:I could post 10 links on articles criticizing her premise and conclusions by scholars.

Well then isn't it fortunate for us that you didn't bother to do that at all, and instead just asserted that they exist, as though "rebuttals to what you say exist," is itself a rebuttal. That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence, dude: either put up, or shut up. But given that you definitely hadn't read the book in the time between when I posted the link and now, chances are that you're entirely unaware of its content, and are just assuming it's all wrong on faith, without even knowing what it is you're disagreeing with.

Quote:For the sake of argument, for the first 300 years, the Roman Empire did not foster the growth of Christianity. So, the question remains, why does Christianity survive til today when so many other religions cease to exist?

Seriously, why do you think that "just take what I say as true anyway, even after I've been proved wrong," is a cogent statement?

Quote:I never got an answer from you as were the ancient Egyptians irrational.

They had an irrational belief, just as you do. That doesn't mean they were entirely irrational from top to bottom: do you think you could do me a favor and stop constructing these ridiculous, snappy strawman binaries and instead address what's actually being said, in future?

(January 27, 2015 at 2:30 pm)Xeno Wrote:

(January 27, 2015 at 2:29 pm)IATIA Wrote: Feels pretty good!

Yup. All fuzzy inside.

I like to feel superior to people and the feeble arguments of theists helps in this, one of the reasons I come here is to meet people like Steve so I can have a good laugh.

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(January 27, 2015 at 2:54 pm)SteveII Wrote: I could post 10 links on articles criticizing her premise and conclusions by scholars. For the sake of argument, for the first 300 years, the Roman Empire did not foster the growth of Christianity. So, the question remains, why does Christianity survive til today when so many other religions cease to exist?

Christianity was a niche religion until the largest Empire in the ancient world adopted it and forced everyone to convert.

There were the campaigns of extermination of rival religions and even other Christian sects.

The ruthless repression of non-believers, the fines and executions for not going to church.

The stigma of being an atheist or jew or whatever in close minded people.

Oh and never underestimate human stupidity.

Quote:I never got an answer from you as were the ancient Egyptians irrational.

Well of course the ancient Egytptians beliefs were irrational, have you read what they believed? it was just as crazy as Christianity.

What they did do however was use religion to meld a common mindset that helped found their empire allowing for a strong leader.

(January 27, 2015 at 2:57 pm)Sionnach Wrote:

(January 27, 2015 at 2:54 pm)SteveII Wrote: So, the question remains, why does Christianity survive til today when so many other religions cease to exist?

Because people are too ignorant to recognize it as the mythology it is.

That's very insightful. So you are saying that Christianity is a little more tricky to discern the mythology than other religions were.

How about this: The Judeo-Christian worldview still fits the framework of facts we have discovered over the last 3000 years.

Was it just lucky that those sneaky church fathers built on the God of the Jews and thus avoided all the unpleasantness of chariots riding across the sky, child sacrifices to get some rain, or whatever pagan belief would be easily refuted by science?

While the scientific understanding of the world changed over time, the actual words in the OT/NT have never come down on the wrong side of science. Of course you are going to bring up creation. Augustine thought that the 6 days of creation were symbolic in 400 AD (way before Darwin). Anticipating that certain passages would be problematic he writes "In matters that are so obscure and far beyond our vision, we find in Holy Scripture passages which can be interpreted in very different ways without prejudice to the faith we have received. In such cases, we should not rush in headlong and so firmly take our stand on one side that, if further progress in the search for truth justly undermines our position, we too fall with it."

(January 27, 2015 at 3:34 pm)SteveII Wrote: How about this: The Judeo-Christian worldview still fits the framework of facts we have discovered over the last 3000 years.

While the scientific understanding of the world changed over time, the actual words in the OT/NT have never come down on the wrong side of science.

Are you really just throwing out random assertions without having the faintest idea of how they might be wrong?

(January 27, 2015 at 3:34 pm)SteveII Wrote: Was it just lucky that those sneaky church fathers built on the God of the Jews and thus avoided all the unpleasantness of chariots riding across the sky, child sacrifices to get some rain, or whatever pagan belief would be easily refuted by science?

Probably would have been lucky if they had avoided any of that, sure....but they didn't, so I don't see the relevance?

The bible is the biggest load of crap this side of the big bang. Probably the other side too. Utter load of nonsense.

Sorry buddy. It's no for realsies, its ancient ramblings. You'd see that if you looked at it objectively. The fact that you're now claiming it is supported by science is scary.