(July 17, 2011 at 9:34 pm)Nick_A Wrote: I consider Christianity to be a perennial tradition which means its purpose for Man always was. Christianiy is on earth to help man be free of inner slavery to the earth so as to realize man's conscious potential: to become himself.
But how can this be true when you just said you cannot apply Christian principles to earthly circumstances?
Nick_A Wrote:To conclude, the great Christian theologian, Saint Augustine in his Retractiones, wrote “The very thing which is now called the Christian religion existed among the ancients also, nor was it wanting from the inception of the human race until the coming of Christ in the flesh, at which point the true religion, which was already in existence, began to be called Christian.”
I'm sorry, but this is just an example of Christians trying to label Christianity as some sort of generalization of the nature of humanity's search for purpose. If this sentence was true, Christians would in general be more tolerant of people who can live good and decent lives without declaring themselves to be followers of Christ. It wouldn't be necessary to be a Christian, but almost all Christians claim it is.
Nick_A Wrote:Christianity like all the great traditions initiating with a conscious source begins at the transcendent level of and gradually devolves down into the exoteric level which is called the "World" or Plato's Cave.
Christianity is wholly unnecessary for this search when Buddhism had already done this and done it better.
Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own - Bertrand Russell
