(August 22, 2018 at 9:30 am)Chad32 Wrote:(August 22, 2018 at 9:21 am)Abaddon_ire Wrote: Sure, but the fragmentary nature of the early church is kind of interesting. There were all manner of wild versions about. The varieties we have today are nothing compared to what happened early on.
For example, Docetism, which held that jesus was never corporeal but was wholly a spirit which merely gave the appearance of physical incarnation. The resurrection was simply jesus acting as though it was real. For our benefit of course, but he didn't really suffer at all and couldn't die anyway. The original performance art. That one was surprisingly long lived. The Cathars adopted it right up to when they were wiped out in the 1200s by Rome.
I don't know what sounds worse. The idea of an innocent person being brutally murdered, and acting like that's supposed to absolve people of their sins? Or the idea that it was all an act, and he didn't suffer, but we're still supposed to consider the event something worth worshiping him over.
Exactly my point. The early church was as mad as a box of frogs. Not just one box of frogs but many boxes of different frogs. Eusebionazi was simply the most ruthless box of frogs and we all are still paying for it.
Christians will often claim that there must be divine motivation behind all that. No. Eusebionazi simply smashed all the other boxes of frogs. With extreme prejudice.
OF course, it all flew apart again a thousand years later, but the differences between the thousands of modern day denominations are nothing compared to how amusingly wild it was 2000 years ago. Then again, look at the Westboro baptist arsehats. David Koresh. Jim Jones. That nutty tradition lives on in a much reduced form. But even those wingnuts had their own internal schisms. There is even a scientology schism, I shit you not.
IF there were some deity (nope) he/she/it/housecat is spectacularly crap at communication.
