RE: Jesus on the Gospel, not any Christian Church, and the Afterlife
May 15, 2023 at 1:11 pm
(This post was last modified: May 15, 2023 at 1:12 pm by KerimF.)
(May 15, 2023 at 9:46 am)Kingpin Wrote: I may be completely obtuse, but Kerim I'm not following your point. Your subsequent posts are not adding to the clarity either. Others have claimed Jesus is a fictional person, which you accept and still stick to using Him and this good news. It would be no different than quoting what Gandalf said in Lord of the Rings.
If you want to make an argument about something, you need to build a base that can withstand some scrutiny. I of course would argue against Jesus being fictional as there are non-biblical references to Christ, like Tacitus, Mara Bar-Serapion and Phlegon (quoted by Julius Africanus).
Okay, let me try again
I believe what I said about ‘hell’ not because Jesus used to refer to it by the expression ‘Everlasting Fire’.
I simply cannot claim that I discovered somehow a novel idea while Jesus said it already about 2000 years ago.
To please your curiosity, here is more about myself:
When I was about 17 (now I am 73), I decided to read attentively what Jesus says on my Arabic Gospel (printed by the Catholic Church many decades ago) to prove once for all (to myself in the least) that his sayings are somehow not related to my life (as it is the case with almost all teachings I heard from the Churches, Catholic and else). But, to my big surprise, I discovered that Jesus sayings are different clearly from the Church’s teachings if not opposing them in crucial points.
Later, I discovered with time that many Jesus teachings are not supposed being heard openly because they oppose the interests of the men in charge of any Church or Denomination around the world.
Here is another example:
Who dares telling the believers of any religion (including Christianity) that a prayer made in public has no value other than being a good occasion to honor some others and, therefore, to be honored in return?
Even an atheist follows sometimes, though without his knowledge, Jesus’ advice about praying in private (actually talking to oneself), every time he says “Let me be alone” then enters a room for a while after he closes its door behind him. In fact, an effective prayer in one’s life doesn’t need any special words to be memorized and repeated as Pagans are supposed to do. It is completely a personal matter; therefore, it likely differs from one person to another.
But please forget this example too if you used to pray in certain public ceremonies