RE: Why are you (still) a Christian?
September 14, 2023 at 6:59 am
(This post was last modified: September 14, 2023 at 7:02 am by Bucky Ball.)
(September 14, 2023 at 3:33 am)Data Wrote:(September 14, 2023 at 1:00 am)FrustratedFool Wrote: Can you give some more details as to why/what makes the most sense in Christianity?
I don't specifically concern myself with Christian tradition as I do specifically the Bible itself. So, most of what I see in traditional religious teachings is to me, almost pure nonsense. The trinity from Plato, immortal soul from Socrates, hell from Dante and Milton, cross from Constantine, Easter from Astarte (Ishtar), Christmas from Saturnalia and Dickens, the rapture from Darby - all religious nonsense to me. And not supported by scripture. Alexander the Great had a tremendously influential impact on Jewish thinking after 332 BCE and Constantine the Great on Christianity after 325 CE. Much earlier Babylonian teachings influenced Greek philosophy over time and it was introduced into theological traditions from there.
So, the teachings of the Bible without that influence is what seems more practical and sensible than theology will allow. God isn't omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, or a trinity. A god is simply anything or anyone mighty/venerated, Hell is the common grave of man with no consciousness or moral distinction. the soul is the life, blood, experience of any breathing creature, it's mortal, spirit is any invisible active force, wind, breath, compelled mental inclination (mean spirited, broken spirit), people don't die and go to heaven, the meek inherit the earth, not heaven, the universe wasn't created in six literal days, etc. Bible teachings without pagan corruption.
That's all nice, but the Bible without pagan corruption doesn't exist. ("Corruption" belies a prejudiced view of how culture works, historically.)
Example : scholars always wondered where exactly Yahweh came from.
When the Royal Library of Ashurbanipal was found by archaeologists in the 1800's they found their answer. The god Yahweh in the Bible is one of the sons (40th I think) of the chief Babylonian god, El Elyon. That is actually confirmed in Deuteronomy. There is a lot of Sumerian and Babylonian material in Genesis and the Pentateuch.
The god of the Bible IS a pagan influence. Deuteronomy 32: 7-9 Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you. When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. For the LORD’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance. The Yahweh god got a portion (only) and the text has them "receiving" their god, ... but we know they wanted Yahweh for themselves, as he was the god of the armies, and they wanted help in battle.
The Jews were polytheists (Yahweh had a consort/wife), but when the Levant became "Hellenized" over time, and the notion of "individualism" was introduced from Greece,
the prophets began to insist on monotheism ... a cultural shift. If you're really a scholar, you ought to know making moral judgements about ancient cultural shifts is not what scholarship is all about.
Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble. - Joseph Campbell ![Popcorn Popcorn](https://atheistforums.org/images/smilies/popcorn.gif)
Militant Atheist Commie Evolutionist
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Militant Atheist Commie Evolutionist