(March 15, 2014 at 9:50 am)discipulus Wrote: You do not need evidence to convince you that you should live a life of self-denial and self-sacrifice. A life of love and kindness and humility. A life wherein you always are giving and never expecting anything in return. A life wherein you do good to them who spitefully use you, always endeavoring to live at peace with your fellow man despite what his views may be.Yes, I do.
You do not need proof in order to know that that is the right way to live.
Love and kindness. Fine. The parable of the Good Samaritan is a wonderful teaching.
Tolerance—endeavoring to live at peace with your fellow man despite what his views may be—is also a great ideal, but it's not something that came out of Christianity and still less out of the Old Testament with its barbaric laws and God-mandated genocides.
Endless self-denial and self-sacrifice. Turning the other cheek without protest. Bullshit. That's a very unhealthy psychological state which will eventually result in an emotional breakdown. And frankly I doubt that you practice it nearly as much as you preach it. As an ex-pastor I am rather familiar with Christian behavior.
BTW, Jesus and Paul also thought celibacy was a great idea. I don't. Do you?
If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people — House
