(January 16, 2015 at 7:56 pm)Brian37 Wrote:(January 16, 2015 at 1:54 pm)Lek Wrote: Good for Christopher!
What? Nice of you to throw an atheist a bone, but you do understand he is blasting the idea of a third party deciding for you what you and another party do and who forgives who? He is saying the Jesus character takes away his decision making and autonomy and personal responsibility.
I know you don't want to accept this, but the idea of blood sacrifice is not new to Christianity. Christians simply took that idea from animal form to human form.
In antiquity in polytheism and monotheism no one could have known what blood was scientifically, like the heart they thought it was magic.
And in battle especially taking one for your tribe was universal act of sacrifice.
The appeal of the Jesus story also really was not new. Our human empathy in reality loves a good story about the underdog defeating authority. In Plato's Apology Socrates upset all the teachers, noblemen and senators for questioning their authority. At the end of the play Socrates was forced to drink Hemlock as punishment for defying the state.
And even in ancient Egypt you had depictions of trinity in Ra, Osiris and Horus who sat in judgment of the dead. Horus was depicted as a savior son god who would save the Egyptian world. Even the idea of curing blindness was not new to Christianity.
If you live in America and see a pharmacy the Rx represents two Egyptian gods. The R is the healing god Thot, and the extended arm of the R going down is spit going into the eye or "x" of the god Horus.
I was saying "Good for Christopher....but that's his opinion, not mine." The christian idea of a blood sacrifice goes back to the beginnings of the old testament. The blood sacrifices that the Israelites were required to make for their sins were signs and symbols looking forward to the ultimate blood sacrifice of Jesus. The fact that it wasn't a new idea doesn't have anything to do with the authenticity of the sacrifice of Christ. If it was a totally new concept would you believe it?
