I like polarizing and controversial topics. Religion is at the top of that list.
I like polarizing and controversial topics. Religion is at the top of that list.
Which teachings? First Testament? or the 2.0 version?
Lots of gray area with regard to "Christianity's teachings."
But I do think people would do better to treat others how they themselves would want to be treated.
Knew a fellow (about the age of my favorite uncle) who always said if he got a slow death disease, he was going to end it quickly because "death did not scare him."
Years later, he and my uncle both were going to post-operative radiation therapy for terminal cancer, and he told us spontaneously, "I used to say death did not scare me, and now I would give anything, everything, do anything for one more year, one more month."
I make no claims about any of it.
My other uncle Horace Snell, the police chief of Bowling Green, KY, referred to in the book "Call Me Madam" written about Bowling Green, did eat his service pistol after a confirmed diagnosis of terminal cancer.
Aunt Della died peacefully and quietly during the benediction at Sunday church sitting in the same pew she had occupied every Sunday for over 80 years. People said it was her reward.
Couple of things:
First, the advent of the idea of an all powerful God who judges the strong and weak is fundamental in transforming a culture from one built on the law of the jungle where the strong completely rule the weak with no ramifications so long as they don't attack a bigger brute, to one with the notion that there are tangible moral restraints that trump power, if not in this life then the next. I am not just talking about people being "good" to get into heaven. That's a mentality that comes from soft living and an expectation that you'll die safely in your bed. I am talking about people in groups having moral expectations of their leaders and what sorts of behaviors are tolerable/acceptable even though they have no ability on their own to compel their rulers' morality. To suggest that we don't need "religion" to have morality, to me, starts with a basic premise that some sort of western civilization or reasonable facsimile is the default human condition. History suggests it is not. I think it sounds good in theory but in practice, it leads directly to savagery.
Second, speaking on my own journey, I left the Christian religion as a young woman because I was offended by both its historical treatment of women and what I viewed as its fanciful fairytale theology. In those days, I lumped most the patriarchal religions in the same category and didn't bother to closely examine differences in how women were treated. In the decades that have followed, I have come to believe that I missed the point, which is, absent religion or a morality based on religion (such as what is found in western civilization), as a woman, I am viewed primarily as breeding stock and not particularly useful once that stage of life is passed. The introduction of Islam to this country as well as the radical elements that have arisen in the Middle East bring home to me, as a woman, that not all religions are created equal. As a woman, I fare far better with the protections provided by Christianity than I lose in its absence. In the jungle, there is primarily prey and predator and we women are usually prey. Pretending that people in power will treat those with less power in a moral manner, in the absence of the notion that they will pay a high price if they don't, strikes me as a horrifying road for a people to take. Choosing what religion, IMO, also makes a difference. This is a golden age for women under Christianity. From my view as a women accustomed to western civilization freedoms, it is hell on earth under Islam.
Yes we do.
I thought about this a great deal a few days ago. How easy it is for our modern atheists to raise such questions. Now that we have reaped centuries of luxuries and advancements made by global civilizations founded or based on Christian practices. Take a few hours to sit and think about all the things that would not be here (Including yourself) had it not been for the foundations laid by the early missionaries, martyrs and religious. Think about The amount of wars this world would suffer through on top of those fought now. Who's life wouldn't haven't been impacted. Yes, men in great power abused their power. Men misused and used the gospel to their advantage. This has happened in all nations and in all centuries. Like firearms, we can not blame their means, but the man.
The radical concepts brought forth in the Beatitudes were contrary to life in first century Israel. Spreading this to the gentiles who inturn spread it throughout the world. More importantly than the other reasons above, is the everyday differences it makes in the lives of believers. If I was not a Christian, I hate to think of the sort of person I would be. One person wouldn't make that much impact. Now for argument's sake, convert every Christian away from their faith.... I think it goes without saying what this world would look like.
You may not agree with Christians or think we are foolish but you should be thankful for the Christians that made life on earth what it is today in spite of evil.
The radical concepts brought forth in the Beatitudes were contrary to life in first century Israel. Spreading this to the gentiles who inturn spread it throughout the world. More importantly than the other reasons above, is the everyday differences it makes in the lives of believers. If I was not a Christian, I hate to think of the sort of person I would be. One person wouldn't make that much impact. Now for argument's sake, convert every Christian away from their faith.... I think it goes without saying what this world would look like.
You may not agree with Christians or think we are foolish but you should be thankful for the Christians that made life on earth what it is today in spite of evil.
It's all perspective isn't it?
I'm grateful early Christian settlers wiped out the natives and made this place our own. God Bless America! We are a Christian nation built upon savagry and genocide and a "might makes right" ideology. We could be an Old Testament story one day.
And I'd love to hear about these patented "Christian practices."
I also think it's misdirected and convenient to give any kind benefits we're afforde today all over to "Christianity" when knowledge, understanding and science have all contributed to our lives today... It's not even up for debate. Open the drapes a little more, I think your view is limited.
Are you really? Or are you simply being sarcastic? If it's the latter, what outcome would you have preferred? Europeans stay in Europe? Perhaps only colonize bits of the Americas, leaving the rest to the native population that lived peacefully, in harmony with nature, spreading goodwill to each and every tribe? How exactly would you direct the events of 1492 to the present? Would a Japanese or Chinese occupation of the Americas been better?
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