Posted by pancho from pool0063.cvx20-bradley.dialup.earthlink.net (209.179.250.63) on Monday, December 16, 2002 at 7:52AM :
Christian Assyrians may well have rejected Western style Christianity...even Byzantine style...the "kick-ass" school of Christianity...to seek solace in the "get kicked" kind...but where's the virtue in that?
Would you adopt a system of beliefs that would lead to the destruction of your family...your children? And brag about it?
Jesus asked us to follow him up onto the cross...Jesus abandoned his family and never had children. It worked for him...it's been disasterous for us. How much more do we have to lose "For Christ"...just to send our children, by the express train, to heaven?
Christianity can only thrive if it 's the kick-ass kind...Constantine knew what he was doing...surely the irony of the worlds greatest killing machine, the Roman Empire...killing Jesus and then adopting "his" religion doesn't escape anyone. What could suit a tyrant more than a faith that says you must render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what belongs to him?
After you've given Caesar what he wants...what he values...you can give what's left of you to anyone you want, you can put it in a shoe box, who cares?...Caesar has no need of it.
It was a valiant attempt...to usurp the King's authority and the Church came close for a time...but them days is gone. Jesus never spoke out against slavery...neither did he advocate social revolution and economic emancipation, let alone equity, if he had you can bet your arse no country would have led him around by the nose...none of them "follow" him...he was only concerned with your soul in the next life...and the more abject your body and mind, the better he, and the emperor, liked it.
Next time you want a raise from your boss...sing hossana to the most high when you get your arse fired... and comfor yourself in knowing your soul will eat hearty after you die.
Christianity survived and thrives because it reaffirms the status-quo in the material things...the things that give you bodily ease and security for your children...the things emperors and tyrants need you for...screw your soul, that's your business. Western Christianity is Roman barbarity clothed in humble wealth, wielding a sharp sword of "humility". It is indeed "The Greatest Story EVER Believed".
Our own brand is the "real" thing...and we got the same royal shafting the only "real" Christian got. All we have to do is follow his example...deny our family...refuse our children, accept spittle humbly, bend our backs to the whip and march steadily up that hill carrying our own cross.
Why, in the name of all that is holy, we complain about going through what we must to get our "reward"...I can't understand. We should be grateful to the Turk and the Arab...as we should be thankful to Judas. How the hell were we suposed to get everlasting life if Jesus didn't die for us? Was he supposed to trip and break his neck? Would it have been the same if he'd grown old and died peacefully in bed? Of course not. For the whole silly business to work he had to be betrayed, scourged, beaten and have nails driven through his body. had Judas refused to play his part...where would your "souls" be...(except burning in hell where they belong for EVER accepting a reward on that basis.)
We should be grateful to Judas...without him there could not have been any eternal reward for you slimeballs. Without the Turk and the Arab how would we have earned our reward? Aren't our martyrs guaranteed a saintly spot in heaven because someone slit their throats? Didn't Jesus have to have his body wracked in order to fulfill the promise? Had he refused and walked away...where would that leave you "true" Christians? How could you have gotten into heaven if NOT on the back of an innocent young man?
From the minute Christianity was explained to me I thought it was a system for madmen and cowards...not because they weren't willing to suffer and die...but because they agreed to get to heaven on the innocent blood of someone who never harmed them.
That's what we've become...it's what we're most proud of...an innocent blood sacrifice of the innocents... Our Children.
You should all be pleased as Hell.
-- pancho
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