The Inside Assyria Discussion Forum

=> Re: First Installment

Re: First Installment
Posted by parhad (Guest) - Wednesday, February 11 2004, 11:46:42 (EST)
from 148.233.135.73 - inet-gto-aztecas-1-fddi5-0-0.uninet.net.mx Mexico - Windows 98 - Internet Explorer
Website:
Website title:

The Nineveh Kid wrote:
>Cannibalism? Vampirism? Well, uh, uh, could we just put that hot topic on the back burner for now and discuss a more central issue?
> Specifically, I would like to examine your oft repeated contention that Christianity has been the motivating force behind most of the wars, violence and crimes against humanity and that, generally speaking, Christianity has caused more harm to the human race than good. If you had stated that Christians, no less than people of other persuasions, whether religious or secular, were equally at fault, for the suffering of humanity, then I might tend to agree with you. You must admit, however, that whenever you have taken Christianity to task, it has usually been with a sledge hammer, while others get nerfed.
> Actually, I don’t think Christianity is at fault at all, rather it is the absence of Christianity, that is at fault. I would be interested to learn what it is, specifically, in Christ’s teaching that you object to. Do you really believe that, if the human race, individually and collectively, followed his teachings, that it would be in the shape it is in today? Were all the evils committed in the time that has elapsed since Jesus Christ walked this Earth, attributable to his teachings or not? For now, let’s just stick with His example and what He has said, as it has been recorded in Scripture. What do you find objectionable there?
> Every individual who comes into this world is a unique individual formed under a unique set of circumstances. Each of us has a different perception of the world we live in. Each of us is vulnerable, in varying degrees and in a different way, to the forces that surround our lives. Some people are highly suggestible or easily influenced by others. These factors and probably a million others, mostly too subtle to detect, are constantly at play in our lives. Some people might say that it is these unique factors which determine our lives and the choices we make for good or ill, not religion. That would only be true, however, for those who choose to believe that, not because it is a Universal Truth, but because they believe it is true for them. Tomorrow they could choose the opposite to be true and they would act upon that belief as though it were true. That does not make it Universally True. If a person, like Pontius Pilate, is a slave to the world he lives in, then anything can be true for him and nothing is true. It’s whatever you want. Truth then, is not an absolute; it has no value in itself. I believe, that is the reason Pontius Pilate asked Jesus Christ the question, “What is Truth?” The only way to escape the chaos of a relativistic Universe where nothing is true in itself, is if that Truth actually exists, to become united with it (Christ the Vine, Mankind the Branches).
> Today the sheer complexity that surrounds, our lives, puts most people in a constant state of overload. The secular Church of Psychiatry may find this very lucrative, but it still hasn’t succeeded in reducing the stress levels between people or nations. After you take all of this into consideration, you then must reduce it all down to one hard and lonely fact, namely, that every life is a series of personal choices that each of us faces alone. The significance of this fact is that no one else can assume responsibility for our actions. Others, can, and often do, either help or hurt us in that process, but the undeniable truth is that, we live in a society today that has an excuse for everything… thank you Church of Psychiatry, ala Freud et al. Still, whether we are aware of our sole responsibility for our actions, or not, and most us aren’t, we will always remain the sole owners of our actions. While Jesus Christ gave us the example of hard choices, most of us prefer the easy choices.
> Let me use another term for this problem of choice, “free will.” The problem, of free will, has always perplexed and fascinated me at the same time. It’s like a hot potato. Everyone is always trying to get rid of it. If we want to do something that our religious precepts or personal code of conduct tells us is wrong, we don’t hesitate for a minute. If something causes us mental or emotional stress or deprives us of some personal pleasure by avoiding it, then avoiding it must be the real evil. And of course we are always supported by Corporate theology which states that anything which makes money and gives pleasure has got to be good for us. Oh, we know that we possess free will, but we don’t want. We didn’t ask for it, did we? That’s why we’re always trying to erase it from our minds. Why shouldn’t we erase it from our minds? Look, we have enough to contend with, don’t we? We are so overwhelmed by distractions. How can anyone exercise their free will under such conditions, even if they do possess it, even if they acknowledge to themselves that they possess it? Enter the Devil, who made us do it, enter Freud who will give us an excuse for doing it, enter the geneticists who tell us we were programmed to do it.
> As long as we are drifting, without an anchor, we will be subject to an infinite number of reasons for committing bad actions. We don’t need Christianity or any other religion to motivate us to do the terrible things we do, rather we just need to deny the truth of Christianity. Remember, our Constitution tells us we have a right to the pursuit of happiness and for most people that’s enough to convince them that they have an infinite number of “Get out of Jail” and “Pass Go - Collect 200 Dollars” tickets.
> The message of Christ is a message of Peace, but only after you do violence to yourself, not others. You must kill the false pride, the blustering ego, the unbridled desire to control and possess everything and everyone.
> Eliminate all religions, consign all the Gods to oblivion, go ahead… nothing will change, except that whatever you thought was bad before, will now get much worse.
>The Nineveh Kid



---------------------


The full topic:



Accept: image/gif, image/x-xbitmap, image/jpeg, image/pjpeg, application/vnd.ms-excel, application/msword, application/vnd.ms-po...
Accept-encoding: gzip, deflate
Accept-language: es-mx
Cache-control: no-cache
Connection: keep-alive
Content-length: 6574
Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Cookie: *hidded*
Host: www.insideassyria.com
Referer: http://www.insideassyria.com/rkvsf/rkvsf_core.php?First_Installment-Dejr.2Rlu.QUOTE
User-agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98; FunWebProducts)
Via: 1.1 cache-gto-aztecas-1 (NetCache NetApp/5.4R2D2)
X-forwarded-for: 201.128.246.60



Powered by RedKernel V.S. Forum 1.2.b9