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Do you question your Christianity?

Spiderman

Veteran Member
Since there is a new RF tradition to start threads that question what rhymes with sanity, I thought I'd ask about your Christianity.

I question my Christianity all the time. Like when Jesus says we have to eat his flesh or drink his blood or we have no life in us, I question if anybody really knows what he meant by that?

If so, who do I listen to? Everyone thinks their interpretation is correct.

What makes you question your Christianity?
 
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Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Christianity from my viewpoint as a teenager was a magical wonderful time and when you grow up, you start seeing some of the realities by which that wonderous world was created.

I started to question it because people just didn't see what I saw in Christianity and vice versa. That wonderful power and movement of the Lord that was swimming in my head as a Young Man all those years all but disappeared when I saw how churches are actually run and how people change from being new and excited people involving Christianity morph into just a shell as the wonderment and newness wears off.

Totally deflated my rose-colored world and naturally I started asking questions and looking for answers. Primarily as to what the hell happened?

No different from waking up from a wonderful dream with the subsequent realization that all of it was just that. A fantastical adventure of the mind and Imagination.
 
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Enoch07

It's all a sick freaking joke.
Premium Member
I question my Christianity all the time. Like when Jesus says we have to eat his flesh or drink his blood or we have no life in us, I question if anybody really knows what he meant by that?

Without preaching up a sermon. To give you the answer to that question. The answer is yes. Some people do know the answer to that question.

The answer is:

To read an understand God's word. Aka The Bible. That is what Jesus means when He says to eat His flesh.

To drink His blood is to ask for salvation.

So basically He is asking you to accept Him as your savior (ask for salvation, to be saved). And to read and live by the Bible as best as you can.

An old friend (country preacher) of mine once asked if I ever questioned my faith. Being who he was and I didn't want to listen to a long drawn out speech. I just gave him the answer I thought he wanted to hear so that he wouldn't go on forever. The answer I gave him was, "I never question my faith in God!" His response was, well then your not a real Christian than are you! And he was right at the time. Not only because I had lied about not questioning my faith or God, but because I didn't have the backbone to say that I did question it all!

So yes I have and do occasionally question my faith. It's only makes me human. But suprsingly enough, everytime I have questioned my faith. It is resolidified even more than it was before.
 

dfnj

Well-Known Member
Since there is a new RF tradition to start threads that question what rhymes with sanity, I thought I'd ask about your Christianity.

I question my Christianity all the time. Like when Jesus says we have to eat his flesh or drink his blood or we have no life in us, I question if anybody really knows what he meant by that?

If so, who do I listen to? Everyone thinks their interpretation is correct.

What makes you question your Christianity?

These two videos although the second one you could argue only strengthens it:



And this summary Nietzsche's criticisms:

"Friedrich Nietzsche had some acute criticisms of Christianity. He said Christianity was born in response to Roman oppression. It took hold in the minds of timid slaves who did not have the courage or strength to take what they really wanted. The slaves could not admit to their own failings. So they clung to a philosophy that made virtue of cowardice. Everything the Christians wanted and wished they had in their lives for fulfillment was considered to be a sin. A position in the world, prestige, good sex, intellectual mastery, personal wealth were too difficult or beyond their reach. The Christian slaves created a hypocritical creed denouncing what they really wanted but were incapable of achieving while praising what they did not want was being virtuous. So in the Christian value system sexlessness turned into 'purity', weakness became "goodness," submission to authority became "obedience," and in Nietzsche's words, "not-being-able-take-revenge" turned into "forgiveness." A Christian slave was too weak to have any personal voice and was only capable of bending a knee to whoever was in authority. "

Slavery is not a virtue.
 

Spirit of Light

Be who ever you want
Since there is a new RF tradition to start threads that question what rhymes with sanity, I thought I'd ask about your Christianity.

I question my Christianity all the time. Like when Jesus says we have to eat his flesh or drink his blood or we have no life in us, I question if anybody really knows what he meant by that?

If so, who do I listen to? Everyone thinks their interpretation is correct.

What makes you question your Christianity?

When Jesus talking about eating his flesh anddrink his blood he mean to absorbe the wisdom within his teaching, it is not seen as actually eating jesus :). it has nothing to do with canibalism to do ;)
 

Earthling

David Henson
Since there is a new RF tradition to start threads that question what rhymes with sanity, I thought I'd ask about your Christianity.

I question my Christianity all the time. Like when Jesus says we have to eat his flesh or drink his blood or we have no life in us, I question if anybody really knows what he meant by that?

The significance of symbolically eating Jesus' flesh and drinking his blood is to remember the resurrection hope. Jesus existed in heaven in spirit form before coming to heaven. As Jehovah's "Word" or spokesperson, that is representative, he had assumed fleshly bodies before, as angels did. The case of Jesus was different. He came in the flesh. He was born a man. He lowered his position for us, for the resurrection hope. (1 Corinthians 15:47 / Philippians 2:5-8 / 1 John 4:2-3)

If so, who do I listen to? Everyone thinks their interpretation is correct.

Why not listen to everyone you can? Form your own opinion from that. Always listen to what is being proposed and make sure that your own interpretation is in harmony with the Bible. If it isn't then there is a problem somewhere.

What makes you question your Christianity?

I question everything. Now to the atheists that take that to the ridiculous extreme, I don't mean that I question peanut butter and whether or not the sun will rise tomorrow. I mean I question anything of interest to me, especially that formulates my own personal knowledge and opinion.

If there is anything I question about the Bible without having resolved it it would be finding the accounts of Job and Sampson and Delilah authentic. In order to establish canonical authenticity the bottom line is harmony with the entire scripture. If there is something that doesn't jive with the rest of the Bible it's left out. The Apocrypha, for example, isn't in harmony so it was left out. Well, it isn't that they are not in harmony with the Bible but those accounts, to me, are somewhat problematic in that they read like parables or illustrations rather than real events.
 

metis

aged ecumenical anthropologist
What makes you question your Christianity?
It is my nature to question pretty much everything, including my own sanity at times, largely because of my science orientation. This also has an effect on my religious approach.

When I asked the priest last summer if I can be allowed to be back into the Church and take the sacraments, I told him I will always question just about anything and everything the Church teaches but that I can make a commitment to do the best I can to help, not only those in the Church but also elsewhere. He accepted that.

There's an old saying that "If two people completely agree on everything, then only one of them is actually doing the thinking". I feel the same way about religious education, which is necessary for those interested but should not be pushed too much, imo.

In Catholicism, that approach is sometimes used with this analogy, namely that the Church is a lot like the Roman traffic officer who is waving his/her arms and pointing which way to go or stop, and yet only some will obey his every move, and that's OK as we do still retain free will. However, if there's a conflict, that officer is there to try and sort things out. This is how the Church operates as we as individuals certainly do not always march in step with the teachings.

A good book that covered this approach in Catholicism is "Let Your (Informed) Conscience Be Your Guide". IOW, learn what the Church's teaching is on a given matter, but if one decides it's not right, then go the way one's conscience dictates. If one is in doubt as to the best way, then it's probably best to go in the direction of what the Church teaches.
 

Brickjectivity

Turned to Stone. Now I stretch daily.
Staff member
Premium Member
These two videos although the second one you could argue only strengthens it:
The video is based upon a book by someone named Joseph Atwell and an article about the book.

Caesar's Messiah - Wikipedia It says Atwell argues that Christianity is invented by scholars connected to the 'Flavian Emperors'. It sounds like its speculative just like most other alternative origins of Christianity.
 

IsaiahX

Ape That Loves
Like when Jesus says we have to eat his flesh or drink his blood or we have no life in us, I question if anybody really knows what he meant by that?

"Thou must take all words in thy Bible literally. Any other interpretation proceedeth from the devil."​

- The Book of First Bullcrap, Chapter 1, Verse 1​
 

IsaiahX

Ape That Loves
...how people change from being new and excited people involving Christianity morph into just a shell as the wonderment and newness wears off.

"'So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth."​

- Rev. 3:16, NASB​
 

dfnj

Well-Known Member
The video is based upon a book by someone named Joseph Atwell and an article about the book.

Caesar's Messiah - Wikipedia It says Atwell argues that Christianity is invented by scholars connected to the 'Flavian Emperors'. It sounds like its speculative just like most other alternative origins of Christianity.

All good Christians are conditioned to only listen to authority. If you watched the video or read the book you would hear the evidence and facts presented. You could dispute the facts of course. The coincidences cited made me think what is being proposed is possible. Whether it's true or not is a judgment call. However, that's why we use our brains to think. Unless yours is shutdown by blind faith of some authority outside yourself. Sometimes when we think for ourselves we come up with a different conclusion than what the authority would prefer for us to think.
 

syo

Well-Known Member
"Friedrich Nietzsche had some acute criticisms of Christianity. He said Christianity was born in response to Roman oppression. It took hold in the minds of timid slaves who did not have the courage or strength to take what they really wanted. The slaves could not admit to their own failings. So they clung to a philosophy that made virtue of cowardice. Everything the Christians wanted and wished they had in their lives for fulfillment was considered to be a sin. A position in the world, prestige, good sex, intellectual mastery, personal wealth were too difficult or beyond their reach. The Christian slaves created a hypocritical creed denouncing what they really wanted but were incapable of achieving while praising what they did not want was being virtuous. So in the Christian value system sexlessness turned into 'purity', weakness became "goodness," submission to authority became "obedience," and in Nietzsche's words, "not-being-able-take-revenge" turned into "forgiveness." A Christian slave was too weak to have any personal voice and was only capable of bending a knee to whoever was in authority. "
LOL
 

Brickjectivity

Turned to Stone. Now I stretch daily.
Staff member
Premium Member
All good Christians are conditioned to only listen to authority. If you watched the video or read the book you would hear the evidence and facts presented.
I didn't mean to sound flippant. I have been watching it and am halfway through. Here are my notes so far...

6:45 -- Christianity invented by the Flavians "...and they left us documents to prove it..."
Waiting for the documents. Describes Josephus as the re-writer of official Jewish history.
25:02 same images of documents flashas at 6:45
25:50 Titus the son of Vespassian on the arch of Titus. "Son of a god"
26:24 the title of the chief pagan priest of Rome became the title of the pope "Pontifex maximus"
26:40 the first bishops were members of the pagan aristocracy
27:20 associates Jesus with Mithras
28:00 argument about Roman control of propaganda and complicity in producing Christian literature. "Huge undertaking"
29:00 The Alexanders were motivated through fear of a nacent Jewish messianic movement, and the sponsored literature.
29:50 Philo combined Greek philosophy with Judaism. "Follow the money" to the Flavians.
31:00 Princess Bernice the mistress of Titus is speculated to be St. Veronica
32:00 Herods, Alexanders and Flavians combine forces to construct and disseminate Christianity.
33:20 Gospels written by anonmous people, so its nonsense that they are reliable documents.
34:40 There are clues in the gospels which point towards the actual authors being Roman propagandists.
36:00 The Jews are portrayed as the forces of darkness. "The Romans wanted to promote anti-semitism..."
37:30 The story of the gospels were backdated forty years, forty years before the end of the war.
39:00 ...which is why the prophecies are fulfilled within forty years of Jesus birth.
40:39 paused


Its very persuasive but still speculative. The fact remains that there is not, in fact, a document as the video claims at minute 6:45. There's no Roman saying "I did it."

You could dispute the facts of course.
No, the facts are good. The video shines at producing a believable chain of events. I feel that the historians have a particular view of Christianity and Judaism that are inaccurate which causes them to accept this chain of events more readily than myself. For example they seem to overlook that Judaism could be a peace movement and instead find it convenient to invent that Christianity gets its love for peace from the Romans who are trying to make the slaves obedient. That is, they have too many assumptions. They don't deal with issues such as why the Jewish temple would reject a bust of an Emperor. Yes "No graven images" but they give no reason why Jews reject the graven image. HIstorians ought to know why if they will be using it as an explanation for a speculative chain of events. They comment that the emperors rewrite Jewish history but seem to be oblivious that themselves in making broad assumptions about that history.
The coincidences cited made me think what is being proposed is possible. Whether it's true or not is a judgment call. However, that's why we use our brains to think. Unless yours is shutdown by blind faith of some authority outside yourself.
Brains shutting down and being blinded is a universal problem not one caused by the Flavians two thousand years ago. I've no objection to investigations into History. I know what you are talking about though, and yes I know Christians who just don't want to hear about History. Nevertheless they aren't the only ones.

Sometimes when we think for ourselves we come up with a different conclusion than what the authority would prefer for us to think.
Yes. I intend to finish my notes on the video, but I am not sure if it will happen today. One question is "Why did the Romans want to portray Jews as a force of darkness?" I feel that Joseph Atwell and the others in the video have not explained it, and this is a weakness in their theory.
 

Muffled

Jesus in me
Since there is a new RF tradition to start threads that question what rhymes with sanity, I thought I'd ask about your Christianity.

I question my Christianity all the time. Like when Jesus says we have to eat his flesh or drink his blood or we have no life in us, I question if anybody really knows what he meant by that?

If so, who do I listen to? Everyone thinks their interpretation is correct.

What makes you question your Christianity?

I believe I question concepts of Christianity when they run contrary to the word of God. The process is this. I am reading the word of God and realize that it is saying something different from what my understanding had been.

I believe if you were a Christian you would know for sure that you are one.

I believe Jesus explains it in this verse: John 6:56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.

I believe since I have Jesus in me speaking, you should listen to Him.
 

Muffled

Jesus in me
Christianity from my viewpoint as a teenager was a magical wonderful time and when you grow up, you start seeing some of the realities by which that wonderous world was created.

I started to question it because people just didn't see what I saw in Christianity and vice versa. That wonderful power and movement of the Lord that was swimming in my head as a Young Man all those years all but disappeared when I saw how churches are actually run and how people change from being new and excited people involving Christianity morph into just a shell as the wonderment and newness wears off.

Totally deflated my rose-colored world and naturally I started asking questions and looking for answers. Primarily as to what the hell happened?

No different from waking up from a wonderful dream with the subsequent realization that all of it was just that. A fantastical adventure of the mind and Imagination.

I believe your beliefs were and still are built on shifting sand.
 

Muffled

Jesus in me
These two videos although the second one you could argue only strengthens it:



And this summary Nietzsche's criticisms:

"Friedrich Nietzsche had some acute criticisms of Christianity. He said Christianity was born in response to Roman oppression. It took hold in the minds of timid slaves who did not have the courage or strength to take what they really wanted. The slaves could not admit to their own failings. So they clung to a philosophy that made virtue of cowardice. Everything the Christians wanted and wished they had in their lives for fulfillment was considered to be a sin. A position in the world, prestige, good sex, intellectual mastery, personal wealth were too difficult or beyond their reach. The Christian slaves created a hypocritical creed denouncing what they really wanted but were incapable of achieving while praising what they did not want was being virtuous. So in the Christian value system sexlessness turned into 'purity', weakness became "goodness," submission to authority became "obedience," and in Nietzsche's words, "not-being-able-take-revenge" turned into "forgiveness." A Christian slave was too weak to have any personal voice and was only capable of bending a knee to whoever was in authority. "

Slavery is not a virtue.

I believe it is easy to be confused. Your freedom is slavery and my slavery is freedom.
 

Muffled

Jesus in me
When Jesus talking about eating his flesh anddrink his blood he mean to absorbe the wisdom within his teaching, it is not seen as actually eating jesus :). it has nothing to do with canibalism to do ;)

I believe you are in error on this. I believe it comes from having a worldly point of view.
 
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