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What do you hate about Christ (Christianity)?

ChristineM

"Be strong", I whispered to my coffee.
Premium Member
The Golden Age of Islam was certainly creative - but it wasn't liberal.

Europe was then in a Dark Age of poverty and confusion due to : (1) the collapse of the Roman Empire, (2) attacks from Vikings, Magyars and (above all) Muslims.

Only thanks to Christianity and the Catholic Church did Europe retain its liberty and independence.

There is, of course, no conflict between science and religious faith - there can't be, since they deal with completely different fields.

The persecution of Galileo was due to insecure Vatican hardliners forgetting this.

Correct me if i im wrong but i understood that part of the reason for the fall of the roman empire was the subversion of the roman military, more precisely, the overthrow of the cult of Mythos

It is true that many millions died as a result of the various crusades.

And christianity perpetuated the dark ages by limiting education to the clergy only, it was a way of keeping control over the masses.

The dark ages ended because a few people broke the bonds of religion and educated themselves
 

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber
God is as Big - and as self-sufficient - as it gets.
How do you know this? How can you demonstrate god does not have a god?
To prevent this horror continuing, God sent the Flood.
He failed, because there is no arguing it continued anyways.
And even many of the 99% of baddies repented when the storms and flood began !
And yet he violently killed them anyways. That's not a righteous god, but an unholy devil that would kill in such a manner with no regard or concern about the suffering and death he inflicted upon the innocent when he swept them up with the guilty, and apparently those who repented weren't a consideration either because they met the same fate.
And baddies? Aren't you supposed to refrain from judging people since you're a Christian? I mean, I'm a Luciferian and even I try to understand people and see them as people instead of their mistakes.
 

Brickjectivity

wind and rain touch not this brain
Staff member
Premium Member
Revelation 12:7-10.
There appears no biblical route to the OP. Temptation, Satan, the serpent all appear synonymous. The personification of temptation is a satan and is the accuser of humankind, because it is the case against us. That's why its called 'Devil', which when translated means perjurer. Comparing verses in canon in which temptation is personified.
  • The great dragon was hurled down--that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. (Rev 12:9 NIV) <-- the one referenced by you
  • but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. (Jas 1:14 NIV) <-- it doesn't say by Satan but the meaning is implied through the verb 'Dragged away'
  • If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it." (Gen 4:7 NIV) Its not literally quoted as Satan crouching at Cain's door, yet Cain is lead astray and kills his brother. Where is satan in the picture? It is that which is desiring to control Cain, his own evil desire.
    It explains both.

    Whereas you do not.
    Neither. There is evil in the world. Temptation is represented as a serpent in Genesis, probably because evil exists. What's needed is not an explanation for temptation but a means to contemplate it. Hence we have the serpent figure.
 

Catholicus

Active Member
Correct me if i im wrong but i understood that part of the reason for the fall of the roman empire was the subversion of the roman military, more precisely, the overthrow of the cult of Mythos

It is true that many millions died as a result of the various crusades.

And christianity perpetuated the dark ages by limiting education to the clergy only, it was a way of keeping control over the masses.

The dark ages ended because a few people broke the bonds of religion and educated themselves

The idea that - in a time of chaos, invasion and poverty like the Dark Ages - people were prevented from getting an education only by the machinations of the clergy, is absurd.

By, say, 1200 AD many lay people were well-educated.

This did not lead to the end of Christian Europe; a process that only began in about 1680.

And has been caused - not by education or independent thinking - but by Western wealth and power; and by the human vices most associated with wealth and power - Arrogance and Sexual Lust.

All that has been achieved in the West in recent centuries, has been built on the foundations painfully laid by the Christian Europeans of the Dark Ages and the Middle Ages.

The warfare between Christianity and Islam was begun by Muslim invasions of Europe from c. 700 AD, which got as far as northern France.

It was only between 1683 and 1699 that Christianity got the upper hand.

Now that Western wealth and power are evaporating, we are likely to see a revival of genuine Christianity in the West - or else, of course, a Muslim takeover.

E.g. how long could today's enfeebled, post-Christian Italy withstand a Muslim jihadi assault from North Africa ? - something that is pretty likely to happen, fairly soon.
 

Catholicus

Active Member
How do you know this? How can you demonstrate god does not have a god?

He failed, because there is no arguing it continued anyways.

And yet he violently killed them anyways. That's not a righteous god, but an unholy devil that would kill in such a manner with no regard or concern about the suffering and death he inflicted upon the innocent when he swept them up with the guilty, and apparently those who repented weren't a consideration either because they met the same fate.
And baddies? Aren't you supposed to refrain from judging people since you're a Christian? I mean, I'm a Luciferian and even I try to understand people and see them as people instead of their mistakes.

Christians are forbidden from judging individuals - but not from judging groups of people as bad (e.g. Nazis, terrorists).

No god could have created God. There has to be a starting point, in any case. That starting point is God.

Death and suffering come to all, Flood or no Flood. What happens to us after death is more important, because it is everlasting.

God sent the Flood to prevent even more people becoming eternally evil and thus going to Hell. I call that being kind.
 

Catholicus

Active Member
There appears no biblical route to the OP. Temptation, Satan, the serpent all appear synonymous. The personification of temptation is a satan and is the accuser of humankind, because it is the case against us. That's why its called 'Devil', which when translated means perjurer. Comparing verses in canon in which temptation is personified.
  • The great dragon was hurled down--that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. (Rev 12:9 NIV) <-- the one referenced by you
  • but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. (Jas 1:14 NIV) <-- it doesn't say by Satan but the meaning is implied through the verb 'Dragged away'
  • If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it." (Gen 4:7 NIV) Its not literally quoted as Satan crouching at Cain's door, yet Cain is lead astray and kills his brother. Where is satan in the picture? It is that which is desiring to control Cain, his own evil desire.
    Neither. There is evil in the world. Temptation is represented as a serpent in Genesis, probably because evil exists. What's needed is not an explanation for temptation but a means to contemplate it. Hence we have the serpent figure.

Why is there evil in the world, on your basis of argument ?
 

ChristineM

"Be strong", I whispered to my coffee.
Premium Member
The idea that - in a time of chaos, invasion and poverty like the Dark Ages - people were prevented from getting an education only by the machinations of the clergy, is absurd.

By, say, 1200 AD many lay people were well-educated.

This did not lead to the end of Christian Europe; a process that only began in about 1680.

And has been caused - not by education or independent thinking - but by Western wealth and power; and by the human vices most associated with wealth and power - Arrogance and Sexual Lust.

All that has been achieved in the West in recent centuries, has been built on the foundations painfully laid by the Christian Europeans of the Dark Ages and the Middle Ages.

The warfare between Christianity and Islam was begun by Muslim invasions of Europe from c. 700 AD, which got as far as northern France.

It was only between 1683 and 1699 that Christianity got the upper hand.

Now that Western wealth and power are evaporating, we are likely to see a revival of genuine Christianity in the West - or else, of course, a Muslim takeover.

E.g. how long could today's enfeebled, post-Christian Italy withstand a Muslim jihadi assault from North Africa ? - something that is pretty likely to happen, fairly soon.

Absurd? Your opinion is noted.

Interesting, lots of confirmation bias going on here, the fact remains that religion (the Catholic church) impeded education for the common person. The clergy were educated in latin, keeping this knowledge from joe blogs ensured their dominant position in the community and in the name of the church. The well off (knights, landowners etc) were also given education for basically the same reason with the addition of the math required for battle for military leaders.

By 1200? What happened to the previous 750 years, and i would not agree that education was common until well into the Renaissance.

And yet Christianity continues to decline at an unprecedented rate and given the attitude of many christians i dont see that decline easing up.

Ahh, the upper hand, the inquisitions, the witch hunts?
Church interference in the monarchies and governments was rife. Of course the monarchs were educated by the church the governments often made up of clergy.

A survey on 2012 showed 83.3% of Italy's residents are Christians, 12.4% are irreligious, atheist or agnostic, 3.7% are Muslims and 0.6% adhere to other religions.

Enfeebled?
 

Brickjectivity

wind and rain touch not this brain
Staff member
Premium Member
Why is there evil in the world, on your basis of argument ?
In discussing the serpent I haven't provided a basis to explain the existence of evil, but... I think that Paul seems to comment on this passage of Genesis in Romans 7. Peter somewhat comments on related subjects but not directly on the passage.

Paul says (R7:5) that the law arouses sinful passions in us but goes on to explain (v18) we have a sinful nature but also a desire for good. Our two natures are at war within us. He's explaining in a simple way to gentiles things that we didn't learn when we were kids from our gentile moms, that there is a good and an evil part to each person. Centuries later Catholics symbolize this in ways, such as with the color red which they consider to be a combination of white and black, perhaps because the red blood of a human carries these two qualities: good and evil. Paul also returns to this subject of good and evil when he discusses the purpose of Jesus death and by extension the purpose for the suffering of all Jews, martyrs and saints as well as the reason why the law hadn't delivered atonement worldwide like it was hoped. By the time of Paul's writing Judaism had been around for well over a thousand years, yet there was still trouble and war in the world. The destruction of the temple a second time no doubt brought this into focus. The question of the day was where was the error. Paul's argument partly assumed that the law aroused sensual desires, but in his letter he didn't fully disclose the origin of sin itself and only addressed how to combat it.

Peter says we consider ourselves dead to sin but alive to God (Rom6:11) Peter also touches on the subject of the purpose of the suffering of saints but his letters do not go into detail on the Genesis passage but mentions (1Pet 2:11) that sinful desires wage war against our souls. In his opinion the sufferings are for the sake of revealing truth to others. (1Pet 5:1)
 

Jainarayan

ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय
Staff member
Premium Member
Jesus had to have his life transferred from heaven to the womb of a sinful human woman in order to be born as a human. She was not wicked, but born in sin like every other human. (Psalm 51:5)

That may be the JW take on it, but have you heard of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception? It is official Catholic doctrine (yes, Catholics are Christians) that God preserved Mary from any stain of sin, original or otherwise, in order to be the mother of God. The Orthodox Church also holds that Mary is free from any sin, though the EOC doesn't subscribe to the idea of "original sin".
 
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