What if ... ?

[Rival]

I was posing my question to "Non-theists" because one of the things I wanted to see was who among RF's non-theists would respond and how.

This is what I get for having insomnia and responding on RF.

 

[Terry Sampson]

This is what I get for having insomnia and responding on RF.

I'm pleased that you did, the thread would have been breathtakingly shorter if you hadn't.

 

[Harel13]

#1. In 1936, Dale Carnegie published his book, "How To Win Friends and Influence People." My guess is that that book is not on any traditional Jew's reading list. IMO, that's not a good thing or a bad thing, it's just a high probability.

(Actually, I've heard a couple of rabbis quote from it. Maybe one day I'll read it, too...)

 

[Terry Sampson]

(Actually, I've heard a couple of rabbis quote from it.

I almost clicked on "Funny" because I was amazed to heard that, but settled on "Informative".

 

[URAVIP2ME]

• The Power Of A “What If?" My "what if ... ?" question:

• What if Christianity didn't exist, never existed, and never will exist? How would the world be different?
  • Mind you: I'm not asking "what if Christianity isn't true or what if Jesus never existed?" Whether there ever was a Jew named Yehoshua, or whatever his name was, is irrelevant; and so is Christianity's alleged "truth value".
    
  • What would be left without Christianity's Jesus AND without Christianity?

Just to get the ball rolling, I'm going to assume that all the "Eastern" religions/philosophies, i.e. Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, etc., would still exist. I'm also going to assume--given my biases--that Judaism might still exist in some form, but that no other known Abrahamic faith community would.
Whaddya think?

I think the world would be different because there would be No real resurrection hope. No future hope either heavenly or earthly, so nothing matters.
Already people don't feel accountable to God and like to do ' their own thing '.

Unless damaged, we have an in-born conscience, thus often do right by having leanings toward righteousness.

I like the old adage about : Of all the sad words of time and pen the saddest are what might have been, but the gladdest words are: Act while there still is time.
So, it's the power of 'What if' there is more time, or 'what if' there is No more time.
Without Jesus / genuine Christianity there would be nothing left, the sands in the hour glass would run out of time for humanity to exist.

 

[Jimmy]

I've had a question on my mind for at least a couple of weeks and have been slow to pose it here for several trivial reasons. And then I read an article today that moved me to go ahead and ask it.

The question is a "What if ...?" question.

The article that moved me to finally post it is: Council Post: The Genius Of Asking 'What If?' Questions, specifically this part:

• The Power Of A “What If?”
  • With a normal question, your brain quickly and transparently uses previous information, data or situational experiences to concoct an acceptable answer.
    With a “what if?” question, your brain usually holds no previous precedent, paradigm or example to rely upon for an acceptable answer, so the answer heads to a different area of the brain.

At my age, anything that activates any part of my brain is "brain food". From what I've seen here in RF, I'm not the only one who could use some brain food. So here goes; let's see what happens; surprise me.

My "what if ... ?" question:

• What if Christianity didn't exist, never existed, and never will exist? How would the world be different?
  • Mind you: I'm not asking "what if Christianity isn't true or what if Jesus never existed?" Whether there ever was a Jew named Yehoshua, or whatever his name was, is irrelevant; and so is Christianity's alleged "truth value".
    
  • What would be left without Christianity's Jesus AND without Christianity?

Just to get the ball rolling, I'm going to assume that all the "Eastern" religions/philosophies, i.e. Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, etc., would still exist. I'm also going to assume--given my biases--that Judaism might still exist in some form, but that no other known Abrahamic faith community would.

Whaddya think?

I don't think It would be much different

 

[InvestigateTruth]

I've had a question on my mind for at least a couple of weeks and have been slow to pose it here for several trivial reasons. And then I read an article today that moved me to go ahead and ask it.

The question is a "What if ...?" question.

The article that moved me to finally post it is: Council Post: The Genius Of Asking 'What If?' Questions, specifically this part:

• The Power Of A “What If?”
  • With a normal question, your brain quickly and transparently uses previous information, data or situational experiences to concoct an acceptable answer.
    With a “what if?” question, your brain usually holds no previous precedent, paradigm or example to rely upon for an acceptable answer, so the answer heads to a different area of the brain.

At my age, anything that activates any part of my brain is "brain food". From what I've seen here in RF, I'm not the only one who could use some brain food. So here goes; let's see what happens; surprise me.

My "what if ... ?" question:

• What if Christianity didn't exist, never existed, and never will exist? How would the world be different?
  • Mind you: I'm not asking "what if Christianity isn't true or what if Jesus never existed?" Whether there ever was a Jew named Yehoshua, or whatever his name was, is irrelevant; and so is Christianity's alleged "truth value".
    
  • What would be left without Christianity's Jesus AND without Christianity?

Just to get the ball rolling, I'm going to assume that all the "Eastern" religions/philosophies, i.e. Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, etc., would still exist. I'm also going to assume--given my biases--that Judaism might still exist in some form, but that no other known Abrahamic faith community would.

Whaddya think?

I would say, if Christianity never existed, not a single person would be alive today. The human race was extinguished by now.

 

[ManSinha]

I would say, if Christianity never existed, not a single person would be alive today. The human race was extinguished by now.

That is the biggest piece of droppings of a large mammal that I have heard in my couple of years here
Do you have any back up for that supremely ignorant statement of yours?

Hinduism as it is called has been around for thousands of years and still survives - no Christianity or Baha'ism needed - thank you

As are other faiths such as Buddhism and Taoism and Animism and others I am probably inadvertently omitting

The Native Americans were worshipping their Great Spirit before Columbus landed in America

Again no Christianity needed

You really need to go back and re examine your perspectives and beliefs before making such outlandish statements

 

[IndigoChild5559]

I've had a question on my mind for at least a couple of weeks and have been slow to pose it here for several trivial reasons. And then I read an article today that moved me to go ahead and ask it.

The question is a "What if ...?" question.

The article that moved me to finally post it is: Council Post: The Genius Of Asking 'What If?' Questions, specifically this part:

• The Power Of A “What If?”
  • With a normal question, your brain quickly and transparently uses previous information, data or situational experiences to concoct an acceptable answer.
    With a “what if?” question, your brain usually holds no previous precedent, paradigm or example to rely upon for an acceptable answer, so the answer heads to a different area of the brain.

At my age, anything that activates any part of my brain is "brain food". From what I've seen here in RF, I'm not the only one who could use some brain food. So here goes; let's see what happens; surprise me.

My "what if ... ?" question:

• What if Christianity didn't exist, never existed, and never will exist? How would the world be different?
  • Mind you: I'm not asking "what if Christianity isn't true or what if Jesus never existed?" Whether there ever was a Jew named Yehoshua, or whatever his name was, is irrelevant; and so is Christianity's alleged "truth value".
    
  • What would be left without Christianity's Jesus AND without Christianity?

Just to get the ball rolling, I'm going to assume that all the "Eastern" religions/philosophies, i.e. Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, etc., would still exist. I'm also going to assume--given my biases--that Judaism might still exist in some form, but that no other known Abrahamic faith community would.

Whaddya think?

JUdaism would have come to be a significant, significant part of the Roman Empire, and the Western World after that. As it is, there was one time when the Empire was 10% Jewish. Imagine if that percentage grew, eventually replacing the polytheism that was in decline.

This would have shortened the diaspora to a simple couple hundred years. And since Jews would have had a homeland, there would have always been a home for those fleeing discrimination elsewhere.

Without Christianity, 2000 years of Christian persecution of Jews would simply not exist. Europe would not have an undercurrent of anti-Semitism as its culture. The massacres on the way to the crusades (hey even the crusades themselves) the pogroms, and even the Holocaust itself would never have happened.

Since Muhammad was primarily influenced by both Christians and Jews, it is hard to imagine the effect that the absence of Christianity would have on the Quran. Most notable would be the non-existence of Jesus in the text.

Since Jews would never have been forbidden from normal trades and forced into lending as a means of making a living, it would be interesting to see how this would have effected the banking system today (if there would be one even).

One thing is for sure, the drive by the West to carry Christianity to the world through conquest and missionary activities would be absent. That means the world as a whole would not benefit from Western advantages such as science, industry, modern medicine, and basic technology.

 

[RabbiO]

Actually, there is no way of knowing what the world would be like, what societies would be like.

 

[Sakla]

I've had a question on my mind for at least a couple of weeks and have been slow to pose it here for several trivial reasons. And then I read an article today that moved me to go ahead and ask it.

The question is a "What if ...?" question.

The article that moved me to finally post it is: Council Post: The Genius Of Asking 'What If?' Questions, specifically this part:

• The Power Of A “What If?”
  • With a normal question, your brain quickly and transparently uses previous information, data or situational experiences to concoct an acceptable answer.
    With a “what if?” question, your brain usually holds no previous precedent, paradigm or example to rely upon for an acceptable answer, so the answer heads to a different area of the brain.

At my age, anything that activates any part of my brain is "brain food". From what I've seen here in RF, I'm not the only one who could use some brain food. So here goes; let's see what happens; surprise me.

My "what if ... ?" question:

• What if Christianity didn't exist, never existed, and never will exist? How would the world be different?
  • Mind you: I'm not asking "what if Christianity isn't true or what if Jesus never existed?" Whether there ever was a Jew named Yehoshua, or whatever his name was, is irrelevant; and so is Christianity's alleged "truth value".
    
  • What would be left without Christianity's Jesus AND without Christianity?

Just to get the ball rolling, I'm going to assume that all the "Eastern" religions/philosophies, i.e. Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, etc., would still exist. I'm also going to assume--given my biases--that Judaism might still exist in some form, but that no other known Abrahamic faith community would.

Whaddya think?

I hope what I'm about to share is ok here, but I believe in God and most faiths believe God reveals things either by personal revelation, like a mental impression or a dream, not voices. I got pretty close to God and asked what the original sin or fall was and why we and everything is so messed up. when thinking of all the religious books or texts that exist in the world and God is actually very funny, think of how silly kittens and puppies are in videos...he has to have a sense of humor. A few days after praying this, I had a vivid dream. It was like a short conglomeration of the history of creation. In it, I was shown a book entitled and don't laugh..." The bowl of wooden fruit" written by Daddy and the children who didn't understand, then I saw the word Babylon. I was shown in this dream and was to understand, that some of his first creations , which we call angels, in private thought so they believed, came up with what we now see as decorations or "materialism". Originally, it was explained in the dream, that some were imagining a bowl of wooden fruit, the problem was not that they wanted to decorate with it, but the innocent reason in their minds as to "why" they thought God would " need" a bowl of wooden fruit. It was explained in this dream, that these beings came up with this idea in their minds, because they thought God would forget what bananas looked like for example,, implying God is forgetful or that something bad would happen that the remembrance of the image of a banana would be forgotten, implying that destruction or death would happen. The word Babylon was flashed later, because it turned into the mess of materialism we have today. It was impressed within me, that originally, the supposed "fall", was innocent, creation had to happen that these beings would understand how these innocent thoughts could escalate, if not understood fully. We are constantly breaking and fixing things, which really is a form of baron munchausen syndrome by proxy, which is dangerous. This was my dream, take it or leave it.

 

[infrabenji]

Makes me think of what the world would be like without all the atrocities committed by Christianity. What if the Christians didn’t burn and kill everything in Central and South America? Witch trials, the crusades, slavery, a bunch of other wars, Actually, now that I think about all the atrocities committed by Christianity I’m super depressed. Non theists in my opinion would have dominated followed next by Hinduism then Buddhism then Ethnic religions or whatever China does religion-wise.

 

[infrabenji]

That is the biggest piece of droppings of a large mammal that I have heard in my couple of years here
Do you have any back up for that supremely ignorant statement of yours?

Hinduism as it is called has been around for thousands of years and still survives - no Christianity or Baha'ism needed - thank you

As are other faiths such as Buddhism and Taoism and Animism and others I am probably inadvertently omitting

The Native Americans were worshipping their Great Spirit before Columbus landed in America

Again no Christianity needed

You really need to go back and re examine your perspectives and beliefs before making such outlandish statements

Nuh uh! Everyone would have died. Because…..Jesus? No I shouldn’t poke fun. But I am lmao.