Archbishop of Canterbury doubts the presence of God!

[Haironyourchest]

Indoctrination, received before the age of seven or eight, very hard to remove. Even when we intellectually know its wrong, it still influences us at some level. Religious, political, social, biases.

 

Our primitive ancestors observed correctly, that the sun is the source of life. The sun dies a bloody death every evening. And is reborn every day. If the sun didn't get reborn, we would not last long - all life would certainly fail in a matter of days or weeks.

 

Likewise the sun grows weaker in winter, and winter was a bloody tough time for them. This gave rise to seasonal magic etc. The sun came to be personified and later actual persons were ritually scarified to ensure the continued rebirth of the sun every day, and the renewal of nature's power in spring.

 

The dying and rising god evolved out of this practice, long after the human sacrifices had disappeared. All over the middle east there is an ancient tradition of these dying and rising gods.

 

The christian movement was and is also based in this tradition, which is why it was so popular and still remains active today - simply because it speck to something in our collective memories, the triumphant sun reborn.

[felixthelogchopper]

[Stubby]

 

If seen Mr Tickle . Not seen the other 2 dudes .......

[the village idiot]

As I said it's a state of mind, a choice by an individual.

P

 

Yes but if that choice or state of mind is regressive, illogical and, most importantly, potentially damaging it needs to be challenged.

[Mull]

 

 

That would be funny but for the fact it's based on faith rather than proof, 😆😆

[Vespasian]

Indoctrination, received before the age of seven or eight, very hard to remove. Even when we intellectually know its wrong, it still influences us at some level. Religious, political, social, biases.

 

Our primitive ancestors observed correctly, that the sun is the source of life. The sun dies a bloody death every evening. And is reborn every day. If the sun didn't get reborn, we would not last long - all life would certainly fail in a matter of days or weeks.

 

Likewise the sun grows weaker in winter, and winter was a bloody tough time for them. This gave rise to seasonal magic etc. The sun came to be personified and later actual persons were ritually scarified to ensure the continued rebirth of the sun every day, and the renewal of nature's power in spring.

 

The dying and rising god evolved out of this practice, long after the human sacrifices had disappeared. All over the middle east there is an ancient tradition of these dying and rising gods.

 

The christian movement was and is also based in this tradition, which is why it was so popular and still remains active today - simply because it speck to something in our collective memories, the triumphant sun reborn.

 

 

 

Not sure about the collective memory thing, but your right in that the Jesus story is overlaid with older pagan traditions..

If I had to point to the reasons Christianity became successful its because the story makes a bloody good read..

Its that simple...

 

Now, if you want argue the motives of why it was written then thats a different subject..

[Paul Barton]

Yes but if that choice or state of mind is regressive, illogical and, most importantly, potentially damaging it needs to be challenged.

 

 

Ouch! But I get you!

 

Let's not get carried away on the negatives of Christian history though (and there are lots sadly). Whether you have a faith or not, you have to concede that people of faith have been pivotal in history for good as well....Christians were the first to care for lepers which formed the basis of the worlds earliest hospitals, Christian philanthropists first offered the concept of 'social housing', championed women's rights, the abolition of the slave trade, more recently help run foodbanks.....

 

Spirituality and faith are not scientific and in the context of our postmodern western minds are irrational! I certainly couldn't write a post here on arbtalk to convince you of the existence of God. But I do believe in my core....I'm sure that has a lot to do with my upbringing, but also due to my experience in prayer and meditation. Have a go - you've got nothing to lose!

[Woodworks]

Ouch! But I get you!

 

Let's not get carried away on the negatives of Christian history though (and there are lots sadly). Whether you have a faith or not, you have to concede that people of faith have been pivotal in history for good as well....Christians were the first to care for lepers which formed the basis of the worlds earliest hospitals, Christian philanthropists first offered the concept of 'social housing', championed women's rights, the abolition of the slave trade, more recently help run foodbanks.....

 

Spirituality and faith are not scientific and in the context of our postmodern western minds are irrational! I certainly couldn't write a post here on arbtalk to convince you of the existence of God. But I do believe in my core....I'm sure that has a lot to do with my upbringing, but also due to my experience in prayer and meditation. Have a go - you've got nothing to lose!

 

Good post Paul

[Mull]

 

 

Yes, as a soap box preacher pointed out, " if I am wrong and you are right then we both have nothing to loose, but if I am right and you are wrong then You have everything to loose"

 

Pretty sure I posted this on another thread, apologies for the repeat.

[the village idiot]

Ouch! But I get you!

 

Let's not get carried away on the negatives of Christian history though (and there are lots sadly). Whether you have a faith or not, you have to concede that people of faith have been pivotal in history for good as well....Christians were the first to care for lepers which formed the basis of the worlds earliest hospitals, Christian philanthropists first offered the concept of 'social housing', championed women's rights, the abolition of the slave trade, more recently help run foodbanks.....

 

Spirituality and faith are not scientific and in the context of our postmodern western minds are irrational! I certainly couldn't write a post here on arbtalk to convince you of the existence of God. But I do believe in my core....I'm sure that has a lot to do with my upbringing, but also due to my experience in prayer and meditation. Have a go - you've got nothing to lose!

 

Hi Paul.

 

I am no stranger to spirituality and meditation. The latter has greatly helped in cementing my thoughts on the 'wrongness' of religious thinking. As I'm sure you have found, meditation helps to cut through all the nonsense that the mind is prone to throw up and shows that a great deal of our thinking is nuts and not to be trusted. I would be very interested to hear about how meditation has helped you to strengthen your faith in God.

 

The benefits of meditation and mindfulness are beginning to be supported by more and more scientifically verifiable evidence. Prayer on the other hand has been shown to have no demonstrable effect on the object of the prayer other than by coincidence.

It is easy to be seduced when a person recovers from a serious illness after having being prayed for. What gets overlooked is the many, many more who are also prayed for but do not recover.

 

It is certainly irrefutable that Christians have always done (and continue to do) many marvellous things to help the less fortunate in society. This is brilliant, but being a Christian is by no means a prerequisite to being good. If anything, I would suggest that religion provides an extremely dubious set of morals by which to live by.

 

Watch this video a couple of times and have a really good think. Or better still, meditate on it.

 

https://youtu.be/d9GXqYhu_CM