Church. Why?

[jaF0]

This thread is like trying to prove Henry invented the automobile when we all know Fred and Barney had cars long before.

 

[ericalauren]

I'm an agnostic Jewish witch. I joined a Unitarian Universalist church as a young adult. I joined because I enjoy the services and the people, and because I wanted to join the Reproductive Justice Committee.

 

[BBCfan]

This thread is like trying to prove Henry invented the automobile when we all know Fred and Barney had cars long before.

you keep popping in like a cute curious squirrel in your avatar, so there must be some allure?
Are there nuts in this post?
Duh...all of us!

 

[pecksniff]

Does persecution in that era generally represent possible death through stoning etc.?

So says the legend of St. Stephen.

 

[pecksniff]

The way I've read it, Paul's trade as a tentmaker was ideal for an itinerant evangelist. Every town had a bazaar, every merchant sat under an awning or tent, every awning needed repair occasionally. He could come to town, go to the bazaar, find some work, earn some money, and then he was already there in the bazaar to preach.

 

[ishtat]

Female dieties are called Goddesses. They hold places of importance in Hinduism, Buddhism, paganism and other less known religions.

A couple of points. Neither Gods nor Goddesses are important in Buddhism. Buddha basically taught that any god was beyond human understanding and that we should concentrate on living a good life and let the gods do their own thing.

Asherah, the consort of Yaweh /Elohim was an important goddess in early Judaism. We know that she was worshipped in the temple alongside Yaweh because after King Josiah tried to get her removed from the Temple in 628 BCE she was put back promptly by subsequent Kings on the demands of the common people. Her image remained in the temple for 75% of the time until the destruction of the second Temple in AD 70. We know the precise dates for this because the temple priesthood was constantly complaining about her. and recorded the fact numerous times in the OT.

Her images, asherim have been excavated many times, notably at the Jewish Garrison temple complex at Elephantine in Upper Egypt.

Raphael Pattai (Hebrew Myths) has argued that that the inclusion of the Seraphim in the inner sanctum denoted a continuing object of feminine divinity in the late Temple period. I find his argument a bit dubious.

Now having offended the Jews let's look at the Christians. Mary is not accepted as sufficiently divine to be worshipped directly by the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran or Episcopalian Churches, but all four ,(doctrinally at least) accept her role as an intercessionary with God. All four churches go a step further and have titled Mary the "Mother of God" and I would strongly argue that in the mind of the laity of the Catholics and Orthodox in particular, this has changed her into a goddess figure.

Finally the Moslems; you will be aware that even in the most militant monotheistic faith Mary has a unique position as the exemplar of ideal womanhood. As you know she even has her own Sura (book in the Koran) and surprisingly the Koran has more to say about her than the NT.

My conclusion is that Goddesses are present in all the monotheistic faiths and that there seems to be a compelling human need to develop and enhance the concept of the divine feminine.

 

[pecksniff]

Christianity is in most respects a highly sophisticated religion, but there is something deeply primitive in the notion that you can grow closer to God by taking Him inside your body.

 

[Pee4Fun]

Christianity is in most respects a highly sophisticated religion

WHAT???!!! Christianity sophisticated? You must be joking. A man parting a sea, another in a whale's belly for three days, another building an ark for a flood that never happened? And...the star turned water into wine, walked on water, and rose from the dead? Sure. And monkeys just flew out of my butt!

Yeah, real sophisticated. About as sophisticated as Mother Goose. Jeez! It's all bull! None of it ever happened. There was no Paul, Peter, Noah, or Jesus. All fictitious characters.

I'll let you in on a little secret. The gospel is the story of Hercules and Mithra retold. Do some studying and you'll come to the same conclusion. They're all myths. There have been sixteen so-called messiahs throughout ancient history and the similarities among them are numerous. The gospel is the last, or latest, of these myths.

 

[Tryharder62]

WHAT???!!! Christianity sophisticated? You must be joking. A man parting a sea, another in a whale's belly for three days, another building an ark for a flood that never happened? And...the star turned water into wine, walked on water, and rose from the dead? Sure. And monkeys just flew out of my butt!

Yeah, real sophisticated. About as sophisticated as Mother Goose. Jeez! It's all bull! None of it ever happened. There was no Paul, Peter, Noah, or Jesus. All fictitious characters.

I'll let you in on a little secret. The gospel is the story of Hercules and Mithra retold. Do some studying and you'll come to the same conclusion. They're all myths. There have been sixteen so-called messiahs throughout ancient history and the similarities among them are numerous. The gospel is the last, or latest, of these myths.

Sorry to hear monkeys flew out your butt!!

 

[Tryharder62]

Ok... it's kind of funny!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A_iBn3iYuI

 

[pecksniff]

WHAT???!!! Christianity sophisticated?

Compared to the classical paganism it supplanted, a lot of thought went into making it systematic -- and even more in the following centuries; medieval theologians like Aquinas were informed by classical philosophers like Aristotle.