JesusFollower

Things happen.

FatherMithras

Thank you very much! I wasn't attempting to put you down or anything. I was simply trying to give you the psychological point of view on what you experienced. Many religious people are shocked to discover their experiences are in fact, not unique and absolutely explainable! Though most just discard the information.

Indeed they do, and I don't think you made the mistake from malice. You simply read into the message only what you wanted to hear. I would advise attempting to relate to the other perspective. So far, you've come across as sort of arrogant and uninformed, and liek you don't care about wat we say as much as you want to spout religious rhetoric. I think you're a nice guy, but please attempt to actually engage in discussion instead of preaching?

JesusFollower

I used to be an intellectual type. Then I got tired of the self delusion of thinking I had everything figured out. Now I just ask people what they think about Jesus. Can I ask what you think about Him? You shared earlier a little about your religious past experiences but could you tell me more about why you think Jesus is not the way?

JAK1

It’s important to keep in mind that the hundreds of groups which call themselves Christian don’t agree on script interpretation. If they were to agree, there would be no evolution of the many denominations, sects, and cults which presently can be identified.

I’m skeptical you will get much definition here. If so, it’s likely to be anthropomorphic in nature and ultimately self-contradictory of you attempt to exculpate detail on the definition.

Jesus -- historical fiction if you will. Even if there were similarities between what is alleged to be the character and even the very exact words of Jesus, 30 to 110 years passed before anything was written about the life and the words of such a person.

Without Constantine the Great, Christianity might never have been perpetuated. Emperors and kings along with wealth were major factors in the evolution of Christianity.

JAK

JAK1

You demonstrate that religious myth is piling one unsupported assertion upon another unsupported assertion entirely devoid of evidence.

Aren’t you glad the medical profession or those who developed the computer you use didn’t use myth?

JAK

Luci

Sorry about that.

I find myself much stronger and more in control than Jesus ever could be. I actually never ever felt his presence at all.

Mageth

If you thought you had everything figured out, then you weren't much of an "intellectual type", in my book. At least not according to my definition of what it means to be "intellectual".

The way to what?

I "think about Jesus" the way I think about all other supernatural claims. I lack belief in them. I consider them myth. Including the notion that we need a "way" to something.

FatherMithras

Than you weren't an intellectual, you were arrogant. There's an enormous difference between following academic research, science, logic, etc and thinking you know everything. I know very little of the world's info, but from what I've read the bible is still ridiculous.
Uh, that's a bit cultish of you, and obsessive. But it sure doesn't have a lot to do with intelligent conversation.

Certainly. I think that Jesus is a fictional character, who may be based on a real historical figure. I don't know however, if there is a real character behind the stories, and what in those stories are true and what is false (to a certain degree.) however, even cursory research shows that almost all the claims about him are demonstratable false (no eyewitness accounts, only third generation accounts, which are amazingly far from reliable, contradict each other AND the known history of the area.). Besides that, i don't believe in any god, since there's nothing in nature or the world which indicates the existence of such a thing. Therefor, I think it's ridiculous to attribute supernatural powers to a person who may or may not be real, and since there's no evidence of God, he certainly couldn't be him.

In short I don't believe because there's no reason to, and because psychology can explain the religious experienced you guys have. I've had them back when I believed, but know what they were.

Queen of Swords

So in other words, you weren't so much an intellectual as you were self-deluded?

In between repeating ad infinitum, "God is revealed by the things he made"?

This reference to "not the way" gives me the impression that you're still thinking in terms of your own theology, rather than even trying to see matters from our point of view. To think Jesus was "not the way", I'd have to know what this mysterious "way" was in the first place.

FatherMithras

He's shown he isn't capable of such. he doesn't want meaningful discussion, he wants to preach and repeat hsi message. Not actually discuss or defend it.