Fiach

How about the very insane Book of Revelation? There are horrible stories that would make Clive Barker blush. The Seven Angels, and the one with the seven vials that unleased horrible death and suffering, earthquakes, hail storms, plagues, battles.

Now I don't blame the Book of Revelation on Jesus. I think John of Patmos was criminally insane, for whom only time and place kept him from being and insane twisted Adolf Hitler.

There is some psychological reason for people bending to the worst god and cruelest religion. Adherence is the same mechanism of Germans shouting "Heil Hitler" and Iraqis worshipping Saddam Husseine. Christianity was not very successful in its infancy. It reached success by merging with the militant Mithraists and being taken over by authoritarians who used the terrible scriptures as excuses to burn dissenters, pagans, witches, heretics, and unbelievers. That was bloody well enough to bend the people to abject submission for 1700 years.

Kindness, compassion, and love in Wicca, Buddhism, Baha'i, New Age, and Neopaganism are the primary reasons for their failure. Religion wins with fear and intimidation not by presenting a kind, nicey-nicey god, but a vindictive cosmic tyrant. It is the formula for success. Even Adolf Hitler, a christian himself, wrote in Mein Kampf that he admired Christianity because it was willing to destroy its opponents. It was a real master race's kind of religion.

Fiach

Biff the unclean

Oh that's in Acts 20:9
"And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead."
That had to hurt.

Which is after Acts 13:8-11 where Paul from the wonderful true pre Catholic but pro Protestant church blinds poor Elymas for having the gaul to disagree with him.

Shake

The question posed in the o.p. was this:I think many here are overlooking a much simpler answer. That being that these Faiths put the world in a black-and-white (good vs. evil) perspective. Sure, this is of course flawed, but it's easier to have someone else tell you what's good and bad and live your life according to what they say, rather than think for yourself, and realize that the world is gray. "Hmm, the Pope says abortion is bad, so it must be in all cases." It allows followers to defer to others for all of their decisions. "Killing is bad always. I guess I can't even defend myself or my family if we're being attacked." I know these are gross extreme examples, but it's not that far off from how some people actually think! And that is very scary!

2tadpoles

Originally posted by passion9
I take that as more of a figurative than literal meaning, because the blood sacrifice brings us into atonement with God again, it is pleasing to Him, as would be a pleasant aroma (if that makes sense), no one killed sheep so that God would think they smelled good.

How do you decide which parts of the Bible to take figuratively and which to take literally?

God didn't "create" sin (sin is merely an archery term meaning missing the mark, which is EXACTLY what sin is in these terms, missing the mark by not being in that divine romance with God).

If God created everything that exists, then sin must be included in that.

2tadpoles

Unitarians do not believe in the Trinity and doubt the divinity of Jesus. I don't think they count as Christians. Especially since the majority of Unitarian churches are now Unitarian Universalist churches, and are a sort of melting pot for all sorts of religious beliefs.


You dislike ALL of their teachings? Is this because you cannot find any possible worth in any teachings that aren't Christian? That's terribly narrow, IMO.

Writer@Large

Fair enough; I was thinking old-school Unitarian, not the newer "melting pot" churches. I suppose I could substitute it then, with the Unification Church, who use the Bible as their holy text and call themselves Christian, but who "view God as a single being" and "reject the traditional Christian concept of the Trinity."

--W@L

hinduwoman

Passion, Christianity promises that everyone who has fallen short of glory have been saved already. so why won't losers find it attractive?

The first church was peaceful only because it did not have any power. The first converts were slaves and poor people and sometimes women. A powerless group faced with a ruling class too strong to resist would have no option but turn the other cheek. When Christianity became the state religion, it was a very different matter --- they were violent towards pagans and their won dissident sects alike.

Comquirk

Why are these fundamentalist brands of religion grwing faster than others?

Marketing, of course!

I've always lambasted Christianity for being the only religion with a marketing budget. But, now, Islam is also starting to attract many new followers through similar methods.

Look at it like movies: Fundy Xtianity and Islam are like the big blockbuster movies, if you will, the Armageddons and Die Another Days of the religious world. The movies use noise, special effects, virtuous heros, evil villians, fast editing and happy endings to lure in viewers, and they promote these things with huge marketing campaigns and tie ins. You're excited as you watch, but afterwards, you feel somewhat empty

Fundies are like this too, with flashy, loud revivals, aggressive sermons and speeches, choice presentation of religious texts through narrow interpertation, performing "miracles," showing "virtuous heroes" and "evil villians", and promising the most happiest of endings simply for following thier ways.

There are some movies, however, that don't get this kind of exposure. These movies are usually quieter, more intelligent, and present intricate stories. These movies don't have black and white lines between good and evil, only grey lines that require thinking to decipher. These movies are harder to see, as they don't play at many theatres, but, after some effort to see them, will offer the most rewarding movie going experience.

Baha'ai, Buddhism, and hindusim are like this. They are rare in this part of the world, and take much more work to get involved with. They require you to think more, and don't lay everything out in narrow interpertations. And, in the end, one is usually more satisfied with what they have accomoplished.