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Politics : Should God be replaced? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Solon who wrote (16540)	3/4/2004 9:15:21 AM
From: briskit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 28931

I have not said, nor feel the need to say, that if I am right others are wrong. Others can and should decide for themselves. They should follow their deepest convictions to their heart's content. I have not disparaged any religion. I was answering the particular assertion that the stories about Jesus are stolen mythology, based on nothing that happened. You have concluded that the various mystery religions and available mythologies provided Christianity with its content. I say it is best understood in its Judaic cultural/religious context. The stories about Jesus are event based, and as Weldin expressed, evidence a surprising historicity. You and I disagree. I think I summarized your position fairly and clearly. I get it. I agree we discuss God with right and wrong in mind. That is why suffering and evil are common reasons provided as evidence there is no god. That argument against god is based on an idea of how right and wrong should look. The impersonal nature, a kind of disregard for our existence if you will, of the material universe is thought to denounce the possibility of a caring or just god. Then there is the argument from human behavior, perhaps the behavior of religious humans especially. However, it seems to me humanity is extremely resistant to changing its behavior. Knowing something about god barely makes an impression on cultural practices, etc. To argue that people are not immediately radically different does not persuade me, that's all. And people are prone to unbelievable error and abuse of convictions. None of that is god's fault. That is evidence of how humans are and how unresponsive to religious or really any influence. Becker would add, how unresponsive we are to information about the nature of the human creature, the human condition. In a court of law one often uses witnesses. I have both testified in a trial and sat on a jury. You have reached a different verdict about Jesus than I. I think I understand the basic grounds of that disagreement. Your position is weak to the degree that you rely on the idea that the Jesus stories are borrowed and stolen myth. I know how clear your position is to you, and how impossible it is to be any other way. Given your presuppositions, it's obvious that other mythologies provide the basic Christian story's elements. That assumption weakens your theory. Many bright people, such as yourself, believe it. I think I understand the argument, but I do not believe that explanation, and I'm not betting my life on it. Secondly, the closed universe, cause-and-effect model disallows any possibility of a historical religion. If that model explains everything, then we needn't have a discussion at all. I think it is possible that it does not explain everything. It is possible that Jesus is from god, and his life was about god in a way that makes a difference. How irrational!! I know it is a ridiculous idea so you needn't spend a lot of time telling me. Everyone from the beginning, especially Jews and Greeks, knew it was irrational foolishness to consider the idea. Paul, who killed Christians for their blasphemous and idiotic ideas, later changed his mind, knowing that he would be considered a fool in both religious and philosophical circles. He had a decent meal ticket up to that point--Roman citizen, scholar, entrepreneur, adventurous (all of which is probably made up if he existed at all ;^)). He ended up suffering a lot for his foolishness. Well, as did all the early Christians. The foolish label has been applied from the beginning. Different juries, similar verdicts.