| marcenmoni@cpu-net.net 2005-12-28, 2:21 am |
|
Ken S. Tucker wrote:
> cegan@egan-martinez.com wrote:
>
> Studied your post, and didn't interrupt, let me criticize,
> by specifically quoting your essay, this is the polite
> version...
>
> Chris wrote, "the actual words of Christ"
>
> There is NO EVIDENCE Jesus Christ existed, there are no
> "actual words". The 2nd testament is "hear say" purveyed
> by rumors (through numerous translations) supposedly written
> by characters whose "testimony" includes "miracles"
> impossible in the Laws of Nature, that appears to be self-
> aggrandizing and thus of nil credibility, and believing that
> whole program is an enormous self-perpetuating brainwashing,
> the weak-minded (Christians) have been forced into believing
> by the surrender of their own trust in morality, empathy and
> common sense, as is historically proven, by atrocities.
>
> I'll improve on the JC concept...
>
> Historically, it appears A SOCIAL CONSCIENCE was
> evolving within the Roman Empire slowly but spontaneously
> as would be natural in a society realizing greater profit and
> an improved conscience by recognizing more equalities and
> rights.
>
> You can totally eliminate JC as something special and
> other deities and replace all that crap with Aesop's Fables,
> and nourish the sense of empathy and sympathy we
> normally have by instinct, (hell that might have helped
> Jeffrey Dahlmer and his type).
> Jesus freaks and bible thumper's diminish that social
> human instinct, like Catholics who sin, confess, clear
> their conscience and turn around and repeat the sin.
>
> Does that explain my remark about cross relocation?
>
> Regards
> Ken S. Tucker
It's easy to target religion as an inculcator of atrocities. But the
real bottom line is that people of all persuasions commit atrocities,
for any number of reasons. And some of these atrocities may not seem
like much until you had up numbers (like, for instance the number of
deaths caused by drunk drivers in the US). Lack of empathy is just as
much a result of experience, upbringing and/or genes as it may be
religious (or political) persuasion learned/absorbed later in life.
Nevertheless, religion as a source of POSITIVE beliefs has also been
strong inspiration for a number of architectural, artistic and musical
masterpieces. So, if we toss out religion, and therefore toss out the
positive aspects that an overwhelming majority of the people on this
planet derive from it, do we also toss out its artifacts?
It does not matter if Jesus actually existed or not. The real point is
believe people what they choose to believe and whether those beliefs
have any rational foundation doesn't much matter- give that it's a
matter of 'spiritual taste'. Nevertheless one still ought to ask, does
the phrase 'do unto others as you would have them do to you' seem like
a decent paradigm to go by? I believe so, even though I myself am a
panantheist of sorts (no religious affiliation). And in that sense, the
words attributed to Christ have real personal / moral value.
Some researchers cited in Mapping the Mind by Rita Carter, have found a
particular area of the left temporal lobe that when stimulated produces
of feeling of being in a divine presence, in some people. I don't know
if this has been found to be common, but it is interesting that, at
least in some people, the experience of divinity has an actual
neurological basis.
PS: Some may reasonably argue that the moment the Roman Republic became
an empire was in fact the moment that it lost its own social
conscience. Kind of like what's happening in the US today.
Marcello
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