Thoughts on Christianity, for what little it's worth

[obligatoryshackles]

A vast majority of modern "Christians" are so far removed from their own supposed ideals that it's laughable that we say there are over a billion of them. So caught up in the worship of God's power as theirs to wield and Christ as a symbol of their own righteousness that you'd think the devil pretending to be God in their heads is unironically what's happening here.

But the real ideals that Jesus preached were fundamentally good. Forgiveness, not just for others but for yourself. That on an existential level, you are loved. That in a world full of sin, it's alright to make mistakes. To be kind and caring, even to the undeserving.

So how did it become all about sin, about fire and brimstone?

I want to worship God, not as a symbol of power, but as goodness itself. Faith shouldn't be about heaven or God's existence, but the very idea that there is such a thing as goodness, that it is possible to strive towards good.

I want to believe in the warmth that Christ preached of, the kindness he showed us. I want to strive towards the ideal world he envisioned, not as heaven, not as the eternal reward after life, but as a possible future on earth.

I frankly could not care less about the drivel some overly ambitious men wrote to try to spread their cult in the late Roman empire. I could not care less about the supposed nature of the trinity or whatever stupid disputes the church has with itself.

I think it's honestly pretty ridiculous that the "founders" of the religion wrote so much lore about how good dying is that they had to add a special "don't kill yourself or you'll go to the infinite torture dimension" clause just to stop people from doing what, according to their own lore, is very obviously functionally correct.

It's a tragedy that in the process of trying to spread their beliefs, "Christians" completely lost sight of what those beliefs should have been.

I can only suppose that that's the nature of the world we live in. I cannot acknowledge them as Christians, but I do understand how it came to be this way, how I could have found myself in the same place with just a few changes in my life.

More than anything, it's just sad that it came to be this way.

~

To me, the apple represents the cruel nature of the world, forcing us to sin against our own hearts.

 

[KillingPain267]

But the real ideals that Jesus preached were fundamentally good. Forgiveness, not just for others but for yourself. That on an existential level, you are loved. That in a world full of sin, it's alright to make mistakes. To be kind and caring, even to the undeserving.

Exactly! As a Christian, I say amen! New Testament Christianity teaches forgiveness of neighbor and even enemy. It teaches non-violence and sharing of possessions and forgiveness of debts. Christ came and inverted everything that the world desires: God favors the weak rather than the strong, He favors the poor over the rich, and favors the opressed, the foreigner who has faith, the little children, the fatherless, the prisoner, and the servants. Jesus' message teaches that to be a great person you have to humble and serve others rather than demand obedience from others. Jesus didn't teach "family values" but instead that all who keep His words are His true brethren, sisters and mothers. Jesus' message transcends nationalism in that He accepted both Jew and Greek in His kingdom. I believe, politically, Jesus' message would lead to an internationalist pacifist anarcho-communist world. Doctrines like the Trinity are important, but they are not enough to live out the faith. The book of James teaches that.

I think it's honestly pretty ridiculous that the "founders" of the religion wrote so much lore about how good dying is that they had to add a special "don't kill yourself or you'll go to the infinite torture dimension" clause just to stop people from doing what, according to their own lore, is very obviously functionally correct.

Exactly, the biblical texts themselves don't say anything clear about suicide. But they clearly state not to kill OTHERS, like neighbor or even enemy. Yet the so called church in Europe was all about killing others in the name of God.

It's a tragedy that in the process of trying to spread their beliefs, "Christians" completely lost sight of what those beliefs should have been.

Yes, some call this the Constantinian shift. It was when the emperor suddenly decided to use Christianity for power. It has tainted "Christendom" since then. Before that, most of the earliest church fathers taught non-violence and even demanded that church members refuse military service and resign as a soldier if they were a soldier considering to join a church. Yet today in America we see evangelicals basically worship the police and military and literally explain away Jesus' radical teachings as not to be taken literal. Lol

To me, the apple represents the cruel nature of the world, forcing us to sin against our own hearts.

Even though the text doesn't mention an apple, you actually totally understand the point of the story! Humans are cruel by nature since they ate the fruit and we continue to eat of the fruit whenever we oppress others, rule over others with force, refuse to forgive, when we hate others, abuse animals and children, destroy the environment etc.