by nowwhat? 39 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Such verses are not from a religious leader but from the Roman Empire who wanted people to be blindly subjective to it. Hence they saw to it that Bible contains things like 'show the other cheek; if someone in authority asks you to walk one mile, walk two miles' ... etc.... and verses glorifying slavery such as Mathew 24:45 ....
I think too many folks here are letting Jesus off the hook too easily just by attacking his association with the Israelite god of war. He had tons of terrible teachings, even in the sermon on the mount. I find far greater fault in his actual teachings than his attempt to parlay the existing believe in yahweh into a basis for common ground for the beginning of his new religion. You'll have to forgive me as I can't be bothered to look up scriptural citations, but some issues with Jesus off the top of my head are:
Golden rule - it assumes that everyone is the same and fails to encourage putting yourself in the other person's shoes. Instead of doing to others as you'd have them do to you, treat others how they want to be treated. A fundamentalist christian might think "If I were so delusional as to think I'm gay, I'd want people to shout me down and send me to conversion therapy, etc" but I suspect most gay people don't actually want to be treated that way. You could argue that most people would want others to consider how they want to be treated, and through that extra step you can get to the better rule, but if Jesus meant that, he should've said it. Not saying it confuses the matter if that's what the true ideal is.
Those who lose brother or sister or mother or father for my name will gain those back a thousand fold. (again, I forget the exact words, but you get the gist) and I think there's one where he says if you love your family more than him you're not worthy of him...Sounds like a cult leader to me - preaching the doctrine of separating families.
Don't store up treasures on earth - store them up in heaven. The idea that life doesn't really start until the afterlife is one of the most pernicious religious doctrines that there are. It doesn't take much imagination these days to see how that teaching could go wrong.
Turn the other cheek - I wonder how many victims of domestic abuse went on living in terror due to this teaching.
He taught that the only unforgivable sin was blasphemy against the holy spirit. Really, dude? That's the one you pick to be unforgivable? I guess when you teach that this life is temporary and unimportant compared to the afterlife (see above) it doesn't really matter if people go around killing - that can be forgiven. But don't you dare think about talking shit about something that doesn't exist.
Conspicuous by it's absence in Jesus' teachings is any condemnation of slavery. While I don't think it's generally ok to condemn someone for everything they didn't say, this would've been an easy moral victory for him. He would've had plenty of exposure to slavery and it's obvious result in human suffering, but he was too much of a coward to condemn it.
But, by far, the worst thing that Jesus taught was absolutism. Anyone that didn't believe that Jesus was the shit was to be condemned. Anyone who thought that maybe his way wasn't perfect was not worthy and to be ignored and cast out. You're either with him, or against him. Black and white. Again, so many times, he sounds like a cult leader. He never acknowledged moral nuance and grey areas, he discouraged independent thought, or any attempts to develop an even better moral code than what he offered. This sort of absolutism has lead to religiously motivated genocide for most of human history. It leads to closed minds and tribalism. It leads to being stuck at a sub-optimal moral code when we have the means to develop a far better one.
All great religious figures such as Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed …were sent by God to restore the remembrance of God which would help people to be good citizens of their respective countries.
And yet, venus, you only quote the bible. Why is that?
If you ever get the chance, read some of the things the Buddha is attributed to have said. A lot of them are basically the same things Jesus said, except Buddha pre-dates Jesus by a bout 500 years.
It's possible that the things Jesus supposedly said were just passed along ideas via the silk road and not at all unique at the time he said them.
I see the Jesus character as, basically, a communist.
Not all that Jesus said is nice. He was still judgemental and spoke about causing divisions in families. Other New Testament writers took it even further with unnecessary rules, along with comments about judgement and destruction of non-believers. Christianity have been able to justify all sorts of atrocities based on the New Testament.
The sermon on the mount is so full of false teachings, threats of violence, and morally reprehensible positions I'm shocked you think living by such a wicked standard would make the world a better place.
Seriously, go read the sermon on the mount and ask yourself: What would the world be like if everyone acted like this?
This is one of the worst speeches I've ever read. It's absolutely horrible. Why anyone would think this is good is beyond me. How about the following?:
Jesus was a fan of the Hebrew god of the Hebrew Scriptures who was a Monster to say the least ,a homicidal maniac bent on destroying civilizations sanctioning genocide ,the rape of women ,the killing of infants ,old men, women and children ,slaughtering thousands of animals as sacrifices to fill his lust for blood and he promises to do so again in the future ?
Jesus also said he came divide families ,father against mother brother against sister and so forth.
And he is also happy to be the principle one to slaughter all of mankind in the Apocalypse .
My question for those still believing Jehovah`s Witnesses who believe in God /Jesus :
If God loved the world so much he gave his only begotten Son as a sacrifice why is it only confined to a small religious sect known as Jehovah`s Witnesses in the world that at present has only made only limited inroads in 1/3rd of the worlds population all established Christian nations foundations laid by Christendom
after about 140 years of operation and 104 years since Jesus has supposedly has been ruling as King in the Heavens. ?
How about Jehovah /Jesus Christ preach to the countries that Apostate Christendom hasn`t already converted ? like India , Pakistan ,Saudi Arabia ,Syria , Jordan ,Bangladesh ,Indonesia ,Phililpines ,etc,etc,etc,
Or don`t these people mean anything to Jehovah or Christ Jesus
So much for his love of the world of mankind .
Coded Logic - your assessment of the S on the M is Dead on.
It was horrible. But the whole bible is toxic and evil. Thus the 2k years of misery that Christianity has brought mankind.
Most fortune cookies have better advice than the bible.
Again -
If there were a god - these 3 things would be true.
1. Evidence of his existence would be INDISPUTABLE
2. His message would be UNAMBIGUOUS
3. It would be GLOBALLY ACCEPTED.
Jesus never wrote a word about himself, while he was on the most important Mission to earth. Weird?
He is the Almighty for Christendom and the mighty God for JWs. Yet, He never explained about microorganisms, root cause of diseases, Human Physiology or our solar system or the Universe, which would have proved his divinity. He only (supposedly) spoke about the day to day affairs during those times – Love your neighbor, forgiveness, Slaves, Donkeys and Stuff.
There is no Corroborative evidence, outside the Bible, that he ever existed.
All his miracles do not have any tangible evidence for later generations to verify
All his Promises have failed. Like … He would return soon during the then generation.
He repeatedly said that whatever we ask in his name would be granted. Can we ask him to cure terminally sick people today?
He never condemned slavery. When Abraham Lincoln could free slaves, why couldn’t Jesus.
And most above all, he advised his followers to love him more than their families and to ditch their family and come after him. I hate him for this, if he had really existed and said this.
Christians say that he paid the Price for sin. Really.. then why does the world remain the same until today, with all miseries.
And he advocated “My way or no way” which was the cause of all religious wars - at least the crusades, Inquisitions and forcible conversions
We have no proof he even existed as a man or a work of fiction. 2000 years from now, they may find Harry Potter books (also filled with magic) and debate whether he really existed as a man.
Yes, he had some good messages. A lot of it things that a lot of philosophers already picked up on. It wasn't like he brought these thoughts into the world.
And other teachings were horrible. For instance, thought-crime is a sin. If you think about a woman lustfully, you've basically committed adultery. That if you divorce on grounds other than adultery, it's wrong. And if you subsequently marry, you're an adulterer? What about abusive husbands?
One of Jesus' disciples' father had just died and he wanted to go bury him. Jesus basically said no. His own father (Matt 8:21-22). This is the new face of compassion????
Jesus told people you have to hate your whole family to be his disciple (father,mother, wife, children, brothers and sisters - Luke 14:26).
Jesus said blaspheming the holy spirit was the unforgivable sin. It'll never be forgiven in this age or the next. Blaspheme against him, OK. But not the holy spirit. Other than an ancient version of "the force", I don't think people have a clear concept of the holy spirit. It has no "talking parts" in the bible. But speak against it, you're doomed. THAT is the unforgivable sin. You could be Hitler and kill millions, OK. You could be a John Wayne Gacy and rape and murder children, fine. But you say something bad about the holy spirit, THAT is unforgivable????
And so much for Jesus being a symbol of peace. He said himself, he did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
And then there's that whole ransom thing. Why? That's a whole different gripe.
So yeah, Jesus has some good and he has some bad. And most religious people pick the good and ignore the bad. Well, if you have the brain power to pick the good, you didn't really need the Bible to tell you what was good in the first place, did you?
