Are Christians harmless? (page 18)

bebu

Good words, Flying! I think you are right about John.

BTW... nice to see ya.

bebu

FlyingHighNow

Good words, Flying! I think you are right about John.
BTW... nice to see ya.

Thank you, Bebu. I have a quote from him included in my JWD profile you might like, too. I got the quote from a book with a pictorial history of John and Yoko. Nice to see you, too.

Flyin'

gumby

Heather....of course I was kidding about the song. I was just tryin ta sound like an old grumpy bastard!

Bebu,

Belief and spirituality is a necessary component of human life and society, and purging religion from society is NOT the answer. It looked good in theory... but has NEVER worked in practice. Maybe only anarchy/terrorism could be proven to be worse (IMHO).

I enjoyed your comments and what you said above. Stiffling mans inherant desire to worship/pray/believe, is to take away a part of what man is. Even in this enlightened world we live in....until the answer is found to lifes true meaning....man will search and look to a higher source to find the answers.

Gumby

FlyingHighNow

Heather....of course I was kidding about the song. I was just tryin ta sound like an old grumpy bastard!

I figgered you was aimin' to sound like a mean old cuss and you know what? You sounded like a mean old cuss.

Almost all human beings have what seems like a built in need for worship or spirituality. It is unscrupulous men who take advantage of that need by inventing religions to control people. I see it as the same thing as old Nimrod building a tower to control people and keep them under his thumb.

I don't think God ever intended for humans to control humans by means of religion. I think he intended for spirituality to be a positive and loving gift. Human beings mess spirituality up. They like the power and wealth that religion gives them. Kaching! Gold faucets and airconditioned dog houses....need I say more?

Flyin'

William Penwell

Belief and spirituality is a necessary component of human life and society, and purging religion from society is NOT the answer. It looked good in theory... but has NEVER worked in practice. Maybe only anarchy/terrorism could be proven to be worse (IMHO).

I think spirituality is a good thing but what has this got to do with religion? 99% of the so called Christians I know are a bunch of hypocrites. They do not even understand what it means to be Christian. They go to church on Sunday and put in a good show and Monday morning screw you on a business deal!!! Is that what it means to be Christian?? I had a friend that claimed to be a "charismatic Christian". She was trying to convert me, get me to go to her church. I respectfully said to her that I have my own idea of what God is. I don't hurt anyone and treat others with respect, as I would like to be treated. I would go out of my way to help anyone in trouble etc. But I don't claim, to be Christian. That is a label. I consider myself as being part of the human race first. This she says is not good enough. She said that I could be so much better if I would only except Jebus as my lord!!! So I will rot in hell because I didn't except Jebus as my Lord!!! While the f*ing hypocrite that screws me on a business deal goes to heaven?? Figure that out and now you know why I have no use for religion. Anyway I think she finally gave up on trying to save me...

Will

Utopian Reformist

John Lennon did say it all in that one brief song. Religion is a plague, like aids, like drugs, like crime, like corruption. It should be weeded out of human society.

It's funny how none of the so-called christians and other religious adherents cannot answer a simple question. Why do they need membership in a group, and a set of rules, and the approval of other humans to exercise personal spirituality?

The answer is really simple. They have not developed a personal spirituality and are still functioning under group dynamics, peer pressure and are still prone to superstition about the future and death. If not, they would see the beauty in life and attempt to harmonize with it and all other forms of life and practice the good and spirituality they can only read about in books.

Religious slavery is pathetic.

myauntfanny

UR

Why do they need membership in a group, and a set of rules, and the approval of other humans to exercise personal spirituality?

I would say that they don't need all that in order to exercise personal spirituality. They just need it (or think they do) for existential security, and religion is available to provide it. If religion weren't available, for example in an atheist communist country, they would behave the same way about the Party; millions of people did. If religion were actually eliminated tomorrow, people would find or form some other way of getting membership, rules and approval.

Edited for confusing typo

Narkissos

If religion were actually eliminated tomorrow, people would find or form some other way of getting membership, rules and approval.

Well said.

Yet society does change every day. And the mechanisms of membership, rules and approval are slowly being altered.

I feel the experience on this board very promising in this regard, in that many are able to communicate and share (including some "spirituality") regardless of their persuasions, labels, etc. Christians who do interact with atheists, muslims, pagans, and so on, will never be Christians in the same sense as those who spent their whole life within their Church group. The reality under the label changes too.

Everyone spits upon syncretism. But syncretism is always what happens.

myauntfanny

Narkissos

If religion were actually eliminated tomorrow, people would find or form some other way of getting membership, rules and approval.
Well said.

Thanks, coming from you that means a lot.

I never did spit on syncretism because I didn't know what it was till I looked it up five minutes ago. I believe you're right (now that I know what it means) but it seems like a long-haul proposition, and nothing we can control.

LittleToe

Sherry:
So given that Lennon had wide media coverage, would the promulgating of his ideals be deemed proselytising?

Will:Are all who go to church on Sunday Christians?
Did Paul believe taht all who went to the Synagogue on Saturday were "Israelite"?

UR:

Why do they need membership in a group, and a set of rules, and the approval of other humans to exercise personal spirituality?

Methinks you may be missing the purpose of communal worship.
For most religions it's nothing like a JW meeting, thank God!

MAF:
Well put. Though additionally, some like to worship in a group as well as at home. We're generally gregarious creatures, wouldn't you agree?

Narkissos:

Christians who do interact with atheists, muslims, pagans, and so on, will never be Christians in the same sense as those who spent their whole life within their Church group.

And vica-versa, as it is the melting pot of such contact that forges the Christian.

Everyone spits upon syncretism. But syncretism is always what happens.

As does reductionism.
It appears to come in cycles

Are Christians harmless?

Share this