It seems to me that Jesus' example of living a life is so far different from how today's Christians including myself live their life. I frankly do not love my neighbor as myself. In fact I hardly know some of my next door neighbors. And yet some of these Christians are able to condemn just about everyone who does not accept their particular brand of belief. I also wondered about all those I have known who have died. What happened to their essence? I hear many people that are sure they know but I have yet to see any evidence of an afterlife. That does not mean it does not exist but it would be nice to have some evidence of such. Ghost shows on TV take some small sound and call it evidence. I guess that is the problem with "faith", if you can verify it then it is not faith. Of course some people have faith in a tomato but that does not mean it is valid. Some of the NDEs' are interesting but inconclusive. By definition they are subjective experiences which can not be validated no matter how real they appear to the person. I would enjoy hearing others feelings about these type issues.
Christianity is full of men's biases and ignorance. It's easy for people to use the religion to feel special so of course someone else is not. I see it all the time with "born again" types. They are happy to tell you how terrible Hell will be and how they are going to laugh at you. It comes across as condescending. The Bible says I can murder my neighbor but it also says I should not kill. It is not a logical document. Men will always twist it around to do what they want.For example in America the Christians say Jesus carried a sword so guns are OK. You are allowed to kill people that commandment means nothing because if someone attacks you you should kill them. Just think how many times that has happened in history. Lots of evidence points to Jesus being Buddhist and bringing the philosophy to the Middle East. Buddhism predates Christianity by hundreds of years and has Christian values. But during the time of Jesus those views would be totally foreign outside Asia. Death is one of the things misunderstood by Christians. They expect some reward at the expense of others.
What you say is so true. I have an open mind about life and all it's meanings, but I feel that we are all limited by mans TOTAL lack of understanding of any true comprehension of the meaning of infinity. Their may be, or more importantly have been life outside this planet, some of which may have given rise to our beliefs in a god, but this may have been trillions, or even a one with an INFINITE number of zeros of years ago. We can understand heredity, but born talent remains a mystery, as does a lot of theories about evolution, which in many areas is pure hypothesis. I believe that all religions started out with good intentions, but mans greed has hijacked them and turned them sour. Perhaps TS Elliot sums it all up well. . A cold coming we had of it, Just the worst time of the year For a journey, and such a long journey: The ways deep and the weather sharp, The very dead of winter. And the camels galled, sorefooted, refractory, Lying down in the melting snow. There were times we regretted The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces, And the silken girls bringing sherbet. Then the camel men cursing and grumbling And running away, and wanting their liquor and women, And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters, And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly And the villages dirty and charging high prices: A hard time we had of it. At the end we preferred to travel all night, Sleeping in snatches, With the voices singing in our ears, saying That this was all folly. Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley, Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation; With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness, And three trees on the low sky, And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow. Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel, Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver, And feet kicking the empty wine-skins. But there was no information, and so we continued And arriving at evening, not a moment too soon Finding the place; it was (you might say) satisfactory. All this was a long time ago, I remember, And I would do it again, but set down This set down This: were we led all that way for Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death, But had thought they were different: the Birth was Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death. We returned to our places, these Kingdoms. But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation, With an alien people clutching their gods. I should be glad of another death
Seems easy enough to understand infinity as moments of time going from 1 to 0 . Let zero be death . The dying person should never realize a final moment . Have a peaceful and loving never-ending dream ... or will you insist on dying grumpy as hell ? Jesus say you can begin that heaven now .
If Jesus was walking around today most Christians would think he was a little out of his mind speaking nothing,but parables, giving away everything he owned and spending extended periods of time alone in the desert. In India he would seem perfectly normal.
The bible says I can murder my neighbor? Scripture please. Jesus carried a sword? I don't think so. Proof please Jesus a Buddhist. lol
I never seen him depicted with a sword, but I also believe he would have packed some heat as I think most people probably would have back then so if I did see him with a sword I wouldn't think it's too out of place unless he's slaying someone cause then in all my years growing up I never read about that lol.
So many "die by the sword" though who don't live by it, and everyone dies anyway. And doesn't the Bible say something like, "He who loves his life shall lose it?" I could be mistaken, it's been a long time since I've read it.
