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cavanherk · 06-22-2009, 11:46 AM

For the sake of the original thread, I am going to answer this as honestly as I can simply based on my observations, experiences, and limited reading...

How real is Christianity? It is a real religion. A couple billion "followers." That's as real as you can get. But how real is the religion's--therefore obviously the bible's--content, as the first thread's questions seam to ask? I'm not even going to begin to act like I know, as no one truly should. But perhaps instead we should open our minds a bit, and not take the bible, and therefore Christianity, or any particular religion, at face value.

Thousands of decades have brought with them as many beliefs, gods, myths, legends and lore. They have all had their heyday and most have been forgotten, replaced, or eradicated. Some have been erased by force, typically at the hand of a "superior" belief.

Christianity comes to mind in the West as a modern superior belief. How did it get here? It came with exploration into a new world, a world of local "savages" and their pagan gods, myths and legend. Because the settlers had such a strict social doctrin based on thousands of years of cultivation, they felt it ethical to scrub the locals' barbaric beliefs and dress them in Christianity, so to speak.

But what made this decision ethical? Who says the locals' beliefs were not superior? Therein lies the question--what makes one religion "right" and another "wrong"? It can't be the actual god or gods, or we would obviously all believe in the same one(s). It is the purveyor of the religion who makes such claims. It was and still is, simply, the will of the missionary. Without an equally contrived, polished, published, expounded and touted religion, the local "savage" populations' beliefs were a whisper against a well-rehearsed chorus.

Will Christianity be around forever? If history can provide any indication, no. Something bigger will replace it, one way or another.

What is my point? Particular religions, such as Christianity, are metaphysical. Perhaps it is best not to buy any religion at wholesale, but instead to merely sample all of the notions man has ever had, and draw one's own conclusions.

Christianity is real, but it is not real.

06-22-2009, 11:46 AM	#730 (permalink)
cavanherk barefoot troubadour Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 143	Christianity For the sake of the original thread, I am going to answer this as honestly as I can simply based on my observations, experiences, and limited reading... How real is Christianity? It is a real religion. A couple billion "followers." That's as real as you can get. But how real is the religion's--therefore obviously the bible's--content, as the first thread's questions seam to ask? I'm not even going to begin to act like I know, as no one truly should. But perhaps instead we should open our minds a bit, and not take the bible, and therefore Christianity, or any particular religion, at face value. Thousands of decades have brought with them as many beliefs, gods, myths, legends and lore. They have all had their heyday and most have been forgotten, replaced, or eradicated. Some have been erased by force, typically at the hand of a "superior" belief. Christianity comes to mind in the West as a modern superior belief. How did it get here? It came with exploration into a new world, a world of local "savages" and their pagan gods, myths and legend. Because the settlers had such a strict social doctrin based on thousands of years of cultivation, they felt it ethical to scrub the locals' barbaric beliefs and dress them in Christianity, so to speak. But what made this decision ethical? Who says the locals' beliefs were not superior? Therein lies the question--what makes one religion "right" and another "wrong"? It can't be the actual god or gods, or we would obviously all believe in the same one(s). It is the purveyor of the religion who makes such claims. It was and still is, simply, the will of the missionary. Without an equally contrived, polished, published, expounded and touted religion, the local "savage" populations' beliefs were a whisper against a well-rehearsed chorus. Will Christianity be around forever? If history can provide any indication, no. Something bigger will replace it, one way or another. What is my point? Particular religions, such as Christianity, are metaphysical. Perhaps it is best not to buy any religion at wholesale, but instead to merely sample all of the notions man has ever had, and draw one's own conclusions. Christianity is real, but it is not real.