An anarchist doesn't claim authority over other people nor tell them what to do - that is the realm of fascists and lunatics.
Paganism - the ancient religion of our ancestors
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An anarchist doesn't claim authority over other people nor tell them what to do - that is the realm of fascists and lunatics.
I realize that the bible is a work of fiction, but JC never claimed authority in the original Greek text. That junk was added after 300 AD, first by Constantine and then by various popes and kings. It is too bad that his message of love, brotherhood and peace gets lost in all the dogma.
The Bible is only partially a work of fiction. They should have canned all the parts of it that were and left the rest as a self-help pamphlet.
The mythological Jesus claimed to be the son of a god. That in itself is a claim to authority.
lol
Paganism is as valid as any other form of spirituality. It's all nonsense, but just as valid.
Actually, in the original Greek he said "I am a son of god" and "We are all children of god". He never claimed divinity. That was added by Constantine. For the first 300 years he was just a very wise rabbi.
lolWhatever. I still disagree on the grounds that this Jesus was fictional in the first place, and I don't trust the Bible's word on anything concerning history.
Yes, he was fictional, so how could he be divine? No authority except in the minds of the gullible. I base my statements on history, not the bible.
Jesus himself was not fictional. What he did and said may be, but he was one of several "messiahs" (not the first nor last) from that era who were to free the land from Rome. Him and John the Baptist were the only two who were revisted and gained their own religious followings in the long term. In the case of Christians it was the decision form Saul (St. Paul) to convert Gentiles that made Christianity the big religion instead of a tiny cult (Like followers of John the Baptist , Mandeans I think they are called?)
Jesus himself was not fictional. What he did and said may be, but he was one of several "messiahs" (not the first nor last) from that era who were to free the land from Rome.
Zzarchov, I remember a while ago (actually it was right after I joined the forum) I had quite an argument with Scott Free about the very same topic.
I actually agree with you, there may well have been a historical person called Jesus. There is nothing improbable about that.
His life could have happened just as it is described in the Bible, I have no problem with that either. Only leave out all the miracles (Virgin birth, resurrection, turning water into wine, parting the Red sea and so on) and I have no problem with the rest of the Bible.
Jesus could have been a mere, lowly man like you or I. Any talk of his being Messiah is of course, nonsense.
Zzarchov, I remember a while ago (actually it was right after I joined the forum) I had quite an argument with Scott Free about the very same topic.
I actually agree with you, there may well have been a historical person called Jesus. There is nothing improbable about that.
His life could have happened just as it is described in the Bible, I have no problem with that either. Only leave out all the miracles (Virgin birth, resurrection, turning water into wine, parting the Red sea and so on) and I have no problem with the rest of the Bible.
Jesus could have been a mere, lowly man like you or I. Any talk of his being Messiah is of course, nonsense.
After weeks of discovery and exhausting every civilized legal avenue in the case of your outstanding overdue balance we have regretably passed your file on to our collection services C R Thug & Sons. :smile:
A well written and insightful article. I am deeply interested in all religions, and about a year ago took World Religions at U of M (a credit course) and it was great! We had to write an essay on Spirituality vs. Religion> there was a strong agreement from the student body that Religion is an outer experience(Orhopraxy) and spirituality is an inner experience. Much more to it however. Has anyone read The Pagan Christ by Tom Harpur? It is wonderful! I have had discussions with Tom ( he phoned me once in reply to an e-mail) and have written many times.
Parts of many rreligions strike a chord with me: I particualrrly like Theosophy, whose motto is: There is no religion above truth.
Thank you for a good presentation of the topic of Paganism in your essay. Well done! Tommy 19
Parts of many rreligions strike a chord with me: I particualrrly like Theosophy, whose motto is: There is no religion above truth.
Thank you for a good presentation of the topic of Paganism in your essay. Well done! Tommy 19
tommy19,
If you like theosophy you might want to look into the works of Jane Roberts. Her Nature of Personal Reality is an excellent view of the complexity of reality and our part in it.
If you like theosophy you might want to look into the works of Jane Roberts. Her Nature of Personal Reality is an excellent view of the complexity of reality and our part in it.
I'm not sure if I agree with this. The bible's got lots of wise and true sayings, and I'm sure that so has the quran, but look at the way these religions manifest themselves in real life. It is my strong conviction that one should judge things by what they are, and not by what they are supposed to be.
I have studied the history and content of the bible for a long time and although it does contain some very fine wise information, most of it is not based on actual events that took place two thousand years ago. Most of the metaphors and allegories are borrowed from many myths and legends from many different cultures going back many thousands of years before they were rewritten by christian authors.
But like Spade pointed out, the really useful stuff could be written on one page. Most of it is just none sense and filler. If you really look at your pagan roots you will find the origins of much of the biblical stories. The Roman Empire and its remnant, the catholic church, co-opted the religious beliefs of those they conquered so as to make they occupation more palatable and the transition of rule easier.
I always thought their motivation in co-opting other belief systems is that theirs has so little. When you compare Christianity to other beliefs it is really pretty vacant of "spirituality." It's pretty much: get saved and that's it. A hollow belief system when compared to almost anything else. It's true some monks and nuns took it on themselves to become "spiritual" but for the average Christian such things seem relatively unimportant. Christianity lacks any lessons on transforming oneself which is why what it mostly produces is glossy eyed zealots that burn out all their fuel for hypocrisy fairly quickly. They are just expected to behave thusly and if they have trouble pray harder. IMO that is a great failing in religious terms. It is little wonder to me then that Christianity has had to plunder all its spiritualism, rituals, celebrations and more, from the religions around it and has been most successful in spreading the "word" by fire and sword. Really, if you think about it, it's simply bizarre to abandon another religion for one so empty, that is, unless someone is going to burn you to death if you don't.
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