Religions > Atheism > Comparitive religions - where did the ideas of christianity come from?
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Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"" |
| Date: |
08 Apr 2005 04:24:21 AM |
| Object: |
Comparitive religions - where did the ideas of christianity come from? |
1. Christ's death
2. Christ's resurrection after 3 days (Easter)
3. Christ ascension to heaven 40 days after Easter
4. Pentecost - Holy Spirit 7 weeks after Easter
5. Christ's second coming
It is not difficult to understand how the first one, the idea of Christ
having to die for our sins and the sins of all mankind came into being.
In the thousands of years before Christ, in many cultures human
sacrifices were seen as the ultimate appeasement with God or the
gods, seen as the best offering to atone for sins, to beg for
forgiveness, to ask for blessings, to ward of disasters, famine,
epidemics, to obtain salvation, etc..
As you study the many religions in the middle east and in other
areas of the world over thousands of years, you will find similar
philosophies, similar explanations, similar stories, similar gods,
similar miracles (e.g., walking on water), similar myths.
Even Abraham, according to the Bible, came close to sacrificing his
son Isaac. An ultimate sacrifice is to offer your own son!
It is not new. So the brilliant idea of the ultimate human sacrifice
to appease God --- for all sins -- for all of mankind -- and forever
--- came into being.
A brilliant philosophy, a grandiose idea of salvation.
------------------
However who or what could be so grand, so out of this world 'big',
so all encompassing, as to qualify for a total appeasement with God???
------------------
So the idea was born that God, the loving God, loved us so dearly,
that he gave of himself, the ultimate of mercy.
As with Abraham, the only person that comes close is the son!
(remember that in those times sons were regarded as the
all-important children).
So the idea of the 'son of God' was created, the son - an ultimate
sacrifice! So God sacrificed his own son to atone for all the sins
in the world, forever. The parallel with Abraham's story and other
similar stories in many religions on an individual level is very clear.
This new bigger idea expanded the atonement not to one individual
or one family or one tribe, but it applied to all mankind!
Really a brilliant idea of hope and mercy, for all of mankind.
A brilliant idea to appease God and get relief of the 'guilt' of
sin, for all human beings for all times.
A brilliant idea that despite all our 'sins' we really have been
saved, we all have been forgiven.
These ideas then historically evolved into beliefs and absolute
truths and then finally in a structured religion with laws, dogmas,
etc., called Christianity.
It is all man made, by brilliant thinkers and philosophers.
It has appealed to many people over many ages, so it is very likely
tied to our biological and psychological coming of age, possibly
during childhood and puberty, the coming of age of feeling terrible
guilt, despair and loneliness. The idea that there really is salvation,
there is approval, there is absolution of guilt is so appealing!
There is no cynicism, no sarcasm here.
It is all man made, by brilliant thinkers and philosophers.
Because all religions and all gods are man made.
This explains how the central Christian dogma and belief
of the son having to be sacrificed for our sins came into being:
Beliefs in human sacrifices evolved over thousands of years into
a belief in the ultimate human sacrifice, the son of God.
That's why in Christianity Jesus had to die.
It is a philosophy that evolved from older pagan religions.
Nevertheless, it is all man made.
It is all made up. It is a successor of primitive beliefs.
It is a philosophy and belief I do not support.
It is a philosophy and belief based on time-bound assumptions,
made by ancient peoples over thousands of years.
I have the following questions for thinkers and students/scholars of
comparitive religions:
1. Resurrection - Linked to the above, who can give a good explanation
of why the philosophy of Christ's resurrection was added to the
dogmas of Christianity? Where did it come from? What was the idea?
Where are its roots in older pagan religions?
2. Ascension - What are the origins of the belief in the ascension?
3. Pentecost - Where does the strange idea of a Holy Ghost come from?
What does it add, other than confusion and a step away from
monotheism?
4. Where does the idea of Christ's final return (the end of the
world, the second coming) as well as the 'rapture' come from?
Preachers, parrotting the usual and meaningless christian slogans,
do not need to reply. They have no explanations, as they cannot
understand that Christianity is manmade and grew out of older
religions.
I hope to get some replies from skeptics and scholars who have
an understanding of how and why religions were created, how they relate
to human and social psychology, how they evolved, how the above
questions relate to older religions.
With regards,
Michael M. Terra
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| User: "raven1" |
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| Title: Re: Comparitive religions - where did the ideas of christianity come from? |
08 Apr 2005 05:14:04 AM |
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On 7 Apr 2005 21:24:21 -0700, wrote:
1. Christ's death
2. Christ's resurrection after 3 days (Easter)
3. Christ ascension to heaven 40 days after Easter
4. Pentecost - Holy Spirit 7 weeks after Easter
5. Christ's second coming
It is not difficult to understand how the first one, the idea of Christ
having to die for our sins and the sins of all mankind came into being.
In the thousands of years before Christ, in many cultures human
sacrifices were seen as the ultimate appeasement with God or the
gods, seen as the best offering to atone for sins, to beg for
forgiveness, to ask for blessings, to ward of disasters, famine,
epidemics, to obtain salvation, etc..
As you study the many religions in the middle east and in other
areas of the world over thousands of years, you will find similar
philosophies, similar explanations, similar stories, similar gods,
similar miracles (e.g., walking on water), similar myths.
Even Abraham, according to the Bible, came close to sacrificing his
son Isaac. An ultimate sacrifice is to offer your own son!
"God said to Abraham, 'kill me your son',
Abe said 'man, you must be puttin' me on!'
God said 'no', Abe said 'what?'
God said 'you can do what you want,
But the next time you see me coming, you'd better run!'
Abe said 'where you want that killin' done?',
God said 'out on Highway 61!'"
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