Some dogmas and core beliefs of Christianity are:

1. Christ's death (to atone for the sins of all mankind, forever)
2. Christ's resurrection after 3 days (Easter)(conquered death)
3. Christ ascension to heaven 40 days after Easter (gods can fly)
4. Pentecost - Holy Spirit 7 weeks after Easter (invisible power)
5. Christ's second coming (judgement day, Armageddon)

Some dogmas and core beliefs of Christianity are:

1. Christ's death (to atone for the sins of all mankind, forever)
2. Christ's resurrection after 3 days (Easter)(conquered death)
3. Christ ascension to heaven 40 days after Easter (gods can fly)
4. Pentecost - Holy Spirit 7 weeks after Easter (invisible power)
5. Christ's second coming (judgement day, Armageddon)

It is not difficult to understand how the first one, the idea of Jesus,
the son of God, having to die for our sins and the sins of all mankind
for all times 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,
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, one 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 gift 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 and forever!

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 and 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, and of course ending up with the claim of
being the only 'true' religion.
-----------

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 (sexual)
guilt, despair and loneliness. The idea that there really is salvation,
there is approval, there is absolution of guilt, there is total
acceptance by the 'Father' is so appealing!

There is no cynicism, no sarcasm here.
It is all man made, by brilliant thinkers, philosophers and prophets.
The simple fact is that all religions and 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.
Without his death, there would be no salvation.

It is a philosophy that evolved from older pagan religions
that had human sacrifices at their center.

Although I can understand where it came from, I
fully realize it is all man made.

Of course it is a philosophy and belief I do not support.

For example, there are over 100 billion stars in our
galaxy and over 100 billion galaxies in the visible universe.
Even if every galaxy has only one planet with intelligent life on
it (a very low estimate), there would be 100 billion planets Jesus
would have had to visit and would have to die on.
It is just not a rational idea.

Christianity's beliefs are ancient beliefs, constructed by many
thinkers over thousands of years. That's why there are so
many strange, illogical and contradictory constructs in it.
Many scholars, prophets, rulers and translators have added and changed
it and inserted their own newer ideas, all the time.

That's why it often does not make sense to educated people who live
now.

Many people force themselves in all kind of mental contortions
to make sense out of Christianity's central beliefs, to
understand it, to understand the rationale. They are trying
desperately, they think, to understand the 'Word of God'.

So they study the Bible and the many explanations about it
throughout their lives, often a very laborious struggle.
However what they are really trying to do, is to understand the
words and wisdom of many different human beings who lived many
ages ago, and the many intermingled philosophies of life from
many different societies and religions.

Many people therefore also get very very lost in doing that.
So after a while they often give up all further thinking or
questioning, and they 'submit' or 'surrender' and 'give themselves up
to the Lord'.

After that they will forever parrot the standard slogans fed to them.
Such as 'we are all born in sin, so that's why Jesus had to die, and it
was really God's mercy to give us Jesus in order for us to attain
salvation and eternal life', etc.

They get lost and succumb for the simple reason that the belief
structure is a patchwork and mixture of older religions. So it is
often illogical and based on a variety of different notions.
The whole structure therefore is not simple, logical and
self-explanatory. It is a mixture of ideas, from different societies,
from different times, and from different authors and translators.

A simple example is the difference between the Old and New Testament.
The 'Old' core is an eye-for-an eye, law and militarism,
the 'New' core is love and compassion and forgiveness.
Contradictory philosophies.

As tomorrow is Easter, I have a question (for thinkers and
students/scholars of
religions and comparative religions - Christianity, Judaism, Islam, as
well as older religions) that intrigues me:

Resurrection - In view of the above, who can give an explanation
of why the resurrection of Jesus was added to the dogmas
of Christianity? Where did it come from? What was the idea?
Where/what are its roots in older religions?

Michael M Terra

Some dogmas and core beliefs of Christianity are:

1. Christ's death (to atone for the sins of all mankind, forever)
2. Christ's resurrection after 3 days (Easter)(conquered death)
3. Christ ascension to heaven 40 days after Easter (gods can fly)
4. Pentecost - Holy Spirit 7 weeks after Easter (invisible power)
5. Christ's second coming (judgement day, Armageddon)

It is not difficult to understand how the first one, the idea of Jesus,
the son of God, having to die for our sins and the sins of all mankind
for all times came into being.

Some dogmas and core beliefs of Christianity are:

1. Christ's death (to atone for the sins of all mankind, forever)
2. Christ's resurrection after 3 days (Easter)(conquered death)
3. Christ ascension to heaven 40 days after Easter (gods can fly)
4. Pentecost - Holy Spirit 7 weeks after Easter (invisible power)
5. Christ's second coming (judgement day, Armageddon)

Some dogmas and core beliefs of Christianity are:

1. Christ's death (to atone for the sins of all mankind, forever)
2. Christ's resurrection after 3 days (Easter)(conquered death)
3. Christ ascension to heaven 40 days after Easter (gods can fly)
4. Pentecost - Holy Spirit 7 weeks after Easter (invisible power)
5. Christ's second coming (judgement day, Armageddon)

Resurrection - In view of the above, who can give an explanation
of why the resurrection of Jesus was added to the dogmas
of Christianity? Where did it come from? What was the idea?
Where/what are its roots in older religions?

As tomorrow is Easter, I have a question (for thinkers and
students/scholars of
religions and comparative religions - Christianity, Judaism, Islam, as
well as older religions) that intrigues me:

Resurrection - In view of the above, who can give an explanation
of why the resurrection of Jesus was added to the dogmas
of Christianity? Where did it come from? What was the idea?
Where/what are its roots in older religions?

Resurrection - In view of the above, who can give an explanation
of why the resurrection of Jesus was added to the dogmas
of Christianity? Where did it come from? What was the idea?
Where/what are its roots in older religions?

Some dogmas and core beliefs of Christianity are:

1. Christ's death (to atone for the sins of all mankind, forever)
2. Christ's resurrection after 3 days (Easter)(conquered death)
3. Christ ascension to heaven 40 days after Easter (gods can fly)
4. Pentecost - Holy Spirit 7 weeks after Easter (invisible power)
5. Christ's second coming (judgement day, Armageddon)

It is not difficult to understand how the first one, the idea of Jesus,
the son of God, having to die for our sins and the sins of all mankind
for all times 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,
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, one 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 gift 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 and forever!

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 and 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, and of course ending up with the claim of
being the only 'true' religion.
-----------

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 (sexual)
guilt, despair and loneliness. The idea that there really is salvation,
there is approval, there is absolution of guilt, there is total
acceptance by the 'Father' is so appealing!

There is no cynicism, no sarcasm here.
It is all man made, by brilliant thinkers, philosophers and prophets.
The simple fact is that all religions and 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.
Without his death, there would be no salvation.

It is a philosophy that evolved from older pagan religions
that had human sacrifices at their center.

Although I can understand where it came from, I
fully realize it is all man made.

Of course it is a philosophy and belief I do not support.

For example, there are over 100 billion stars in our
galaxy and over 100 billion galaxies in the visible universe.
Even if every galaxy has only one planet with intelligent life on
it (a very low estimate), there would be 100 billion planets Jesus
would have had to visit and would have to die on.
It is just not a rational idea.

Christianity's beliefs are ancient beliefs, constructed by many
thinkers over thousands of years. That's why there are so
many strange, illogical and contradictory constructs in it.
Many scholars, prophets, rulers and translators have added and changed
it and inserted their own newer ideas, all the time.

That's why it often does not make sense to educated people who live
now.

Many people force themselves in all kind of mental contortions
to make sense out of Christianity's central beliefs, to
understand it, to understand the rationale. They are trying
desperately, they think, to understand the 'Word of God'.

So they study the Bible and the many explanations about it
throughout their lives, often a very laborious struggle.
However what they are really trying to do, is to understand the
words and wisdom of many different human beings who lived many
ages ago, and the many intermingled philosophies of life from
many different societies and religions.

Many people therefore also get very very lost in doing that.
So after a while they often give up all further thinking or
questioning, and they 'submit' or 'surrender' and 'give themselves up
to the Lord'.

After that they will forever parrot the standard slogans fed to them.
Such as 'we are all born in sin, so that's why Jesus had to die, and it
was really God's mercy to give us Jesus in order for us to attain
salvation and eternal life', etc.

They get lost and succumb for the simple reason that the belief
structure is a patchwork and mixture of older religions. So it is
often illogical and based on a variety of different notions.
The whole structure therefore is not simple, logical and
self-explanatory. It is a mixture of ideas, from different societies,
from different times, and from different authors and translators.

A simple example is the difference between the Old and New Testament.
The 'Old' core is an eye-for-an eye, law and militarism,
the 'New' core is love and compassion and forgiveness.
Contradictory philosophies.

As tomorrow is Easter, I have a question (for thinkers and
students/scholars of
religions and comparative religions - Christianity, Judaism, Islam, as
well as older religions) that intrigues me:

Resurrection - In view of the above, who can give an explanation
of why the resurrection of Jesus was added to the dogmas
of Christianity? Where did it come from? What was the idea?
Where/what are its roots in older religions?

Some dogmas and core beliefs of Christianity are:

Resurrection - In view of the above, who can give an explanation
of why the resurrection of Jesus was added to the dogmas
of Christianity? Where did it come from? What was the idea?
Where/what are its roots in older religions?