Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Good comments. I know, I agree as well that Jesus is a dead man and can not come back, but I guess I am saying that if we (the Athiests) were by some chance "wrong" and all those myths were true and this Jesus fella did actually come back, that the christians would probably kill him if he told them the reality they cling to in their heads is totally wrong. What I am saying is that the christians have taken their theories so far over the years, and put so much of their own self worth into these beliefs, that the monster is so big now that even the man they claim to worship would not be able to sway them from the world they have built in their minds.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jackyfrost01
If someone DID come along stating they were the rebirth, even Christians would be skeptical and likely put the guy away in a funny farm.
If Jesus was alive today, Christians would be throwing stones through his windows.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tic_constant
Montanaguy,
Got some Q's for you.
Where do you think all the resurrection mumbo jumbo came from? What do you think happened to the body? What motivated his followers to die for their belief in his resurrection?
The same thing that motivated the Heaven's Gate followers to die for their beliefs or Japanese Kamikaze pilots to die for their beliefs or the followers of Jim Jones to die for their beliefs. People have always been prepared to give their lives for what they believed was true or just - they always will.
Well, as an atheist this speculation strikes me as about as useful as wondering what would happen if Zeus or Darth Vader showed up.
That said... Woody Guthrie gave his thoughts on this matter in his 1940 song, Jesus Christ. The song discusses the life of Jesus and how he was killed for his beliefs. The last verse is as follows:
Quote:
This song was written in New York City
Of rich man, preacher, and slave
If Jesus was to preach what He preached in Galilee,
They would lay poor Jesus in His grave.
"If Jesus was alive today, Christians would be throwing stones through his windows." Can't rep you Old Faella, but I laughed. I was reminded of some recent poster saying that Jesus would at least support (tacitly) the rights of Gays even though he thought it was a sin (how the poster knew what Jesus thought about it escapes me) but his failure to stand up for What is Moral when the Right Wing Fundamentalists demand that he speak out would probably find him being denounced as an atheist.
He can't return, he's a dead man. That's assuming he even existed in the first place.
Exactly. The OP's hypothetical is kind of pointless. Asia and the Middle East were overrun with prophets, seers, wise men, etc., and it's all a scam, an attempt to control people and generate income. Nothing has changed much in that regard.
Last edited by KaraZetterberg153; 09-16-2018 at 08:59 AM..
Last night I was drifting off thinking about things (watch out!), thinking about religion and it's crazy little obsessed followers and something dawned on me. I do believe there was a man named Jesus Christ, I do believe this man wanted a peaceful world, I don't believe this man was anything more than just a man with good intentions who did truly love people. Over the years and through the bible his words have been distorted, stretched, altered, and twisted to meet mans own selfish vision.
So, what if this man Jesus came back today and confronted all his followers that they are all wrong? That they are all brainwashed? What if he pointed out that 95% of the scriptures were all wrong? I bet you anything the christians would call him a false prophet and dismiss him entirely. It seems like even if the christians had their own god right in front of them and it wasn't what they had visioned it all in their mind that they would ban together and lynch him. I bet they would. Shows you how insane all of it is. So if thier saviour ever does return, and it's not the way they imagined it, what then?
What do you all think?
I only have one quote for you regarding this.
It was uttered by a middle-aged man participating in a discussion panel of conservative Republicans on CNN.
This is a verbatim quote -- no paraphrasing:
"If Jesus Christ himself crawled down off his cross and told me that President Trump was colluding with the Russians, I would have to say, 'Wait a minute! I better go ask the president to find out if that's true.'"
While I'm sure that's not the sentiment of every Christian, I played the clip again and again and again because I was watching the reaction of the rest of the panel. How did they seem to take what this man said. Shouldn't there be outrage? But not a single one of them seemed the least bit uncomfortable, insulted, annoyed, or troubled by such a blasphemous sentiment.
Too many Christians these days couldn't care less about Jesus and, if this were some how possible, they care even *less* about his teachings.
Modern American Christianity is largely a resurgence of Bronze Age Judaism where Yahweh, not Jesus, is the deity with whom they do their direct business. Help the poor? Nonsense. In fact, let's do everything in our power to cut funding for -- or eradicate -- any government program that helps them. Make them all go out and get a job, dammit! Never minding, of course, that the number of living wage jobs available for the bottom 50% of the IQ gene pool are diminishing quite rapidly with another 7 million low- and non-skilled jobs expected to disappear by 2020 thanks to automation.
I heard about these 7 million endangered jobs in late spring of 2017 when road construction season begins in earnest. Sure enough, all the flagmen disappeared, replaced by automatic traffic lights that tell you when it's safe to travel in the opposite lane. Hmm, coincidence? Probably not.
And it certainly isn't about "he who is without sin cast the first stone" given that today's Christianity is more shocked and dismayed over gays and transgendered than they are about thousands of cases of pedophilia and rape going back 70 years -- and the Church itself covering it up at the expense of untold numbers of victims.
No, no, they'll be happy to cast the first stone ... and the second ... and the third.
Love thy neighbor? Turn the other cheek? Do unto others? Absolutely not. "Judge" thy neighbor is more like it, and if your neighbor is found wanting, you don't turn your cheek, you slap the cheek of your neighbor for daring to disobey the revealed Word of God! Today, evanglists and fundamentalists happily and shamelessly march along side Nazis, the KKK, and even the American Family Association -- all considered official hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
And all of that isn't even scratching the surface -- tickling it perhaps, but certainly not scratching it.
Jesus and his teachings have largely become irrelevant to the politically active squeaky wheels lobbying for their authoritarian brand of theocracy --which means Jesus' return would be a terrible inconvenience to them. No doubt they would point at the Son of God and scream, "Fake! Just like the news. Fake!" Then ask him who he voted for ...
Last night I was drifting off thinking about things (watch out!), thinking about religion and it's crazy little obsessed followers and something dawned on me. I do believe there was a man named Jesus Christ, I do believe this man wanted a peaceful world, I don't believe this man was anything more than just a man with good intentions who did truly love people. Over the years and through the bible his words have been distorted, stretched, altered, and twisted to meet mans own selfish vision.
So, what if this man Jesus came back today and confronted all his followers that they are all wrong? That they are all brainwashed? What if he pointed out that 95% of the scriptures were all wrong? I bet you anything the christians would call him a false prophet and dismiss him entirely. It seems like even if the christians had their own god right in front of them and it wasn't what they had visioned it all in their mind that they would ban together and lynch him. I bet they would. Shows you how insane all of it is. So if thier saviour ever does return, and it's not the way they imagined it, what then?
What do you all think?
To some of the responders...the OP is just saying "what if".
And I like this kind of "what if".
There's an interesting fictional movie this reminds me of called "The Body".
But another "what if" that has often occurred to me -- what if tomorrow there was conclusive evidence that Jesus was actually a Black man...and I mean an African "Negro". I wonder what would happen in the American bible belt.
But another "what if" that has often occurred to me -- what if tomorrow there was conclusive evidence that Jesus was actually a Black man...and I mean an African "Negro". I wonder what would happen in the American bible belt.
How about if Jesus was proved to have been a bi-sexual black woman, I mean if were going to dream about Christian consternation, let's go all the way.
Or worst of all.....what if they discovered that Jesus was actually a Jew?
I have always been more compelled by the evidence that, during his lost years, the one we know as "Christ Jesus" spent years in Asia learning wisdom from masters of other traditions.
He mastered that wisdom (what eastern tradition calls illuminating all 7 chakras) and returned to teach others. The primitive people thought he was a miracle worker (instead of just a master of physics) and turned him into a god.
As for the return, I think that he demonstrated what all humans are capable of achieving (and, really, the only reason we're here). He never demanded to be worshipped and it's doubtful his actual life was anything like the mythology we know today (the same mythology that has existed in cultures for thousands of years).
His return, I believe, will simply be an awakening of the collective consciousness to this untapped potential of the the mind. We are now a physically mature society. I suspect it's time to turn our growth inward to the next frontier.
When I say "I believe", I mean it in the sense that I have been guided through extraordinary journeys by forces far beyond my rational cognizance and through experiences with other physical people and objects for which I had no control, yet aligned perfectly.
So, for me, it would be an extraordinary leap of faith to believe there is nothing else out there. In fact, I would have to deny my entire existence to begin to trick myself that I'm somehow making it up (I say that because everytime I post on the Atheists forum I get a one-line attack that I'm delusional or some other over-simplified dismissal).
It's actually quite humorous going from being attacked by the religious literalists who think I'm taken by the devil and the Atheists who think I'm insane.
...clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right...
Don't let the religious literalists cloud your view of what Christ actually said and did. It was quite profound and had nothing to do with following rules in a book.
You may believe anything you like.
But you have no more evidence for what you've described above than the christians do for their beliefs in general.
And this type of tale is not unusual in a variety of religions. The Mormons claim Jesus was in the Americas. There are "Buddha footprints" all over Southeast Asia and mainland Asia, supposedly proving that Buddha was in virtually every Asian nation.
What I'm talking about isn't just "Oh look! I got money when I needed it!" I'm talking about a knock down, drag out spiritual quests that took me to the edge and shattered the veil that hides the great unknown from us. I have seen and experienced things that simply do not exist in the reality we think we know. And they weren't just in my mind.
The veil is very thin for me between the other side and this one. All I could suggest, if you're interested, is to just trust. Stop assuming you know anything about the world in which we live. Stop dismissing coincidence and "intuition" in favor of logic and rationality.
See where it takes you. Just don't judge it. Let it come. You'll see what I mean. Not a belief in anything.
Or maybe you are delusional...about this topic.
I've known people who have told similar stories.
It comes down to this -- I'm not going to believe any single person who has these "special" experiences that are not shared by...well, at the very least...most people. That's akin to conspiracy thinking, etc.
But of course, you are free to believe what you wish.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
