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Oh North Carolina how wrong you are. I turned away from Christianity because the dogma of the church was too much for me to handle and creation theory made no sense to me. However, I was raised in a Christian family and believe that looking toward Jesus the man as an example of how to live holds plenty of validity.
Oh North Carolina how wrong you are. I turned away from Christianity because the dogma of the church was too much for me to handle and creation theory made no sense to me. However, I was raised in a Christian family and believe that looking toward Jesus the man as an example of how to live holds plenty of validity.
I hesitate to even answer because I am in my own personal turmoil right now and will probably regret sharing my feelings. But here I find myself on the religion forum looking for something that I once had. I believe he exsisted and had a message of peace for people in the same way that Buddha did. I believe in non-violence, in kindness, in hope and I believe in that part of his message.
I think that if Jesus wasn't who he said He was, the rest of it doesn't even matter. Everybody might as well give himself over to his own selfish needs and desires because, in the end, it wouldn't make any difference if it was done nicely or not.
If Jesus isn't who He said He is, there is NO LOVE because none of it would be true.
Just by coincidence I happened to watch The Da Vinci Code on television last night and that's the basis for the story as you probably all know except it threw in the idea that Jesus was also married and had a child. I do think that Jesus existed as I've said on other posts but I don't think he was the son of God or had supernatural powers. Still, he was one of the most influential figures in history and his basic philosophy was one of compassion and forgiveness. He deserves credit as a man who promoted peace and harmony in the world much like Gandi or Martin Luther King did centuries later. I think that when the message of Jesus became a religion and became very powerful that it became corrupted and was often very destructive but I wouldn't lay the blame on Jesus, I'd blame the followers of Jesus who distorted his message and abused their power.
Location: Somewhere along the path to where I'd like to be.
2,180 posts, read 5,424,998 times
Reputation: 829
Quote:
Originally Posted by MTbound
Oh North Carolina how wrong you are. I turned away from Christianity because the dogma of the church was too much for me to handle and creation theory made no sense to me. However, I was raised in a Christian family and believe that looking toward Jesus the man as an example of how to live holds plenty of validity.
Some might say you never believed in Jesus to begin with.
Location: Somewhere along the path to where I'd like to be.
2,180 posts, read 5,424,998 times
Reputation: 829
Quote:
Originally Posted by MontanaGuy
Just by coincidence I happened to watch The Da Vinci Code on television last night and that's the basis for the story as you probably all know except it threw in the idea that Jesus was also married and had a child. I do think that Jesus existed as I've said on other posts but I don't think he was the son of God or had supernatural powers. Still, he was one of the most influential figures in history and his basic philosophy was one of compassion and forgiveness. He deserves credit as a man who promoted peace and harmony in the world much like Gandi or Martin Luther King did centuries later. I think that when the message of Jesus became a religion and became very powerful that it became corrupted and was often very destructive but I wouldn't lay the blame on Jesus, I'd blame the followers of Jesus who distorted his message and abused their power.
But the followers of Jesus were his church. And He said that not even the gates of hell would prevail against His church.
I have a friend who is writing a thesis paper titled, "The Jesus Myth" or something like that. He isn't contesting that Jesus was alive, but that he was a diety.
Jesus taught all about loving all, forgiveness and tolerance for others. So the question is: Even if you don't believe in Him as savior, why not live as he taught us to?
Rules of Engagement:
This is a hypothetical question, please do not use this to try to prove that Jesus was or wasn't God. The assumption for the question is that He wasn't, so those of you that believe need to look at it from the other side to answer. Opinions only, no scripture unless it pertains to why His teachings were good to follow or not good to follow, not why He was God.
Irish, I do love these IMO threads, because I can give my opinion without someone wantin to fight. So hypotheticaly, If I knew about this guy who lived 2000 years ago who went seeking out richmen, poor men, beggermen and thieves, harlots, lepers and seemed to love them and have compassion for them when no one else seemed to.This fellow has my interest so I will do a little more studying on him. I find out that he is telling people how they can be happier if they love everyone as much as they love themselves, and that if you can forgive people how much easier your life is . He sort of reminds me of modern people like Norman Vincent Peale, Billy Graham,
and the guy I work with.They all seem to be so happy and at peace with themselves. They tell me that they also heard about Jesus and just sort of patterned their lives after the things that he told people. I guess I would figure that if his love and teachings transcended time and that people who actually knew him said he was murdered because the politicians hated that he was bringing the people a message of love..Yes I would want to pattern my life after the things he said
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