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I'd honestly like for you to post the location to your resources which backs up that comment.
You don't know about this?
You're an intelligent guy, Pathwalker, you should brush up on your World History.
There's a great (but long-winded) book called "Europe and the People Without History" by Eric Wolf. It doesn't focus much on religion but it goes into great detail about how and when Europeans colonized almost the entire world. The "People Without History" are the common people, slaves, impoverished, illiterate, etc who were bowled over by the Europeans. This book is essentially a history of colonization from their point of view (in as much as the limited historical record allows).
If you can get through the wordiness (I read it in college and it was a chore, but worth it!) it'll illuminate some of what the OP is talking about. And give you a new perspective on human history.
Location: Somewhere along the path to where I'd like to be.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by b. frank
You don't know about this?
You're an intelligent guy, Pathwalker, you should brush up on your World History.
There's a great (but long-winded) book called "Europe and the People Without History" by Eric Wolf. It doesn't focus much on religion but it goes into great detail about how and when Europeans colonized almost the entire world. The "People Without History" are the common people, slaves, impoverished, illiterate, etc who were bowled over by the Europeans. This book is essentially a history of colonization from their point of view (in as much as the limited historical record allows).
If you can get through the wordiness (I read it in college and it was a chore, but worth it!) it'll illuminate some of what the OP is talking about. And give you a new perspective on human history.
That's irrelevant to the point at hand, which is that the western monotheistic religions are supposedly more selfish than the eastern polytheistic religions. The east doesn't seem to think we're greedy and selfish when we provide them with the help they need during times of catastrophe.
But whatever, I'm just a stupid Christian who doesn't know anything.
The case could be made that they SAY they believe in one god but in reality they believe in three. God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Sounds more like 3 gods too me.
Then of course there are Catholics who pray to Mary as well AND all the multitudes of Saints, that sounds like they have 100s of gods.
Then of course the Mormons have Joseph Smith, definetly a god.
The Seventh Day Adventist Church has Ellen White, another god.
Scientologists have L. Ron Hubbard, another god.
I think Christianity wants to make themselves LOOK different then the so called pagan religions by saying they believe in only one when in reality they are no different.
All the confusion is a result of not understanding what most are saying , actually. ( whether they know it or not ). GOD is a state of mind. The belief that there are one God , or 100 Gods , or , things or people they worship , doesn't really mean anything. Modern day religion ( if there is such a thing ) , is based on age old traditions. When it comes down to what most people believe , in their heart , it doesn't mater, what does , is that they are satisfied in the way they have it figured out. God , IS a state of mind.....
That's irrelevant to the point at hand, which is that the western monotheistic religions are supposedly more selfish than the eastern polytheistic religions. The east doesn't seem to think we're greedy and selfish when we provide them with the help they need during times of catastrophe.
But whatever, I'm just a stupid Christian who doesn't know anything.
It's not irrelevant. I was trying to help you find a way to understand the perspective you described above. It'll take more than a post on an online forum to really get into this stuff. But if you're not interested then "whatever" back at ya.
Contrary to the popular belief, most eastern religions such as Hinduism, believe in one God too, the "Gods" like Shiva, Ganesha, Shiva, Brahma, etc are just concepts of aspects of different characteristics of God.
Brahma is the creative characteristic of spirit, that who gives life
Vishnu is the preservative characteristic of spirit, that who supports life
Shiva is the destructive characteristic of spirit, that who destroys, life has to end isn't it? but he is also the destroyer of sin and ignorance among other things.
Hinduists know that all these aspects are just diferent characteristics of Parambrahma (Spirit) who has always existed and created everything
Krsna is a very special character in Hinduism, he is the India's Christ (hence the Krsna title) he is a son of God who awoke and came to the physical plane to help people get back to God just like Christ did.
Krsna's human name is Jadava
Christ's human name is Jesus
but they became Jesus the Christ and Jadava the Krsna or (Christna) because they manifested the Christ consciousness.
btw Jesus was born in the middle east in Bethlehem so he is an easterner that westerners adopted
Jesus life and Jadava's life are full of similarities, they were both born in hard circumstances and had to be hidden to escape death by kings who wanted to murder the messiahs, they both died tragically, Christ had to defeat satan and Krsna had to defeat vedic demons that symbolize evil just like satan does.
Love and Light!
Namaste and shukriya (thanks) for this great post!
I find the idea of just one God to be unrealistic but having a whole bunch of them is even more far fetched. The Muslims and Jews have a similar belief, that there's just one God, and I suppose that the history that they have in common could have shaped this idea. Cultures develop their mythology in their own unique way so I don't think I would criticize Christianity for this particular reason. I don't see anything necessarily positive or negative about it at all, that's just how Christianity developed into it's own religion.
I find the idea of just one God to be unrealistic but having a whole bunch of them is even more far fetched. The Muslims and Jews have a similar belief, that there's just one God, and I suppose that the history that they have in common could have shaped this idea. Cultures develop their mythology in their own unique way so I don't think I would criticize Christianity for this particular reason. I don't see anything necessarily positive or negative about it at all, that's just how Christianity developed into it's own religion.
You make a good statement , however , It would seem to me that having multi Gods , or whatever , like say the Indians gave reverence to nature-, the wind , rain , and all things natural , does make for an easer way to understand , things , we have no control of..........
How do you explain the fact that the west is generally called upon for aid when a global catastrophe strikes?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tricky D
Originally Posted by Pathwalker That is because in the past the west has forced itself upon the east (and the north and the south) through colonisation, in which they took as much valuable recourses as they could.
How do you make that correlation. That's not a logical response.
I'd honestly like for you to post the location to your resources which backs up that comment.
My source is every Dutch (or European) history book. In the medieval times the Dutch with their VOC were a world power. For a country that is no bigger than 1 of your American big cities, that is quite a feat. The VOC were unscrupulous and ruthless merchants and trade was the only god they worshipped.
They conquered whole nations by the dividing them internally and they didn't care how that was accomplished. They mostly favoured natives who converted to Christianity, since the Dutch were 'Christians' themselves.
The VOC were Christians who didn't mind slavery, prostitution or whatever, as long as it brought them profit.
Only after WWII did the Netherlands give up their colonies like Indonesia.
Originally Posted by Dave1215
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pathwalker
Quote:
How do you explain the fact that the west is generally called upon for aid when a global catastrophe strikes?
Originally Posted by Tricky D
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pathwalker That is because in the past the west has forced itself upon the east (and the north and the south) through colonisation, in which they took as much valuable recourses as they could.
How do you make that correlation. That's not a logical response.
Because begging from a poor nation is fruitless. The west sucked their colonies dry before they abandoned or 'freed' them.
How else do you think the west became filthy rich?
Originally Posted by Pathwalker
Quote:
Actually, no I'm not an intelligent guy. In fact, I'm quite an imbecile.
I don't know if you're being sarcastic, but the problem is that if you keep repeating that long enough, you'll eventually believe it. It kinda works like a self-fulfilling prophecy.
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That is because in the past the west has forced itself upon the east (and the north and the south) through colonisation, in which they took as much valuable recourses as they could.
How do you make that correlation. That's not a logical response.
Because begging from a poor nation is fruitless. The west sucked their colonies dry before they abandoned or 'freed' them.
I don't know if you're being sarcastic, but the problem is that if you keep repeating that long enough, you'll eventually believe it. It kinda works like a self-fulfilling prophecy.
