Christianity as a religion....

[s.gal83]

What are your opinions of christianity as a religion?
I am asking this because I used to be a christian.

I think christianity is very intolerant of other religions and the occult. I also find that the god of christianity has very low moral values. He murders children, women and babies and tortures people who don't believe in him for eternity.

[AharaVimaladvaita]

I can only say that it is not the religion that has give up on men, but it is a men who give up on religion!!

[AharaVimaladvaita]

I perfectly agree with you!!!!!!!

[Jastiv]

My big issues with it are a couple things.
1) people who see the bible as the literal truth
2) blind authority worship, of god, of the church etc.

And then there are the other issues I have with it, namely the tediousness of the rituals. You could go to church every week and just feel more and more bored every time you go. ... of course that would probably be true of a lot of religious and spiritual practices.

[zero]

I respect the idea of Christ but he has nothing to do with today's Christianity.

[ThisIsNecessary]

Yes Christ would not agree with what is being done in his name nowadays. Sickeningly pathetic and it will be the death of us if things do not change immediately.

But really though, you can state the same criticisms against ANY organized religion out there, and you must remember that you can't single out one bad apple when the majority of the whole barrell is rotten.

[zero]

But really though, you can state the same criticisms against ANY organized religion out there, and you must remember that you can't single out one bad apple when the majority of the whole barrell is rotten.

I agree with this.

change indeed, there seems to be a stagnation in most religions. Do as thy will, but a lot of people seem to be unhappy about the state of things. Where as I can respect most religions, Christianity is not one of those.

perhaps my distaste is from TV, or that I'm American, or the intolerance I see from the majority of Christians, perhaps its because there seem to be people who are only christian, for politics, and all other reasons other than truth.

I myself may be ignorant, and indeed I am, learning is a tool for the wise, but from what I think I know of Christianity it is only a thing to learn from...much like "learn from the past, prepare for the future"

[Ambrose]

Christianity as a religion is about creating and improving a relationship with God.
Too bad that people used it however they wanted.
It is just you and God, no trying to forcefully convert people or killing people of different religions.Those people are insane.There is a passage that says something among the lines of:if your eye or hand becames the tool of sin cut it off and cast it away as it is better to live whitout that apendice than burning in hell whole.People that turn christianity into a way of fulfilling their unlegitimate needs would do just that, instead of thinking that maybe the author used a figure of speech.

[Nairn]

I'm not a Christian, although, I was raised as one. I think Christianity is a very mixed religion; on one side of the coin you have the very intolerant ones who will not hear an ill word spoken about their beliefs, regardless if it's true. On the other side you have the Christians who are actually very understanding about other religions and realize that they may not be right about everything under the sun & moon. And of course you have many types in between. In my opinion, Christianity, no matter what you think of it, you have to agree it has done evil in the name of 'God' but it's done much good for the world. It's given people hope, and help civilize many parts of the the world, albeit to expand their influence, but it's still respectable. I also think that their namesake- Jesus Christ is one of the wisest and most powerful spiritual teachers.

[zero]

so many faces, oh so many.

The Vatican is a relic of the past its power upon the soul has been reveled as false, and in such has been a light that never was(no relevance to the christian religion). If I wanted politics I would go to government now days.

Not something to be taken lightly, but I will say the Chine's have an interesting solution that is not war.

Judge thee not in light of my crown. Individualism is a nuance the past knew not. truth define it if you will, but in the end it will define you, and you, and you....

thank god

[angeress]

Does anybody know that the Catholic religion is the most wealthiest religion on Earth, if this was a business it woukd never go bust.
All religions like Christianity, Islam, Hinduism all thrive on keeping the masses ignorant. We Occultists are the way forward.:cool:

[007m]

60% of the present chrestianity's teachings are wrong. The real chrestianity has been lost, beacouse of the devil nature of the human beeing.
The rulers used it as a tool for mass-control.
But...christianity as other great religions has an advantage. It has deep rules, dogmas and an advanced form of hierarchy. And it matters.
Even if the (occult) cults and other beliefs are closer to the spiritual reality that does not mean that they are more efficient or they have true or deep roots in the past.
This is why we should not let any kind of information affect us, and try to meditate and find the true way by ourselves

[ThisIsNecessary]

"We Occultists are the way forward."

That's exactly the kind of thinking that gets religions in trouble, and not only is it dangerous, its also incorrect.

Angeress, I am not specifically talking directly to you or attacking your own beliefs, but if ANYBODY says that "We [insert whatever the hell you want here] are the way forward", that is a statement full of delusion. For example, to believe that Wicca isn't as pathetically sheltered, blind and fluffy as Christianity is to be in complete denial and ignorance, and it is also to misunderstand the process and dangers of beliefs. Beliefs are one thing, Ideas are another.

And furthermore, to believe that just because we study any range of 'occult' arts or any esoteric teaching does not elevate us above anyone else. To proclaim such is folly. I know plenty of hardcore Christians who use our sacred arts more potently than some occultists I know.

Just because you have a chest of treasures, doesn't mean you have the key. Some people are born with the key, others obtain it through years of hard work...and others adore the box without ever knowing(or even caring!) what the secrets inside really are. And the latter category is the one that most young lazy occultists fall into. The box sure does make you 'look cool', carrying it around and showcasing it for selfish attention, but for many the secrets inside will never see the light of day.

Just because you're not blindly following the cult of Christianity as presented by modern organized religion, doesn't mean that you aren't blindly following some other alternative that might be just as bad. Remember the lessons of humility.

[007m]

"We Occultists are the way forward."

That's exactly the kind of thinking that gets religions in trouble, and not only is it dangerous, its also incorrect.

Angeress, I am not specifically talking directly to you or attacking your own beliefs, but if ANYBODY says that "We [insert whatever the hell you want here] are the way forward", that is a statement full of delusion. For example, to believe that Wicca isn't as pathetically sheltered, blind and fluffy as Christianity is to be in complete denial and ignorance, and it is also to misunderstand the process and dangers of beliefs. Beliefs are one thing, Ideas are another.

And furthermore, to believe that just because we study any range of 'occult' arts or any esoteric teaching does not elevate us above anyone else. To proclaim such is folly. I know plenty of hardcore Christians who use our sacred arts more potently than some occultists I know.

Just because you have a chest of treasures, doesn't mean you have the key. Some people are born with the key, others obtain it through years of hard work...and others adore the box without ever knowing(or even caring!) what the secrets inside really are. And the latter category is the one that most young lazy occultists fall into. The box sure does make you 'look cool', carrying it around and showcasing it for selfish attention, but for many the secrets inside will never see the light of day.

Just because you're not blindly following the cult of Christianity as presented by modern organized religion, doesn't mean that you aren't blindly following some other alternative that might be just as bad. Remember the lessons of humility.
this is very true

[flyinghippo]

Christianity as a religion is about creating and improving a relationship with God.
Too bad that people used it however they wanted.
It is just you and God, no trying to forcefully convert people or killing people of different religions.Those people are insane.There is a passage that says something among the lines of:if your eye or hand becames the tool of sin cut it off and cast it away as it is better to live whitout that apendice than burning in hell whole.People that turn christianity into a way of fulfilling their unlegitimate needs would do just that, instead of thinking that maybe the author used a figure of speech.
I am Christian, and I agree with this completely. It does not affect me in the least if another person is not Christian, so I make sure that the way that I practice it does not affect others. There are many groups such as Westboro Baptist Church who obviously don't comprehend the Bible. It is a huge hypocrisy to turn down someone who is gay, or an abortionist, when that is one sin out of the many that people commit every day.

So I agree that the Bible and Jesus Christ have a great message, even for non-Christians, but many of today's Christian organizations are incredibly flawed.

[crowley666]

no, that line is telling you to ignore the darker side of your psyche. It's an offshoot of Jewish faith and god telling Lot and his family not to look back at Sodom and Gamora. Christianity is a modification of Jewish thought and it's one area that Christianity was to scared to touch on fearing it would tear apart society. The budha had the same problem with his concept of karma. In my mind Christianity represents the science of god.

[MissRachel]

Christianity is a disease, such as cancer, its spreading rampant ruin peoples life's all over the world. i will never acknowledge Christianity as a real religion either, a group of people that kills more people than Hitler and Stallin combined and gets away with it is not a religion, that is straight cancer. i also love how the bible is nothing but contradictions, love thy neighbor and such, but if they don't believe in the "christian god and Jesus" stone them until they are a big pile of dead **** half buried under perfectly good rocks. Christianity has got to end folks, any other religion is tolerable. and christian missionaries go way too far, telling people in Africa and Australia that their religion, that they've been practicing for thousands of years mind you, will only send them to hell, and these poor bastards have no clue what hell is. i say its total bullshit, and another thing, christian morals. **** christian morals. were in the land of the free but gays and lesbians cant get married because its "morally wrong" when priests are making lil joey alter boy play the holy skin flute, wheres the morals in that. honestly, Christianity pisses me off more than old folks in a huge ass 1980s Buick driving 20 under the speed limit.

[Deacan Lionsbane]

Christianity is a disease, such as cancer, its spreading rampant ruin peoples life's all over the world. i will never acknowledge Christianity as a real religion either, a group of people that kills more people than Hitler and Stallin combined and gets away with it is not a religion, that is straight cancer. i also love how the bible is nothing but contradictions, love thy neighbor and such, but if they don't believe in the "christian god and Jesus" stone them until they are a big pile of dead **** half buried under perfectly good rocks. Christianity has got to end folks, any other religion is tolerable. and christian missionaries go way too far, telling people in Africa and Australia that their religion, that they've been practicing for thousands of years mind you, will only send them to hell, and these poor bastards have no clue what hell is. i say its total bullshit, and another thing, christian morals. **** christian morals. were in the land of the free but gays and lesbians cant get married because its "morally wrong" when priests are making lil joey alter boy play the holy skin flute, wheres the morals in that. honestly, Christianity pisses me off more than old folks in a huge ass 1980s Buick driving 20 under the speed limit.

Such passion for what you say. I have to agree whole heartedly with you, I also admire your fire on this subject. I've had bad experiences with random groups of christians and as such over the years, I have come to have no tollerance for them. I understand there are some really nice people who are christian, but that is their unfortunate mistake.

[MissRachel]

why unfortunate diablo fight by my side and same yahoo what unfortunate mistake are you talking about the harm that is caused on me or perhaps the ritual


um I'm not understanding what your talking about....explain better

[Jarhog]

To me the message that Jesus came to give is that we as human beings have within us the ability to ascend to a higher state and he is the example. What churchianity teaches, and uses to control the masses, is the plan B for the 99% of folks that don't get it on how ever many turns of the wheel of life that it takes. Those who have become militant in their faith IMHO are victims of mind control by those who wish to hold on to their power. Granted they are a pain in the butt but I don't see most of them as evil. Some take things to extremes in harming other that don't share their beliefs and that is immoral in my book by most standards.

In my daily life I Point out to people the inconsistencies in the common view of the world in order to brake that programing. Some will get it and some will not I have to except that and plant as many seeds as I can. You can't just tell a person that what they have believed for their lifetime is wrong because it will just bounce of the cold, black, plastic shell of social programing. In time the hold the church has will fail as all lies do.

[Deacan Lionsbane]

I agree, to bring the church down, it needs to be done with facts, knowledge and dignity. Though there is a lot more to this than I say, but I won't go into details.

As for "wwsorittyknowpoptoglove" it apears that the spelling mistakes and the fact that the "Matrix" is real, "robots" are taking over or whatever they go on about, I tend to ignore his posts.

[MissRachel]

I agree, to bring the church down, it needs to be done with facts, knowledge and dignity. Though there is a lot more to this than I say, but I won't go into details.

As for "wwsorittyknowpoptoglove" it apears that the spelling mistakes and the fact that the "Matrix" is real, "robots" are taking over or whatever they go on about, I tend to ignore his posts.

you are absoulfuckinluty right my man. i have dreamed of knockin the church off its not so holy throne and onto its lying ass. but as you say, it needs to be done right, because alot of ppl arent going to like their religion and faith base denounced. and damn there are alot of facts that the church fails to realize or comprehend.

[grim789]

I was troubled with this conflict for some time till i realized that christianity is just not a good religion the so called god seems power hungry and hipocritical for one for example god says do not sin with things such as lust but does not every relation ship start with lust without that know one would have desire to have a relationship. Plus god says do not murder under any curcumstances yet what does he do causes a flood and kills millions hmm something there seems fucked up to me. Another big deal i had is that the bible says do not do witchcraft or perform its arts is a sin well who was it that told us about these things like enochian language was passed down through angels to john dee and his collegue using scrying divination technique i believe that jesus may have been just another profit in history but somehow gathered more attention than others there are so many things in the bible that are just plain stupid but those are just a couple of my anger towards the whole religion in general. :)

Peace!

[grim789]

Bullfrogs is there something i have done to piss you off or what? I put my opinions and views in the post if ya dont like it i dont really care dont read it. I have done nothing to you i would appreciate it if you would show a little consideration.

[MissRachel]

I was troubled with this conflict for some time till i realized that christianity is just not a good religion the so called god seems power hungry and hipocritical for one for example god says do not sin with things such as lust but does not every relation ship start with lust without that know one would have desire to have a relationship. Plus god says do not murder under any curcumstances yet what does he do causes a flood and kills millions hmm something there seems fucked up to me. Another big deal i had is that the bible says do not do witchcraft or perform its arts is a sin well who was it that told us about these things like enochian language was passed down through angels to john dee and his collegue using scrying divination technique i believe that jesus may have been just another profit in history but somehow gathered more attention than others there are so many things in the bible that are just plain stupid but those are just a couple of my anger towards the whole religion in general. :)

Peace!


im liking this alot.

[grim789]

Ha thank you MissRachel good to know someone sees how i do :D.

[grbree]

I use to be catholic alot of people can't tell the diffrences between the 2 theres really only 2 easily discernible differences and that would be what and what you can't do but anyway, i have ben to many christian\catholic churches all of them regurgitating the same garbage they have for the last couple of decades granted some are more enthusiastic about than others but the message is still the same "be good or i'll send you to hell and have you raped by big mean scary things".


the majority of people who go to these churches just feel bored, i had taken a survey once in my familys church of how many of them had put on a ipod or walkman during mass wanna take a geuss how many 97%, 62% of wich said they do it twice a week, it is basically dying soon enough christianity will be gone.

[Deacan Lionsbane]

Christendom, as a whole, is a backwards doctrine on the entire populous, its dogma and doctrine set back the Western World neigh on a millennia (and still does to this day), based upon false truths (as there is only a small amount of evidence to say certain events did happen, and this seems to be flawed in a lot of cases) and fear of the unknown. It is responsible for the discrimination against a lot of issues, such as Colour or Creed or Sexuality, issues which do not concern any other but the person(s) directly involved. This mental attitude has spread through the Western World and has been adopted by other faiths. Take the Middle East for example, a lot of the people from there are friendly and kind and some of my friends come from these provinces, yet modernisation of their religions have included intolerance to a huge array of matters, though originally revered, females have been persecuted through the 'interpretations' of men.

For people to Interpretive a sentence and have it mean a hundred different things, in my eyes, is condemnable enough. For why should we live life bound by a set of pages which contradict each other, and do not tell a decent story. Why should we be judged by people who do not live life? For our choices are our own and no others, for a man to sit within a seat of power, have no clue of the life that goes on in the modern world away from ‘tradition’ and ‘dogma’, these men are old and fear death as much as they wish you to fear ‘god’. Their ignorance riles me and I would take great pleasure in seeing Christendom collapse around itself. – Maybe a little harsh, but every empire has its time, and as one person said, “they should turn the churches into hotels and retire” if they know what is good for them, for each day they lose more and more respect as well as territory.

[Obsidian_Ice]

As stated in my introduction I am a Christian... I find the that many Churches really don't like my open minded approch. I get treated either like I am demon possessed or the odd very VERY rare time I will meet someone who understands me. I have ran in to about... 4 Christians who are open minded due to personal expirences (outside church walls of course).

I personally find that many churches seem to have such a range of dogma and such a lack of focus on the pure "text" its kind of scary. I have been subjected to a Christian Cult youth group (which I promptly was shoved out of for informing individuals if you cannot question what is being taught your in a cult... good times!)

Dogma is SERIOUSLY one of the BIGGEST issues in the Christian church. Next up is texts being changed in translation... that is always fun... then texts being oh... removed! Fun stuff! And then of course human bias in during the creation of the holy texts, and historical circumstance... ect ect ect... the telephone game gets corupted so fast ....

I personally find that in researching the orginal hebrew and arabic texts that there is a real loss of information about what is being presented verses what a Pastor or Priest will state during a service. There are a lot of old rules and things that many a Christian cut and and paste and mis-quote. Heck I will admit I have been guilty of it myself (but I at least try to go back and correct myself).

Not many Christians read the bible they currently own. More don't even know the historcal context it was written and even more don't get the writting style of the time and thus try to read it in a straight line... sadly that does not work with how the people wrote in that time period. Its VERY hard to tell when its a "story" or a "fish tale" or a "historical event". Heck I know alot of people who only research the bible that are still confused..... we all are... O_o

Personally I try to take what I find the Christ that is explained in the bible was trying to teach. And all of it boils down to the golden rule "Love your neighbour as you love yourself" and have faith...

I always struggle with faith... I like facts, logic.... things I can repeat... which makes it very hard for me since a logic focused Christian canbe considered corupt and evil and lacking "faith"... ah faith the giant f word of all Christiandom which is used to fill in gaps in the modern times...

Honestly I look at things like this.... no one man knows God in full. No one man can grasp God and place him in a box. That means that there can and are many ways to learn about God, aspects of the spiritual world, and aspects of self energy and the physical world.... No one person is fully right nor fully wrong (unless its something tangable that we can disprove in full with tests ... aka Science based methods).

I think its great we cannot fully grasp God... fantastic, and I personally find what is written as a main thread message about Christ is how I seek to live. Does not mean I agree with it all 100% though... or I would not be seeking to learn about other means of learning...

[denverdude]

Obsidian, it would greatly please me to know how you reconcile Christianity with magick, and what your opinions on the blending of the two are.

For many years in history the leading adepts were Catholic monks and Jewish Rabbis due to the educational requirements, so I do not find the two to be mutually exclusive, but I am interesting on seeing how magick blends with a more modern protestant view of the christian tradition.

And no, I am not Christian, though one of my best friends is a Jesuit.

[kid kunjer]

i find christianity faintly silly. perhaps a little childish, but not in a good way.
it used to upset me, but it's quite ignorable.
at least they have a notion that there is more to life then ammassing comercial gains. unfortunately in the 99% atheist city i live in in china the only god they follow is money.
that would make a great slogan for them to stick on those posters outside thier churches:
"JHVH=better than cash, but not by much"

[kid kunjer]

the problem is for me is that it seems a little poorly thought through; is honesty really good? what does good mean other than what makes society run smoothly? do we really want society to run smoothly? kind and caring? what does it mean? its nowhere near specific enough for me, and the more specific these notions are, the more they come to mean nothing at all.
muddy logic, interpretive ink blot test of a thing that no one agrees on.
the simplicity of it is only due to its vagarity.

[Norin]

I think Christianity, but also other similar religions (like Islam) are very much like a site filled with Ads.

Some of teh site content is OK, may be well documented and accurate, and then there are also ads, that are trying to sell you stuff in any way they can :)

Monotheist religions are pretty clearly the most intolerant ones, because they greatly over-simplify the world: WE have the one true faith, and everyone else is evil and serves the DEVIL.

The more religions we have that think in this way, the more religious intolerance there will be in the world. So IMO this model has no future, eventually they will either have to shift to more tolerant forms, or only one of them will conquer the world, and we'll have some nasty dystopian tyranny run by fanatics. Probably Islam has the greatest potential to do this, cause they have more psychos per million believers than anyone.

All in all pretty lame spiritual path IMO, at least from what I came in contact with, as a dude in a Christian family.

[ßelial]

Christianity is very matching sample for the 'Donkey of Pshycology', Christian faith is clearly based on Mithraism & Hellenism & Judaism, the Theologic history comes from Judaistic myth, the structure of faith comes from Mithraism, and the advises come from Hellenism.

Jesus = Mithra or Persia (No Doubt /Agnus dei, Rising to Father, Dying for Humanity, Birthday, Son of God etc bullshits...)

[DawnWolf]

christainty is not a religion its a friendship, and your personal relationship with Jesus Christ himself God himself says he hates religion and everything about it,

[NyxRaven]

alot of christians live the best they can and help people in need as much as they can,and raise their children to be honest,kind,and caring because they follow what Jesus taught in the New Testament,thats not silly,thats the best way for a person to live their life

Yeah, like the Salem witch trials and the Inquisition, where people were tortured to confess "heresy". Yup, such a tolerant religion.

[Zaethus]

-They wrote the Malleus maleficarum
-Burn the pagans
-Keep the Dark ages in fear

Im a tolerant man about religion ,but Christianity...huh :eek:
This is a tool for power and the Christian leaders use it against who is a believer.

Maybe somewere exist a God from the Bible, but if he or she exist that God is a bloodthirsty maniac.

[AhronGaze]

Its hard to be sure what to think about christianity because there are so many versions of so many versions of stories have been written to influence the herd.
As far as christianity v.s. satanism? Remember that one fuels the other. It doesn't always matter what you believe, you must look at whose pulling the strings because their beliefs are meant to effect your everyday life. I think that there is a bit of truth in every lie.
According to St. Irenaeus in his book Against Heresies, written in the late second century, Saturninus taught that Jesus was not really crucified. Simon of Cyrene was executed in his place while Jesus stood by invisibly (in an ally) and watched, laughing.

[sylas vael]

I agree with Darius. i view christians and catholics as sudo zombie worshipers.

[devakxes]

Actually, the whole communion process comes from the ritual of ''God Eating''. The strongest, wisest, most spiritually powerful person of a tribe would give themselves willingly (this was a honor) to be sacrificed to the gods. They would then be ritually eaten and consumed when they had invoked the deity. This practice was something more for the cthonic cults of Greece and the Stregha of Italy. Both are places that were visited by Christians in the very beginning of their desire towards world dominion.

I have respect for christians who do not force their beliefs upon me. Some of them, I have found, can be loving. It is just very, very, few are true to their doctrine.

However, I have my own personal contempt towards them for my own reasons.

Crowley describes the progress of humanity in a series of ''Aeons''. The Aeon of Osiris is the one we have just left and we are now entering the Aeon of Horus.

"The second [Aeon] is of suffering and death: the spiritual strives to ignore the material. Christianity and all cognate religions worship death, glorify suffering, deify corpses."

Damn bloody corpse worshipers!

[Shaolin32]

i agree with what most everyone else has stated christianity today is not what christ intended. i do believe that man has ruined his actual message. as far as god murdering women and children he had reasoning for this and he is not the only one amongst deities to do this. plus God is incomprehensible so who knows. im not christian but i do believe in a creator God if you will. the magi who came to see jesus (they have a long name that starts with a z and since i dont want to mispell their religion im just calling them the 3 magi) believed in one God which they called (in their language) the wise God. my only problem with any of the monotheistic religions period is their inability to be consistant with each other, it is illogical to believe that when jesus came there was all of a sudden a hell when jews never believed in such. this of course is only one of many.

[ShadowCrest]

From my personal experience, it's a load of BS. I used to be a hardcore christian, reading the bible every waking moment of my life, taking notes, even going out of my way to "bring Christ" to everyone's life (aka annoying the hell out of everyone, friend or stranger) and cross referencing just about every verse with the original manuscripts. But what got to me was that after I left church in order to get closer to God on my own (Which was after I got tired of the hypocrisies of the people I came to look up to, only to be spat on) their doctrine fell away from me, and I saw the bible in a new light. No longer did I try making excuses for his intolerance for the most mundane things, his brutal murder of children, families, and use of slaves (for labor AND sex) I began to see why christians around the world act the way they do. In essence, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. So what do I think? BS x1000000.

[captainrackham]

Christianity {contrasted by}... Islam...& Judaism.. {contrasted by} Occultism (certain aspects)...

same. same. same. and same.

they're just practiced differently - it's all similar lore... it all dates back to same roots.
a fat satanist might as well be laughing at a fat christian for being fat... doesn't change the fact they're both fat.

pot, meet kettle!

[Shaolin32]

Christianity {contrasted by}... Islam...& Judaism.. {contrasted by} Occultism (certain aspects)...

same. same. same. and same.

they're just practiced differently - it's all similar lore... it all dates back to same roots.
a fat satanist might as well be laughing at a fat christian for being fat... doesn't change the fact they're both fat.

pot, meet kettle!

now i like this, and i agree if you go back far enough all religions and spiritualities are preaching the same thing, spiritual accension. i also agree that the message was destroyed by politics.

[Shaolin32]

yeah i like to point out that the romans organized christianity, before that they were just small seperate groups with many various beliefs (this is how jesus told his followers to be). The Romans.... the same people who killed the guy! yeah they definately knew his message.

[Shaolin32]

I never met Jesus personally nor did I live in Roman times. I try not debate things I cannot confirm with first hand experience.

this is true im only stating what i understand from historical documentation, i mean i was not alive in 1969 so i have no idea what vietnam nor the moon landing was like in reality the fact that there was an existing world before your own birth can even be debated since there is no first hand experience. that is why i said sadly much has been lost to the currents of time :( oh if only i were Dr. Who.

[Achronn]

christianity as a religion has been lead into wrong path,deceiveing people is a job of a few who wish to gain their personal profit.

altough i am not a christian,i can tell you that god doesnt kill children or hurt people.
it is a natural way of life,we all exist constantly,we cannot die,and nothing bad can happen to us,we are here for our own reasons on this planet,living this life to progress

[seekerofprophecies]

Christianity is a disease, such as cancer, its spreading rampant ruin peoples life's all over the world. i will never acknowledge Christianity as a real religion either, a group of people that kills more people than Hitler and Stallin combined and gets away with it is not a religion, that is straight cancer. i also love how the bible is nothing but contradictions, love thy neighbor and such, but if they don't believe in the "christian god and Jesus" stone them until they are a big pile of dead **** half buried under perfectly good rocks. Christianity has got to end folks, any other religion is tolerable. and christian missionaries go way too far, telling people in Africa and Australia that their religion, that they've been practicing for thousands of years mind you, will only send them to hell, and these poor bastards have no clue what hell is. i say its total bullshit, and another thing, christian morals. **** christian morals. were in the land of the free but gays and lesbians cant get married because its "morally wrong" when priests are making lil joey alter boy play the holy skin flute, wheres the morals in that. honestly, Christianity pisses me off more than old folks in a huge ass 1980s Buick driving 20 under the speed limit.

You seem particularly angry, for those that have forsaken the true teachings, are those that have fallen and decided to use the teachings for their own personal gain.

[seekerofprophecies]

Religion, Religion. I know ones who think of worshipping Birds as a religion. what is religion other than the masses following anything that makes them feel good.

The opiate of the masses?

[Nam3lessOne]

When broken down in sociological terms, a religion is a community of those of shared ideals (which are personified into worshipable idenitites) who come together to acknowledge the awareness of those ideals to themselves and their neighbors. Sometimes, passively and without force.

What tends to happen in many groups is that the devious or advantagous individual discovers that they can infiltrate this formula, become highly regarded in the community, and then make the priority of the wellbeing of the community far below the ideal itself, and them preach the ideal to the community to his own exploiting interpretation, to the point where the ideal and interpretation is now governing the entire existence of the community, and you end up with profound social control.

Here, you get more forceful conversion, and more dogmatic behavior which undermines the logic of individuals.

...

IMHO,
The religion/community itself is not wrong, as much as it is wronged, and made TO wrong!

All second hand to the egoic nature of human beings.

[Cognosco]

Christianity is a funny subject. On one hand it is utterly fascinating. An absolutely perfect example of this is the book called 101 Myths of The Bible. It is truly an eye-opening read and actually makes the bible far more interesting than any professed christian can. On the other hand, you dare not say you find the bible interesting or you may face endless attempts at saving your soul for the mere purpose of brainwashing your children and any you may have in the future. At face value, though, it blatently contradicts itself and therefore cannot be taken litterally. As far as myth and fantastic battles/genocide ect goes, some parts are a fun read.

[luna]

christianity in my opinion it only out for what they believe in and rejects any other beliefs(which is wrong on so many levels) they are brainwashing children into thinking that they will be cursed to eternal damnation in hell. they say things like "you better not do those sort of things or you will go to hell" yet it sayse directly in Hebrews 13:5 "I will never leave you nor forsake you." talk about hypacritical but i have no room to talk but just stating it.

[Light]

'opiate of the masses', sadly this is true and not always by choise. I see this religion and some others as a form of abuse and emotional violence by brain washing, etc. that is allowed in the society.. Although more people are waking up it seems, there is still a long way to go.

[Cartoon Character]

To me, Christianity as it was originally intended (or how I believe it was originally intended....I guess I wasn't there) has much more in common with other traditions than does the watered-down, disempowering system widely practiced today. Organized religion tends to be politicized in the general sense, just as any organized body will be. I am part of a "religious" lineage, but the politics in my sect go no further than codifying its tenets for its followers. We don't preach, try to convert anyone, pass judgment on those who believe differently, or provide spiritual relief to those who are not receptive to the path. This last part is important, because we don't feel that people need to be "saved", and even if they do, we really don't care. It's more about personal power, awareness and responsibility, and the scriptures show this in great detail. There is no sense of "Oh please, please do this for me because I am weak or unworthy" found in our religious texts, but rather the idea that we become empowered to do things ourselves. I agree with Jackie in that it's not the fundamental idea that is bad here, and that the influence of the social mind has made modern perceptions of Christianity as it is generally understood a big, hypocritical mess. And untrue.

[Broomhilda]

I studied Christianity I even went to churches studied the bible I studied theology and I went to temple studied a little there also.
Its hard to say all Christianity is intolerant I think majority of Christian's like my EX has never read the bible as a whole book from page to page. Also the majority has only heard from "Preachers" not teachers with a low education level and a ministry that I personally believe was something they filled out on the back of a Comic book and sent with a 25c fee.
I find those people the most judgmental and those people the easiest to trip up confuse and leave talking to themselves.
Like I was told last weekend by my ex that I was going to hell.
After I explained 20 different reasons why he would be keeping my seat warm for me untill I get there he finally gave up.
Bottom line I dont find Christianity bad or even people who study it bad. I do find people who use it to judge others and be as hateful as they want to be while clinging to a cross medalion around there necks or a fish bumper sticker to be cruel and afraid and frankly lazy to actually not read what they preach in the first place. I have a big problem with those but we have those type of people in Paganism as well that has chips on there shoulders and points at Christians as the real enemy. I think those people are just as wrong as the Christians imo.:confused:

[|||||]

without a cogent understanding of the depth of spiritual experience as a subjective phenomena religion becomes impossible to understand. modern christianity is an example of this. as nearly all esoteric fundamentals have been lost so too has much of its power. because christ was an occultist himself (in my opinion), most of his followers have no idea what he really meant.

the weakening of christianity is one of the major causes for the increase in atheism as well.