Jesus probably was real. But he was just another rabbi/healer/prophet. There was one of those in every neighborhood back then....
If he was a rabbi, he would've been a Jew and married, probably with children
Maybe the Holy Blood and the Holy Grail is on to something ?
Of course one of the Gospels tells us that Jesus was the direct descendant of King David...and quite literally had a claim to being "King of the Jews".
...that doesn't mean Christianity is BS....
Well...Christianity is BS if you don't believe in Jesus' divinity, that he was god from god.
...Jesus represents the aspect of "god" (the conscious universe) that we humans can connect to. The same thing exists in many religions and spiritual traditions, it is not special to Christianity....
Not according to Christians...Jesus was much more than this
Jesus is god
God from god
God in human form
...I respect Christians and their beliefs, especially if they aren't hung up on picking irrelevant things out of the bible and getting fixated on them. Like whether Jesus hated homosexuality (no, we can assume he did not hate homosexuality, since he did not ever once mention it!)....
Do you respect (some) Christian's rejection of same sex marriage ?
Burning non-believers at the stake ?
Execution of people deemed to be witches ?
Teaching the creation as truth in a science class ?
Sorry there are a lot of Christian beliefs today that don't deserve any respect. Like the priest who at the funeral of a young man who'd killed himself saying to the people at the service that the young man would not find a way into heaven.
Much comfort that must have given the grieving family.
...Jesus was not the biological son of God, and his mother was not a holy virgin. Just let go of all that. None of it makes any difference at all....
It does if you're a Christian !!!!!!
So much for respecting their beliefs.
...the essence of Christianity is, as William James said, the same as the mystical essence of all religions. That is our connectedness to the conscious universe....
No it's not
The essence of Christianity is that god allowed himself to be killed in human form so as to absolve the human race of sin.
That man is sinful but can enter a promised paradise (so long as you don't cheat and kill yourself) if he believes in god.
Give up a large part of your life for an empty promise of something better after you die.
That's what Christianity is...better to die in pain than stop believing
...we often feel separate, and that is why we need "salvation." We need the connection that is naturally there....
There is no connection and there is no salvation
When you die, that's it. Game over. There is nothing else.
...it makes no difference if you call it Jesus or Higher Power or Spirit Guide, or whatever you want.
It most definitely does if you're a Christian and believe that you can only get into the eternal paradise if you believe that Jesus is god.
