thoughts on Jesus

[Sandra Craft]

Oh, oh!  Actually my new  sexy Japanese sempai  just informed me why people thought pigs were evil.  Apparently it is because  pig , if not cleaned properly , will really make you sick . And they didn't have proper   cleaning tools, so people  were dropping dead from eating pigs.

Hece pigs are evil.  Mystery solved

Pigs are the vector of the human intestinal tape worm. Without proper sanitation pigs will eat human excrement. If humans eat infected under-cooked/raw pork then the tape worm eggs in the pork can infect the human brain, leading to a nasty death.

So Woody Allen was right, the proscription against pork was basically just a suggestion not to eat it in certain restaurants?

[Sweetdeath]

I suppose he was.

[Tank]

Oh, oh!  Actually my new  sexy Japanese sempai  just informed me why people thought pigs were evil.  Apparently it is because  pig , if not cleaned properly , will really make you sick . And they didn't have proper   cleaning tools, so people  were dropping dead from eating pigs.

Hece pigs are evil.  Mystery solved

Pigs are the vector of the human intestinal tape worm. Without proper sanitation pigs will eat human excrement. If humans eat infected under-cooked/raw pork then the tape worm eggs in the pork can infect the human brain, leading to a nasty death.

So Woody Allen was right, the proscription against pork was basically just a suggestion not to eat it in certain restaurants?

I'm not aware of that Woody Allen 'ism, but I would guess you're right 

[fester30]

I still have yet to see any physics lessons from the guy who says his love for physics is why he believes in god.  Digital... analog... I mean now we're talking about how a TV signal can compare to biochemistry?  That's not physics.

[xSilverPhinx]

I think it's because physics can make the universe seem like clockwork for some, and therefore predictable. The religious like predictability...but I'm just speculating here.

As for digital and analog, of you're talking about DNA, it's digital because it has defined units smaller units (genes) which interact to make increasingly larger units, it's the biological lingo. 

[Cforcerunner]

I think it's simpler than that: Christians believe Jesus is the son of God because the bible says so. The bible is right because it's the word of God. The bible is the word of God because it says it's the word of God.

round an' round she goes!

As spectacular as that line of reasoning appears, I'm sure not all Christians have used it. 

[Too Few Lions]

Christ died on a cross.  Why?  Two negatives make a positive with multiplication.  We multiply when debt is owed.  Jesus died on a cross (negative).  We are sinners and create debt which leads to suffering for mankind (negative debt).  Multiply the two and we march back form negative to positive as debt is transferred.  This answers the why of the cross.  Possible that it happened?  yes

Also possible that it happened - no.
The two Greek words that are used in the Bible for the location of Jesus' suffering are 'stauros' which translates as 'stake' or 'pole' and 'xylon' that translates as 'tree'. The idea of Jesus on the four pointed cross we have today is possibly a later second century accretion to the story. Nowhere in the Bible does it inherently suggest a four pointed cross.

There's also an early Christian tradition that Jesus was hung from / crucified on the same tree that Adam and Eve ate the fruit from. It seems to me that the central Christian doctrine is that the suffering of Jesus redeemed the original fall of Adam and Eve. I think it makes perfect mythological sense that the redemption of humanity should have happened at exactly the same location as the fall, at the same mythological tree.

[Recusant]

Christ died on a cross.  Why?

Two negatives make a positive with multiplication.  We multiply when debt is owed.  Jesus died on a cross (negative).  We are sinners and create debt which leads to suffering for mankind (negative debt).  Multiply the two and we march back form negative to positive as debt is transferred.  This answers the why of the cross.  Possible that it happened?  yes

I could keep going, but my distal phalanges are tired.

I don't understand the death and resurrection stance of Christians.

...

Excellent post, Stevil. It will be interesting to see how SuperiorEd will reply, if he returns from his suspension.

Personally, I would also like to see how he explains and justifies the second sentence: "We multiply when debt is owed." This is an assertion for which no basis is given, and which seems to be placed in the argument merely to justify subsequent rhetorical flim-flammery about "march[ing] back from negative to positive."

[OldGit]

There's also an early Christian tradition that Jesus was hung from / crucified on the same tree that Adam and Eve ate the fruit from. It seems to me that the central Christian doctrine is that the suffering of Jesus redeemed the original fall of Adam and Eve. I think it makes perfect mythological sense that the redemption of humanity should have happened at exactly the same location as the fall, at the same mythological tree.

IIRC Jesus had to carry his cross through the streets.  I can't see how that fits with the Adam & Eve tree theory.

[Too Few Lions]

There's also an early Christian tradition that Jesus was hung from / crucified on the same tree that Adam and Eve ate the fruit from. It seems to me that the central Christian doctrine is that the suffering of Jesus redeemed the original fall of Adam and Eve. I think it makes perfect mythological sense that the redemption of humanity should have happened at exactly the same location as the fall, at the same mythological tree.

IIRC Jesus had to carry his cross through the streets.  I can't see how that fits with the Adam & Eve tree theory.

I think it was Simon of Cyrene who carried the cross in three of the gospels. But it still doesn't have to have been a cross as we'd view it today, going on what the original Greek in the NT says. Personally, as I think it's all just a myth anyway, I'm not sure the part about someone carrying the cross is particularly important. It's the crucifixion / hanging from a tree bit that matters!

Interestingly, some early Gnostic Christians didn't believe that Jesus was crucified at all, but that he snuck off and the Jews / Romans crucified Simon instead, while Jesus just watched on laughing!

[Gawen]

Interestingly, some early Gnostic Christians didn't believe that Jesus was crucified at all, but that he snuck off and the Jews / Romans crucified Simon instead, while Jesus just watched on laughing!

Not just snuck off, but escorted away. There is a belief that Jesus was not yet dead by the crucifixion and put into a tomb to heal him, basically a hideout. He would have obviously been suffering from shock, therefore the wrappings to keep him warm. By the oils he was treated with, one would have had an opium base to keep him quiet (search for ancient Middle East medicinal plants and how some of the same were used or could have been used to anoint the dead) and the others to help the healing. It would explain the empty tomb and the 40-odd days before anyone sees him again - to regain his strength. Everything else (walking through a door, zombies walking the streets, Jesus flying up to Heaven in a cloud for examples) is hyperbole and pious fraud.

*edited to add*...My thoughts on Jr. can be found in the Is Christianity moral or immoral? Parts One and Two threads.