Jesus didn't like religions, churches...

[marieelissa]

  So I guess I shouldn't either.

[ElleRich]

So I guess I shouldn't either.

The only reference to that is what is written in the Bible, which was written by man, not Jesus himself.  That's why I consider myself a spiritual person. I think outside the box.  There's a huge universe out there. I follow my inner voice.

[Falconer02]

I think the problem is, none of these groups (Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Protestants and the truckloads of other ones) simply can't agree on anything. I mean, they all believe basically the same thing; the disputes like the date this guy died or whatever really doesn't matter. People seem to want other people to agree with them. They all want followers, and this costs money. Money for wars, or for churches and tv ad space. And that's why the state of this religion is just so backwards that it's hilarious. That's why people don't follow Jesus anymore. They follow Republican Jesus.

There's a huge universe out there. I follow my inner voice.

G4U I suppose. The thing about Jesus' religion is that, to find it, he had to leave the religion of his childhood and think outside the box too. Many Christians might ponder the significance of that as their progression of belief since they obviously seem incapable of doing anything beyond the small box of reasonings they hold onto so tightly.

[bigedshult]

what you nead is to find the one like Jesus set up when He was hear .that what I did you can 2 if u look for it.

[Falconer02]

What Jesus didn't/doesn't like is FALSE religions.  There is NO God...but God.  Why settle for substitutes?

Considering the facts that your book has been rewritten many times, borrows story elements from other myths, and how it can't seem to get a straight story down, how do you know that your religion has not turned into a major false religion from day 1? I mean considering all the dozens of 'substitutes' from catholicism (a few that I listed in my 1st post), how do you know that yours is the one TRUE religion?

Man is the Religious Animal.  He is the only Religious Ani­mal.  He is the only animal that has the True Religion, several of them. - Mark Twain

[Falconer02]

But, like I said before, how do you know he said that and it wasn't one of the original rewrites? And if he apparently says his way is the truth, though it's extremely questionable, how does one trust that?

[Falconer02]

How the Bible was "rewritten" is probably a topic for another thread all by itself

Good point.

Funny how one can have "fits" about how the Bible was "re-written" and is therefore not to be believed but yet they will believe what is in those "re-written school textbooks

Fits? This is a debate. There's a certain humbleness to scientific knowledge since they're willing to admit when they're wrong. Textbooks need to add new found information and correct the old things. They need to be rewritten in order to further peoples knowledge on subjects. Would you be against rewriting medical science journals if a new bacteria was discovered? That's the point of doing it.

Religious ideology works different- if anything is proven to be rewritten or false, the foundation completely collapses and the followers have nothing to go by since it's so ancient. Most are not willing to accept that course.

even after knowing God and any reference to Him was removed from them (talk about tampering with evidence!!)

There is no evidence of any gods (especially defined deities) anywhere (unless it's a cheap appeal to emotion), so it is completely wrong to assert a spiritual belief system in a book that teaches about the scientific world. And christianity is still taught in public schools. It's just taught with all of the other beliefs so students can wrap their heads around them and get a feel for what the world is like. Nothing is asserted as true. They just get an aerial viewpoint, which I think is great.

Jesus ALWAYS spoke the truth.  Jesus was human.  No human is PERFECT---Jesus WAS.

To stick around the desert and simply be the 'talk of the town' is far from perfect considering there's a whole world he could have preached to. That would have definitely given him some ample proof of his existence and perfection, right? Instead, you just have followers blabbering around the world about this magical dude and none of them seem to get their stories straight. That's hardly a perfect plan. His story has holes and steals from a lot from other myths-- it's a very imperfect mythical quest pattern I may add.

they can't find where Jesus told one single, simple lie?  I think that makes Him pretty trustworthy

I bet you that if this protagonist was real and was living out his quest today, the media could show it in a heartbeat. But realistically I don't use the word "trustworthy" with ancient writings with so many plot holes within the story.  :-

[Falconer02]

Oh, I'm sorry....I didn't realize they finally proved that God definitely does not exist.  (You know, I actually found on the internet the other day a quote from Elvis Presley saying he believed the Bible and that all good things in life come from God.  I wonder how long after all his relatives have passed that, that too will be removed all in the name of "updating history".

They haven't proven that any god does exist. And considering evidence is constantly contrasting religious magic and ancient ideas, I wouldn't put any money on any deity sprouting up in research. Without proof or evidence of a gods design, no gods belong in science. Remember you're speaking with an agnostic here. I'm not sure if you remember my "Man in Guam" example or not, but I'm stating that right now. The reason they took your god out of textbooks is because newfound information pointed away from the silly "god did it" approach.

And it's funny you'd mention Elvis-- I just played a game that takes place in the year 2400 after a nuclear war. These tribals uncovered an impersonation school for Elvis and they treat him like Jesus. They thought the building used to be a church, so they emulate him in every respect. They think he was some sort of savior of mankind as all the records around the school made them conclude that. But no, that quote probably won't be eliminated from history. Forgotten at most. Even a young Einstein commented something similar about a god on few occasions. Then again, maybe these two weren't so interested on the subject in the first place. I'm not one to say.

Edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBKGuw1lYbU   lol

Actually, Jesus LEFT his hometown to share His message with people who wanted to hear

That wasn't my point. If he's so perfect like you adamantly put it, he should have had a much better thought out plan to get his message around the world better. Not depend on the imperfects who would screw up and rewrite the story, which ultimately is an imperfect and shabby plan, therefore he is imperfect.

Perhaps that would be why there are FOUR accounts of the most important part of the Bible, written by four of the people that knew Him BEST.  There are very few, minor differences in their writings--- their overall experiences are all very similiar.

They were also exposed to the same myths that happened before this guy. And the same gap of time where not much was written about this savior after his demise. Such ingredients are known for brewing hoaxes.

The Gospel story of Jesus is itself apparently mythic from first to last...it doesn't prove there was no historical Jesus for it is not implausible that a genuine, historical individual might become so lionized, even so deified, that his life and career would be completely assimilated to the Mythic Hero Archetype...Thus it seems...that Jesus must be categorized with other legendary founder figures, including the Buddha, Krishna, and Lao-tzu. There may have been a real figure there, but there is simply no longer any way of being sure.
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcpa4.htm

ALL this time and NOONE can find any real fault with Him?  Noone can prove him a "fraud"??  

I already have numerous times in the past. I'm not going to bother writing 10 paragraphs since it's sunday night; if you want quick easy-to-understand and undeniable proof, check out Lord Raglan's Hero Pattern- http://department.monm.edu/classics/courses/clas230/mythdocuments/heropattern/default.htm

These patterns are seen throughout all of storytelling history. You could even apply this to Super Man. Just click "Jesus" on the bottom to see how he matches up with 18 of the 22 attributes. Classic mythological storytelling.

[teflonfanatic]

So I guess I shouldn't either.

Jesus actually LEFT HIS PARENTS to go to the synagogue when he was about twelve(his parents basically pulled a home alone lol)

Luke 2:41-50 reads 41 Now his parents were accustomed to go from year to year to Jerusalem for the festival of the passover. 42 And when he became twelve years old, they went up according to the custom of the festival 43 and completed the days. But when they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, and his parents did not notice it. 44 Assuming that he was in the company traveling together, they covered a day’s distance and then began to hunt him up among the relatives and acquaintances. 45 But, not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem, making a diligent search for him. 46 Well, after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers and listening to them and questioning them. 47 But all those listening to him were in constant amazement at his understanding and his answers. 48 Now when they saw him they were astounded, and his mother said to him: “Child, why did you treat us this way? Here your father and I in mental distress have been looking for you.” 49 But he said to them: “Why did YOU have to go looking for me? Did YOU not know that I must be in the [house] of my Father?” 50 However, they did not grasp the saying that he spoke to them.

As Jesus grew older though he saw the hypocrisy of the congregation, church, synagogue etc and made his own church.