Passed along in email was this piece I have no way of verifying or denying ... but I thought it was enjoyable: How Christianity Was Invented: The Truth.
As the Anglican theologian Charles Williams once wrote, "people believe what they want to believe," so the object of creating this post is not so much to rain on any Christian's parade or to start another Christianity-vs-Buddhism or Christianity-cum-Buddhism thread.
What I find interesting is the experience anyone might have had: What if you woke up in the morning and found that some deeply-cherished and profoundly-important belief was not exactly what you had imagined it was ... a kind of oops moment?
It has long been believed that without religion at the helm, humanity would fall into barbarism. And the church was willing to resort to barbarism to protect us from barbarism. So the question arises, is secular humanism, the rule of law, and the milk of human kindness sufficient to guide us without a church.
ReplyDeletePersonally, when i actually read the bible and decided xtianity was bullcrap, i was more pissed at them than anything else. I'd been misled by a number of preachers as to what that holy book had to say. I was a teen, young enough to not feel too responsible for my being a sucker. I was one of the lucky ones who had an opportunity, created by a health issue, to take the time to read the whole thing. Here's a quote from Mark Twain and the page where i found it...
BIBLE
It is full of interest. It has noble poetry in it; and some clever fables; and some blood-drenched history; and some good morals; and a wealth of obscenity; and upwards of a thousand lies.
- Letters from the Earth
http://www.twainquotes.com/Bible.html