Have I offended anyone?

[Zeno]

The follow link is to a religious site I found very amusing, others may be offended by it so be careful of what you see and read Landover Baptist Church (http://www.landoverbaptist.org/)

Le Misanthrope

[Al_Capone_Junior]

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

I've been a devoted reader of Landover Baptist for several years. It is "The Onion" of the religious right.

Now if you want something *really* freaky (because it's not tongue-in-cheek), check out Rapture Ready (http://www.raptureready.com)

[MMMMMM]

The strange thing is that much (or most) of the "religious right" really is following principles and ideologies which are embellishments to Christianity rather than following true fundamentalist Christianity.

I suspect that the term "fundamentalism" as is commonly used, is actually misused.

Most popularly-called "fundamentalists" rather than following only the direct words and teachings of Jesus, follow a host of associated ideas which they have somehow even expanded to unrelated political objectives. True "fundamentalists" would simply follow the teachings of Jesus--who, for instance, never said anything justifying the slaying of abortion doctors, or anyone else for that matter (by the way it is a remarkable contrast to the words of Muhammad who specifically and repeatedly called for many violent acts against unbelievers until they repent and confess that there is no God but Allah, or submit to Islamic rule and pay the poll tax).

In other words, I am in the process of forming the opinion that , from the words of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels in the first century, true followers of Jesus' teachings would apparently have to be pacifist (presuming the record and translations are accurate enough).

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

Well, this may be opening a can of worms, but it seems to me that much of the puritanical bent of the "fundamentalist" Christians seems to derive less from the words of Jesus of Nazareth and more from the letters of Saul of Tarsus.

[MMMMMM]

If so, then maybe they should call themselves Saulians rather than Christians.

[Al_Capone_Junior]

tho these sites make me laugh, every time someone hits on one of them, their hit count goes up, which at least indirectly helps their fukked up causes.

al

[MMMMMM]

I presumed that site was a Parody Site--but I could be wrong;-)

[Zeno]

Paul (Saul) was a fanatic, a rather intelligent one, but still a fanatic. Let's not forget that much of 'Christianity' was built up over a long period of time and much has been grafted onto the 'original tree'. Augustine, Jerome, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Calvin and a host of others had enormous influence on thought and direction of Christianity. In addition other sects, cults, and religions had much early influence, for example Manichaesim (St. Augustine was an adherer before his conversion) and other Gnostic doctrines (Paul ranted against some of these in his letters) and Zoroastrianism. Platonic philosophy was also mixed in as needed to augment the vast theology built up in the early years of the church.

The Christ, as presented in the four canonical gospels, is an amalgamation of myth, folklore, selective memory, and bad writing. I personnally think that there may have been a central figure to the stories but that much was added to and interweaved in from other sources for a variety of purposes, not the least of which was an appeal to get converts. The “real” Jesus was lost long ago under successive layers of balderdash, propaganda, falsehoods, deliberate lies, and a metaphysical theology so idiotic and ornate that it can only appeal to the hopelessly credulous or the terminally insane. And I am being generous and holding back as much as I can with the above statements.

Enough for now.

-Zeno

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

Landover Baptist is a parody, Rapture Ready is not.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

The “real” Jesus was lost long ago

I'm sure, and I agree pretty much wholeheartedly with your restrained analysis /images/graemlins/wink.gif.

My understanding is that the Council of Nicea picked and chose the texts they wanted to codify as the "true" Christian Bible, leaving out many other sources. I've heard of the "lost gospels" but haven't really read much about them.

[Zeno]

I think that there are more than 30 Gospels. Some are very sophomoric and/or silly but many are not. The Gospel of Thomas is in fact probably more 'original or factual' than the gospels of the bible though probably derived from the same source (the hypothesized Q document). It consists of nothing more than a list of sayings and doings of Jesus, presented in the same manner as the Analects of Confucius. Others like the Gospel of Philip, Gospel of Mary Magdalene and the Gospel of Mary are also known. Many were suppressed and then destroyed on order of church leaders in the early years of the Church, say 200 –400 and were only rediscovered many years later, like the Dead Sea scrolls.

Some excellent books by the scholar Elaine Pagels are worth reading if you are interested in the very early church and its teachings etc. ‘The Gnostic Gospels’ is one of her works that I recommend and also ‘The Origin of Satan’. She also authored works about Paul, which I have not read.


-Zeno

[Al_Capone_Junior]

the gospel of saint thomas i believe it the biggie these days causing the dischord in the church. refer to history channel (or other sources) for extended details.

al

[sam h]

[ QUOTE ]
The Christ, as presented in the four canonical gospels, is an amalgamation of myth, folklore, selective memory, and bad writing. I personnally think that there may have been a central figure to the stories but that much was added to and interweaved in from other sources for a variety of purposes, not the least of which was an appeal to get converts. The “real” Jesus was lost long ago under successive layers of balderdash, propaganda, falsehoods, deliberate lies, and a metaphysical theology so idiotic and ornate that it can only appeal to the hopelessly credulous or the terminally insane. And I am being generous and holding back as much as I can with the above statements.

[/ QUOTE ]

Zeno, you do some fine work.

[John Cole]

Zeno,

You may enjoy Stephen Greenblatt's essay "The Word of God in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" in his Renaissance Self-Fashioning. The essay looks at, especially, Tyndale's translation.