To me, the defining feature of christianity is the denial of special status to the biological descendants of the Jews, opening up the path to God to all humanity. Jesus broke majorly with the jews understanding of bequethal of special biological status of the Jews, I think.
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Odd. Who said anything about “so evil”?
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Not I. So you’ll have ask one who knows. My understanding is it has to do with professing certain creeds.
- Kind of makes a person wonder why a self-professed Jew/Christian/Muslim/Hindu would ask you “Who is a Christian?”, doesn’t it? Makes me wonder, for sure.
- How about the biblical "Abraham? You wouldn’t happen to know if or believe that he’s your biological or “spiritual father”, would you?
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Makes me think of someone who plasters a bumper sticker on their car for every state they visit. Why does anyone want to claim membership in every religion? Fine to feel some empathy with those you encounter but can you really be all those things at once?
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Bragging rights, maybe. But I think a Border Guard will still ask you for your passport when you leave or enter another country.
Maybe but I’ve never noticed any border guards in Christiandom, only bands of vigilante apologists. Fortunately there are also some fine ordinary citizens there who are much more welcoming, thoughtful and gracious.
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It can’t be done to you mate. We don’t have sufficient epistemic overlap.
The difficulty is that the “creeds” are defined by different persons differently. So they fight amongst themselves. To my mind, a Christian is a person who believes in the love of all humanity as an image of God–irrespective of the creed.
Maybe I misunderstood you. I thought you said that Adam made a wrong (“evil”) choice. Thx.
That is a description not a creed. You can no doubt find some Christians who would agree with the sentiment you describe. I’m just not aware of any who’d say that stamps your entry ticket. You can try to find some but I’m not one who can do that for you.
I’m more interested in why it matters to you. Are creeds as explicit minimal expressions of belief ordinarily anything you care about? I don’t concern myself with elucidating a checklist of what another person must believe in order to share my worldview. It isn’t an aspect of how I am. But then I’m not trying to harmonize my worldview with millions of other people. While I don’t roll that way maybe I should be glad others do. I come out of a largely Christian cultural milieux. Maybe our chaotic society would be even more discordant if there wasn’t a core portion of the population maintaining the glue which tradition provides? If, like me, you don’t want to be part of that effort, maybe we should both take stock of how much we know about what it takes to maintain a cohesive community enormously larger than that of any other mammal on the planet. Christianity and other such traditions are what have distilled out of our long histories. So, not really wanting to join that effort, I prefer to thank them and find some other way to be of use.
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- Great! The opinion of a Jew/Christian/Muslim/Hindu/with an agenda and a bias decides who is a Christian is? LOL!
- Why do you hide your agenda in a “peace, love, and goodwill” sheepskin? Take a poll and ask everyone and anyone what they believe, but do so with honesty and integrity. Stack the deck in your favor, offer a choice between a global humanity united under one god with an uncrucified Jesus, or a fragmented humanity under many gods, and a crucified Jesus, then ask folks which they prefer to believe in.
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I do wonder where he was going with that …. It sounds like the an (endless) argument that often plays out in my head. “Press play to resume this exercise in futility.”
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Just realized you’d addressed this to me. I certainly don’t know but perhaps in some poetic sense I may be. But unlike the prodigal son I’m happy feral. I thought I’d take God for a different ride this time around.
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Good question. I am trying to interpret the abrahamic and hindu religions to move towards a mutual understanding. That can only happen if we focus on the core ideas and maybe ignore the Creed’s.
- You’ll get no honesty or integrity in the usurper’s answer today.
- His “core ideas” do not include something that these three creeds contain:
- The Apostles’ Creed:
- “I believe in Jesus Christ … who … was crucified, died, and was buried; On the third day he rose again …”
- The Nicene Creed:
- “I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, … crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven …”
- The Athanasian Creed:
- “…we believe and confess; that our Lord Jesus Christ, …Who suffered … descended into hell; rose again the third day from the dead. He ascended into heaven, …”
- The Apostles’ Creed:
- His “core ideas” do not include something that these three creeds contain:
- Gee. fancy that.
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Yes, indeed. Why stop with ignoring the creeds, why not ignore the scriptures also, which the creeds are based on? We’ll create a new religion called Bharatjjism. “One ring to rule them all.”
You are ignoring the fact that most people actually believe what their religions teach. That would include me.
Not at all. I respect the beliefs. But beliefs are subject to change while the core idea remains intact. There is no harm, as far as I can see, in discussing what is core and what is creed.
Would any creed carry any credibility without the love that jesus personified? On the other hand, would Jesus’s love carry any credibility without the creeds?
Beliefs are based on the core ideas.
Have you thought of a basic blueprint for your new world religion? Describe it.