Jesus Is Just Alright With Me

All this talk of religion, and brummbar's reply, got me to thinking. There should be an absolutely clear distinction between Christ as a person and the organized structure we know today as Christianity.

Christ advocated feeding the poor, taking care of the sick, he was against violence -- even in self-defense, he conspicously sought out those shunned by society as outcasts (prostitutes, criminals) and ministered to them, he hated religious hypocrites, he was unmaterialistic ("sell your belongings and give them to the poor"), humble, temperate, resolute in his convictions even in the face of death, forgiving of even those who betrayed him to that death, and he treated women as equal and important.

Sounds like an alright guy to me, and I think, even as a Buddhist myself, that everyone could benefit from being Christ-like. I was raised in a Church of Christ, and though I eventually lost respect for the Christian organization as a whole, I've never lost my respect for Christ. Something to think about.

That "whack" you hear is the proverbial nail being hit on its proverbial head. As ever, Keith nails it. Right on, dude. Preach on, my brotha.

Heh, thanks, can I get a witness?

Also, interestingly, all the anti-homosexual passages quoted so vociferously by modern Christian (and, to be fair, Jewish) zealots are either from the Old Testament (the Torah) or from the pens of Christ's disciples or later followers.

I've actually read the entire Bible, started when I was 13.
The most interesting thing to me though was picking up one of those compilations that is *entirely* comprised of the words of, or attributed directly to, Christ. You don't hear the actual words of Christ quoted often in debate, as they tend not to support any sort of hardline position.

I also recommend a book called "The Gnostic Gospels" by Elaine Pagels, and also her book "The Origin of Satan", for some interesting reading about the process of canonization, in which the Catholic (Greek for "universal") church in about the 4th century compiled what we call the New Testament, and excluded all alternate texts as "heretical" (and there were many, many such texts, including The Gospel of Mary Magdalene).

here here
(?) is that what i'm supposed to say.

yea. i think the ideas we have of jesus are good. i'd like to be that cool... minus the crucifixion. i'm NOT jesus, afterall


also: i just wanted to add that i'm not sure if jesus was the kind of dude that would want us to WORSHIP him anyhow... because, ya know, it does sooo much good and all.

kindof the way christianity has been seemingly misconstrued... kindof the way the american constitution has been a bit FUCKED UP.

*ahem* sorry.

[Edited on Jul 01, 2003 by citrus]

Totally.. Christ was the Gospels.. Christianity is the rest of the lil' rag we like to call the Bible..

This website has links to online texts of some of the gnostic gospels. It is notable that many of the gnostic texts portray Christ as a Buddha-like figure, ruminating on the nature of matter and desire.

For example, from the Gospel of Thomas:

3 Jesus said, "If your leaders say to you, 'Look, the (Father's) kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is within you and it is outside you.

When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are children of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you live in poverty, and you are the poverty."



[Edited on Jul 01, 2003 by Keithed]

hear hear!

it's very distressing to those who are actually Christian to see those who call themselves Christian using it as excuse for their ugly behaviors... i try to remind myself whenever i hear it that apparently they haven't paid a lot of attention to what Christ actually said & did.

we're all human, we all do nasty & hateful things sometimes, we all get stuck on stupid baloney.... but scapegoatism is repugnant, especially when you use they name of someone who taught the opposite of the action you're scapegoating.

so, yeah, Christ is ok by me. Christians are okay by me.. but those i -humanly & pettily- call OCs (Obnoxious Christians) i can do without.

i feel they deserve their own little category so confusion is eliminated.

Actually just finished an interesting book called The Arcadian Cipher by Peter Blake & Paul Blezard. Most of the book treads some old, familiar ground in regards to linking John the Baptist and Jesus to gnosticism, Catharism and the Knights Templar, but the interesting bit is where he identifies a number of pentagrammatical figures in different Rennaisance paintings which correspond to the landscape of southern France. He used the resulting geometry on the map to find two very old stone tombs on a ridge known in French as The Lamb Of The East. The authors posit that these tombs may have been the final resting place of the historical Jesus and Mary (his wife), and that although the tombs were looted by Dagobert I and the bodies passed into the hands of the Vatican in the seventh century AD, they still represent a true historical alternative to the established orthodoxy of Rome. TBH there's not really enough evidence to back up the story adequately, but IMHO it's entirely plausible, and may finally explain all the mystery and conspiracy surrounding Rennes-le-Chateau.

HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!

(no pun intended!)

I WAS JUST SAYING THE EXACT SAME THINGS, NEARLY WORD-FOR-WORD, JUST LAST NIGHT!!!



But YES, definitely; I believe 100% in everything you said.
I was a born-again Christian for about 9 years and I have, like so many other people, learned to really hate the organization behind the Church ( that includes most religions that I've run into). But I also realize that most people are talking out of their ASS when they criticize (or advocate) the Bible, and the teachings of Christ.

A good reference for an open-minded viewpoint is "Mere Christianty" By C.S. Lewis. He talks about what the possibilities of Christ being anything other than the son of God, and how that, wether a madman or a con artist, the basic viewpoints that Christ was trying to advocate were in essence nothing more than basic rules a civilized society should abide by.

In some ways, Jesus was kind of the first Hippies.
But like, a cool hippy. Not one of these ridiculous, stinky, hacky sack-playin' Phish fans; he was like Dylan, only without the ego.

In fact, I have for years now talked about making a bumper sticker that said:

JESUS CHRIST; ONE RIGHTEOUS MUTHAFUCKER!




[Edited on Jul 01, 2003 by plasticfangs]

lololol

I've always thought that Jesus, himself, was a pretty cool guy and a wonderful prophet who wanted to share love, good will, and charity among his friends and followers. That's noble, and he was brave to go through that horrible crucifixion. I just choose not to follow that religion.

I don't have any problems whatsoever with Christians, as long as they aren't trying to convert or judge me. There are plenty of decent Christians out there, including my family, so it bothers me when a select few give the religion a bad name.

I dont need a book to tell me how to be a human being, but people did thousands of years ago, and I guess some still do now. Whatever gets ya thru the day. its unfortunate that most people become Rightous instead of religious, and they think they have to control everything for our own good...

I'm down with Jesus.....

Quote me on that!

I actually follow the Easter Bunny, He loves everyone, gives away great gifts and you have to take it on faith that he exists...

I'm not even remotely Christian, but I do have to admit that Jesus was a dude who sure had a lot of good ideas for his time, whether he was a mere human or anything else. I have good friends that are Christians tho, and I think I can safely say that all of them follow the actual teachings of Jesus rather than everyone else who came after him. Meanings of words change over time tho, and some words simply can't be translated accurately from one language to another. So I don't think everything he said can still apply literally today, but requires interpretation. He wasn't just writing a cookbook after all, but unfortunately that's how a lot of people see it.

I've heard about the tomb in France that was the actual final resting place of Jesus and Mary. Wasn't he supposed to have founded a line of kings there, too?

I met a former (Christian) army chaplain on a train a couple months back. He was gay, but didn't see a conflict there, because Jesus never said anything about homosexuals-- all the negativity begins in the book of Paul, so as he said, anybody who follows anything other than 'love thy neighbor as you love thyself' isn't actually a Christian but a Paulite. Have I got that right?

me and jesus smoke beer and drink weed together *burp* I love that.. *burp* guy..

[Edited on Jul 02, 2003 by Rockshow]

"Are ya drinkin with me Jesus, I cant see you very clear. I know you can walk on water, but can you walk on this much beer?!?!?!" Mojo Nixon & Jello Biafra

Yeah, word!
Christ was a cool guy, and probably fun as hell at parties, but when other people got a hold of his ideas, they royally fucked em over. (And I dont mean like Prince Charles fucked em, I mean Queen-fucking-Mum fucked em!)
But then, thats always the way, someone has a bunch of great ideas and then other people figure out how to profit off of them and they get all fucked up.

how can you NOT love a guy who always brings an endless supply of liquor???



"you down with JC?"
"yeah, you know me!"
"you down with JC?"
"yeah, you know me!"

In all my years of being anti-Christian and arguing against the faith I have always tried to maintain that Christ himself was not the problem. I never said unequivocally that he existed, but I said I hoped he did.


Ok.....so there was this one time when I called him a Socrates-wannabe.........other than that though.....


And, by the way, it makes me happy that Jello and Mojo got quoted on here since that song popped into my head to............and their version of Plastic Jesus is by far the best.

Fucking WORD. I love that song.

you and
keith are my two favorite new people... ive wanted to go to rennes-le-chateau for a long time. and i will be ordering the arcadian cipher as soon as i get paid. am glad to see people who can discuss theology and religion and occultisn... all in the same thread and not want to kill eachother.


[Edited on Jul 30, 2004 by scotty_bane]

goofy bastards.

I had a 3 and a half hour talk yesterday about philosophy, and that included religion, specifically christianity. You pretty much covered the big points we came up with concerning christ. I think what the world really needs is for people to be christ-like.

One time I went to a strip club, and shit you not, got a lap dance from a girl wearing a What Would Jesus Do? bracelet.

But the scary thing is, what if that IS what Jesus would do?

No way, Jesus was a militant.