Hasbeen99, what do you make of this?

Well, I don't believe that heaven waits,
For only those who congregate.
I like to think of God as love:
He's down below, He's up above.
He's watching people everywhere.
He knows who does and doesn't care.
And I'm an ordinary man,
Sometimes I wonder who I am.

But I believe in love.
I believe in music.
I believe in magic.
And I believe in you.

 

If you reject his message on the afterlife how can you have any faith in his messages in other areas?

 

I don't know thelt, the whole, "Love thine enemy" and "turn the other cheek" stuff can hold lots of value as wisdom and truths that are universal without being wrapped up in supernatural trappings. Look at the Sermon on the Mount as an example of priorites for your daily life and it may make sense to you.

 

BV, if I may...

Not all of Christ's teachings necessarily pertained to the afterlife; they had a realistic base in the physics of life in the material world... for example, the idea that you "reap what you sow." That stands up to scrutiny because it's clearly true. If you treat others poorly and are untrustworthy, constantly going back on your word and stabbing people in the back, you'll eventually end up with no one on your side, always running from the people you screwed over, until you're backed into a corner and have nowhere to go. The Golden Rule is nearly universal. Other "crossover" ideas attributed to Christ include "it's easier for a camel to enter the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God," "don't worry about the speck in your neighbor's eye when you have a board in your own," and "let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

 

Nah. Screw that.

 

I agree that not all of Christ's teachings were related to the afterlife. What I want to know is why do you accept part of His teachings but not all of them? If He just stumbled on to being right about some universal truths then why does His support mean anything to you?

 

I think you misunderstand. I for one am not "against" Christ; not anymore anyway. Who he really was is something I'll never really know, because of distortions in the translation of "Christianity" over the centuries by the ruling elite of the Roman Empire, the medieval church, the Puritains, St. Augustine, St. Whoever, Jerry Falwell, et cetera to infinity. Every link in the chain had its own axe to grind and modified the "faith's" core values to fit its own ends.

Which leaves me with Christ the person, whoever he might have really been. Enlightened Master, or just another Jewish cult leader of ancient times who got blown out of proportion... I simply don't know. All I do know is that the "faith," as countless human beings have passed it down to me, is a hodgepodge of contradictions and strangleholds that did me more harm than good during the many years I tried to follow it. Obedience, abstinence, and conformity, enforced by a society that followed its own code in name only. Eventually enough was enough and I was done.

That's my perspective anyway. I don't fault those who follow that path and benefit from it. I just know it isn't for me. And I don't blame Christ for that. Not anymore. The bad behavior of numerous "followers" is no reason to blame the Man Himself. If anything, I'd like to be able to have a conversation with the guy and get a sense of who he really was. I tried praying... for many, many years... but he never got back to me.

 

If you decide to not accept Him, that is your choice. You should not, however, try to use His words to attack people who do accept Him.

 

And I wouldn't think of it, unless they were clearly acting in a manner contrary to their own Master's commandments, and harming those who didn't deserve it in the process.

 

You are gonna have plenty of work nowadays.