I remain firmly with the one that is documented to literally exist and that, through their life, brought a level of actual freedom to man kind that had never been known before and has been largely forgotten after. I choose Jesus because it is the only one that doesn't make me a slave to the ways of any man.
There are many parallels between many religions but the ONLY one that doesn't have man dependent on man in some way shape or form is the Teaching of Jesus Christ. (No temples, The high Priest wants a personal relationship with all that know of him, no work MUST be preformed by me to gain salvation [freedom], no man Living or Dead has any power over my decisions, Following Christ is a choice not a demand, free to make mistakes and am forgiven so long as I am honest with my Creator about my mistakes, no money has to be paid and no sacrifice, other than sacrificing things that are not good for me, are required) No WORK must be done by me to be heard or acknowledged by the Father.
I love conversation and you are free to choose as you wish so I am not trying to change your mind either but I will share what I know in hopes that you might see it as well.
Christianity is not what it is taught to the masses and that was done on purpose.
You and I believe alot of the same. When I was Christian, or identified as a Christian I questioned the way it was taught. Then I questioned everything, and had me do a huge dive into it all. All the teaching all the parallels as you said. I believe Jesus story is a mash up al several other deities from through recorded time. Is this bad? No. Not in my opinion "Jesus" had great teachings. Well actually I was brought up Roman Catholic, that structured bullshit was wrong for me, looked into Christianity was never Baptized into it. It's the same stories as the Roman Catholic....I cant put my "faith" into words written by men......twisted by men is more like it.
You are not asked to put your Faith into anything man made though. This is probably the best take away. The Bible is a history book, as you have said, but it has been found to be true, I know parts sound way to crazy to be true but name one religion or structured idea or even scientific fact that doesn't? Only through the repetition of these are people able to grasp the knowledge as possible. That in its self requires Faith. Most scientific facts that we accept today are only theories that haven't been disproven yet, but to say you cannot prove the opposite of something doesn't mean either is true, it means you do not know. Faith is required for life, if you want to believe it or not. Maybe I am a big softy for choosing the one that allows freedom for all in creation and not one of the others that I could use as an excuse to hold myself above another. Jesus Christ is the only example that also gives the individual an ability to communicate with the Creator without intervention of man. It is the only one that declares that all are equal, that none have status over another. The only one that says I am the child of God and you can join me in this simply by accepting that we are all children of God. Jesus Christ didn't make religion, he destroyed it along with the slave state that was born out of it. Accepting Jesus as the Son of the One True God makes you his Child. which would make you....
I am loving the energy you are putting out, no judgement, and well thought out. Thank you!. I do not put my faith in science either. My faith is in God, Source, Spirit, Alla, My creator can be called many things. In my own opinion all "light" Religions, and faith practices connect us to God,, Source: the list continues. All are paths to "salvation?" Or "enlightenment". I am not claiming Christianity is wrong, or I am correct. I could be completely off my rocker. If God created us in His image, and ALSO gave us free will, do you think HE would argue semantics over the way you practice and understand faith? Faith is a very individualistic thing, sure assemble in groups, to grow faith, to ask questions. But spirituality growth is dependent on ones self. And lets say the Crusades never happened, would the rest of the world be going directly to h e double hockey stix? Because they didnt believe in White Jesus? lol Sorry to make light, I try to be humorous in these situations. Also let me be clear, I personally have a painting of Jesus in my living room. He is still a Religious icon and the energies and intentions put into it are still strong and healing. I also have a buddah. And I have an alter with spell candles for protection, and understanding <something I tend to lack...I am quick to violence>.
This is where I must draw a firm line. Jesus set everyone free on Earth. Physically, mentally, spiritually released them of their bondage. It is true that he said that many would argue over his name and in a way I can see how getting all ruffled over what we call him is very similar to having Idols. There is real power in the Name of Christ though, who wasn't "white" ( though not impossible for him to have been, honestly if he were Jewish as it is said then he were likely of the same complexion as the Jews are but they are adamant that they are NOT white! (Caucasian doesn't exist anymore apparently (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasian_race) that is man trying to have dominion over man Hitler did this with the concept of the perfect race, that man must have been some speaker because he wasn't even close to the Aryans he described). We must be careful with the idea of Faith practices as well, as people are fucking dumb and will get themselves/others hurt (snake handlers) for the sake of proving their Faith, Jesus warns against this, is greater or better than another (again, man trying to have dominion over man) Having a singular means that it is impossible to mistake unless mislead and that would fall on them that mislead.
Crusades...... What part of thou shalt not kill do people miss? They were not Christian but claimed it to say they were sent by God to kill a bunch of Muslim extremist that had just fucked a bunch of stuff up, where on earth have I heard this... It is very familiar. If you do not know the history you are doomed to repeat it. Boy do we LOVE repetition! Hell isn't for everyone, I think that it is more Biblical to understand that few are going to hell, few will make it to heaven and the rest will have never existed in the first place.
Many of your statements align with the teaching of Christ and you are right when you say it is up to the individual for their own spiritual growth. And Faith is very interpersonal. We can agree on those!
I must add that God precedes light. He existed before it, if you use the Creation story of the Bible so God isn't "light" and the bible warns of an Angel of "Light" that comes to deceive man. Really interesting when you open the Quran and see that the figures of light within it are called Djin and are rarely good for humans (https://www.thefreedictionary.com/djin)
You may choose as you wish.
I remain firmly with the one that is documented to literally exist and that, through their life, brought a level of actual freedom to man kind that had never been known before and has been largely forgotten after. I choose Jesus because it is the only one that doesn't make me a slave to the ways of any man.
There are many parallels between many religions but the ONLY one that doesn't have man dependent on man in some way shape or form is the Teaching of Jesus Christ. (No temples, The high Priest wants a personal relationship with all that know of him, no work MUST be preformed by me to gain salvation [freedom], no man Living or Dead has any power over my decisions, Following Christ is a choice not a demand, free to make mistakes and am forgiven so long as I am honest with my Creator about my mistakes, no money has to be paid and no sacrifice, other than sacrificing things that are not good for me, are required) No WORK must be done by me to be heard or acknowledged by the Father.
I love conversation and you are free to choose as you wish so I am not trying to change your mind either but I will share what I know in hopes that you might see it as well.
Christianity is not what it is taught to the masses and that was done on purpose.
You and I believe alot of the same. When I was Christian, or identified as a Christian I questioned the way it was taught. Then I questioned everything, and had me do a huge dive into it all. All the teaching all the parallels as you said. I believe Jesus story is a mash up al several other deities from through recorded time. Is this bad? No. Not in my opinion "Jesus" had great teachings. Well actually I was brought up Roman Catholic, that structured bullshit was wrong for me, looked into Christianity was never Baptized into it. It's the same stories as the Roman Catholic....I cant put my "faith" into words written by men......twisted by men is more like it.
You are not asked to put your Faith into anything man made though. This is probably the best take away. The Bible is a history book, as you have said, but it has been found to be true, I know parts sound way to crazy to be true but name one religion or structured idea or even scientific fact that doesn't? Only through the repetition of these are people able to grasp the knowledge as possible. That in its self requires Faith. Most scientific facts that we accept today are only theories that haven't been disproven yet, but to say you cannot prove the opposite of something doesn't mean either is true, it means you do not know. Faith is required for life, if you want to believe it or not. Maybe I am a big softy for choosing the one that allows freedom for all in creation and not one of the others that I could use as an excuse to hold myself above another. Jesus Christ is the only example that also gives the individual an ability to communicate with the Creator without intervention of man. It is the only one that declares that all are equal, that none have status over another. The only one that says I am the child of God and you can join me in this simply by accepting that we are all children of God. Jesus Christ didn't make religion, he destroyed it along with the slave state that was born out of it. Accepting Jesus as the Son of the One True God makes you his Child. which would make you....
I am loving the energy you are putting out, no judgement, and well thought out. Thank you!. I do not put my faith in science either. My faith is in God, Source, Spirit, Alla, My creator can be called many things. In my own opinion all "light" Religions, and faith practices connect us to God,, Source: the list continues. All are paths to "salvation?" Or "enlightenment". I am not claiming Christianity is wrong, or I am correct. I could be completely off my rocker. If God created us in His image, and ALSO gave us free will, do you think HE would argue semantics over the way you practice and understand faith? Faith is a very individualistic thing, sure assemble in groups, to grow faith, to ask questions. But spirituality growth is dependent on ones self. And lets say the Crusades never happened, would the rest of the world be going directly to h e double hockey stix? Because they didnt believe in White Jesus? lol Sorry to make light, I try to be humorous in these situations. Also let me be clear, I personally have a painting of Jesus in my living room. He is still a Religious icon and the energies and intentions put into it are still strong and healing. I also have a buddah. And I have an alter with spell candles for protection, and understanding <something I tend to lack...I am quick to violence>.
This is where I must draw a firm line. Jesus set everyone free on Earth. Physically, mentally, spiritually released them of their bondage. It is true that he said that many would argue over his name and in a way I can see how getting all ruffled over what we call him is very similar to having Idols. There is real power in the Name of Christ though, who wasn't "white" ( though not impossible for him to have been, honestly if he were Jewish as it is said then he were likely of the same complexion as the Jews are but they are adamant that they are NOT white! (Caucasian doesn't exist anymore apparently (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasian_race) that is man trying to have dominion over man Hitler did this with the concept of the perfect race, that man must have been some speaker because he wasn't even close to the Aryans he described). We must be careful with the idea of Faith practices as well, as people are fucking dumb and will get themselves/others hurt (snake handlers) for the sake of proving their Faith, Jesus warns against this, is greater or better than another (again, man trying to have dominion over man) Having a singular means that it is impossible to mistake unless mislead and that would fall on them that mislead.
Crusades...... What part of thou shalt not kill do people miss? They were not Christian but claimed it to say they were sent by God to kill a bunch of Muslim extremist that had just fucked a bunch of stuff up, where on earth have I heard this... It is very familiar. If you do not know the history you are doomed to repeat it. Boy do we LOVE repetition! Hell isn't for everyone, I think that it is more Biblical to understand that few are going to hell, few will make it to heaven and the rest will have never existed in the first place.
Many of your statements align with the teaching of Christ and you are right when you say it is up to the individual for their own spiritual growth. And Faith is very interpersonal. We can agree on those!
I must add that God precedes light. He existed before it, if you use the Creation story of the Bible so God isn't "light" and the bible warns of an Angel of "Light" that comes to deceive man. Really interesting when you open the Quran and see that the figures of light within it are called Djin and are rarely good for humans (https://www.thefreedictionary.com/djin)