We shouldn’t hate Christ as a person in spite of what his philosophy has done to humanity over the course of history. We have to realize it was a different time frame. Aside from Archimedes, Thales of Ionia, and a few other scientists there were practically no scholars discovering knowledge of astronomy, cytology or most importantly phylogeny. The latter is the study of evolution and the Darwinian tree. Without science Jesus was like my cocker spaniel trying to understand the natural world with his nose.
We should despise, however, his Christian followers that came after Calvary. Many of the so-called saints born centuries later were among the most evil and sick people that ever lived. Men like St. Dominic, the founder of the Spanish Inquisition, a sadist and misogynist. St. Augustine of Hippo, also founder of a Christian “order” taught his followers to just accept whatever nonsense you’re taught by your superiors without question and don’t even think about it. Carl Sagan says more than any person in history he brought about The Dark Ages. He annihilated human curiosity. And to think the former even has a country and an island (Dominica) named after him. The beloved St. Thomas Aquinas believed women were put here on Earth solely for procreation and to tempt men to commit sin.
What a crazy world we’re living in because of Christ and that other delusional fanatic, Mohamed. We’re in the middle of the Anthropocentric Extinction, and even humans are on the brink of extinction. Our beautiful planet is violated in almost every area – even the exquisite coral reefs of Australia.
My belief is that what happened before and during the life of christ was an absolute mess. We don't even know how many 'Jesus' characters were around at the time. I have heard that it was 3. Each one could have been turned delusional by previously hearing and trying to fulfill the predictions that were sent ahead of him. Almost certainly there was a"Ringmaster" at this circus -possibly Paul and without sure and recorded conversations between them how can we be sure of anything in the gospels. We do not know whether the happenings were cultural, religious or political. All Saints and commentators watching what had happened and having ' caught ' the delusion and wanting power and preferential treatment were ordinary men who did mostly not even think of fully involving women. However all were human. This species throughout history has been shown to consist of good, bad and downright evil . It was however the by-standers who let the evil unfold.
It was Jesus who decided when his invisible father had given up on him. He could have stayed alive by confessing and repenting on his delusions in front of the Romans. Instead he saw the chance to be the big Martyr, setting a precedent for all other martyrs to join the virgins and meet dad. This alone is the reason to shun Jesus if not hate him. Hate does more to motivate humans away from goodness than is realized because it is silent as well as expressed out loud. Yes Christianity was a Movement , but movement in an unknown direction.
I don't hate fictional characters.
That would be dumb.
I met the real Bugs Bunny in California. I know he was real. I have faith.
Assuming, for the sake of argument, that the character known as Jesus (as depicted in the writings later cobbled together to form the canonical New Testament) was an historical person, there is plenty to dislike, beginning with the supremely egotistical statement.
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s foes will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it."
Matthew 10:34-39 (RSV)
Better had he never come at all!
I know what you’re saying but this is the ramblings of Matthew the over the top Apocalyptic writer. Matthew is a brilliant romp through C1st Palestine, but as literature, and not to be taken as a commentary. It’s best read as one would read a Stephen King novel, suspension of disbelief is essential!
We do not know whether he existed as portrayed. The model for him ma have been some Jewish rebel, some Jewish person with Bi-Polar disorder, Grandiosity included. But, we also do not know that the words he is supposed to have spoken, presumably in Aramaic, ever left his mouth. The "Gospels", as I understand them, were written long after his presumed life ended.
I do not hate him, I know of no one who hates him, despite what G.W. Bushit said, but do hate having Christianity, or any other religion, shoved into my face!
@Geoffrey51 Suspension of "belief," not "disbelief."
@BirdMan1 Nope! I’m referring to Coleridge in Biographia Literaria.
@Gwendolyn2018 I'm game. Let's do a Thomas Jefferson, and start by redacting all references to miracles, beginning with Jesus' conception. Then let's cut out all the mean stuff like the book of Revelation and references to damnation and hell, and just hold on to the nice stuff like love and peace. Then let's compare versions. Might be interesting, but either one is little more than a Reader's Digest version of a Greek novella.
@BirdMan1 It's not hate, but immense dislike that I have for the character, as portrayed in the New Testament. I regard this biblical figure, upon which a greater number of human beings than any other have their basis in religious belief, as a loathsome, egotistical, self-righteous prick.
Why would you hate a totally made up inexisting literary character? Do you hate Dracula? Do you hate Hannibal Lecter? Or the Godfather?
The character of Don Corleone I actually love. Vampires implies belief in the hereafterso there's nothing to hate. Hannibal Lechter is a fictitious bad person, yes I hate bad people. If I saw a film about a fictitious Nazi, I hate Nazis. Pretty simple.
I hate Godzilla. What an asshole!
@PondartIncbendog
Yeah and I hate those bloody pink Unicorns that keep trampling over my gardens and dumping their smelly manure on the pathways.
@PondartIncbendog is Godzilla a literary character?
@Mofo1953 Only to the Japanese.
@PondartIncbendog sayonara!
@Mofo1953 Ko-ne-che-wa.
@PondartIncbendog こんにちは
We should not hate unicorns also, and for the same reason.
Uuummm, do you hate The Easter Bunny too? Just sayin'.......
Hating christ is like hating zombies or bigfoot. They don't exist; nothing to hate.
I hate the Kraken. He keep stealing my bait.
First demonstrate that Christ actually existed then we'll talk about the rest of it.
Whether he did or didn't exist really isn't relevant. It's what is believed about such a person/supposed god that matters. But, if such a person did exist, there is no way to know what he himself may have actually said, or done. We don't have any original manuscripts, only copies of copies of copies... of manuscripts that were written decades, and even centuries, after this person is said to have died.
How can you say that? Jesus had a bunch of friends, a virgin mother and was a good buddy of John the Baptist. He also had a bunch of angels that did anything he wanted. What more proof do you want? And what about the Reserection? The stone that covered his tomb was moved -- and it was a heavy sonofa bitch.
There is no evidence that Jesus actually existed. He was a fictional character based upon other legends that preceded Christianity. To call him "Christ" would imply that you believe in him. A Christian who is not certain in the existence of God. Barely an agnostic. I'm an Atheist but I don't cast aspersions on others. I don't like intolerance whether it comes from religious or atheists. Live and let live.
No need to hate anything or judge anyone. Enjoy each moment of conscious awareness and bask in its mysterious miraculous glory.
It's not really been proved Jesus was real.
I've always challenged the actual, historical truth of the jesus mythology. The similarities as you study the progression of religions in that area is telling...
"Jesus of Nazareth" most likely xlates to
"John Doe, from Nowhere" in rabbi-speak
Right. The Christ myth. I don't hate Jesus. I feel the same about him as I do about the whole of Greek mythology, for example. Fascinating stories, but mythical. I dislike what his followers represent as their values, however. That is an entirely different thing. When religious beliefs transcend scientific knowledge that is a real problem.
Obviously you can't absolutely prove 100% that Jesus existed but there are certain historical criteria that can be used to determine what was most likely historical and not historical based on what is in the gospels. If you are interested check out my most recent post concerning this issue.
Andrew
@Aristippus, IF, and that is one MASSIVE if btw, there ever was a Hebrew born in the Judea-Galilee region ( NOT Israel since Israel ONLY existed post WWII) of the Eastern Mediterranean region then,
A) he would NOT have borne the name 'Christ' along with his first name, since the name/title of 'Christ' is derived from the Greek term 'Kristos' and NOT a Hebrew word/title at all,
B) there are ABSOLUTELY NO written records from the times in question that this Jesus of Nazareth, born in Bethlehem, ever existed in the first place, other than those supposedly written some 300+ years AFTER his death by some 40 Scribes, separated by miles and miles of land and seas on 3 different Continents., i.e. Asia Minor, Africa and Europe as the known world was at the time btw,
C) ONLY 2 or, at a stretch, 3 of those supposed Apostles were actually literate and could actually read and write, so HOW could an Illiterate, Galilean Fisherman have written anything at all as is purported by the bible?
Yes, everything about the 3 Abrahamic based religions IS 110% pure and unadulterated BULLSHIT so despising the root source of this odium is as reasonable as it is to despise root cause of the stench of the fresh dog turd that you unknowingly stepped in and is now stuck to sole of your shoe.
Which part of the philosophy? Loving other people sounds okay, actually, even though "love thy neighbor as thyself" is an impossible ideal. "Go and sin no more" isn't bad, it means forgiveness for past offenses- but then again, was the "sin" of adultery really such a sin? I don't hold sexual morality that big a deal as the ancient Hebrews did.
The bit about coming back to life after you die, though, that's just mythology, or else the words of a raving nutter.
To be honest the post sounds like a rejected lover who is just saying that the Christians and Moslems are really naughty and should be sat on the naughty step for a while.
I can’t imagine why you bring up Archimedes, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas and Darwin. They are irrelevant with regard to living in C21st Cuckoo land.
Besides, Jesus is the fictitious third person that the authors need to speak and act their ideas through, like Hamlet or Harry Potter. When we realise that Jesus is a device, that the gospels are not biography, they come alive with a snapshot of the challenges faced by a C1st apocalyptic world under occupation by an external ruling force.
We just need to nullify the religious connotations and read for the joy of reading, not pull it apart expecting a mystical solution
Unreliable history with a multitude of "spins" over two thousand years, who could really take it all that seriously!
Jesus Christ is not a figure found in historic records of the era that the bible claims, he is a religious construct and nothing more. Therefore the logic here is circular, Christ is a construct of the very religion(s) that use him to persecute and enslave others.
Well, thank you, as now I need not say anything.
Add to what's in the video that so much of what he preached was not to make life better in this world, but in order to gain favor and reward in an after-life.
Very true, Jesus was concerned about the Kingdom God was soon to establish on the earth and was teaching people how to live in a prepared way for that Kingdom that was to come soon. He was more concerned with the Kingdom to come than the present life.
@AHWalter1989 Yes, that he THOUGHT was soon to come.
Why the heck would I hate someone I don’t believe in .And even if he once existed he was probably a magician who fooled Gullible people and in this case I would dislike him for this reason .
uiu
Hating a person who probably didn't exist, at least as portrayed, isn't reasonable. Most fictional heroes are loved for the principles they espouse and great deeds they perform. It is the stuff of great fiction and even better soap operas.
Jesus was not the only Christ even if he was a historical person. Christ means anointed, the kings of the Hebrews were anointed, during the times of the Jewish war several arose claiming as the Messiah but they were killed by the Romans. Jesus the Christ is a fabricated fiction.
You have to weigh the good against the bad. From my perspective the good far outweighs the bad, the best people i've known in life have all been Christian.
I agree but we have to look at the big picture. Some Christians are good, well meaning people. You could argue that Christianity saved Europe by taming the Vickings in the 800s, and got them to become law abiding settlers.
But what it did to the human spirit far outweighs any good that the philosophy did. It brought on the Dark Ages that turned the light out for humans until Isaac Newton and the Age of Reason. It made humans servile sheep.
The WORST people I've known have all been Christian.