In article , Larry Blanchard
wrote:
In article ,
says...
The Bible says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is
eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23)
I have some questions about the [Bible], and as you have evidently
studied it, do you have any
advice regarding these other specific Bible laws and how to follow them?
Very funny! I have yet another question for the original poster.
There are at least 20 major religions on this earth. By definition, at
least 19 of them are wrong (note the "at least").
You do know the letter was a satire, right?
But actually, Brahmanism allows that all divinities of all religions do
exist. So 20 out of 20 religions can be right. To a Hindu, Jesus, for
example, is an avatar of Siva, & indeed their myths have close parallels
at every juncture, so it's easy to embrace (with all else) the whole kit &
kaboodle of Christian belief & still be a Hindu. No one is wrong, but
everyone has only a small part of the picture, so everyone's perspective
is incomplete. This may sound quite liberal of those openminded Hindus,
but it's actually a method of coopting all things without being coopted,
so it's a religion that has thrived vastly longer than has Christianity so
far, & will likely still be around when Christianity is largely forgotten.
Buddhism allows that all religions may be equally "true." It's just that
all things are at the same time equally false. It doesn't matter so much
what is true as what greater reality is hidden by the illusions embodied
by true.
Even among some christians there are odd little sects like the Unitarians
who sort of half believe all faiths have equal standing, though they are
ultimately Unitarian Christians, not Unitarian Muslims, Unitarian
Buddhists, Unitarian Voudons & Wiccans & Zoroastrians, so really they're
merely condescending buttwipes who're just a lot less aggressive about
their own god being better than everyone else's.
Bare in mind the practical rather than supernatural purpose of religion is
tribal & has nothing to do with any literal God or soul supposing such
could even exist. If one tribe believes everyone has to Morris dance for
God, but the next one believes you gotta kill a Moslem to please Jesus,
well hey, that defines the uniqueness of those two tribes & permits each
tribe to gang together for the common good (of their tribe) at the expense
of everyone who is Other.
The more hate-filled a religion the better it works, because it defines
the "us" within each tribe as extremely distinct from & better than the
"them." If each group can at least keep from killing the misfits within
the tribe (for which purpose civil rights are laid upon the tribal myths
to protect eccentrics within the group), then the demonizing of the Other
permits us to gain individidually by the group territoriality, to wage
wars to win all the gold, croplands, or oil, thereby to enrich everyone in
the tribe, except the village idiot since it's a pecking order after all &
there's a bell-curve for division of ill-gotten wealth.
YOU wanna live in an egalitarian world instead? SURE you do -- not. We'd
all pretty much rather live in a world where we can go grocery shopping
for just about anything we don't actually need, & own a computer &
subscribe to cable & go to drunken parties in stadium parking lots, no
matter how many resources it diverts to our personal joys at the expense
of those gol-blasted "Others" with whom we do not share anything, but
might make them a helpful loan just so long as it benefits our tribe to do
so & ultimately impoverishes theirs.
Success at materialism requires tribalism which requires cultic
distinctions or we'd all be one gigantic tribe called Earthlings, with at
best barely enough for everyone rather than too much for a few, & we can't
have that, because even the majority who have little or nothing want at
least the dream of getting on top & having it all. Enough is never enough;
the game is all or nothing.
If anyone really would prefer just-enough for everyone, we'd turn into
commies, who god hates. YOU be first to toss your television & get rid of
the car. I'm keeping my exesses, which seem awfully insufficient to fulfil
even my minimal greediness, so I can't greatly fault the faithful for
their selfishness or for the moral retardation they call their faith.
-paghat the ratgirl
--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
Visit the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl:
http://www.paghat.com