What was the Motive of Christianity?

if you are going to have this discussion , people need to seperate :

the teachings of the old testement

the message // teachings attributed DIRECTLY to jesus [ a slender portion of matt , mark , luke and john ]

then the rest of the NT [ much of which can be summarised a " paulinity " ]

but carry on

a reply to: WakeUpBeer

I'm pointing out as clear as a bell how mankind is obviously
lacking the guidance and control he needs from what was once
our one true oracle God. I'm relating how the direction mans attempt
to be God all the way up to this day, thru science, correlates perfectly
all the way back to genesis. Where God let us have our way choosing
to go it on our own, Without Gods law. what we are seeing today
appears to be the end of that allowance. Because we obviously
aren't going to make it. With out GODS control. On topic.

It's really very plain. And despite any judgements from you and
your preferances. It's happening and God isn't who you think he
should be. So get over it.

a reply to: randyvs

There is nothing to get over. I will continue to voice my criticisms!

If you wNt to manipulate people there are two options:
1) become a politician
2) become a religious figure head.

The reason for having a God is to be able to justify what you are telling the people to be true.

Example:
If I say that it is adviseable not to have babies with your sister, because it has been noticed that a large number of the offspring are "defective", and I put this on ATS there will be numerous objections and calls for proof.

However, if I manage to persuade people that some God has made it possible for them to be Masters of others because they are chosen among the riff raff, many people will love it.

Then we write it down and eventually we put in a sentence that God doesn't like us to have babies with our siblings. Because it is Gods will.

That is how religion starts. Someone wants to be a deciding factor for good reasons or for bad reasons. I suspect that it was mostly for good reasons.

The problem with christianity is that they claim so many things and attribute it to a Son of God that was conceived after non consensual sex between an innocent woman and a proxy. But they top it by including in their holy book a large number of texts that in many places are contradictory to the teachings they want to promote.

You cannot promote a loving God and then use large parts of The Old Testament in the way it is done.
You cannot one moment say "this is the word of God and is not up for debate" and the next moment claim that this other part of the Bible is "meant to be understood this way" because it isn't meant to be taken litterally.

Just look at how Bible bashers are quick to respond to Jesus' claim that "I come with the sword".
Well this "sword" is probably meant to be a reference to "the gospel".
So - are they idiots for saying that? Or are we idiots for accepting that explanation?

Christianity has got to distance itself from the old testament if they want to be taken seriously by non believers.
Which they really want to be, if we consider how much they seek to influence politics and how adamant they are in manipulating what is taught in schools.

Now as then - christianity (and any other religion) is meant for manipulation.

ISIS threatens to kill non believers.

Christians had to invent Hell and threatens people by stating that non believers go to Hell for eternal torture.

We are all Gods children except You.

When I read Yeshua:s teaching on the spirit and the light and compare them to eastern idea of Kundalini they fit. The Kundalini idea is from my point of view, probably not 100% the truth on how energy fluctuate within the quantum field in the body since it is a bit of a simplification of the truth and thefor leaves out unknown objective truth.

From my point of view to understand Yeshua you will have to understand Buddha, Rumi and Nanak. Really understand one of them and you wil understand them all. . Same divine source.

originally posted by: WakeUpBeer
a reply to: randyvs

There is nothing to get over. I will continue to voice my criticisms!

As silly as they are, I'm quite sure you will.

Religion from a Scientific Approach.

It's possible the motive of all Religion is to simply reach the other side of the rainbow and then vanish into a reverse electronic magnified proton induced atomic dust ball of strange matter. And then 'Poof' .. disappear into nothingness.

a reply to: cooperton

After the fall of the (original) Roman Empire, it was a new wave of believing for the masses. That some monotheistic creator/being could save/protect us from those unruly, brutal times.
Christianity is a mixture of the Talmud and Torah. Islam was created 600 years after the fact.

Just saying......

Exodus 30:15

You gotta give money to atone for your sins.
Love it God needs your shekels....
Sums religion up to me anyhow.

a reply to: cooperton

Tyrants are best served by pretending they bring salvation rather than oppression. Think "the emperors new clothes"...or the Trojan horse. Or a strange mix between the two.

originally posted by: randyvs
a reply to: WakeUpBeer

I'm pointing out as clear as a bell how mankind is obviously
lacking the guidance and control he needs from what was once
our one true oracle God. I'm relating how the direction mans attempt
to be God all the way up to this day, thru science, correlates perfectly
all the way back to genesis. Where God let us have our way choosing
to go it on our own, Without Gods law. what we are seeing today
appears to be the end of that allowance. Because we obviously
aren't going to make it. With out GODS control. On topic.

It's really very plain. And despite any judgements from you and
your preferances. It's happening and God isn't who you think he
should be. So get over it.

Is that how you typically discourage investigation? Tut tut...

But far be it from me to take a broken toy from a screaming child. Although how god surpasses our understanding and not yours is beyond me. Oh right the "holy spirit" aka interpretive license. Too bad I didn't get a book of poetry for my law class, it would be so much easier to BS my way to graduation. Then I can just wave a paper around and say "I know stuff, give me money and I will help you!"

...hey, it works for the local churches.

a reply to: cooperton

Many people hold the belief that the bible was meant to control the people. I am not saying it has not been used for this purpose, but the true intention of the Bible could not have been as a mode of control.

Seriously? Mark 16

“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.

No control there. Submit to the groupthink, or suffer eternal damnation.

Jesus said to drop your nets and do as he did. How would this serve any tyrant's agenda? If everyone followed Christ's word we would all be living in an altruistic egalitarian community. This is the opposite of what a tyrant, or group of tyrants, would want the people to do. Yes, the Word has been twisted for the purposes of control, but that was not the reason this book was written.

There is nothing altruistic and egalitarian about Christianity, except for those who belong to the clique, and even that is stretching it. Christians condemn each other all the time. Christianity is exactly what a tyrannical dictator would want. It's an excellent system of control. The bible even calls Christians sheep.

In my humble opinion, I don't think martyrs would die for option #1

People "martyr" themselves all the time for the craziest of reasons.

It is a social construct of control to subjugate and extort wealth via non-sensical dogma.

There is/was no motive, just hysterical superstitions that snowballed from a time where there really wasn't much hope of survival if you were poor and desperate.

originally posted by: WakeUpBeer
a reply to: cooperton

I can't think of anything in Hinduism or its pantheon that sounds remotely like Christianity. I can't fathom how Norse mythology ties in. I can't fathom how Mayan or Aztec religions tie in. Native American traditions?

Krishna in Hinduism is pretty much identical to Jesus. Hindus held the belief that God has and will incarnate multiple times, so Jesus appearing would not go against their belief system. Karma is remarkably similar to "reap what you sow", or "every good tree bears good fruit, but bad trees bear bad fruit". Escape from Samsara in Hindu tradition is similar to the ascending process that Jesus claims for humanity.

In my opinion, these are different cultures interacting with the same God.

a reply to: cooperton

The nice thing about Christianity is that God incarnated to tell us the absolute truth.

....And that's not manipulative at all!

/sarc

Any religion has always been about accumulation of wealth for the people at the top. They need gullible members to donate to their churches so they can live lavish lifestyles.

I mean, just take a look at the Cardinals in Vatican City.

Throughout history, religion has been used as an excuse for invasion. The role of invasion is always to increase wealth.

Jesus NEVER claimed to be a God. He claimed to be the SON of God. Big Difference.

Christians who proclaim "Jesus is God" really don't understand who Jesus was AT ALL.

originally posted by: cooperton

originally posted by: WakeUpBeer
a reply to: cooperton

I can't think of anything in Hinduism or its pantheon that sounds remotely like Christianity. I can't fathom how Norse mythology ties in. I can't fathom how Mayan or Aztec religions tie in. Native American traditions?

Krishna in Hinduism is pretty much identical to Jesus. Hindus held the belief that God has and will incarnate multiple times, so Jesus appearing would not go against their belief system. Karma is remarkably similar to "reap what you sow", or "every good tree bears good fruit, but bad trees bear bad fruit". Escape from Samsara in Hindu tradition is similar to the ascending process that Jesus claims for humanity.

In my opinion, these are different cultures interacting with the same God.

jesus is virtually identical to buddha, krishna, attis of phrygia, zoroaster and horus, among others. all of whom preceded him. and all of whom shared the hallmarks of being divinely begotten and sent to save the world only to be killed for their efforts. again, jesus is not exceptional. jesus is not a singular icon. jesus is one more face in a long list of recycled ideologies and mythos.

I enjoyed the book by Acaria S - Jesus The Greatest Story Ever Sold.
Seems like a shallow response but I have a lot to do today.