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Extraordinary Claims => Religion General Discussion => Topic started by: Cassia on September 22, 2021, 09:59:44 AM

Title: Judeo-Christian religions Boiled Down
Post by: Cassia on September 22, 2021, 09:59:44 AM
-Old Testament....Jewish god is mean, big and badder than the others and we will triumph over our enemy tribes. We are kind of weak and waiting for a great prophet to lead us to victory over our enemies. We are a closed culture, pretty much....Marrying outside the tribe not really encouraged.

-New Testament- around AD1- A group of Jews are tired of waiting. Things are real bad for them. Our great temple (2.0) is destroyed. Declare our prophet is (was) here. Not enough takers so this time we are open to  other cultures as long a you prove it with some water dunking/foreskin chopping. Our new prophet is a compilation of competing religion's demi-gods and his message is separating "the wheat from the chafe" so you MUST believe or it's that lake of fire. Oh and pay your taxes. Constantine mandates it and the religion survives. We spend the next centuries in the dark ages, fighting Muslims and plagues.

Ah, finally....the 'Age of Enlightenment'. Rebirth of democracy and science. A few hundred years later...US falls back into the dark ages with capitalism run amuck. Half the country are religious zealots and try to destroy the democracy. A deadly plague is meet with magic and the death toll is headed for a million.

Pretty good summary?

Title: Re: Judeo-Christian religions Boiled Down
Post by: Blackleaf on September 22, 2021, 03:37:25 PM
I don't like the term "Judeo-Christian." It implies that there's enough common ground between them to lump them together, or that there was a logical transition from Judaism to Christianity. As we both know, the two religions are very different. That said, your summary is accurate, but you could add more details to it. The Hebrew people were originally polytheists, so even modern Judaism is unrecognizable from the versions that existed in Old Testament days. Christianity also used to have several sects, just as today. But history is written by the winners, so we don't hear about the extinct Christian sects or the books that were rejected from canon.
Title: Re: Judeo-Christian religions Boiled Down
Post by: Shiranu on September 22, 2021, 05:08:10 PM
QuoteI don't like the term "Judeo-Christian." It implies that there's enough common ground between them to lump them together, or that there was a logical transition from Judaism to Christianity.

They worship the same god, the Jesus myth is from Judaism, and literally over half of Christianity's' holy text is Jewish...
Title: Re: Judeo-Christian religions Boiled Down
Post by: Hydra009 on September 22, 2021, 05:12:43 PM
Technically, Muslims and Bahai Faith adherents worship the same god as well, though I doubt a hyphen would go over well.
Title: Re: Judeo-Christian religions Boiled Down
Post by: Shiranu on September 22, 2021, 05:25:34 PM
Quote from: Hydra009 on September 22, 2021, 05:12:43 PM
Technically, Muslims and Bahai Faith adherents worship the same god as well, though I doubt a hyphen would go over well.

Bahai mythos isn't Judeo though, is it?
Title: Re: Judeo-Christian religions Boiled Down
Post by: Hydra009 on September 22, 2021, 07:01:05 PM
Quote from: Shiranu on September 22, 2021, 05:25:34 PMBahai mythos isn't Judeo though, is it?
They consider Abraham and Moses to be God's prophets (Manifestations of God).  They claim the same for Jesus and Muhammad.  And Krishna and Buddha... (those last two might not go over so well with Muslims)

Lotta hyphens, lol.
Title: Re: Judeo-Christian religions Boiled Down
Post by: Blackleaf on September 22, 2021, 08:05:12 PM
Quote from: Shiranu on September 22, 2021, 05:08:10 PM
They worship the same god, the Jesus myth is from Judaism, and literally over half of Christianity's' holy text is Jewish...

If you actually look back at the "prophecies" about Jesus, you'll find that they were not presented as prophecies, and were actually just snippets taken out of context in the middle of a completely unrelated narrative. Were the Jews waiting on a savior? Sure. But were they expecting a man born of a virgin to be sacrificed to God, who is himself, for our sins? Uhh... No. Christianity practically threw everything out the window and started from scratch, and just kind of pretended that the Jewish religion was always building up to Christianity. They kept some of the old books, sure, but that doesn't mean much when you conveniently and frequently reinterpret those books to suit your agenda. They don't even keep many of the same rules, despite Jesus claiming that the law would never change. You could eat whatever meat you wanted, you could pass on circumcision, pretty much any rule which would have hampered their growth as a religion was left out of Christianity. Rituals were replaced with new ones. They even changed what day the Sabbath was, and you could work on it without being stoned to death.

Hell, a lot of Jews didn't even believe in an afterlife! You'd think something like that would be pretty important to get right, since the entire point of Jesus was that he would let you into Heaven when you died.
Title: Re: Judeo-Christian religions Boiled Down
Post by: Cassia on September 22, 2021, 08:56:15 PM
My sweetheart always says it is what is NOT in the holy books that is convincing that they are fake. Imagine the things about the universe that could have been in there. “I've seen created things you people wouldn't believe" type stuff. Nothing in any holy book that a person of the day could not have written. Jesus is like yeah don't bother washing your hands before eating....Obviously no knowledge of microbes. The sheer tribalism, errors, inconsistencies and idiocy don't help either.

The 'free will' explanation for the problem of evil is still very unconvincing since I don't even know what free will is or if we really have it. Sure...there may be a super alien/creator..no one knows... but it sure ain't that Yahweh fella.


Title: Re: Judeo-Christian religions Boiled Down
Post by: Hydra009 on September 22, 2021, 09:42:06 PM
Quote from: Cassia on September 22, 2021, 08:56:15 PMMy sweetheart always says it is what is NOT in the holy books that is convincing that they are fake. Imagine the things about the universe that could have been in there. “I've seen created things you people wouldn't believe" type stuff. Nothing in any holy book that a person of the day could not have written.
The funny thing about that is that the greek atomists, who were essentially just taking shots in the dark, got awwwwfullly close to scientific reality.  Maybe they're the true prophets, lol.  If that stuff had made it into a holy book, that would've been a helluva thing for us skeptics to grapple with.