Here is an atheist definition of the Christian religion ... that I have run across on three separate occasions:
"""the belief that a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree"""
It hardly deserves a retort, but here-goes anyway.
Foremost, when referring to the Lord Ya Shua (Jesus in English), "cosmic" is a misleading adjective. The claims of Christianity (and of Ya Shua) was that He was divine, not cosmic. That said, He was always the only non-cosmic person in the room, having as the source of His being the uncreated Spirit of the Living God.
He was not His own Father. Rather He and His Father were one, with the Father being "greater" because the Son sprung forth from the Father thus making the Father the source of the Son ... and the source is always greater than the result.
The goal is not to "make you live forever" ... which is a common misunderstanding even among church-goers. The goal is to mate and mingle your soul with God ... reconciling the nature of the divine, infinite, and eternal Spirit of God within the innermost being of man. The goal is a relationship. The side-effect is Eternal life (as differentiated from "forever life" - which is contingent upon time), and there are many other side-effects ... like having been known by God to exist before the foundation of the world, besides all the fringe benefits of love, joy, peace, fulfillment, etc.
"symbolically eat his flesh" is a misnomer. Eating the flesh of Jesus is a hybrid activity for people that are hybrid people ... which is to say "in the world but not of this world." That activity has no purpose for those not quickened by the Spirit. As any activity, it doesn't change what you are, rather it is an experience that reveals or enhances what you are ... nothing more. I could go on, but chances are that you wouldn't understand unless you are alive to God ... and provided that you are alive to God, chances are that you would not need my help understanding.
"telepathically tell him you accept him as your master" probably refers to the oft-repeated if/then requirement of saying WITH YOUR MOUTH (not just sending a thought) that "Jesus is the Lord" to be saved. However, "saved" in this sense is not for the afterlife or "living forever." Saved in this sense is a release and freedom. It is a victory over sin and error as you train your body, even if for only one moment to say what is authentically true and without error ... that Jesus is the Lord. You are saved in that moment from sin and error ... the next moment may or may not be a return to sin and error ... nevertheless, we are not even talking about the afterlife.
"so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity" ... a severe lack of understanding is obvious in this phrase, for reasons already mentioned about the "goal." However, suffice it to say, that the twistedness of your life and the sin that vexes you is something that God would be happy to rid you of out of His great love for you. Many people, however, prefer the evil like dogs returning to vomit.
"because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree" ... or was it simple rebellion and self-exaltation .... she desired to eat so that she could "be like God" and "surely not die." The same diseases (even without eating from a magic tree) that is evident in the type of mindset that would write such a distorted synopsis of Christianity.
Nuff said.
The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. It's written:
"I'll destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."
Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
Since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
Jews demand miraculous signs and gentiles look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and gentiles, Messiah the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.
Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Messiah Yeshua, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
08/26/08 @ 14:44
08/26/08 @ 16:41 Yet I say to you, forgive him and love him. Honor your father despite his iniquities and wrongdoings. For the Son has taken his punishment and forgiven him, if he so chooses to receive it. Therefore, as I have forgiven you in the blood of My most beloved Son, also must you forgive those who have sinned against you. ~ God [Letters from God and His Christ - Volume 1 - See With the Eyes of Christ]
