 |
|
|
|
 The authors note that Jesus jokes have become popular just since the 1970s.
November 10th, 2012
10:00 PM ET
My Take: What all those Jesus jokes tell us
By Edward J. Blum and Paul Harvey, Special to CNN Did you ever hear the one about Jesus being Mexican? Well, he was bilingual; he was constantly harassed by the government; and his first name was Jesus. Or, perhaps Jesus was Irish? He loved a good story; he never kept a steady job; and his last request was for a drink. Or maybe it’s possible that Jesus was Californian? He never cut his hair; he was always walking around barefoot; and he started a new religion. You may not have heard these Jesus jokes, but you’ve heard others. They represent a comedic trend that has animated the United States since the 1970s. More and more comedy gimmicks hit on Jesus, his ethnicity and his relationship to politics. Laughing with (and at) the Lord is now fodder for major motion pictures, barroom comedy tours, graphic novels, t-shirts and bumper stickers.
How is it that a figure sacred to so many Americans has become the punch line of so many jokes? And why is it acceptable to poke fun at Jesus when other sacred figures are deemed off limits or there is hell to pay for mocking them? The explanations are as numerous as the laughs. Immigration shifts from the 1960s changed the ethnic and religious faces of the country so no tradition dominates today. The Christian right made such a moral spectacle of itself that it practically begged to be mocked. The emergence of “spiritual, but not religious” sensibilities left many Americans willing to denounce or laugh about traditional faith. The public rise of agnosticism, atheism, and secularism led to aggressive mockery as a form of persuasion. Follow the CNN Belief Blog on Twitter If we pause to consider why we’re laughing, we find that the comic bits delve into some of our thorniest and unresolved problems. The jokes reveal much more about us than they do Jesus. They speak to how our society has changed, how it hasn’t, and what we’re obsessed with. The first public jokes about Jesus were heard in the 1970s. There had been religious jokes before this, but none about Jesus had become widely popular because organized Christianity held such authority. As the economic recession and problems of urban decay collided with civil rights exhaustion and new immigration, however, some Jesus jokes emerged. Archie Bunker on “All in the Family” was the white racist and misogynist you loved to hate and hated to love. On one occasion, his son-in-law challenged Bunker’s rampant anti-Semitism with the claim, "Jesus was Jewish." Archie shot back immediately: "Only on his mother's side." The “All in the Family” spin off “Good Times” featured a black family that lives in an inner-city housing project, probably Chicago's infamous Cabrini Green. On the show's second episode, the oldest son J. J. astounded everyone by painting Jesus as black. The younger son loves it, and says he learned all about Christ’s blackness from the local Nation of Islam. CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories As the family debates whether this black Jesus should be hung on the wall in place of their white Jesus, they “miraculously” receive $140 from the Internal Revenue Service. Feeling blessed, the family placed the painting on its living room wall, and the elated J. J. shouted his tagline, "Dyno-mite!” From the 1980s to the present, the number of prominent Jesus jokes has multiplied like loaves and fishes: • In “Talladega Nights,” Ricky Bobby and his family debated which Jesus to pray to (“baby Jesus in golden fleece diapers,” “grown-up Jesus,” “ninja Jesus”). Their overall hope is that Jesus will help them continue their extravagant lifestyle. • “South Park” featured Jesus as a weak-kneed host of a local talk show who boxes the devil. • “Family Guy” had Jesus perform magic tricks that wowed his ancient audience. • “The Colbert Report” placed a gun in Christ’s hand and had him defend conservatives against the liberal “War on Easter.” • “Saturday Night Live” let Jesus chastise Tim Tebow for using the Lord’s name in vain and ended the bit by declaring that the Mormons have it right. One unforgettable scene in the rather forgettable recent film “21 Jump Street” may explain why Jesus has become such a joke. Before Jonah Hill’s character returns to high school as an undercover cop, he prays to a small, crucified “Korean Jesus.” Down on his knees, he says: “Hey Korean Jesus, I don’t know if you only cater to Korean Christians or if you even exist, no offense. I’m just really freaked out about going back to high school. It was just so f***ing hard the first time. … I just really don’t want to f*** this up. Sorry for swearing so much. The end? I don’t really know how to end the prayer.” The hilarity of the moment only makes sense in our time. Hill's character is unchurched and agnostic, but wants spiritual power to guide him. We can laugh at how agnosticism and being “spiritual, but not religious,” leave him uncertain of what to say, how to say it, and even how to end. We can also laugh at how ethnic factors color his approach. By wondering if Korean Jesus cares only about Korean problems, Hill pokes fun at the issue which was made a media spectacle in 2008, when the Rev. Jeremiah Wright could be heard preaching that “Jesus was a poor black man” as part of his support for Barack Obama. What good is a God who only cares for those who look like him? The Jesus jokes not only reveal how tangled our religious, racial, economic and political positions have become, but also how many outlets there are for the jokes. In these tense times, when presidential hopefuls point fingers at one another and families unfriend one another over political and cultural differences, laughing may be one way to talk about the problems without killing one another. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Edward J. Blum and Paul Harvey. soundoff (5,746 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 Next »Post a comment
« Previous entryChurch of England names new archbishop of Canterbury
|
  About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke and Eric Marrapodi with daily contributions from CNN's worldwide newsgathering team and frequent posts from religion scholar and author Stephen Prothero.  |
|
|
|
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
| Advertise with us | About us | Help | Advertising Practices
Editor’s note: 
Not to be anal retentive, but "Good Times" was a spin-off of "Maude", not "All in the Family". Maude, however, WAS a spin-off of AITF.
That little boy who died of cancer died because his mother didn't realize that her prayers were already answered– in the form of medicine.
That is a really cruel, arrogant thing to say. What kind of sick person tells a grieving mother "It's okay that your child just died a horrible, painful death. I know you prayed that god would heal your little baby, but god decided it was better for him/her to endure constant terror, grinding pain, chemotherapy and radiation, endless needles and tubes, invasive procedures, surgery and finally death. But it's great, so much better this way, you just don't understand why. God loves you!"
I survive on the understanding that there is someone who loved me SO much that he sent his only son to earth to live and die for us.
That's fine. Life is hard sometimes and if belief in a deity helps you, I'm not going to tell you not to believe in one. I do just fine without believing in a deity, though, and I'd appreciate the same consideration, especially when it comes to the government.
This was supposed to go under the post from "Rose" at the bottom of the page.
Jesus showed up one day and was touching and healing people as he walked down the street. He came across a Democrat with a limp. Jesus said I can make you better. The Democrat said "Don't touch me! I'm on disability! ...and I have Obama-care."
he's on obamacare? sweet - lot more chance of actually getting healed than relying on religion.
Just like me!!
That sadly, in this country, Allah has more respect than Jesus.
Interesting, given that Allah = God, the Father of Jesus.
No he doesn't, just more fear of his followers. There is a difference
And why should Allah automatically rank lower than Jesus? I guess you have no respect for other religions then?
It's important to ridicule religion at every opportunity, lest it gain the illusion of credibility.
The whole idea is just ridiculous. All of them. I typically reserve my scorn for Christianity because it's the one that confronts me and tries to run my life. Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists don't place me in a position to have to defend myself against them, so I leave them alone.
That's the correct reason Christianity is ridiculed in our culture.
This is exactly what I was talking about in my previous comment. The new mainstream atheists just regurgitate Dawkins instead of having original thoughts. They attack religion relentlessly because they think it's the only way to eliminate it. As an atheist of 20 years,, it makes me sick. Live and let live. Keep religion out of politics but if someone wants to believe in magic, let them.
Sigidiba,
No one is stopping them from believing in magic, calling them out on their absurd nature of their beliefs does not stop them from believing or infringe on their rights in any way. Sitting on the fence does not push the conversation forward, if you don't want to be part of the dicussion and think people should just "shut up" than take your own advice.
Sigideba,
I agree and in general I will not even bring up religion or mystical beliefs out in the real world ... or on venues which are for other purposes, i.e., an article on gardening or home repair or General Petraeus, etc., etc. (although religious folks often get their zingers in on those too). This is the Belief Blog, however, and that's what we discuss here.
The last thing I'm doing is sitting on a fence. I've been atheist for 20 years. I just find it offensive and tasteless to insult people for their faith. Clearly, you guys feel differently and it makes me sick. If you can voice your hate I can do the same.
Sigideba,
Your non-insulting reasons for being an atheist are very welcome here.
I hear ya' on the ridicule part, but even Thomas Jefferson said:
“Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. Ideas must be distinct before reason can act upon them; and no man ever had a distinct idea of the trinity. It is the mere Abracadabra of the mountebanks calling themselves the priests of Jesus.”
Sigideba,
My response to you is the same as any christian who calims "hate". Disagreement and jokes are not hate. Quit being a drama queen. Beliefs stand or fall on their own merits and expecting people to respect supersti.tion is absolutely ridiculous.
@ Sigideba, I agree with your approach. I'm agnostic and subscribe to the fact that I know nothing about anything on a God-like-level. And I respect others for their beliefs, although I do not agree with it. Another reason I'd rather respect those with faith, than to ridicule them, is because if I ever want to reach them with my ideals, it won't be because I made a fool of them. And my family is composed of mostly faithful people. I love them, and do not want to disrepsect them, because their beliefs helped shape some morals I still carry around today.
It's easy to make fun of something that doesn't retaliate. If there are negative repercussions from our actions we shy away from it. It's nature, if it's hot we stop touching it.
Isn’t this considered hate speech and doesn’t this blog now fall under a hate site guide lines?
So you'd like us to go back to the Dark Ages then, when it was routine to kill entire populations who weren't christian?
hiyall,
Disagreeing or opposing ideas is not hate. Christianity is an idea...nothing more.
I for one wouldn't want us to go back to the dark ages. Just pointing out that if a Joke is made no one is going to condem you for being anti-christian, you won't be blacklisted and you won't receive death threats or cause uproars in different parts of the world. It subconsciously encorces the idea that that action is not wrong where as if there was a negetive affect, it would be the opposite. How many people will want to go through making a movie about Mohammad after what happened to Nakoula Basseley Nakoula who was forced into hiding and is currently serving jail time for "parole violations" but more likely just because of the foolishness it started?
If you think that christians today never blacklist (not sure what you mean by it, I'll take it to mean shunning of some type), label anyone who disagrees with them as anti-christian, and don't make death threats, then you are either lying or seriously deluded. Look up and down these boards, christians are threatening all non-christians with eternal death every other post.
Aw, it's the same as why people poke their fingers at caged tigers. We enjoy having religion locked away from us so it can't hurt us, but we shiver at the thought of what could happen if some careless conservative unleashed it and let it become our master again.
I think part of the confusion is that non-religious people and religious people have different definitions of many words, including "spiritual". Personally, I think religion is a universal fairy tale people tell themselves to find some sanity in the randomness of life. It's way easier to look at the doctor who just told you you have six months to live and say "It's God's will" than it is to sit there and think of the randomness and unfairness of it all. Most humans need some sort of "faith" for things like that. Some non-religious people put their faith in the feeling that, one way or another, things work out. Maybe not the way you want - and you'd better do everything in your power to swing it your way - but eventually everything is what it is and we move on. We just don't attach religious imagery to it. I would like to say one thing to my fellow atheists out there, though. They need to stop trying to bury religion and leave it to the people who choose it. Move on. Yes, we need to stand firm against the religious right when they try to force us to worship as they do, but we don't need to shout them down everywhere we find them. Seriously. You can't say "mind your own business" to them while saying "and you're i d i o t s".
I like the last bit. I wish telling them to mind there own business would work.
it is difficult to "leave them to it" when the religious are constantly attempting to codify their beliefs into civil law.
I agree, Snowboarder, and I don't stand for it. None of us should or we'll be forced to pretend we believe as they do. There's always been trouble for people who don't believe what the majority believes, especially when it comes to religion, and we need to fight that here. I'm just saying our overriding philosophy has to be "live and let live" or we're just as bad as they are.
DJ – there is no live and let live with the religious. their position is divinely inspired.
my invisible pink unicorn loves Jesus jokes, but prefers Zeus jokes
did you know there are unicorns in the bible? dunno if they're pink tho.
An invisible pink unicorn walks into a bar...
The bartender says, 'Let's see some ID.."
"What all those Jesus jokes tell us?"
They tell us in what kind of shape our society and it's culture is....They tell us that people's understanding of life, it's meaning, it's purpose and our human destination is pf the depth equal to the depth of a mud puddle. They tell us that satan they have swallowed bite of the enemy of their souls, whose pleasure is to belittle the name above all names which is of Christ Jesus , the Lord of all creation. Yeah, satan has no pleasure in mocking other religions gods, since that way he'd mock himself, for he is the originator of them anyway. But he KNOWS who Christ Jesus is! He knows and he trembles. He knows what is to come....But for a season, he still has the kingdom of this world. And people like dumb a$$es follow him into damnation. How smart is that , you who are so logical and sensible. Look into your own hearts, let them teach you, unless you've numbed them to the point that they are dead. Only Christ can give you life, only CHrist Jesus alone!
Yep, this "all-loving" Jesus will torture me for all eternity after I die, simply because I don't love him back.
Wow, what's not to like?
There is not a shred of evidence of your god? You should read the const/itution and get educated, read the science book about the theory of evolution, the dianetics of science is available at richarddawkins.com. If you do not wish to live on welfare that is your problem not ours. Go away moron.
If your god damns anyone based on belief he is an asshat.
And please explain why non-believers should take your supersti.tous nonsense seriously?
Every generation from before the time of Jesus has contained people positive that they lived in the end-times, and that they would see the impure around them smitten from on high. They've all been wrong. It's never happened and it never will.
@MagicPanties:
Exactly.
" How smart is that , you who are so logical and sensible." Now we get to the point – he imagines that he will saved while we are tortured. Sorry, but you are more likely to burn than I am. Go lecture somebody who cares, Rev.
Hmm believes in a Satan roaming the earth. Do you believe in Santa and dragon as well? Get mental help...SERIOUSLY
How does anyone expect my 15-year-old atheist son to learn about religion if he doesn't watch Southpark and Family Guy??
This article really is pretty lame. This phenomenon is not about Jesus. It is about the comedic notion that *nothing* is sacred. Everything is fair game.
None of these illustrations are evidence of singling out Jesus as the butt of jokes. They are all equal-opportunity mockers of religion.
• “South Park” featured Jesus as a weak-kneed host of a local talk show who boxes the devil.
"South Park" has mocked every major religious figure: Jesus, God, Satan, Moses, Mohammed, Buddha and even Joseph Smith. Ever see the Joseph Smith episode? (Dum dum dum dum dum!) Ever see Satan and Saddam Hussein as gay lovers? Ever see the "super best friends?" In my recollection the original super best friends had an image of Mohammed (this was before the Danish cartoon incident) and no-one complained.
• “Family Guy” had Jesus perform magic tricks that wowed his ancient audience.
Like "South Park", "Family Guy" has also mocked every major religious figure – their Mohammed episode in particular was controversial.
• “The Colbert Report” placed a gun in Christ’s hand and had him defend conservatives against the liberal “War on Easter.”
"The Colbert Report" uses a stock image of Jesus almost every week – usually mocking the religious right. The 'Blitzkrieg on Grinchitude' bits (mocking the 'War on Christmas') use the same issue. Before the Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert had a regular segment called "This week in God" on the Daily Show where he mocked religiosity.
Here's Seth McFarlane making fun of atheists. Seth (and by extension Brian) is an atheist:
South Park: Super best friends:
Reminds me of actual Christians too.
Well, God does love Hitler too.
Why wouldn't he? He's a chip off the old block.
@Ting
bwahaha!
What's the difference between jesus and a picture of jesus?......It only takes one nail to hang a picture of jese.......
lol
From p. 51
Now, now, now, let us be fair as we bring equal time to Mohammed at the risk of having CNN's headquarters blown up:
"Yo Mohammed so stupid, I told him to makeup his mind and he put lipstick on his forehead.
Yo Mohammed so cross-eyed he threw a bolt of lightning at the Earth and missed.
Yo Mohammed so poor he eats cereal with a fork to save milk.
Yo Mohammed so ugly cartoonists are afraid to draw him."
Jesus on cross: "John..."
Jesus on cross: "John...."
Jesus on cross: "John!"
John: "Yes my lord."
Jesus on cross: "I can see your house."
lol
jesus, like hercules, never existed. get over it.
Hey, Josephus thought that Jesus and Hercules actually existed, and he's word is undeniable. Of course, that means that there was more than one half-god running around the Roman world back then.
Deafening reasonings cares little weights upon the insurmountable conditionings' renditions of gloomy Godliness ideals.
no, he didn't.. the ONLY bit of "proof" you are referring to is very much up for debate. looks more like an unknown author penned some work under josephus' name. not very good proof.
http://www.truthbeknown.com/josephus.htm#.UKEzlmea2Is
I think Cal's point was that even though there are soem references from Josephous regarding Jesus as a real person, there are also accounts of him referring to Hercules as real whiich most Christians fail to point out when they use his writings to defend their Christ. It is also of note that Josephous actually claimed to be Christ after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD when he writes of it in 75 AD.
oops. too early in the morning for me... hehe.
Bootyfunk
No problem!
The absoluteness of the Holy Sea of Godly Nothingness cannot be denied by profuse regularisms hellbent upon wantings of denying the beneficiaries their reasoned convictions to join this Sea of Nothingness, the Holy Spirit of God. Those who yet wish to find wisdom upon material needs related to wanton materialistic ventures will so have their wishes granted. Either ways, God will be the controller of all things material and materially-found-out gainings. For God so loved this world He saw fit to send His first born of the 'elementals',(Being God's Sons) to give hope where little hopefulness was found.
you are in a cult. christianity is a cult. cults are not healthy. leave the cult and think for yourself.
"absoluteness of the Holy Sea of Godly Nothingness"
There's like, 20 contradictory and meaningless things in this one sentence.
Cult is a slang word coming from the word 'culture' which did also bring about the word 'cultivation'. Why do many klutz-faces bring to bareness their cultured lopsidedness in unreaosnable gestations meant only to be used as a cat's scratching post?
mk, "There's like, 20 contradictory and meaningless things in this one sentence."
I guess then is it that your contriteness lays within your own found contradictions?
Really, who cares? Anyone who still clings to religious dogma deserves to be made fun of and ridiculed. Wake up to science! It's everywhere...
Having the last laught at those right wing idiots while we enjoy the benefits of unemployment for another four years assured by the const/itution. Keep these jokes coming in CNN, we enjoy 'em ,that is why you are still the number one news worthy network in the world.
Hi, guys. Just a few things to get off my chest:
First of all, being a Christian does not make a person "ignorant" or "foolish" or stupid or close-minded. I'm a CHRISTIAN student at one of the best colleges in the country. I was raised to understand that God loves absolutely EVERYBODY. It doesn't matter who you are or what you've done–that's right. God loves Hitler. He loves Jeffrey Daumer. Therefore, as Christians, if we are to attempt to live in the ways of the Lord, we should attempt to show love and understanding to everyone we meet. This means that I acknowledge that other people may not believe what I do. Perhaps I disagree with them, but that does not mean that I am going to tell them their religion is wrong.Each one has merit of it's own. I find that it strengthens my faith to learn about other cultures and beliefs.
Second of all, God hears all prayers. He may not answer in the way we expect, or even in the way that we are hoping to see our prayers answered. But he's always there. That little boy who died of cancer died because his mother didn't realize that her prayers were already answered– in the form of medicine. Yes. I'm a christian who believes in science. Fascinating, isn't it? I'll admit that I haven't got every part of the evolutionary thing straightened out quite yet, but neither does the rest of the world (ask my physical anthropology professor... we're always finding new pieces of the puzzle)
Next, the Bible. You have to understand: We don't know how years were measured during the early Old Testament. A day of creation could actually have been 4 million years, for all we know. We also do not "manipulate" the bible. But there are certain parts that we have adjusted to fit in the modern world. Many of the stories are to be interpreted as lessons and we can learn loads from them. There are chapters that give us hope, that remind us that we are loved beyond measure, and that we hear everyday without realizing it. Love Is patient, love is kind, love is GOD.
I feel sorry for you people who haven't found someone to go to on your bad days. and on the good ones. How do you handle it? I survive on the understanding that there is someone who loved me SO much that he sent his only son to earth to live and die for us. Did you know that He had the choice to leave? At any time during his arrest, the torture, carrying the cross up that hill, or even while he HUNG on the cross (which is a horrible way to die, btw) but he didn't. He begged God for another way, but in the end, he stuck it though. (no pun intended) He passed up the option to send 40 thousand legions of angels to his rescue, but it had to be done. If you're reading this, and you think I'm a crazy old fool, I'm sorry. I wish you the best in life. I hope you're happy where you are, if you're still incredibly adamant about... nothing.
PS: God does have a sense of of humor– look at Canadian geese
"That little boy who died of cancer died because his mother didn't realize that her prayers were already answered– in the form of medicine."
But those medicines already existed, so wasn't the "answer" to the prayer already there? And if god had really intended to answer the prayer to save the boy, wouldn't he have done everything in his power to make sure the mother knew to use the drugs? Ultimately, the prayer wasn't answered.
"God loves Hitler."
And maybe Hitler loved God too, he certainly thought that God was on his side. Maybe he repented in that bunker and is looking down from heaven on all the Jews he sent to the ovens.
Yup, funny sense of humor your God has.
Wonderful Rose!
Rose,
From you venting post, I am abridged to say you are rooted in the pottage of Christiandom which may be said to be a goodly thing. What differs from your post and my venting is that I see this world as not being God or His sons' kingdom domains. In orders for this world to make it into the next Age, the majority of the worldly must deny God to be but a falseness in order to carry on the learning curvatures of reason. God has ever been humanisms' back-seat passenger. He does not anymore want to be mankind's eyeing principia.
Love Lettuce,
Love Let Us,
G.O.D.
god drowned every human on earth but one family in his great flood. that means god drowned babies. read that again - BABIES. only an evil monster could drown babies.
"I feel sorry for you people who haven't found someone to go to on your bad days. and on the good ones. How do you handle it?"
Logic and reason do it for me. Why do you need anything outside of your belief in yourself to get through bad days? And why do you need something to help you through good days? Start believing in yourself, build some confidence and self-esteem, and you won't need the crutch of a non-existent deity to hold your hand for you.
"A day of creation could actually have been 4 million years"
Except that it's the same word being used during the r=creation myth and when Moses brings the commandment to keep the Sabbath holy. Actually, if you think about it, the creation myth explains why the Sabbath is holy. That's it's purpose.
Your god commands you to kill gay people. Where is the love?
Hell, your god commands you kill lots of folks.
@Rose,
"God hears all prayers. He may not answer in the way we expect, or even in the way that we are hoping to see our prayers answered. "
As yet there is no evidence that 'God's answers to prayers' are any different than the normal outcome of our efforts and random events.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16569567
"You have to understand: We don't know how years were measured during the early Old Testament."
First, it's not just the duration, but the sequence that is in error.
Second, the evidence dose not agree with the OT, if it is taken literally. If you want to take it as allegory, parable, or whatever, fine, but taken literally it does not work.
"...there is someone who loved me SO much that he sent his only son to earth to live and die for us. Did you know that He had the choice to leave? At any time during his arrest, the torture, carrying the cross up that hill, or even while he HUNG on the cross (which is a horrible way to die, btw) but he didn't."
Why exactly did he need to send his son?
Compared to the eternal torture that the supposed God threatens us with, Jesus had a 'day at the beach', i.e. how can anything lasting only a few days compare to eternal torture? Not to mention that God knew Jesus (himself?) would be resurrected, which kind of ruins the whole noble sacrifice thing.
Rose,
You seem like a very intelligent and nice person. Pretty much all you wrote is rationalization. If you were born in an Arab community or a Jewish Community don't you think you would be equally adament of those beliefs? That is because your belief is based on indoctrination. It may make you feel better to think there is a god watching your every move and thought, but that does nothing to answer the question of 'is it true'.
there is someone who loved me SO much that he sent his only son to earth to live and die for us
--------
Rose, do you find it at all interesting that God only had 1 son? The creator of everything natural around us, of the vast universe, and every living thing in it, yet God could only have 1 son?! His "only son"? Seems to me God could have as many sons/daughters as he'd want, and why couldn't he? So, seems more than a little odd that God would only send 1 person to a small area of this world, when he could've sent numerous sons/daughters to all reaches of this world, in an effort to reach all the people in this world that he created. To me, that says that the christian message is NOT the "only right way" to see God. Otherwise, God would provide it to all his earthly creations.
"Next, the Bible. You have to understand: We don't know how years were measured during the early Old Testament. A day of creation could actually have been 4 million years, for all we know." Oh come on. How could the original authors of the Old Testament have known that centuries later, strong evidence would emerge to suggest that the universe ("The Heavens" in the Book of Genesis). This is a classic example of trying to make the numbers in the Bible "conform" to those of modern science. Also, why would the original authors of the Old Testament try to be deliberately confusing by using the word "day" (or "yom" in the original Hebrew) if they meant something else. You either take it at face value, or you face the fact that the Bible is wrong on many accounts and you reject it.
"God loves Hitler. "
Of course he loves Adolf. Hitler followed in God's footsteps. Read the Bible again. God was the creator of genocide.
Nice post, Rose. I don't agree with anything that you said, but at least you said it politely. I'm glad that you have something that gets you through life and helps you through the rough times. But please save your sympathy for people who actually need it. Folks that don't believe in god do not need you to feel sorry for them. They're fine. They believe in a lot of things... things that actually exist and that can be seen, touched, examined and proven. Science works quite nicely for me. Common sense and faith in myself and my abilities is what gets me through the rough times, and the not so rough times. Just because people don't believe in god does not meant that they believe in nothing. And even if they do believe in nothing.... so what....who/what is that hurting? The arrogance of religious people is, i think, what annoys others so much. The whole concept of having sympathy for, or feeling someone is lesser than you, because they don't believe in your storybooks. No, I don't think you're a crazy old fool at all. You're probably a really nice person, good neighbor, great mother, fun aunty, etc. And I also wish you the best in life. But each person on this planet has to find what's best for their lives on their own. And if some of us choose not to pick the path of imaginary beings, then respect that please. Don't feel sorry for it. Respect it and move on with your life. Peace and love.
The world as it is today is strewn full of povertous and diseased calamities within makind's principias. Many an eye of the people see but cannot bend themselves to the needs of those wantings' sakes. Feeding the poorest is good yet it does nothing about their conditioning to be raised out of poverty. Who amongst our intellectuals do justice when confronting the most poorest of people and who amongst the Pharisees' most wealthy will sell all they have gained and give it all to the poor?
"God loves EVERYBODY"
Is that why he tortures them for all eternity after they die because they don't trust what's written in the bible?
Rose, Christianity makes so much sense!
An omnipotent god who created the first man out of dirt and the first woman out of the dirt man’s rib later impregnates a man’s wife to reproduce itself. After the baby (Jesus) is born it disappears for over 30 years, reappears and sacrifices itself to itself with the aid of the Romans. Before he is killed though he walks on water, turns water into wine, heals lepers and makes a zombie out of a man named Lazarus. Jesus tells us that his death is redemption for having created imperfect beings (why a perfect and omniscient being would create imperfect beings and not foresee the failure is anyone's guess) and that his crucifixion is better than the previous attempt to rid the world of evil a few thousand years earlier. That effort involved 40 days and nights of rain to drown every single living thing except good fish and that which boarded a large wooden boat and dispersed themselves on island continents thousands of miles from where the boat eventually landed. After Jesus’ death he reawakens three days later and tells his followers that if you telepathically promise that you accept him as your master, symbolically eat his flesh and drink his blood he will accept you and cleanse you of an evil force you inherited from the dirtman who was convinced by a talking snake to eat a fruit from a magic tree. How can you not believe that?
" God loves absolutely EVERYBODY" Yep, same as an abusive husband loves his wife. Let me guess, God only hits us because we make Him hit us, right? If we would only stop looking at Him funny, He'd be much nicer to us, Unless He came home drinking, then look out, am I right?
Demagoguery runs the gauntlets of all humanisms.
@God's Oldest Dreamer,
I have to say, for a minute, I was very impressed, until I realized I misread the following:
"Demagoguery runs the gauntlets of all humanisms."
as
"Demagoguery runs the gamut of all humanisms."
Which seems profound to me.
"I feel sorry for you people who haven't found someone to go to on your bad days. and on the good ones. How do you handle it?"
high quality cannabis