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How is Christianity Any Different From Previous Religions

Topics about God from the viewpoint of atheists and Christians.

How is Christianity Any Different From Previous Religions

Postby samuelrj on Wed Jul 23, 2008 9:54 pm

This is one most my favourite forum posts:

http://www.religious-debate.com/Forum/v ... p?f=4&t=66

Or


Religious people will tell you science's main goal is merely to debunk religion. Well, us science people have done a pretty damn good job. Before attacking Christianity I will explain simply how the more knowledge we gain and the ever expanding technologies available to us have completely changed religion from the dawn of man.

Lets start with the Greeks. The Greeks could not explain the Sun so they simply believed that Apollo gets on his flaming chariot and rides across the earth giving it light. They couldn't explain the seasons so they simply believed that Persephone is taken to Hades for the Winter and Fall and that Demeter becomes depressed and won't let anything grow. Every natural phenomenon they encountered that they couldn't explain, they simply made up a wild story as to how a bunch of supreme beings that lived on the top of a Mountain willed it to be that way. So, like most ancient religions, they lived in fear of their Gods and did a lot of bad things to "appease them".

The Norse followers believed the world was a giant tree, and there were elves and dwarfs and magical spells all around them, they were a warrior culture so their religion focused a lot on warfare, with Valhalla and all of that. They also believed that there was once a giant wolf ready to eat the world but was saved by their Gods. Again they dedicated much of their time to "appeasing their gods" which led to a lot of bad things being done.

The Egyptians believed in an afterlife where you went to see Anubis and your heart was weighed with a feather i think.

The Mayans believed that when the Sun went down, the Sun God needed a sacrifice and blood to come back up, and that they willed sacrifice and bloodshed by the thousands to appease them.

And now the Christians believed everything came from and is today because of a supreme being we can't hear, see, touch, smell, or have any proof of. Whats the difference?

I don't have to tell you that all of these religions are bullshit. As Science expanded we learned that we see the Sun because the world orbits it and turns on its axis to give us day and night. The seasons change because of this. We know that the world is indeed not a giant tree and that you don't have to kill people to make sure the Sun keeps rising and setting.

So I ask you Christians, what makes your religion any different. Shit, you guys have already changed your entire view on God and it's only been a few millenia. God went from an asshole who fucked with everyone and something to fear, to this grandpa type figure who helps you out if you need it and is the reason for all the good in the world.

I agree the stories aren't as farfetched but there really isn't much of a difference between Apollo riding across the sky and Moses parting the sea or Jesus walking on water, the degree of craziness is there but the fact is they still sound like fairy tales.

So I'm asking all Christians to give me a reason that Christianity isn't just a stepping stone in humanities road to finally realizing Gods and Goddesses don't exist and are simply used as easy answers. Apollo -> Anubis -> Jesus -> ??
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Postby vswimsfly on Thu Jul 24, 2008 10:33 am

personally, i think that if you are this stubborn and ignorant to be rude about my and other peoples religion i dont think its worth it to try to explain to you. its one thing to argue your case about religion but to use inapropriate language and mock christianity like that is a totally different thing.
all i know is what i have experienced with god and what you are missing out on.
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Postby samuelrj on Thu Jul 24, 2008 10:37 am

first off this was not my post. Second, how is inappropriate language a reason not to explain something. It sounds like you're stalling for time.
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Postby vswimsfly on Thu Jul 24, 2008 10:52 am

inappropriate language isnt appropriate. now how hard was that?
idk if i got offended for no reason but the post seemed pretty offending to me.
lemme get this right. your question is why christianity is different than any other religion?
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Postby samuelrj on Thu Jul 24, 2008 10:55 am

OK it has inappropriate language in it because thats what the original post had and I wanted to quote it correctly

and yes, that is my question
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Postby vswimsfly on Thu Jul 24, 2008 10:59 am

ok so now that thats all straightened out back to the question
how is christianity any different?
well compared to roman mythology it is alot different.
roman mythology had no actual human witnesses or evidence to help support that religion. whereas christianity had countless prophets and jesus and many other miracles and proven accounts of god working here on earth.
compared to islam and judaism christianity is not that differnt.
the main differences are our beliefs on who the son of god is and which prophets are more important than others...
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Postby samuelrj on Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:02 am

Ok, but how is Christianity not just another stepping stone of religious mythology which will later be replaced by a slightly more believable, yet still illogical story?
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Postby vswimsfly on Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:08 am

christianity is just a series of beliefs and experiences that a large group of people throughout the world share. its a religion and thats what religion means.
now christians beliefs are never going to change. the foundation that jesus is our savior..that is eternal.
however due to human fault humans are going to find someway to change tradition or bend rules.
martin luther did that acciedently. he wrote 95 theses or things he thought needed to be cleaned up and changed about the catholic church. then a group of people misunderstood the purpose of those theses and decided to start a church of their own (protestant reformation)
so what im trying to say is. that in a way you are right that the church will continue to evolve and change and break off but that is due to human fault.
the base of our religion that jesus is the son of god and died for us and rose from the dead will never change.

is that what your asking?
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Postby samuelrj on Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:15 am

So if your religion now is the one true faith, then whose to say that the true faith wasnt created millions of years ago, it just evolved so much that nobody knows about it today and the true god doesn't accept the actions of today and the only ones going to heaven are the ones who act barbaric, like the original religion said.

What I'm trying to say is, religion evolves and according to you, christianity, now it is now, is the one true faith. That means that before, there was an incorrect religion and it just happened to evolve into the true faith?
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Postby vswimsfly on Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:23 am

samuelrj wrote:So if your religion now is the one true faith, then whose to say that the true faith wasnt created millions of years ago, it just evolved so much that nobody knows about it today and the true god doesn't accept the actions of today and the only ones going to heaven are the ones who act barbaric, like the original religion said.

What I'm trying to say is, religion evolves and according to you, christianity, now it is now, is the one true faith. That means that before, there was an incorrect religion and it just happened to evolve into the true faith?


im not quite understanding this. but from what i did understand that yes i believe christianity is the one true faith. and yes before there was a religion that was incorrect.
now heres were i disagree. mythology and paganism did NOT evolve into christianity.
you have to know the history of christianity. christianity did not evolve from anything. it started after jesus' death and resurection.
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Postby VIP on Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:38 am

I think you're forgetting that most of modern science was discovered by Christians. Before science advanced atheists came up with the wildest explanations on how the world came to be. It's because of them that we have all these weird superstitions and historic cultured that worshiped all sorts of craziness. Christians advanced science because they wanted to know how God put the world together. Then a guy named Darwin came along and found the theory of natural selection, (originally proposed by some other Christian scientist to explain micro evolution) and decided that if he could extrapolate that back to a single cell organism he could find a work around that didn't require God. One by one the other branches of science fell under atheism or agnosticism. That's how the real story goes, read your history.

And as for how I know that God is real? I talk to him, he talks back. Nuff said. Of course you think that's a strange psychotic problem and that I should be locked in the loony bin but that's ok because it's not illeagal... yet.

Secondly,

martin luther did that acciedently. he wrote 95 theses or things he thought needed to be cleaned up and changed about the catholic church. then a group of people misunderstood the purpose of those theses and decided to start a church of their own (protestant reformation)


I'm fairly certain that the protestant reformation was different than the Lutheran reformation. And yes, the Catholic church needed a lot of cleaning up in those days, it still needs some work today but that's a different debate for a different time.
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Postby samuelrj on Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:39 am

So you're saying that the bible is lying about adam and eve, that there were pagans before the creation of the universe?

And all the people before christianity are in hell??
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Postby samuelrj on Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:41 am

VIP, have you ever heard of the inquisitions and Galileo and the pope's little conflict?
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Postby VIP on Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:42 am

samuelrj wrote:So you're saying that the bible is lying about adam and eve, that there were pagans before the creation of the universe?

And all the people before christianity are in hell??


Are you going to take this seriously or ask questions like that?
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Postby samuelrj on Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:44 am

VIP, are you going to answer the questions or just stall for time?
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