I was brainwashed into Christianity against my will like most members of white western civilization as a young child, specifically my given brand was Protestant Lutheranism, I quickly took to the cult on a voluntary level however and became quite militant and fanatical about it all eventually considering myself a fundamentalist at one point because I was young and ignorant and trapped in a bubble where I never saw or heard the doctrine or it’s lifestyle challenged and because in church what I saw all around me were apparently well dressed and successful people in suits, I assumed from that alone the religion must be true, as serious and successful people were there seemingly believing in it.
Eventually thanks to the internet I was able to finally discover counterpoints and counter arguments and broke free from the cult becoming at times a militant atheist and at other times a more peaceful and laid back agnostic atheist.
Due to Howard Storm’s fantastical NDE experience I once again have become open to the idea of the Christ cult potentially being true after all but sadly I still have not been able to find a way over its various rotten premises.
Very interesting trajectory. I was born in a completely atheistic family. However, the more I discovered things about the world, and about Western Culture in particular, the more I felt interested in Christianity. Which does not mean I ever became a believer in its traditional form but I do believe that there is a lot of valuable things that can be salvaged from it.
So yeah I’ve been trying to find satisfactory logical ways around these things that could somehow morally vindicate Jesus or make him and Christianity right but have had no luck thus far ...
My own take on Christianity is that Jesus is a fictional character who was invented by people like Paul in order to embody the spiritual theory and practice that they wanted to promote. This theory/practice, I believe, is a kind of mental cleansing (or mental hygiene) routine designed to protect the practitioner from bullshit (what the Jews called "idolatry" and Indians, like buddhists, "maya"). Paul and his followers borrowed elements from various traditions to formulate their doctrine: Judaism, of course, but also Greek Philosophy (which was itself part religious) and Indian ascetic movements, which were known at the time in the Middle-East because of trade with India.
The "unacceptable" positions you talk about are just a reflection of the times in which Christianity was first formulated. Paul used them because people at the time believed in them and they proved useful as tools of mental purging. Rulers of that era did behave like Mafia dons, so it made sense to assume that God would behave the same. Paul used such ideas in a manner similar to the twigs used in Finnish or Russian Sauna. You beat yourself with them and it hurts at the time, but, boy, after the ordeal is over, how well do you feel!
As long as it worked (ie, when people were ready to believe that God is a Mafia Don), I think that Christianity was the most effective mental hygiene technique available; far better than its Indian or Muslim competitors (Buddhism, Advaita Vedanta, Sufism, etc). This, I believe, accounts for the superiority of the West in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.
Today, I believe that Christianity could still be used in its intended role, provided we admit that it is a mental technique and not an actual description of how the universe really works. Such a renewed Christianity could be exactly what we need to fight bluepilled bullshit.
..., so am trying to focus on Christ’s love for us at the moment instead which according to Howard Storm as well I believe other NDE experiencers is quite profound and beyond any kind of even great love one can experience on earth even when earthly human love is at its fullest and very best.
I am not really convinced by NDEs. Unfortunately, they look exactly like the kind of brain malfunction that one would expect to happen when the body is near death (oxygen starvation, metabolic imbalances, etc). Also, it seems that people experience NDEs according to their religious culture. There seem to be Muslim-flavored NDEs for muslims, Christian NDEs for Christians, Animist NDEs for Animists, etc. As far as I can tell, no supernatural claim has ever stood the test of time.
So to answer your other question I do think what I’m getting at is a white pill type of teaching or understanding here.
I have been following the work of a guy whom I have met here in India. He is a professor of comparative religion at a university here and he is in the process of writing a book describing what he thinks is a plausible scenario of the emergence of Christianity. The book is not finished but it now covers the ground from Ancient Mesopotamia (the source of the "Garden of Eden" Bible stories) to the life of Paul. I have a copy of its latest version available
here. In addition to Christian history, the book presents an interesting theory of "Chad-ness" which the author calls "Sexual Authority", and which is embodied in the Biblical character of the Whore of Babylon or the Book of Enoch passages about the "Watchers", for example.
The book is in the form of a Sci-Fi style novel because the author says that we are in the process of moving from a faith-based religious environment to one based on "
suspension of disbelief". I am not mentioning the guy's name here because he asked me not to, but I could give it in PM to anyone interested.
I have already mentioned this book in some of my older threads.
