Dogma biscuits

[serai]

.

By way of dark_christian, here's an amusing way to spend your Saturday night:


Fundies Say The Damndest Things


Bizarre and outrageous quotes from the Jesus Whackateria.


*stares* The stupid...it's so sparkly. I can't look away!

Comments

[samena.livejournal.com]

I totally agree. I was very pleased at the way the fundie girl was treated. Apparently this is a pretty liberal, modern school. Had this happened in a more Christian oriented area, things would have turned out a lot different, I'm sure.

Too bad the fundie girl didn't learn anything from it. That's the sad thing: the more these people are opposed, the more they believe their ways are right and the more fanatical they get in wanting to turn the rest.

[serai1.livejournal.com]

They're still operating on that whole mythical idea of Christians being "persecuted" as a part of their history, which is a load of bull. Christians have never been persecuted for being Christians. When people came after them, it was for their behavior, not their religion.

The Romans had great respect for religion and encouraged people to be pious. They disliked the Christians because they were uncivil, as in disruptive and disrespectful of the law and social order. (And all that torturing and death? A myth, mostly. The Romans didn't like torturing anybody. They much preferred that people behave themselves and be polite.) The Puritan sects did not leave Europe for America because of a lack of "freedom"; it was because nobody could stand their snotty scolding and nagging ways, so they kept getting run out of town wherever they went. The Muslims have historically been extremely tolerant and open as far as other people's religions go, but when the barbarian Christians (who were living in drafty stone piles and painting themselves blue when the Muslims were at the peak of philosophical and scientific culture) came over on their friggin' crusades and started slaughtering everyone, naturally they got rather resentful and fought back.

Everywhere Christians have gone, they've fucked things up for themselves and then cried "persecution!" when people have had the temerity to not like them much. Bunch of bullies, when you get down to it: happy to sneer at others and beat up anybody they think is smaller than them, but then they whine and cry when they get knocked on their asses. *eyeroll*

[samena.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they like being the 'victim' don't they? And they've really done it with those Muslims, because now the Muslims hate the Chritians (infidels) with a vengeance, and we've all seen what that can lead to. *sigh*

As for the Romans: I totally believe they were a civil people, but didn't you say at one time that there was also a lot of truth to all the horrible things we see in tv-series like 'Rome'? Or maybe that was just about the sex and the getting rid of (political or personal) rivals, but not about the way they treated the Christians?

But yeah, Christians really don't get how annoying they are, waving their bible in everyone's faces, and acting like they are right, and everyone else is going to hell. A friend of mine once encountered some Chritians who started going off about homosexuals, and how sinful they are, and my friend said: 'well, at least they don't go from door to door trying to force their ways and beliefs onto other people!' That was so brilliant!!

[serai1.livejournal.com]

Well, Rome took place in the era just before Christianity, so it never touched on that subject at all. The Roman religion was very different from what we're used to, so the stuff in that series, while pretty accurate, doesn't discount the idea that they were religious. It's just that religion occupied a very different place for them. They didn't see religion as being a personal thing at all - it was a social contract between themselves as a people and their gods. That's why things like making the right sacrifices, dedicating actions and things to the gods, and such were considered civic duties, not personal obligations. Being a good Roman citizen automatically entailed honoring the gods. They had great respect for religion because they saw it as being the glue that held civilization together, and so they respected the religions of the peoples they ruled, so long as those religions did not interfere with the orderly running of the Empire.

Thus, the Hebrews who lived in the Empire were not impeded in any of their religious observances or beliefs. Their religion was an ancient one, and this was something the Romans understood and honored. So long as they paid their taxes and comported themselves in a seemly manner, they were free to follow their faith with no interference. It was the Jews in Palestine who were a problem, because some of them kicked hard against Roman rule. That's why the Romans began to crack down on them - not because of their faith, but because they defied the Empire.

The same went for the Christians when they eventually started spreading. The Romans were a very down-to-earth people. They expressed themselves in a very forthright, nuts-and-bolts kind of way. They weren't given to metaphor or high-flown mysticism, and preferred open, honest dealings. (I'm not talking about whackos like Caligula or Nero here, but the majority of Romans.) So when the Christians came along with their talk of abandoning family and country, of living "without male or female", of eating flesh and drinking blood, it completely upset and disgusted most upright Roman citizens. They were taken at their word, which is where the idea that Christians sacrificed babies and such came from. The Romans were simply believing what the Christians said about themselves!

But instead of realizing that they were being stubborn about using language that was getting them into trouble, they kept insisting on rebelling instead of getting along, and of course the Romans couldn't have that. But the myth of martyrdom has actually been WAY overblown over the centuries. The actual evidence shows that very few Christians were ever killed by the Romans, or even tortured in any way. Most of them gave in when asked to sacrifice to the gods, which only involved taking a pinch of incense and throwing it on the fire while saying a few words. That's really all the Romans wanted - a show of piety in order to honor their civic duty, to prove they had the interests of Rome at heart.

And yes, your friend's retort to that proselytizer was brilliant. I'll have to remember that one!

[samena.livejournal.com]

So the stories of the colisseum and the lions and everything are also a myth? I'm not being sarcastic here, just curious. You really know a lot about these things. And movies like Quo Vadis and Ben Hur are completely taking things out of proportion? Not to mention The Passion. How you must hate that movie. I think it's interesting, because, again, it's about Jesus, but the way those Romans are portrayed is VERY black & white. I've seen better depictions of the last days of Jesus' life.

Maybe it's because I've sort of had a Christian upbringing, with the schools I went to, but I'm interested in most of these stories about Biblical figures, like John the Baptist and King David, etc. But not from a religious viewpoint. Ancient history is interesting to me in any form.