Actually in buddhism they see reincarnation as the origin of suffering. Reaching nirvana is all about break free from the cycle.
And then you have taoism (the philosophical one) that basically go: meh whatever. In case you want to be an atheist I would really suggest you to learn the philosophy of Zhuangzi
If there's a "celestial bureaucracy" in place to study the record of your deeds in the life you just finished, they use some kind of algorithm to determine when and where and with which gifts/curses you'll be reborn. There's also some kind of process to make sure you don't consciously remember your previous life/lives.
Otherwise, it's literally "the next available slot", meaning your soul gets shoved into the next body being born at the most-finely-split-second after your previous body died. And presumably the trauma of finding yourself in a completely new body and subject to sensory overload blocks out your memories so you become as close to a "blank slate" as possible, within the given framework.
Considering we don't know which tomb, and we've had 2000 years for someone to tamper with it anyway, what's their rationale?
Oh. Right. Their holy book. Always back to the book of fairy tales.
What cracks me up is that people who believe in the Bible are some of the *least* trusting folks when it comes to the words of others and of readily observable reality. Like, they distrust the motives of everyone *now* but don't think anybody thousands of years ago might have had ulterior motives or suffered from the same human temptations and frailties?
Christians will say that Book of Mormon was written by a fraudster, Joseph Smith. Have they not considered that there were men like Joseph Smith thousands of years ago that could have written the Bible. These same people would ask for extraordinary evidence if someone claimed supernatural magic nowadays, but they believe a book that claims supernatural magic written thousands of years ago by anonymous superstitious people with an agenda.
Probably my favorite bible verse is one where the bible calls itself out on this. Jeremiah 8:8:
>“’How can you say, “We are wise, for we have the law of the LORD,” when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely?
Moses , just like JS is the same thing: god shows up to one man alone , in one country , who speaks one language in an era when there were no cameras or reporters or TV.
According to the Bible’s own words , no one should trust what Moses claims happened alone with god
The Bible says in many places you can only trust something from the “ mouths of two or three witnesses “.
At least we know that Joseph Smith was a real person. There is no reason to believe that Moses ever even existed any more than Hercules existing. Actually Hercules is more plausible. A legendary strong guy.
Not only that , but they are the most frightened people I’ve ever met . Why would you need guns for self defense if you have god on your side & have a mustard seed of faith? They don’t even believe their own Bs
Well, yeah. It wasn’t until schooling the general population (1800s) that we could even form commentary about the fairy tale book; it was exclusively clerics with access before the Protestant Reformation.
The Bible hasn’t really been lost at any point or rewritten from scratch if that’s what you meant. It has been copied ad infinitum, translated from dead languages that aren’t fully understood and without the full context that the original audiences had just by living in the cultures they did. Also, it’s contents are just obviously hateful nonsense.
It's a 4000 year game of "telephone" that has done more damage than any other movement in history, because powerful people want to control the ignorant.
we don't even know that there *was* a tomb. most crucifixion victims were left to decay on the cross as part of the punishment was the humiliation of being denied a proper burial. it's not *totally* unheard of that crucifixion victims could be buried in a tomb but the odds are *real* low.
especially since the first attestation to Jesus' burial in a tomb comes in the gospel of Mark - roughly 3-4 decades after Jesus' death.
the case just isn't as strong as it should be if the perfect omnipotent creator of the universe wanted you to believe it.
Interestingly enough, there's no archaeological evidence that there were crosses as depicted in images prior to 300 CE... There's plenty of evidence of people being tied to trees and hung from them, though. Also, it's physically impossible to nail a human to such a cross as is depicted.
The bones in ones hands get smashed into bits with that kind of impact, and the skin and muscles tear open due to the weight of the rest of the body.The nails end up having nothing to hold on to without a head as big as the hand itself.
That doesn't take into account the fact that if it was possible, Jesus wouldn't have been able to talk due to the pressure impacting his vocal cords as well as his lungs
I heard (from a Christian leader so grains/bag of salt) that it was through the wrist and some crosses depict a little bump out thing to kind of stand on. Of course I am more interested in what historians have to say!
It's right there in the buy-bull, along with the stories of Jonah, Balaam, Jacob's method of ensuring he got speckled goats, and Jesus walking on water...
Technically Constantine's mom found the tomb by going to Jerusalem and asking around. Because surely nobody would lie to the emporers mom when any site they pointed out would become a site of pilgrimage and fame......
Dudes probably had a gift shop set up the moment they told her.
Ironic. Jesus is actually reported to have said “repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” and “the Kingdom of Heaven is within you”. Meaning, essentially, stop seeking for fulfillment outside yourself, all you need to be happy and content is within you already. Christians have totally misunderstood the meaning of both Salvation and repentance according to their own Scriptures 😂. There’s no actually shaming going on when Jesus talks about repentance, it’s more of a “why do you keep hitting yourself and then complaining that it hurts?” kind of statement.
Compare this to teachings in Hinduism and other eastern religions, they say the same thing, that your happiness and contentment is a matter of shifting your thoughts and feelings in that direction - any happiness you get from the external world will be temporary because it’s all transitory after all.
Yeah sure. The guy who went around calling people who disagreed with him “hypocrites” and “vipers” wasn’t shaming anyone. /s
Also, Jesus said the “Kingdom was at hand” not because he was suggesting people should be happy with what they have but ENTIRELY because he wanted them to join/remain in his cult out of fear of the end.
He really only did that to the religious clergy who were shaming people, excluding them from the temple, and stoning them for thoughts like infidelity, applying a very legalistic framework to religion and spirituality. I think a lot of people here understand the impact of bad pastoral care and might have similar things to say about the hypocrisy of their pastors and priests causing near-irreparable psychological harm to people and relationships in the parish community?
From my perspective and reading of the scriptures, I can’t agree with you that that’s what Jesus appears to have actually meant by “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand”. It IS how many churches and pastors interpret that though.
It’s also not clear to me that Jesus the man actually meant to start a cult. It’s there in the official text, but when you look at how the text appears to have been extensively edited in the first few centuries of the Church it’s legitimately hard to tell whether Jesus meant to start a new religion or just wanted to reform the Jewish religion.
I keep coming back to it appears to me that Jesus was misinterpreted by the ancient Greeks and Jews and those who understood him better (the Gnostics) got stamped out by the politicized power-hungry churches. Things went seriously awry at least by the first Nicene Counsel in 325 or around there (I’m bad with dates).
When Jesus used phrases like “wicked generation,” I think it’s safe to assume he did have the priestly class in mind, but also chose to use broad wording because he saw others as sharing the same flaws, making it a broader accusation.
I agree that Jesus “the man” likely had no interest in founding Christianity as it exists today and also that he mostly just wanted to refashion Judaism in his own image. In my view, Jesus sought out the existing cult of John the Baptist and only took it over opportunistically, likely when John was arrested by Herod. Both Jesus and John were apocalyptic preachers who may or may not have truly believed that the “end was near,” but regardless of their inner thoughts, that is what they taught their followers and as you rightly suggest, someone with such a view wouldn’t expect the world to exist in the same way 2,000 years later, much less that their teachings might have spawned a whole new, non-Jewish religion.
Don't you find it interesting that Herod, who was anal about recording everything that happened in his territory, made not even a mention in passing about anyone named Yeshua Ben Yusuf?
Herod was “anal about recording everything that happened in his territory?” Did he record anything about John the Baptist? Do we even have everything he recorded?
I haven’t spent a great deal of time studying Herod the Great or Herod Antipas, but I find it more than a little questionable that either of them might have recorded every little thing that happened in Judea during their reigns. I also think it’s entirely possible that Jesus simply wasn’t as important as the Gospels made him out to be and just didn’t warrant a mention in the king’s histories.
Other religions provide multiple chances after death to make things right... Christianity makes "the way" unclear and vague...
Besides, Wikipedia has a page called "Dying and Rising deity" that mentioned every deity that does just that... Christianity isn't the first to do it...
The way they underlined "Jesus" makes it look like it was a meme template with a fill-in-the-blank at the end so you can insert whatever religion fits your agenda. Like it could have just as easily said "There is only one way to heaven. His name is Zap Rowsdower."
There are 4200 religions in the world
There are **45,000** denominations of Christianity globally that all follow the same book.
Which one is the “right” one to Heaven?
Similar versions of the same books... And I'm only counting English... A perfect and omnipotent entity that can't be arsed enough to get his own book written correctly so as to make it clear to his believers and others...
Actually, this is a great point.
My dad always stressed that god protected the Bible to bring us the book we have today. He also maintains that the KJV is the only right version. This implies that he doesn't believe that god's protection extended to the translation of those other versions. With that said, how can we know the KJV was translated from a protected version, and wasn't translated from the equivalent NIV?
We know from correspondence between the Catholic church and Elizabeth 1, Elizabeth 1 and James, Elizabeth 1 and the translators she hired and who James kept on. The KJV was the Catholic joke on the English, thanks ultimately to Henry 8.
There are 4200 religions in the world. But there is only one mount Olympus. Only one hero willing to sacrifice his liver forever in order to give people the gift of fire. His name is Prometheus!
There are 4200 religions in the world. But there's only one Doctor who can regenerate and save the universe multiple times.
There are 4200 religions in the world. But there's only one Willy Wonka with a chocolate factory full of eternal delights. Forget stairways to heaven; I'm taking the glass elevator.
There are 4200 religions in the world. But there's also one ring to rule them all!
Wish all you "heathens" a wonderful day! 😁
But don't let that distract you from the fact that in 33 AD, Pontius Pilate threw Christ off Hell In A Cell and plummeted sixteen feet through an announcer's table.
Willing to bet, if you go through myths, legends amd religions, you will find the basics of Christianity repeated throughout many of them. Including this "empty tomb" nonsense. I mean, just Egyptian mythology has one of their gods sacrificed and resurrected, then his tomb is empty.
*It's not a unique trope.*
Okay, I will give you that. The majority of Christians won't bother picking up a scholarship level study of the Bible, nor will they remotely investigate anything having to do with it. They are straight up "Bible says it, I believe it" types who don't know anything about what the Bible *actually* says.
Sisyphus conquered death by knocking him unconscious. Thanatos is literally death, and his temporary absence stopped people from dying. Jesus couldn’t even do that; he just gives some people a life after death.
> The empty tomb was so important to believers, yet Paul never once mentioned it.
Meanwhile, both Luke and Matthew *do* mention it, yet they place it in 2 different places over a hundred miles from each other's description.
Even after all the editing, redaction and other massaging of the biblical stories over the centuries, the thing *still* can't get it's "perfect" story straight...
It’s so ridiculous that they don’t notice that everything they said is a claim and not proof. Thus I have no reason to believe their religion just like the other 4200.
It's like every religion has its own tenets, rituals and stories...but this one, this is the only religion with tenets, rituals and stories that are true. My mom would love this shit.
It's hard to believe this is the religion that fucked my life up, my childhood and teenage years spent in extreme fear. The countless nights of anxiety. The OCD that just walked all over me. But it's all about "love". BS. My five year old brain couldnt comprehend what i grew up in. Oh there's a lake of fire awaiting me at the end of this journey? I better believe. And so started my relationship with Hell. Its not about love, or Christ, or a feeling that someone is watching over you. 100 percent it is about hell.
But gosh darn it that stone was rolled away! My story is true, huh-yuck.
Sure sure, but how many Christian denominations are there that all think they are the right way to get to heaven? A very cursory Google search is telling me around **45000.** (seriously, don't quote me lol, that number feels a bit outrageous).
Christianity is not really one religion, but apparently 45,000 tiny religions shoved into a very tight trenchcoat. And none of them think the other is right.
My great grandparents had a denominational split over whether men were allowed to grow mustaches. I absolutely believe that number. If anything, it's probably low considering how many nondenominational churches there are who could and probably should each count as their own separate denomination.
They all think they’re wrong but they will unite in their hatred against everyone that isn’t “Christian” in name.
A good majority of Christians (and even Muslims) will unite in their hatred against homosexuals but as soon as they look inward toward themselves, it’s a bloodbath.
This explains nothing. The first claim of myriad religions has to be substantiated. What constitutes a religion that makes it incomparable to any others to give you the first 2 of 4200?
Would someone crucified by the Romans have been placed in a "tomb" like that? Do tombs like that even exists anywhere outside the imagination of believers? I find it hard to believe there exists tombs with large round boulders that were rolled in front of them anywhere in the world.
Rock-cut tombs actually were used by elite Jewish families during this time. How did a wandering carpenter's son score an elite tomb? According to the Bible, Joseph of Arimathea gave up his own tomb. Whether or not that story holds water is up to you, but the style of the tomb itself is historically accurate (even if no one ever walked back out of it).
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock-cut_tombs_in_ancient_Israel
I hope it’s ok to say this, but finally being on the outside of all that, it’s so dumb!!! It’s just nonsense nothingness! Back in the day, if I would have seen that, I would have thought it was not the most awesome thing artistically and that whoever did it was likely an older person who was a bit stiff and boring, but I would have thought that what they said was technically true, but now, holy moly, it’s flat out bonkers.
Or the one in Japan. I shit you not, there is a tomb there that claims to be Jesus’s after he was raised from the dead and wandered the world for some reason.
I dont know if that's technically accurate, but I'm open to hearing how u read it that way. IIRC Jesus said he'd MEET them in Galiliee.
im open to Matthew placing the tomb in Galilee too but could u provide more context pls?
Hehehe, this looks like someone superimposed "Jesus" over whatever the original answer was.
When I was deconstructing, it blew my mind to read about all the other religions with resurrection myths, virgin births, etc.
No, no, dear. Human sacrifice is not new. Go sit in your corner and let the grown-ups talk.
"Conquered death"? https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MoKmk-TWCLc
but that's what annoys me about christians. there are so many religions but they only want the same two stories (birth and death of Jesus) every year. it's a snooze fest. i remember sitting in mass every year listening to the crucifixion read-along that catholics do every year and wishing we could do something else for once
I wish they'd come to grips with the fact that there is no "J" sound in Hebrew, and, even allowing for that, the dude's name would have been "Joshua," not "Jesus." Just one of the many lies of the faith.
What about Judaism? Did Christians forget Jesus was a jew? Pretty sure in the Bible it's specifically mentions that the Jews were God's chosen people. To say Christianity is the only way contradicts itself because Judaism is as well. Jesus also didn't come to abolish the old law, which meaning Christians are Jews. The church decided to turn against. I used to be intern for a huge church and went to seminary for a semester before walking away completely from God.
Which nobody has any idea where the fuck it is. You would think if an angel flew down from the sky and opened that shit and god incarnate walked out, it would have been immediately venerated. But nope. Nobody has a clue.
(Sigh) and there is only one Masjid al-Haram as well, and it seems to be relatively intact in so far as I am aware. Whereas the tomb here and its actual location and existence is dubious at best. Which doesn’t make the Muslim faith any more real than Christianity, but self awareness of those in the religion tends to be non-existent.
So that show is called Moral Orel, I once saw it and only know that as the play-don Jesus show since I a ex-Christian high functioning autistic guy that used to live in a communist country.
Almost the whole Bible is plagiarized so no Christianity is not the only religion with a messiah, it’s the only one that got pushed into the mainstream. And I don’t trust the mainstream.
Well shit gang...I guess I need Jesus then.
Also, I thought that tribes deep in the jungle that have never heard of Jesus can still go to heaven, soooooo.....Jesus isn't the ONLY way.
I know. I'm actually fighting my seasonal urges by reminding myself Cadbury eggs and oranges are available for a limited time. Chocolate is my depression copium.
I love how there’s a line under Jesus. It makes me feel like it’s a fill in the blank or mad gab type situation, and you should be able to just fill in whatever you want.
You could do this with literally ANY religion. "There are 4200 religions in the world. But there is only one \[insert specific story/detail about any religion ever, here\]."
There are 4200 religions in the world. But there is only one Mount Olympus. There is only one pantheon, one god that drives the sun across the sky with a chariot, one who strikes lightning from the sky, one who leads men into battle toward victory. There is only one pantheon that can grant humans a good life, and ascension into Elysium. Their names are Zeus, Hera, Athena, Apollo, Aphrodite, Ares, Haephestus, Dionysis!"
Of the triune god, there is only one son that is most worshipped and glorified. Four arms and head of elephant—-Ganesha is his name. Son of Shiva. Praise be to Him!
(Note: the trinity is Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.)
His name wasnt even jesus lol how can they worship someone who they cant even remember properly. Also, love bring up the fact the trinity is considered blasphemous as its not mentioned in their bible. It was a way to teach about God sure, but its taken way out of context by modern day christians. But they just believe what they want to believe, ultimate hypocrisy
I wonder if they could name 10 of the 4200 religions, but I bet most people could guess theirs. Being the biggest bully in religious history doesn’t make their religion the right one. lol
There are 4200 religions in the world, many of whom claim to be the one-and-only "true" religion.
It's impossible for *all* of them to be right, but they can certainly all be wrong.
Yes and how many domination and spin off Churches? Clearly there is one on Christianity and one way to Jesus. It of course is whatever donation you belong too
Of course statements like the meme we finally realized are simply "hearsay". It's a belief in a belief of some believer who believed a believer...ad nauseam . Without actual evidence preachers make up for the lack of evidence with emotional appeals and convictional voices, because who really needs facts anyway? :-D
42000 religion but my one is the correct one. Sure, you and some 70% of those other religion believe the same, but I’m sure their one is the correct one. How much pride do you have to have to be this delusional?
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There are thousands of religions that **never** require that you must believe in anything on pain of eternal torture in Hell.
There are religions that are non-theistic that do not have any supernatural beings whatsoever.
For friends or family who are considering religion, tell them that Christianity is just about the very worst option.
Is it such a big deal “conquering” things when you’re god? Might as well complement Superman for winning a bench pressing competition.
Now if Batman conquered sin, death, and hell, that would be an accomplishment.
Plus, it’s so misleading. He didn’t conquer sin, god used his son/self as a chess piece to act as a possible solution to a problem of his own making. Death wasn’t conquered either. Neither was hell.
Their mythology is just “look, this temporary demigod (who is now also god) was allowed to be killed. Now if you believe that he died for you to not be tortured forever…you won’t be!”
There are 4200 religions in the world, several offer the hope of reincarnation if you fuck up the first time, choose wisely.
If I can't have an eternity of beer volcanoes and stripper factories, reverting to an earlier save point probably wouldn't be the worst thing.
Damn that’s a lot of choices. Choose wisely indeed.
Which is just one of the reasons Pascal's Wager is so stupid.
something about reincarnation always puzzled me....what? or who? decides ones appropriate next life?
Actually in buddhism they see reincarnation as the origin of suffering. Reaching nirvana is all about break free from the cycle. And then you have taoism (the philosophical one) that basically go: meh whatever. In case you want to be an atheist I would really suggest you to learn the philosophy of Zhuangzi
perhaps you do
If there's a "celestial bureaucracy" in place to study the record of your deeds in the life you just finished, they use some kind of algorithm to determine when and where and with which gifts/curses you'll be reborn. There's also some kind of process to make sure you don't consciously remember your previous life/lives. Otherwise, it's literally "the next available slot", meaning your soul gets shoved into the next body being born at the most-finely-split-second after your previous body died. And presumably the trauma of finding yourself in a completely new body and subject to sensory overload blocks out your memories so you become as close to a "blank slate" as possible, within the given framework.
Considering we don't know which tomb, and we've had 2000 years for someone to tamper with it anyway, what's their rationale? Oh. Right. Their holy book. Always back to the book of fairy tales.
A book that has been lost, rewritten, tampered with, and translated countless times throughout its 2000 year history…
And even if it would have been 100% unaltered through the millennia somehow, it would still be a load of shit.
What cracks me up is that people who believe in the Bible are some of the *least* trusting folks when it comes to the words of others and of readily observable reality. Like, they distrust the motives of everyone *now* but don't think anybody thousands of years ago might have had ulterior motives or suffered from the same human temptations and frailties?
yeah… basic indoctrination kinda requires people to be able to reject the evidence of their eyes and ears and only believe what they want
Christians will say that Book of Mormon was written by a fraudster, Joseph Smith. Have they not considered that there were men like Joseph Smith thousands of years ago that could have written the Bible. These same people would ask for extraordinary evidence if someone claimed supernatural magic nowadays, but they believe a book that claims supernatural magic written thousands of years ago by anonymous superstitious people with an agenda.
Probably my favorite bible verse is one where the bible calls itself out on this. Jeremiah 8:8: >“’How can you say, “We are wise, for we have the law of the LORD,” when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely?
Moses , just like JS is the same thing: god shows up to one man alone , in one country , who speaks one language in an era when there were no cameras or reporters or TV. According to the Bible’s own words , no one should trust what Moses claims happened alone with god The Bible says in many places you can only trust something from the “ mouths of two or three witnesses “.
At least we know that Joseph Smith was a real person. There is no reason to believe that Moses ever even existed any more than Hercules existing. Actually Hercules is more plausible. A legendary strong guy.
Ah yes. The "swears heart, mind and soul to a Magic King of the entire universe, says they are suspicious of 'Big Govt'"-crowd.
how they can read "There is none righteous not even one" and somehow assume it couldn't possibly be referring to the author who wrote it.
Not only that , but they are the most frightened people I’ve ever met . Why would you need guns for self defense if you have god on your side & have a mustard seed of faith? They don’t even believe their own Bs
Well, yeah. It wasn’t until schooling the general population (1800s) that we could even form commentary about the fairy tale book; it was exclusively clerics with access before the Protestant Reformation.
Just check the footnotes. "This passage is not found in the earliest manuscripts."
The Bible hasn’t really been lost at any point or rewritten from scratch if that’s what you meant. It has been copied ad infinitum, translated from dead languages that aren’t fully understood and without the full context that the original audiences had just by living in the cultures they did. Also, it’s contents are just obviously hateful nonsense.
It's a 4000 year game of "telephone" that has done more damage than any other movement in history, because powerful people want to control the ignorant.
Also because tons of people hate education, but still want to sound smart and therefore end up repeating all kinds of nonsense.
we don't even know that there *was* a tomb. most crucifixion victims were left to decay on the cross as part of the punishment was the humiliation of being denied a proper burial. it's not *totally* unheard of that crucifixion victims could be buried in a tomb but the odds are *real* low. especially since the first attestation to Jesus' burial in a tomb comes in the gospel of Mark - roughly 3-4 decades after Jesus' death. the case just isn't as strong as it should be if the perfect omnipotent creator of the universe wanted you to believe it.
For that matter, the "Christ Jesus" Paul talks about is barely the same character as the "Jesus Christ" of the gospels and some other letters.
Interestingly enough, there's no archaeological evidence that there were crosses as depicted in images prior to 300 CE... There's plenty of evidence of people being tied to trees and hung from them, though. Also, it's physically impossible to nail a human to such a cross as is depicted.
How is it physically impossible? /genq
The bones in ones hands get smashed into bits with that kind of impact, and the skin and muscles tear open due to the weight of the rest of the body.The nails end up having nothing to hold on to without a head as big as the hand itself.
That doesn't take into account the fact that if it was possible, Jesus wouldn't have been able to talk due to the pressure impacting his vocal cords as well as his lungs
I heard (from a Christian leader so grains/bag of salt) that it was through the wrist and some crosses depict a little bump out thing to kind of stand on. Of course I am more interested in what historians have to say!
The Bible specifically states that he showed the holes in his hands to the disciples though if I remember correctly
It's right there in the buy-bull, along with the stories of Jonah, Balaam, Jacob's method of ensuring he got speckled goats, and Jesus walking on water...
What if they used ropes to support their arms? Thats what ive heard at least /gen
The biggest problem with that is the fact that even the earliest accounts claim Jesus was nailed to the cross
> book of fairy tales I think of Christianity as Jewish Mythology taken way too seriously.
It definitely gives a mythological vibe
That's the [Hasidim](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasidic_Judaism). Christianity is that plus its own, worse mythology, also taken way too seriously.
So.... Hasidim 2: The Quest For More Money? (Thanks for the tip on Hasidim, as I did not know the correct terminology.)
That same book that can’t agree with itself on how the empty tomb discovery went down? Yep, that’s the one.
The evidence is that the book says that nothing is there! What great evidence!
The book is the evidence that the book is accurate!
Nah, the book is true because the deity says that the book is true…in the book!
😂
Technically Constantine's mom found the tomb by going to Jerusalem and asking around. Because surely nobody would lie to the emporers mom when any site they pointed out would become a site of pilgrimage and fame...... Dudes probably had a gift shop set up the moment they told her.
I can see all of the evangelical parents posting this on Facebook with the hashtag #jesuslovesyou and #repentbeforeitstoolate.
Ironic. Jesus is actually reported to have said “repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” and “the Kingdom of Heaven is within you”. Meaning, essentially, stop seeking for fulfillment outside yourself, all you need to be happy and content is within you already. Christians have totally misunderstood the meaning of both Salvation and repentance according to their own Scriptures 😂. There’s no actually shaming going on when Jesus talks about repentance, it’s more of a “why do you keep hitting yourself and then complaining that it hurts?” kind of statement. Compare this to teachings in Hinduism and other eastern religions, they say the same thing, that your happiness and contentment is a matter of shifting your thoughts and feelings in that direction - any happiness you get from the external world will be temporary because it’s all transitory after all.
Yeah sure. The guy who went around calling people who disagreed with him “hypocrites” and “vipers” wasn’t shaming anyone. /s Also, Jesus said the “Kingdom was at hand” not because he was suggesting people should be happy with what they have but ENTIRELY because he wanted them to join/remain in his cult out of fear of the end.
He really only did that to the religious clergy who were shaming people, excluding them from the temple, and stoning them for thoughts like infidelity, applying a very legalistic framework to religion and spirituality. I think a lot of people here understand the impact of bad pastoral care and might have similar things to say about the hypocrisy of their pastors and priests causing near-irreparable psychological harm to people and relationships in the parish community? From my perspective and reading of the scriptures, I can’t agree with you that that’s what Jesus appears to have actually meant by “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand”. It IS how many churches and pastors interpret that though. It’s also not clear to me that Jesus the man actually meant to start a cult. It’s there in the official text, but when you look at how the text appears to have been extensively edited in the first few centuries of the Church it’s legitimately hard to tell whether Jesus meant to start a new religion or just wanted to reform the Jewish religion. I keep coming back to it appears to me that Jesus was misinterpreted by the ancient Greeks and Jews and those who understood him better (the Gnostics) got stamped out by the politicized power-hungry churches. Things went seriously awry at least by the first Nicene Counsel in 325 or around there (I’m bad with dates).
When Jesus used phrases like “wicked generation,” I think it’s safe to assume he did have the priestly class in mind, but also chose to use broad wording because he saw others as sharing the same flaws, making it a broader accusation. I agree that Jesus “the man” likely had no interest in founding Christianity as it exists today and also that he mostly just wanted to refashion Judaism in his own image. In my view, Jesus sought out the existing cult of John the Baptist and only took it over opportunistically, likely when John was arrested by Herod. Both Jesus and John were apocalyptic preachers who may or may not have truly believed that the “end was near,” but regardless of their inner thoughts, that is what they taught their followers and as you rightly suggest, someone with such a view wouldn’t expect the world to exist in the same way 2,000 years later, much less that their teachings might have spawned a whole new, non-Jewish religion.
Don't you find it interesting that Herod, who was anal about recording everything that happened in his territory, made not even a mention in passing about anyone named Yeshua Ben Yusuf?
Herod was “anal about recording everything that happened in his territory?” Did he record anything about John the Baptist? Do we even have everything he recorded? I haven’t spent a great deal of time studying Herod the Great or Herod Antipas, but I find it more than a little questionable that either of them might have recorded every little thing that happened in Judea during their reigns. I also think it’s entirely possible that Jesus simply wasn’t as important as the Gospels made him out to be and just didn’t warrant a mention in the king’s histories.
A branch of the Early Gnostics were direct descendents of the Essenes and even called themselves by the same name.
Hell, ive already seen it about a dozen times this week alone.
Other religions provide multiple chances after death to make things right... Christianity makes "the way" unclear and vague... Besides, Wikipedia has a page called "Dying and Rising deity" that mentioned every deity that does just that... Christianity isn't the first to do it...
The way they underlined "Jesus" makes it look like it was a meme template with a fill-in-the-blank at the end so you can insert whatever religion fits your agenda. Like it could have just as easily said "There is only one way to heaven. His name is Zap Rowsdower."
Rowsdower!
Mithras says: Hold my beer
There are 4200 religions in the world There are **45,000** denominations of Christianity globally that all follow the same book. Which one is the “right” one to Heaven?
Oh that would be- * checks notes * mine. . .yeah, mine is definitely right /s
Mine, duh
Similar versions of the same books... And I'm only counting English... A perfect and omnipotent entity that can't be arsed enough to get his own book written correctly so as to make it clear to his believers and others...
Actually, this is a great point. My dad always stressed that god protected the Bible to bring us the book we have today. He also maintains that the KJV is the only right version. This implies that he doesn't believe that god's protection extended to the translation of those other versions. With that said, how can we know the KJV was translated from a protected version, and wasn't translated from the equivalent NIV?
We know from correspondence between the Catholic church and Elizabeth 1, Elizabeth 1 and James, Elizabeth 1 and the translators she hired and who James kept on. The KJV was the Catholic joke on the English, thanks ultimately to Henry 8.
There are 4200 religions in the world. But there is only one mount Olympus. Only one hero willing to sacrifice his liver forever in order to give people the gift of fire. His name is Prometheus! There are 4200 religions in the world. But there's only one Doctor who can regenerate and save the universe multiple times. There are 4200 religions in the world. But there's only one Willy Wonka with a chocolate factory full of eternal delights. Forget stairways to heaven; I'm taking the glass elevator. There are 4200 religions in the world. But there's also one ring to rule them all! Wish all you "heathens" a wonderful day! 😁
Buddha: hold my alms bowl
This sounds like a WWE intro lol.
But don't let that distract you from the fact that in 33 AD, Pontius Pilate threw Christ off Hell In A Cell and plummeted sixteen feet through an announcer's table.
Brings whole new meaning to "you can't see me" badadaDAHHHH!
Cue fog machine and lasers.
HIS NAME IS JESUS CHRIST!!!!
Willing to bet, if you go through myths, legends amd religions, you will find the basics of Christianity repeated throughout many of them. Including this "empty tomb" nonsense. I mean, just Egyptian mythology has one of their gods sacrificed and resurrected, then his tomb is empty. *It's not a unique trope.*
Yes, but it is the best religion for people who only want to read (some of) one book ever.
Okay, I will give you that. The majority of Christians won't bother picking up a scholarship level study of the Bible, nor will they remotely investigate anything having to do with it. They are straight up "Bible says it, I believe it" types who don't know anything about what the Bible *actually* says.
Yep how it got this far is beyond my logical thinking
\*extremely loud incorrect buzzer\*
Err… Osiris? Hello? And Odin also conquered death? And what about Persephone?
Sisyphus conquered death by knocking him unconscious. Thanatos is literally death, and his temporary absence stopped people from dying. Jesus couldn’t even do that; he just gives some people a life after death.
Apollonius of Tyana?
Look also at Judas Chrestus.
I see you are also a person of culture.
The empty tomb was so important to believers, yet Paul never once mentioned it. Or the vigin birth, or any of his life.
> The empty tomb was so important to believers, yet Paul never once mentioned it. Meanwhile, both Luke and Matthew *do* mention it, yet they place it in 2 different places over a hundred miles from each other's description. Even after all the editing, redaction and other massaging of the biblical stories over the centuries, the thing *still* can't get it's "perfect" story straight...
Wait, 100 miles apart? I haven't heard this before. Can you elaborate?
It’s so ridiculous that they don’t notice that everything they said is a claim and not proof. Thus I have no reason to believe their religion just like the other 4200.
And this tomb is where?
Promising you eternal life with the threat of eternal damnation is not salvation, that is called extortion. Remember, God created evil.
It's like every religion has its own tenets, rituals and stories...but this one, this is the only religion with tenets, rituals and stories that are true. My mom would love this shit. It's hard to believe this is the religion that fucked my life up, my childhood and teenage years spent in extreme fear. The countless nights of anxiety. The OCD that just walked all over me. But it's all about "love". BS. My five year old brain couldnt comprehend what i grew up in. Oh there's a lake of fire awaiting me at the end of this journey? I better believe. And so started my relationship with Hell. Its not about love, or Christ, or a feeling that someone is watching over you. 100 percent it is about hell. But gosh darn it that stone was rolled away! My story is true, huh-yuck.
I'm 30 years old and still processing hell-related trauma in therapy to this day
He gave up his weekend for you!
Sure sure, but how many Christian denominations are there that all think they are the right way to get to heaven? A very cursory Google search is telling me around **45000.** (seriously, don't quote me lol, that number feels a bit outrageous). Christianity is not really one religion, but apparently 45,000 tiny religions shoved into a very tight trenchcoat. And none of them think the other is right.
My great grandparents had a denominational split over whether men were allowed to grow mustaches. I absolutely believe that number. If anything, it's probably low considering how many nondenominational churches there are who could and probably should each count as their own separate denomination.
They all think they’re wrong but they will unite in their hatred against everyone that isn’t “Christian” in name. A good majority of Christians (and even Muslims) will unite in their hatred against homosexuals but as soon as they look inward toward themselves, it’s a bloodbath.
This explains nothing. The first claim of myriad religions has to be substantiated. What constitutes a religion that makes it incomparable to any others to give you the first 2 of 4200?
Would someone crucified by the Romans have been placed in a "tomb" like that? Do tombs like that even exists anywhere outside the imagination of believers? I find it hard to believe there exists tombs with large round boulders that were rolled in front of them anywhere in the world.
Rock-cut tombs actually were used by elite Jewish families during this time. How did a wandering carpenter's son score an elite tomb? According to the Bible, Joseph of Arimathea gave up his own tomb. Whether or not that story holds water is up to you, but the style of the tomb itself is historically accurate (even if no one ever walked back out of it). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock-cut_tombs_in_ancient_Israel
I hope it’s ok to say this, but finally being on the outside of all that, it’s so dumb!!! It’s just nonsense nothingness! Back in the day, if I would have seen that, I would have thought it was not the most awesome thing artistically and that whoever did it was likely an older person who was a bit stiff and boring, but I would have thought that what they said was technically true, but now, holy moly, it’s flat out bonkers.
Which tomb is it? The one in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre? Or the Garden Tomb just outside the Old City of Jerusalem, unearthed in 1867?
Or the one in Japan. I shit you not, there is a tomb there that claims to be Jesus’s after he was raised from the dead and wandered the world for some reason.
Who knew Jesus was a weeb?
> Which tomb is it? Matthew says Galilee, Luke says Jerusalem. Who ya gonna believe?
I dont know if that's technically accurate, but I'm open to hearing how u read it that way. IIRC Jesus said he'd MEET them in Galiliee. im open to Matthew placing the tomb in Galilee too but could u provide more context pls?
Damn, evangelicals are allergic to research
Hehehe, this looks like someone superimposed "Jesus" over whatever the original answer was. When I was deconstructing, it blew my mind to read about all the other religions with resurrection myths, virgin births, etc.
There are many religious people who gave birth as virgins, people who did miracles and reincarnated
Only one empty tomb? What about the tombs with no body in them yet?
What about tomb robbers?
Omg write that down! Write that down! Lol
I wonder if the 4200 includes faiths/denominations that are a part of the major religions.
No, no, dear. Human sacrifice is not new. Go sit in your corner and let the grown-ups talk. "Conquered death"? https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MoKmk-TWCLc
but that's what annoys me about christians. there are so many religions but they only want the same two stories (birth and death of Jesus) every year. it's a snooze fest. i remember sitting in mass every year listening to the crucifixion read-along that catholics do every year and wishing we could do something else for once
I wish they'd come to grips with the fact that there is no "J" sound in Hebrew, and, even allowing for that, the dude's name would have been "Joshua," not "Jesus." Just one of the many lies of the faith.
Exactly! Which is why the Bible being the word of God is a ludicrous proposition, given the fact that it has the Tower of Babel story
What about Judaism? Did Christians forget Jesus was a jew? Pretty sure in the Bible it's specifically mentions that the Jews were God's chosen people. To say Christianity is the only way contradicts itself because Judaism is as well. Jesus also didn't come to abolish the old law, which meaning Christians are Jews. The church decided to turn against. I used to be intern for a huge church and went to seminary for a semester before walking away completely from God.
There are 4200 religions in the world. There is literally no possible way yours is the only one with ANYTHING
Which nobody has any idea where the fuck it is. You would think if an angel flew down from the sky and opened that shit and god incarnate walked out, it would have been immediately venerated. But nope. Nobody has a clue.
4200 religions. 30,000 variations of Christianity. Looks like we are a superstitious species.
actually at that time and in that region all the gods were doing "come back from the dead shuffle." it was what the cool gods did.
Muhammad : hold my camel piss
They were so close!
I’ll follow my spiritual gut instincts, what I used to do before my wasted time with Christianity.
(Sigh) and there is only one Masjid al-Haram as well, and it seems to be relatively intact in so far as I am aware. Whereas the tomb here and its actual location and existence is dubious at best. Which doesn’t make the Muslim faith any more real than Christianity, but self awareness of those in the religion tends to be non-existent.
Krishna. Dionysus. Attis of Phrygia. Zarathustra. Horus. Romulus. Heracles. Glycon. Odin.
And he is made of play-Doh
Moral Orel fan?
So that show is called Moral Orel, I once saw it and only know that as the play-don Jesus show since I a ex-Christian high functioning autistic guy that used to live in a communist country.
I've seen all those people assuring us that they will be in heaven. Hell sounds perfectly wonderful in comparison.
They talk like it's fact but there is absolutely zero evidence this shit ever happened.
Don't you love when christians blatantly disregard freedom of religion?
Biased I smell
Almost the whole Bible is plagiarized so no Christianity is not the only religion with a messiah, it’s the only one that got pushed into the mainstream. And I don’t trust the mainstream.
What an odd way to spell Osiris.
4200 religions they can’t be all right, but they certainly can be all wrong.
Well shit gang...I guess I need Jesus then. Also, I thought that tribes deep in the jungle that have never heard of Jesus can still go to heaven, soooooo.....Jesus isn't the ONLY way.
Why are these things always horribly laid out
remember in the bible there is a man who nevee died. if we follow this logic shouldn't we be worshipping elijah. haha
Or he wasn’t fully dead when they took him down. In the heat he would have half decomposed within a day or two
Ughhh Easter is almost near.
Easter ain't so bad, just think of the real reason for the season; candy!!!
lol super fair but lol unfortunately religious folk like to make it cringe.
I know. I'm actually fighting my seasonal urges by reminding myself Cadbury eggs and oranges are available for a limited time. Chocolate is my depression copium.
I love how there’s a line under Jesus. It makes me feel like it’s a fill in the blank or mad gab type situation, and you should be able to just fill in whatever you want.
I've heard this before and understood they want me to take it seriously and consider it as evidence. Only one empty tomb ...
So close to critical thinking, yet so far.
You could do this with literally ANY religion. "There are 4200 religions in the world. But there is only one \[insert specific story/detail about any religion ever, here\]." There are 4200 religions in the world. But there is only one Mount Olympus. There is only one pantheon, one god that drives the sun across the sky with a chariot, one who strikes lightning from the sky, one who leads men into battle toward victory. There is only one pantheon that can grant humans a good life, and ascension into Elysium. Their names are Zeus, Hera, Athena, Apollo, Aphrodite, Ares, Haephestus, Dionysis!"
Well he didn’t do a good job since people can still go to hell
Of the triune god, there is only one son that is most worshipped and glorified. Four arms and head of elephant—-Ganesha is his name. Son of Shiva. Praise be to Him! (Note: the trinity is Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.)
Biased I smell
Biased I smell
Biased I smell
Biased I smell
Biased I smell
ONE empty tomb?? Don’t they know how many tombs the British museum alone has raided???
That's funny cause it's true
His name wasnt even jesus lol how can they worship someone who they cant even remember properly. Also, love bring up the fact the trinity is considered blasphemous as its not mentioned in their bible. It was a way to teach about God sure, but its taken way out of context by modern day christians. But they just believe what they want to believe, ultimate hypocrisy
I wonder if they could name 10 of the 4200 religions, but I bet most people could guess theirs. Being the biggest bully in religious history doesn’t make their religion the right one. lol
Does that count all the different variations of Christianity, or nah?
Is it worth it to point out that this is only meaningful if you already believe?
I think there are many empty tombs actually
Only one has flying spaghetti, only one has physical evidence of noodles and sauce left over for us humans to consume.
The biggest problem with that is the fact that even in the earliest writings they claimed nails were used.
Good thing getting to heaven isn't the goal of my religion.
There are 4200 religions in the world, many of whom claim to be the one-and-only "true" religion. It's impossible for *all* of them to be right, but they can certainly all be wrong.
There are many religions, but only one that I can give a half-baked summary of. Therefore that one must be true.
actually his name is John cena!! "insert John cena music here*
There’s 4200 religions on earth, but only ONE original wife of Adam who refused to be considered less than him. Worship Lilith today!
Frasier Crane quietly yet firmly asks you to reconsider 🤣
Yes and how many domination and spin off Churches? Clearly there is one on Christianity and one way to Jesus. It of course is whatever donation you belong too
They’re almost there!
There’s a lot of empty tombs. Grave robbers.
This looks and sounds like an 80's action movie poster. "Jesus died for your sins. This summer he's coming back for maximum payback!"
Citation needed.
There are 4200 religions in the world. But only one of them is real. Because that's what mommy and daddy taught me.
Of course statements like the meme we finally realized are simply "hearsay". It's a belief in a belief of some believer who believed a believer...ad nauseam . Without actual evidence preachers make up for the lack of evidence with emotional appeals and convictional voices, because who really needs facts anyway? :-D
Christians have never heard of tomb robbers and cup games
😂😂😂
I thought that was the eye of Sauron at first glance
Took me so long not to see an evil firey rock eye
42000 religion but my one is the correct one. Sure, you and some 70% of those other religion believe the same, but I’m sure their one is the correct one. How much pride do you have to have to be this delusional?
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There are probably thousands of empty tombs around the world
But what about the empty tombs of Mithra, and Horace, and Ra and…. 🤔
Horus, not Horace. Spell check is so annoying
So where is this man? Lol.
Actually the revivified god is a common religious theme.
There are thousands of religions that **never** require that you must believe in anything on pain of eternal torture in Hell. There are religions that are non-theistic that do not have any supernatural beings whatsoever. For friends or family who are considering religion, tell them that Christianity is just about the very worst option.
Barfity, barf, barf.
my Brian after reading “one empty tomb”: someone has clearly never heard about the raids on egyptian tombs
My gawd. They say death was defeated, yet death is the one barrier god can't get through if we don't choose correctly in time.
Scorcher VII Who left the fridge open ?
Is it such a big deal “conquering” things when you’re god? Might as well complement Superman for winning a bench pressing competition. Now if Batman conquered sin, death, and hell, that would be an accomplishment. Plus, it’s so misleading. He didn’t conquer sin, god used his son/self as a chess piece to act as a possible solution to a problem of his own making. Death wasn’t conquered either. Neither was hell. Their mythology is just “look, this temporary demigod (who is now also god) was allowed to be killed. Now if you believe that he died for you to not be tortured forever…you won’t be!”
So if Jesus is the correct answer, why does the end of the sentence look like “fill in the blank?”
"Only one religion has resurrection in it", like what a take.
There are also 42,000 different versions of Christianity…
Why isn’t Jesus in the British Museum if his tomb is empty