Could Christianity be a metaphor?

N

Norsefire

Salam Shalom Salom
Registered Senior Member
I'd say it is possible. For instance, when Christ says people will become angels, perhaps he means in a heaven on Earth? In a perfect world, with perfect people?
Hell could be the result of bad deeds, since bad deeds usually lead to bad things.
Heaven could symbolize the perfect society meant to be, and angels being the perfect people, and the wings symbolizing "freedom" or "purity"
Therefore, with good deeds comes a good world.


That, through good deeds, there shall be heaven on Earth; and through bad ones, hell.

Perhaps?
 
Jesus did not say we would become angels.

Jesus said we would be like angels. Not that we would be angels.

Matthew 22
30For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.


All Praise The Ancient Of Days
 
YES

Actually there is nothing, none, nadda, zero, zilch, not a single peace of evidence that there even was a Jesus. More than likely Jesus himself is an allegory. There is quite a lot of evidence that this is the case.

So yes the whole of Christianity is one big metaphor, possibly even a Roman joke, definitely a set of allegories.

Michael
 
Mike that is stupid. I was going to tell you why it is stupid but to keep it really simple, the Romans could not have invented a person out of nowhere. Just do some research and come back here if you get stuck on anything. Believing in him as a Messiah or something along those lines is where the debate comes in.
 
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the Romans could not have invented a person out of nowhere.
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Every other culture on the planet was capable of doing so but for some inexplicable reason "the Romans" were not. :bugeye:
 
but to keep it really simple, the Romans could not have invented a person out of nowhere
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I don't think the Romans have any record of Jesus.

But the most reasonable take on the matter is that there was somebody, whom we may as well call Jesus, at the beginning of the Christian religion. My personal intuition is that most of the direct quotes of "Jesus" - especially from "earlier" compilations such as the Book of Thomas - sound like they come from one guy. Stylistic continuity.

Whether he was a John Frum figure, or more substantial along the lines of Mohammed or even Ghandi, we'll probably never know.
 
Well it is just that he had followers from the time he was alive so it is reaqsonable to believe he was an actual person. which i know for a fact he was.

Snakelord, what are you talking about? The Romans could never out of nowhere invented Jesus and all of a sudden this huge following (which was already present in the Middle East) just took thier word for it. Why would these people believe the Romans who were not exactly popular all over. Its just common sense and no historians i know of deny this. IOW, could not have been possible.

Just study history and there is a lot of knowledge and facts about the Roman Empire to know what they were about. It was very well documented.
 
The existence of an actual Jesus could be incidental. He could have taught something completely different. His memory could have become a legend, and all the rest was invented.
 
The essence of Revelations is -

Those that were not saved would not exist in any form.

Those that are saved would be resurrected in perfect human bodies and would be provided an Eden like new Earth and would have eternal existence.
 
John99 said:
Mike that is stupid. I was going to tell you why it is stupid but to keep it really simple, the Romans could not have invented a person out of nowhere. Just do some research and come back here if you get stuck on anything. Believing in him as a Messiah or something along those lines is where the debate comes in.
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Wait Wait Wait John99, You do or do not agree that there are no sources of contemporary evidence that a Jesus person actually lived? We have been over this many times and I think everyone here now agrees there is no contemporary evidence for the existence of Jesus.
 
John99,

Sorry John99 but has been already stated there is no convincing evidence that an actual Jesus ever existed.
 
Michael said:
Actually there is nothing, none, nadda, zero, zilch, not a single peace of evidence that there even was a Jesus.
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Is there any evidence that Socrates existed?

We have the testimony of Plato...just as we have the testimony of Paul and the writer of Mark, the earliest gospel.
 
Carcano said:
Is there any evidence that Socrates existed?
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No. Not that I am aware of.

Some people theorize that Socrates was Plato working out his ideas. This is possible. Or, perhaps he did exist. Jesus could have exited. I'm just saying that there is no contemporary evidence of him existing. And, given Josephus History it seems there was non one around fitting that description either. And, give the numerous similar religions and the Hellenization of the Jews as well as the massive number of Jewish converts ... well there's ample evidence that there was no Jesus and that the Jesus Character is a composite based on of various beliefs.

Michael

Note: It's possible Xenu exists, but, there is no evidence for him either.
 
Well it is just that he had followers from the time he was alive so it is reaqsonable to believe he was an actual person. which i know for a fact he was
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Quite the claim. You met the guy? How do you state it's a "fact"?

Snakelord, what are you talking about? The Romans could never out of nowhere invented Jesus and all of a sudden this huge following (which was already present in the Middle East) just took thier word for it.
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1) This is something far too lengthy to really get into on a forum.

2) I don't entirely get what you mean by 'out of nowhere'. Many of the claims regarding this jesus are not in any way unique or original to him and comes on the back of millennia of belief - including that of eventual messiahs.

3) Would you contend that other cultures could have created fictional characters and gathered a following, (Say.. Gilgamesh for example)?

4) To save me going through it all: http://www.bidstrup.com/bible.htm

Just study history and there is a lot of knowledge and facts about the Roman Empire to know what they were about.
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I don't understand the relevance of the Roman Empire.
 
Norsefire said:
I'd say it is possible. For instance, when Christ says people will become angels, perhaps he means in a heaven on Earth? In a perfect world, with perfect people?
Hell could be the result of bad deeds, since bad deeds usually lead to bad things.
Heaven could symbolize the perfect society meant to be, and angels being the perfect people, and the wings symbolizing "freedom" or "purity"
Therefore, with good deeds comes a good world.


That, through good deeds, there shall be heaven on Earth; and through bad ones, hell.

Perhaps?
Click to expand...

The NT also has a passage where Jesus tells his followers they have the capacity to be "greater than I". Rather strange considering the "God within" concept is shunned by evangelists today and many people who follow the bible view God as being separate rather within as other belief systems teach.
It's very possible Jesus was a great teacher who taught the God within idea and how to allign yourself with it and after his death the temptation by the powers at the time was too great to ignore changing this into making Jesus a divine figure and what we see today as largely a personality cult religion with more emphasis on Jesus name alone and a easy ticket to salvation as opposed to an emphasis on many of the teachings themselves.
 
Well i thought that Michael was going to go into a diatribe about Jesus being invented by the Romans (Roman Empire) and was pointing out to him how stupid that is.

I dont feel like citing links right now but all it takes is a mediocre knowledge of Roman history to know that it is just stupid. The only thing i would point out to right now is something very obvious and that is they would have chosen a different ending.:bugeye:
 
john said:
Just study history and there is a lot of knowledge and facts about the Roman Empire to know what they were about. It was very well documented.
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Which makes their failure to document Jesus more significant than it would otherwise be. You'd think the kind of fuss that is alleged in the NT would have left a trace or two in some official records.

But there probably was a guy behind it all. That would be a reasonable assumption, anyway.
 
I dont know what you are looking for. As far as people who were around over 2000 years ago what kind of documentation are you looking for? A leader or especially one who led an empire would have official documentation but really we are just talking about common sense here.

It is fun to discuss but this was not the OP's intention. Start a new thread and i will gladly debate it with you. I learn more about religion on sciforums then i ever did anyplace else.
 
Michael said:
No. Not that I am aware of.

Some people theorize that Socrates was Plato working out his ideas. This is possible. Or, perhaps he did exist. Jesus could have exited. I'm just saying that there is no contemporary evidence of him existing. And, given Josephus History it seems there was non one around fitting that description either. And, give the numerous similar religions and the Hellenization of the Jews as well as the massive number of Jewish converts ... well there's ample evidence that there was no Jesus and that the Jesus Character is a composite based on of various beliefs.

Michael

Note: It's possible Xenu exists, but, there is no evidence for him either.
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2,000 years from now there may not be evidence you existed:D
 
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