Yeah. IMO that’s one of the biggest points missed by Christianity. As a Christian I accepted it without question. As an ex Christian I tried to find some way to justify and explain it. Now I just reject it as a huge error that takes the focus off the actual teachings of Jesus. No physical death could atone for all sins. It was Jesus life, teachings , and example, that are the real point. IMHO.
No the point is that there is no point.
IMHO (ofcourse)
To anything?
Even without speculation about a next life or divinity, the teachings of Jesus present a good philosophical view IMHO of course.
I meant it more in the sense of ‘there is no spoon.’ The bible does not hold the answers.
But ultimately…, no. There is no point to life.
Even with a next life or even a divinity. What is the point of a next life? What use would a next life serve?
If you can answer that, you could also assign that usefullness to this life, no need for a next one that supposedly would have meaning.
So, life is what you make it. Try to enjoy it. It doesnt last all that long.
As far as Jesus’ teachings are concerned, we just cherry pick (out of an already cherry picked source) what we (christians, that is) find appropriate today, in our society. What makes us feel good.
Oh! Correct. It is a pretty influential piece of literature but there are others. I’d say works like that only stimulate the search for answers rather than provide any.
Really?..dam it.
It’s hard to imagine why a world like this would be “created” to begin with. The only thing I come up with is that the experience itself must be the point. Not to reach the end of the experience and *win *some reward, but merely to go through the experience. Maybe we need a break from eternal bliss occasionaly and take the experience of duality for a while.
Agreed. Even if there is something else the only thing that makes sense is making the most of what we’ve got now.
They’re not superior to similar sentiments expressed in many other ways and in other cultures. I still think they can form a decent foundation.
A big handicap with using the bible as a work to build your world-view on is that, 99,9% is a load of …
Which makes it unworkable.
But then the world wasn’t created, it just came to be. There is no plan.
No meaning to your or my little lives. What is the meaning of a rolling grain of sand? What is the meaning of the life of a single hamster in the desert, the life of one flea, my life? Ultimately what does Napoleon matter in 10.000 years.
We are but a little flame that lights up for a short period, then goes out again.
Pfft gone…
As long as you’re sure to pick the nice ones, like ‘Don’t do unto others…’ and such.
Well that’s not what I recommended. Basically I think the philosophies Jesus espoused make a decent foundation used only as a tool for introspection. I don’t claim it’s the only one available or even the best one.
I guess we’ll see,…or we won’t 
I love how most Christians also conveniently gloss over the “easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter Heaven” thing. Are you living at more than a subsitence level while anyone else around you is suffering in poverty? Whoops, you’re gonna burn in hell!
Catholics are the single largest Christian denomination, and they most definitely do not believe in “faith alone.” IIRC, this was one of the big issues that caused the initial Protestant split-off.
Also, one could make the argument that even if faith alone is necessary, if one truly had faith, surely this would be visible in their works. So it’s not that you’re buying your salvation with your actions–because it is a freely given gift from God, and not something that can be bought–but that those actions are a natural outgrowth of that faith and desire to please God. So people who aren’t demonstrably following the instructions of Jesus can’t truly have the requisite faith.
FWIW, my mom’s side of the family is Catholic, my dad’s side is Missouri-synod Lutheran, I was raised Catholic. I continued to identify strongly as Catholic until about 17, at which point I began putting some serious thought into my beliefs, and gradually arrived at atheism.
Side note two: I tabbed out of this composition window when some actual work came up, so apologies if I’m repeating anything that’s been said since I started writing this.