tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740924465958245224.post6448093875130548620..comments2024-03-10T00:44:49.280-05:00Comments on This & That: What was it about Jesus?Susannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115294023069458287noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740924465958245224.post-30929581007386235112011-10-13T13:27:18.379-05:002011-10-13T13:27:18.379-05:00Sanil, thanks for sharing all that! I really enjoy...Sanil, thanks for sharing all that! I really enjoyed it! :)<br /><br /><br />Joni, yes, pretty good book!<br /><br />Amber, copy cat! ;-PSusannehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03115294023069458287noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740924465958245224.post-74461788527567053062011-10-08T18:06:11.581-05:002011-10-08T18:06:11.581-05:00What Sanil said. FYI, the freaking iPad autocorrec...What Sanil said. FYI, the freaking iPad autocorrect kept changing your name to 'snail' until I capitalized it!Amberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09002997517784638068noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740924465958245224.post-55528891563177960312011-10-08T15:28:56.282-05:002011-10-08T15:28:56.282-05:00this sounds like a really interesting book!this sounds like a really interesting book!Jonihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01169436966724651241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740924465958245224.post-50302895532618925562011-10-08T11:09:27.352-05:002011-10-08T11:09:27.352-05:00I think the assertion that Jesus-worship came out ...I think the assertion that Jesus-worship came out of a monotheistic religion is a little problematic. It has roots in Judaism, sure, but Jesus isn't actually <b>worshiped</b> when it was a strictly Jewish group following him. Even fairly early on, as of when Paul's writing his letters in the middle of the 1st century, he's writing to a <b>lot</b> of Greek pagan converts. There's a reason Christians ultimately separated from Judaism - in the minds of most Jews they were following after the pagan ways around them and straying too far from acceptable Jewish belief and practice. And of course we'll never know, but I don't think Christianity as it exists today would have gotten a chance to get off the ground if it <b>hadn't</b> started in a polytheistic environment, if say Jesus had been born before Israel was invaded and had the unwanted influence of the religions around them.<br /><br />Personal opinion, I think that mix of Jewish and Greek belief is also what makes it possible for his followers to continue after his death. Some sects of Judaism were already waiting for the eminent apocalypse, which explains a lot of Paul's teachings. Then the Greek mystery cults (and for that matter even mainstream Greek religion) worshiped other dead gods, it wasn't a problem to believe in a god or prophet who could die and come back. Jesus actually fit the already existing savior archetype pretty well. Pull the two together, and there's room on both sides for the death not to be a problem. Either the end has already started and Jesus just paved the way and went ahead, or he died but is still living in the same way Dionysus, Osiris, and Adonis were, having conquered death. Or both.<br /><br />I almost might phrase the question in reverse - what is it about Christianity that convinced a strict polytheistic religion to abandon all gods but one? But even then I can offer up my slightly cynical answer that they weren't so much convinced as forced by a government that benefited from having all the people under one flag, one god, and one doctrine.<br /><br /><i>He, by contrast, will have expected us to have incarnated his virtues; he will expect us to have been 'God' towards our unfortunate neighbours; for he will have been hidden within them.</i><br /><br />I like that quote a lot. The idea of the divine being incarnate in humanity isn't <b>quite</b> unique to Christianity (Orphics believed that the pure soul came from Dionysus, and the corrupted flesh from Titans), but it was interpreted in a unique way. The view of Christ living in his followers lends itself well to a lifestyle where hospitality is not just a virtue or a norm but a devotional act. Caring for the poor and the stranger isn't a duty anymore in that context - it's worship. I think the world would be a better place if more people adopted that attitude towards service.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07382787889525110718noreply@blogger.com