I love, absolutely love, the Nativity story. Somewhere I have a small creche that I used to put up every year. A special baby is born into reduced circumstances and everyone, from kings to shepherds and the beasts of the fields, knows he is special. I enjoy the portents, the star, the herald angels singing. I come informed with Christmas carols born out of Victorian optimism. I love the drummer-boy story which ends with the baby smiling. "Joy to the World," "Silent Night" (though I know this is German), "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" ... the list goes on.
I like the idea of an adolescent Jesus shaking up the money-lenders at 13.
But I hate how the story ends, with the former baby being tortured to death, and I hate how Herod had every baby boy 2 and under slaughtered because Israel had a new king. I also wonder, if the baby (now 33) knew he was in fact immortal, does this really count as death? But that's a technicality. I also wonder why some of his followers feel they need to literally cannibalize him in order to be forgiven.
Anyone else have bits of Christianity they like or don't like? If you once believed, or still believe, that all of this is literally truth, that's cool with me. I'm inclined to think all this is the stuff of legend. To believe I would need a very abstract version in order to buy into it. What did Flannery O'Connor say, "Well if it's a symbol, to hell with it?" She was talking about transubstantiation. That's just to illustrate that very brilliant and creative people observe, say, Roman Catholicism, and I'm not out to rile anyone up, I'm not going to try to talk anyone out of their beliefs etc. I just wonder if other people see bits of Jesus's life as inspirational. For the purposes of this thread, he was a real guy with basically the same life story I reported above.
I like the idea of an adolescent Jesus shaking up the money-lenders at 13.
But I hate how the story ends, with the former baby being tortured to death, and I hate how Herod had every baby boy 2 and under slaughtered because Israel had a new king. I also wonder, if the baby (now 33) knew he was in fact immortal, does this really count as death? But that's a technicality. I also wonder why some of his followers feel they need to literally cannibalize him in order to be forgiven.
Anyone else have bits of Christianity they like or don't like? If you once believed, or still believe, that all of this is literally truth, that's cool with me. I'm inclined to think all this is the stuff of legend. To believe I would need a very abstract version in order to buy into it. What did Flannery O'Connor say, "Well if it's a symbol, to hell with it?" She was talking about transubstantiation. That's just to illustrate that very brilliant and creative people observe, say, Roman Catholicism, and I'm not out to rile anyone up, I'm not going to try to talk anyone out of their beliefs etc. I just wonder if other people see bits of Jesus's life as inspirational. For the purposes of this thread, he was a real guy with basically the same life story I reported above.
via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/2D74Jbe
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