Discussion about religion bashing

[Heald]

I never said it was historically inaccurate. I said it was poorly-written. Mostly because of how many of its scriptures contradict one another and because of how many of Christianity's rules and regulations today are completely absent from it or were not included in it until years or centuries after the events it supposedly documented occurred.

I wouldn't call that poorly written. You also have to take into account that the Bible is a collection of books, accounts and scriptures written by dozens of authors, and so it is bound to have several disparities, especially between books that were written centuries or even a millennium apart. As you hint to in your reference to your poor education of the Bible at school, you clearly have a complete lack of knowledge of the theological and historical significance of the structure and style of the Bible. I can understand why though; Catholicism teaches less from the Bible and from its own traditions and doctrines (much of Catholic tradition has little to no grounding in any Biblical scripture). How much did you learn about purgatory and penance, Catholic doctrines with absolutely no grounding in the Bible? And how much did you learn about important theological concepts within the Bible such as eschatology, Christology or Logos?

Perhaps... So then, why do we celebrate Christmas on that date and why do so many people celebrate it and label it as the birth of Christ?

It is believed the date of Christmas was decided at the time the Church was still trying to integrate Romans and their beliefs into them. They replaced existing festivals and celebrations with Christian ones and it is thought the Romans celebrated the Winter solstice on December 25th and they just changed it to Jesus' birthday. It worked so well that not only do all Christians recognise and celebrate Christmas, so do members of other religions or those of no fixed religion.

[Blademaster]

How much did you learn about purgatory and penance,

We learned that Penance (capitalized) was something done after Confession (also capitalized) in order to make God forgive us for our confessed sins.

Also, we weren't taught about Purgatory. We were taught that the good went to Heaven and the bad were sent to Hell. No second chances or rules being bent: The choice was as black and white as could be.

And how much did you learn about important theological concepts within the Bible such as eschatology,

Never heard of it.

Christology

Never heard of it.

or Logos?

Never heard of it.

Got any more?

No, seriously. PLEASE give me more. I'd love to learn more things I was lied to about or purposely not informed of simply because they weren't as important as "Jesus loves you but He'll throw you into the pits of fire and damnation if you don't do what He says.".

I know that Christmas was originally a pagan festival where the solstice was recognized and trees were brought inside (like Christmas trees). The question was rhetorical. There are millions and millions of Christians in the world, and I'm willing to bet that a large chunk of them don't know Christmas as anything more than the Nativity Scene. Hell, I didn't even know it until a few years ago.

[Heald]

No, seriously. PLEASE give me more. I'd love to learn more things I was lied to about or purposely not informed of simply because they weren't as important as "Jesus loves you but He'll throw you into the pits of fire and damnation if you don't do what He says."

This was, and still is many parts of the world, Catholic policy: don't teach people how to read and study the Bible, just preach what you think the messages are and tell them that deviating from or questioning this is heresy. The Bible was originally only approved to be written in Latin so only the elite and learned could read it, and so only the bishops and priests could vouch for what was in it, and the unwashed, uneducated masses had to rely on the Church for salvation. In the first half of the last millennium, the penalty for translating the Bible into a more common language was death. The Catholic Church thought a peasant did not need to worry themselves with the important recurring themes within the Bible or important concepts such as how the Gospels and Acts relate to each other, as long as they preached what they thought the Bible said to the peasants. Most churches today, sadly, basically continue this tradition, although not so blatantly. The best place you'll get any kind of deep understanding of the Bible is in a theology class, not a church or a religious institution. Churches are basically nurseries for believers: do finger-paintings and hang them on the wall. Nobody asks why, they just do it. When you're in your final year of school and you're told to do a finger-painting so it can be hanged on the wall, you're more likely to say 'Why?' or 'That's stupid'. However, some people are happy to just sit there and do finger-paintings all their life as long as they're doing what they're told. Some people just find happiness that way.

[Shadow Wolf]

PLEASE give me more. I'd love to learn more things I was lied to about or purposely not informed of simply because they weren't as important as "Jesus loves you but He'll throw you into the pits of fire and damnation if you don't do what He says.".

Take Biblical lessons with Jehovah's Witnesses about what does the Bible truly teaches (or just ask me via PM, I'll try to help as much as I can)

I believe that the main problem here is that most of the doctrines of Christianity are pagan and were created by men (Trinity, Heaven and Hell, Purgatory, Mary as the mother of God, Christmas, and many others), but since they were considered at that time "messengers of God", you didn't have the authority to question what they said (Sir Isaac Newton discovered that God wasn't a Trinity and he was Catholic, but you could be completely sure that if he would dare open his mouth, he would get killed; plus consider the fact that the only people at that time who had access to the Bible were the high ranking priests and leaders of the Catholic church; now the Bible is accessible to at least 90% of the people, but since most people do not understand everything of the Bible, then they keep believing their church leaders). If we keep believing that the doctrines established in the churches are truth and we do not confirm it in the Bible, then we will believe that the Bible contradicts itself.

[classy_cat18]

I believe that the main problem here is that most of the doctrines of Christianity are pagan and were created by men (Trinity, Heaven and Hell, Purgatory, Mary as the mother of God, Christmas, and many others)

Yeah, about Purgatory. Baptists and other denominations of Christianity don't believe it. There's Heaven, Hell, and that's it.

Another thing that bothers me is how some religions treat some popular things. I have to hear the whole "Halloween is a Satanist holiday" crap every October, and we're encouraged to dress up as Christian-related stuff for our "Fall Festival". We can dress up as more...earthly things. Just no angels, devils, witches, etc. Where's the fun in that? Shoot, I'll just stay home and be a Shinigami! Not to mention the reminders of the evil in Harry Potter and Pokemon. It's annoying for them to take it so seriously. Just entertainment, people!