^^
I grew up in catholic background. Slovakia. Among Poland, Ireland, Brazil most catholic country in the world. Over 80% population is christian religious (used to be well over 90% before the WWII and communism). Pastor often saw himself as shepherd taking care of the sheep herd. That's how I remember it. I always taught as a child how quite accurate the metaphor was.

Well I do agree that the story of Jesus we have today is pretty blatantly stolen from the Egyptian sun God Horus. I believe the overlap of Jesus and pagan holiday's was done by constantine in 330 A.D. He did this as a way to convert his people to Christianity while maintaining their normal holiday's.

Because of this I believe that Jesus could have very well lived, but what we know of him and his church today is pretty obviously an abomination IMO. For instance I highly doubt he was born to a virgin.

^ yeah I should have clarified that actaully..I think there was a "jesus"..there is some evidence(though subjective) that he spent time in the east learning..I had a book called the "lost years of jesus" or something like that that was all about his time spent in the east and certain texts that refer to him from the east..maybe india I cant remember..

But I definatily subscribe to the theory that "jesus" as the "sun" of god, born to a virgin, and crucified on the cross etc, is a literalization of the egyptian sun god cult. It seems from what I can remember from my reading is that this literalization of the sun god myths came about when christianity came to rome. It is alot easier to controll people throughthat fear of a literal god that is external to the self that punishes sinners etc, as opposed to what I personally believe the eqyptian sun god cult was-which while did have external aspects found in the sky, was at it's core a deeper metaphorical alchemical understanding of the self..

Of course this is just my interpretation. All of this is still up for speculation and criticism..and the egyptian culutre was far from egalitarian IMO.. so I dont want anyone to think I am saying they had it right.

WOW, it's yet another fine Sunday, guys....I guess i'll be seeing you all down at the local; Church then... ?

Actually you may be thinking of the Gandhi quote that goes:

"I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ."

Christianity does have some truth, but it's the way that the Bible is generally interpreted that creates a spiritual Dead-end through fear and guilt.

Lots of good stuff in this thread, I'm copy/pasting it to Microsoft Word. Word.

mmmm, Based on the fact that a simple happy life should be free flowing and in accordance with positive vibes, i find it really difficult to understand how anyone could be a simple, happy Christian.

-You see, there is nothing simple about running into a load of dogma that you've gotta spend time unravelling to understand. How anyone could find simplicity in that i don't know. Then there's being happy. Well according to such a faith, you can't possibly really be happy untill you take the time to unravel and understand all the dogma. Because untill you do, you're none the wiser about how to become a Christian, and can only be happy once you have understood it, to know what you need to do....

--PHEW!!!--to think my life was simple and happy untill i thought of becoming a simple, happy Christian. Well, i guess hell aint such a bad place to be after all!!...

this

No, the dalai lama said something along the lines of "You already have a established religion in your culture, you do not have to seek out others".

..funny how neither Jesus or Buddha (Sidharta) wrote anything down...
it's all what someone else said they said..
they're equally questionable to me..
can't we find our own truths..?

I too was raised christian and upon examining it for myself found it wanting. I battle with that choice to this day but stand by it. The battle isn't with a hidden belief that I made the wrong choice but the problem of being outside their group. No matter how many adorable wonderful women I have missed out on, or how many parties I've felt left out of, I still can't do the lie of going back to that. I'd like the circumstances of it, but it would all be founded on a lie.

I think your friend, the happy go lucky believer who wants to convert everyone, would probably be just as happy if his life circumstances put him in Islam or Buddhism. Some people are just born to be happy.

For those who want to gather in person with Ayahuasca types or DMT types, do you think it would work that way? What I mean is, would you end up attracting drug heads who just want to get fooxerred to the max? I know Nexians aren't like that, but isn't that the type most likely to attend if it were a public thing?

See, I once bought a book about DMT and the clerk who sold it to me was interested. We exchanged phone numbers and I thought he'd end up being a cool guy but he was a party-er and I'm not. People assume my interest in ayahuasca or the like is a druggy thing but it isn't. So I end up doing these sorts of things alone.

Personally, I just think it's gonna take a long time to get our society to the point where ayahuasca sessions can be accepted as being different from beer pong tournaments.

@ bransondude

I assume by your nom de plume that you are from Branson, Missouri? If so, your situation might be kinda stuck in the way you have described. Not to judge your zone, but it seems that college aged party animals and hardcore conservative christies make up the majority of that burg.

You can find circles of pretty enlightened folk in some places though. A lot of you lonely Nexians might have to move if you wanna have more than one or two kindered spirits biking distance from your house. (Or even one or two)

Not everybody is ready to uproot and go somewhere where they have no support network or saftey net. Friends, family, culture... these things are important parts of people's sense of self. Still, I heartily suggest that anyone unhappy with their social scene take a few months (at least) to travel around and tour some of the places in the world where others like yourself have already gravitated. I won't give specific towns, as they will be different for different heads, but there are a LOT of amazing places where life is actually significantly better.

As the song from Midnight Cowboy* says "... going where the climate suits my clothes."


* Everybody's Talkin' by Harry Nilsson

--Couldn't have said it better.

@Hyperspace Fool

I see you are familiar with Branson and it's denizens. It's true, I should move from here, I definitely don't fit in. There is a place nearby that more closely matches my tastes and I hope to move within the year. It would be nice to spend 2012 away from fear-mongering evangelical types. They have their good traits but birds of a feather should flock together.

The entire story of the Bible both new and old testaments are Astrotheology. All the stories, from the Garden of Eden, to Moses, to Jesus and the Apostles, the Virgin birth, the three wise men, the star in the east, (Sirius) the death and resurection, are all taken from the movement of the sun through the stars. Many of the stories were taken directly from Egyptians. In fact there is a heiroglyphic panel in Luxor that has the entire story of 'Jesus'; the enunciation, the three kings, the star in the east, the virgin birth which was carved in 1500BC! The whole thing is a complete fable that does nothing but explain the passage of the Sun through the night sky.

They are no different than the Greek Myths of the Odessey, or Jason and the Argonauts and the like, except that we have been told they are truth in order to control us and get us to give our power away to an entity that doesn't exist. There is zero credibile evidence that a man names Jesus actually existed, and did the things he was reported to have done.

It is all about an alchemical understanding of the self, we are our own saviors. It is all there in the stars, as above so below, but we have been led astray by 'religion' and given our power away.

"A priest stumbles upon a group of happy go lucky hippies living in the nature. He asks them if they have read the bible, and know about god. They reply saying no. He then tells them that they cannot truly be happy untill they have read the bible, understood it, and choose to believe in god. He leaves, and the once blissfully hippies look sad, miserable, and feel suicidal."
-Dolphins and monkeys are intelligent creatures. I have yet to see them praying to some kinda god. They simply seem to do their thing, and have fun as well. Perhaps that is ALL the best we can make out of our lives??-perhaps praying to Gods means that we have either sacrificed having fun, or simply don't know better ways to spend free time ??

--Does anyone think that perhaps the "fear mongering" that certain religions, like Christianity, might have actually held us back in a black cloud of negativity, fear, and overanalysis., when we could have been happier and productive instead.???

--I've gotta mention that when i was young and forced to goto church, i could not understand why people had to endure such boredom and dankness. I did not think it was a good use of time. I did not understand why people felt that they needed to give themselves such a miserable experience to "connect with their god"....and to be honest, i still don't!

--:idea: -Does religion do us any good, except make people think miserable thoughts, rather than fun thoughts??

---And what good does that do us...i mean it doesn't make our working lives any easier??, it just breeds this negative and unhelpful emotion called guilt!

I don't believe in idols, and christianity has turned Jesus into an idol. He seems like he was a cool guy and all, but his message was not "follow me, worship me, I am the only truth." He had some important messages about being good to one another. I just find his "religion" has been twisted so much it no longer resembles his message. The priests want you to think it is all very complicated, and you need their direction, but everyone doesn't need someone else to tell them to do the right thing.

On another note, the most "good" Christian person I know always feels guilty about everything. She fells guilty about every little thing the church and society tell her are bad. It's brainwashing. She suffers from depression.

FREE FREE FREE humanity
Let's DESTROY and LEAVE BEHIND every obstcale of JOY, LAUGHTER and COMMUNION!

One thought that occured to me today was that there is no place in this society for someone who wants to live a simple happy, honest life.

-Modernday life is made to suit people that are tricksters , decievers, and liars. You will note that Governments, Religions, are at it all the time. The system we live in actually protects them, and hinders honest, good people.

-How can anyone be a simple happy christian under these circumstances?

Ha, we used to family vacation in Branson (i grew up in Springfield). That place is hilariously kitschy but man I'd hate living there. One time I saw Yakov Smirnoff in concert there...

I'll give you the first part they didn't write anything down.

but to equate them...No

The bible talks about faith. Buddha talks about reason.

Jesus is proclaimed to be God. Buddha doesn't really talk much about God.

Don't blindly believe what I say. Don't believe me because others convince you of my words. Don't believe anything you see, read, or hear from others, whether of authority, religious teachers or texts. Don't rely on logic alone, nor speculation. Don't infer or be deceived by appearances.
~~ Buddha.

In other words Buddha basically says this: Believe nothing. Allow for anything. Question Everything.

This is about as polar opposite of Christianity as one can get.

BTW. Buddhism has a verifiable path you can walk. You can learn to meditate and see the changes start happening. Christianity just teaches blind faith.

Buddhism is really more like personal psychological training than a religion.

just my random worthless 2.5 cents.

Peace