Excerpt: Quote:
Originally Posted by john76  This really got me charged up. I started reading everything I could about the Greek God Dionysus. I became so obsessed with this idea that I completely went overboard when I read the following quote from the Bacchae by Euripides: "Even though he be no god, as thou assertest, still say he is; be guilty of a splendid fraud, declaring him the son of Semele, that she may be thought the mother of a god, and we and all our race gain honor." This was reflected in Plato's "Republic" and at the time seemed like it may have became the entire impetus for rehashing the Dionysus myth in the figure of Christ. We also see in the Old Testament that lying is smiled upon if it is done in the service of God (see the index of the commentary version of the 'New Jerusalem Bible' under truth and lies).
This did it for me. I was convinced that the Jesus story was a complete lie made up by the early Christians for political reasons. | It's absolutely clear that you've been the farthest thing from an agnostic perhaps until recently. Not only is your definition of agnostic unhistorical, but your definition atheism is irrational and unfounded. That attitude you illustrate of "you're wrong, and I'm right" is sadly ironic.
If you've still got an ounce of "agnostic" in you, by answering this question you'll tell me the answer: Do you still believe Christianity is a myth?
Your agnostic friend,
Vinterland
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And on we walked. Suddenly we heard a voice crying, "This is the sea. This is the deep sea. This is the vast and mighty sea." And when we reached the voice it was a man whose back was turned to the sea, and at his ear he held a shell, listening to its murmur.
And my soul said, "Let us pass on. He is the realist, who turns his back on the whole he cannot grasp, and busies himself with a fragment."
—Gibran Khalil Gibran, “The Greater Sea.” |