Poor poor Christianity?

[ZNPaaneah]

Originally Posted by awareness

Yes, and that it's a carryover from the early practice of sacrificing a human to propitiate a deity, and then eating the flesh and blood of the sacrificed.

I am not aware of any ancient practice of sacrificing the Lord, or the deity. You think this is like the Mayans or Aztecs, the problem is they didn't sacrifice their own son, they didn't sacrifice their God. All of those religions took people from the commoners. You are afraid of the volcano? You want us to do something about it? Fine, give us your 12 year old daughter that is what the volcano wants. Likewise, the Romans did the same thing. You aren't happy? You want your own leader? Fine, let's nail him to a cross.

Originally Posted by awareness

But it's become more civilized, as now, to Christians, it's is symbolic, and not literal ; exempting transubstantiation that says it is the literal flesh and blood of Jesus. I guess we haven't become completely civilized.

If you think it is more civilized now then you are blind. You think what Pol Pot did was more civilized? How about Stalin, or Mao, or Hitler? What about 911. Those are all human sacrifices on a far larger and more horrific scale than anything the Mayans did. Once again, it is the complete opposite of the Lord's table. These rulers kill their people so that they can eat, the Lord gave His body so that we could eat.

Originally Posted by awareness

...It's obviously an ancient superstition ; that was in very common currency in the 1st century (the Iron age). Which is why it was attributed to Jesus. The need for a sacrifice was in the zeitgeist back then. That Jesus was a sacrifice would have been readily acceptable, and even better, a once and for all sacrifice ; another improvement ... of sorts (except the devil is in the details).

If it is an "ancient" superstition you haven't explained Hitler's gas chambers, a very modern invention. You haven't explained Rwanda, a very modern genocide.

Originally Posted by awareness

But c'mon? Haven't we outgrown such silliness? Surely the God of the universe wouldn't be so uncivilized.

How are you so blind? Do you even know where your tax dollars go? You do realize that we have done away with habeas corpus for our enemies. You do realize that we have pretended to outlaw torture until it was more convenient to just "redefine" it.