09-08-2007, 11:41 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> Mr. Prancer
<b>The four Gospels surely wouldn't pass for independent works today, but the integrity of the Gospels' construction is nevertheless still widely accepted. It's been grandfathered in, so to speak.</b>
The typical Christian wouldn't have had access to the written text of even one Gospel much less all four (not to mention Josephus' works), so that would have made it nigh unto impossible to solve the puzzles. And even if a precocious convert did happen to figure out a few things, who would have believed their report. They would have been either ignored or shouted down by clergy and congregationers alike, if not "handed over to Satan for punishment". How dare anyone deny the sacredness of the scrïptures, much less declare it a total "Laurel and Hardy" farce. But what joy, as you say, for the church leaders, at least until they no longer felt any need to indulge in the inside joke ... or did they truly ever lose that sense of humor.
<b>I call Christianity an anti-initiatory cult. </b>Th<b>e more devout the Christian is, the more ignorant they become. </b><b> There is no reward, at least intellectually, for the Christian seeker. </b> <b>At least in pagan cults, the initiate gained knowledge as they passed through the various degrees, and experienced the thrill of awakening that went along with knowledge. </b> Christianity is self-described as a "Mystery", but not one that its adherants can ever hope to understand! You have to forsake the religion in order to probe the inner sanctums of its "divine architecture".
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<b>The four Gospels surely wouldn't pass for independent works today, but the integrity of the Gospels' construction is nevertheless still widely accepted. It's been grandfathered in, so to speak.</b>
The typical Christian wouldn't have had access to the written text of even one Gospel much less all four (not to mention Josephus' works), so that would have made it nigh unto impossible to solve the puzzles. And even if a precocious convert did happen to figure out a few things, who would have believed their report. They would have been either ignored or shouted down by clergy and congregationers alike, if not "handed over to Satan for punishment". How dare anyone deny the sacredness of the scrïptures, much less declare it a total "Laurel and Hardy" farce. But what joy, as you say, for the church leaders, at least until they no longer felt any need to indulge in the inside joke ... or did they truly ever lose that sense of humor.
<b>I call Christianity an anti-initiatory cult. </b>Th<b>e more devout the Christian is, the more ignorant they become. </b><b> There is no reward, at least intellectually, for the Christian seeker. </b> <b>At least in pagan cults, the initiate gained knowledge as they passed through the various degrees, and experienced the thrill of awakening that went along with knowledge. </b> Christianity is self-described as a "Mystery", but not one that its adherants can ever hope to understand! You have to forsake the religion in order to probe the inner sanctums of its "divine architecture".
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