The flying Spaghetti Monster

Originally posted by twhitehead
Or is it rather a case of prophets only become great when they have the right message? Or that the message is interpreted to be the essentially the same? Or that living a life of humility, love, compassion, justice, etc is what we all believe to be the ideal and look to prophets to tell us about but often do not actually act on ourselves?

You are also rather contradicting what many Christians claim about Jesus' message being a new one.

You say we all believe living a life of humility, love, compassion, justice, etc. to be the ideal. What do you think stops people from living that ideal?

From what I can tell, Jesus' message was new for it's time and place.

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
You say we all believe living a life of humility, love, compassion, justice, etc. to be the ideal. What do you think stops people from living that ideal?

From what I can tell, Jesus' message was new for it's time and place.

Wrong.
So said Zarathustra (not the Nietzsche one).
All of this loving, peace, justice, blabla, it all comes from men's desires since the beginning of times. The need to justify and impose them as a rule allied to the need of explanation of the world and afterlife originated these kind of religions. Some smart speaker (prophet) professed the ideals, and you got crowds following him, exaggerating it's sayings, elevating him to God or a related member to verify with the Holy(TM) stamp their beliefs.
It all started with Zoroastrianism, not Christianity.

Originally posted by serigado
Wrong.
So said Zarathustra (not the Nietzsche one).
All of this loving, peace, justice, blabla, it all comes from men's desires since the beginning of times. The need to justify and impose them as a rule allied to the need of explanation of the world and afterlife originated these kind of religions. Some smart speaker (prophet) professed the ideals, and y ...[text shortened]... with the Holy(TM) stamp their beliefs.
It all started with Zoroastrianism, not Christianity.

It seems to me that Jesus was of a different time and place than Zarathustra . Perhaps you'd be more comfortable with "culture"?

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
It seems to me that Jesus was of a different time and place than Zarathustra . Perhaps you'd be more comfortable with "culture"?

Being from a different time it's the point. The philosophy was there a long time before Christ.
The guy was from Persia, I wouldn't say it was very far.
Only to say Jesus' philosophy was not something completely original.

Originally posted by serigado
Being from a different time it's the point. The philosophy was there a long time before Christ.
The guy was from Persia, I wouldn't say it was very far.
Only to say Jesus' philosophy was not something completely original.

I never claimed it was. Just that, from what I could tell, it was "new" to the "culture" in which it was delivered.

Religion can easily be explained by spending about an hour and a half watching the Life of Brian.

That should solve this mystical mystery that is religion.