Mythra Posted August 8, 2005 Share Posted August 8, 2005 I'm reading "The Jesus Puzzle" by Earl Doherty right now. He talks about Paul and Romans, in writing about submission to the government and how only lawbreakers are punished, and how Paul could not possibly had written this if Pontius Pilate had been known at that time. It would be like putting a seal of approval on to Jesus' crucifiction. cruciFICTION. good name for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trashy Posted August 8, 2005 Share Posted August 8, 2005 I've noticed this twice so far, but for some reason I have a feeling this might be come a trend among fundies. The idea is that all leadership comes from God and since the bible is infailable, we should follow whatever our political leaders say and do because God put them there. The first time I heard of this, the televangelist said that even Hitler was appointed by God. But he also brought out that the American Revolution was an expection because when a leader (the British) is perverting his leadership, then it's ok to act against them. What the British did was terrible, but Hitler's reign was ten times worse and yet this guy makes an excuse for him. Probably didn't want the uber-partiots knocking down his doors. Has anyone else heard of this? The NEW trend is political grassroots activism to just TAKE OVER the government. That way you make 'his enemies his footstool' and allow Jesus to return. The previous thinking of submitting to any authority was from Romans and was much more popular when Democrats ruled Congress and Republicans were the perennial underdogs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aexapo Posted August 8, 2005 Share Posted August 8, 2005 The Christians didn't invent the idea either. Most rulers throughout history have claimed divine authority. Christianity got the idea from the Roman emperors. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Successful politicians have always needed religion to subvert the masses. Christianity has -- for most of its history -- been a pawn of the state, rather than the other way around. Rather than "christianity" getting any ideas, it was more about a Roman emperor simply substituting the old ineffective state mythology with the new popular cult in town. If ancient Egyptian sun-worshipping had been more popular than the rise of Christianity in Constantine's Rome, we'd all have skin cancer and cataracts from an early age. Christianity's power on its own was pretty much limited to the middle ages -- when european kings had to kiss the Pope's ass for favors. The Reformation wasn't even an act unto itself -- it almost always required the participation of the ruler of the land where it happened -- who didn't care if he lost the Pope's favor (which almost always meant the "reforming" country was "fair game" for invasion). Where Christianity has an illusion of power now is through coalitions of like-minded faiths seeking similar outcomes. These denominations aren't united, and most hate each other on many fronts (fundy's vs. Catholics). The state, once again, seems to be using this lack of corporate unity among the radicals by playing to their few similarities in order to transfer this political power to themselves -- and the state wins again. If only the christo-fanatics knew that they were already in Big Brother's clutches! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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