What is uniquely Christian?

[Jew]

Who came up with that tortured rationalization?

I'm sure you have your own interpretation of the biblical account. I'm only offering the traditional Protestant Christian explanation of why the crucifixion is an event that Christians like to celebrate and remember.

[Darth Wong]

Who came up with that tortured rationalization?

I'm sure you have your own interpretation of the biblical account. I'm only offering the traditional Protestant Christian explanation of why the crucifixion is an event that Christians like to celebrate and remember.

You didn't answer the question. Who came up with it? And as long as we're repeating questions, let's add an addendum: how do they justify its various assumptions?

[Jew]

Who came up with that tortured rationalization?

I'm sure you have your own interpretation of the biblical account. I'm only offering the traditional Protestant Christian explanation of why the crucifixion is an event that Christians like to celebrate and remember.

You didn't answer the question. Who came up with it? And as long as we're repeating questions, let's add an addendum: how do they justify its various assumptions?

Wong, I'm not up to speed on my church history theology. I don't know who first explained why Jesus said "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" I don't know if it is even known who first wrote out the explanation.

I do know that Pope Leo the Great made reference to this explanation, which means it dates back to at least 461. Leo the Great probably explains it better than I did.

[The Guid]

Who came up with that tortured rationalization?

I'm sure you have your own interpretation of the biblical account. I'm only offering the traditional Protestant Christian explanation of why the crucifixion is an event that Christians like to celebrate and remember.

You didn't answer the question. Who came up with it? And as long as we're repeating questions, let's add an addendum: how do they justify its various assumptions?

If you have faith you don't need to justify the assumptions - such as the assumption that a God can exist in the first place.

[Seggybop]

Regarding the idea that through faith and only faith you will achieve salvation being exclusively Christian-- learned about Pure Land Buddhism today, and it has the same deal. Have faith in Amitabha Buddha and you get saved, regardless of any of your other characteristics. Don't have faith and you're probably screwed, despite anything else.

[Jew]

Regarding the idea that through faith and only faith you will achieve salvation being exclusively Christian-- learned about Pure Land Buddhism today, and it has the same deal. Have faith in Amitabha Buddha and you get saved, regardless of any of your other characteristics. Don't have faith and you're probably screwed, despite anything else.

That's fascinating, I didn't know Pure Land Buddhism even existed. And it seems that Pure Land Buddhism dates back pretty far, back to at least the 4th century.

In China the beginnings of the Pure Land cult can be traced back as far as the 4th century, when the scholar Hui-yüan formed a society of monks and laymen who meditated on the name of Amitabha. T'an-luan and his successors Tao-ch'o and Shan-tao systematized and spread the doctrine in the 6th and 7th centuries and are recognized as the first patriarchs of the school.

Full article

[Darth Wong]

Wong, I'm not up to speed on my church history theology. I don't know who first explained why Jesus said "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" I don't know if it is even known who first wrote out the explanation.

I do know that Pope Leo the Great made reference to this explanation, which means it dates back to at least 461. Leo the Great probably explains it better than I did.

I hope so, because your explanation doesn't make much sense. "Looking elsewhere during this operation as we planned" and "forsaken" are hardly the same thing.

[EmperorSolo51]

Then why did he ask God why he had forsaken him?

That was part of the whole "choosing to die for the sins of mankind" thing. Jesus Christ himself was sinless, but in order to be a sacrifice for the sins of mankind he took mankind's sins upon himself. He allowed himself to die. God looked away, rejecting Christ in the sense that Christ had to die to pay for the sins of mankind. God rejected him and let him die as a sacrifice for mankind. Of course this was anguishing for Christ: to be cut off and left to die, even though it was something he chose willingly, is an awful fate. Christ's words do not indicate that he thinks God has failed him, or that God has lost, but they are a cry born out of the pain he suffers when he feels the full wrath of God meted out upon him as a punishment for the sins of mankind.

In any event, the cross must be a victory for Christians because of Christ's resurrection on the third day. If Christ had not been raised up from the dead, then the cross would indeed have been a defeat.

This is basic Christian theology.

This goes in hand with the Catholic Explanation that it was Christ's Human nature that was calling out to God the Father. Christ Being the word made flesh has all of the characteristics that make us what we are but at the same Christ has come from the same substance that is the God, hence the reason how he was resurected himself. Christ and His passion show truly that Christ did suffer and was killed in a horrible fashion, yet it was this fashion that was necessaryu to redeem mankind for the sin of Adam or our Early ancestors.

[EmperorSolo51]

Wong, I'm not up to speed on my church history theology. I don't know who first explained why Jesus said "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" I don't know if it is even known who first wrote out the explanation.

I do know that Pope Leo the Great made reference to this explanation, which means it dates back to at least 461. Leo the Great probably explains it better than I did.

I hope so, because your explanation doesn't make much sense. "Looking elsewhere during this operation as we planned" and "forsaken" are hardly the same thing.

Like I said, the catholic Explanation is that this is Christ's Human nature (The God's Word made flesh) acting like any other Human would who is being put to death. If we go back to the earlier verses, Christ tells that he will be put to death and that his one of two reasons why he came. This is Christ's Divine nature speaking two us and to his Apostles. What we get in the agony in the Garden, his prayers to the father, and his passion show us Christ's human nature and his love and sacrafice for all of mankind by his death.

[Molyneux]

Wong, I'm not up to speed on my church history theology. I don't know who first explained why Jesus said "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" I don't know if it is even known who first wrote out the explanation.

I do know that Pope Leo the Great made reference to this explanation, which means it dates back to at least 461. Leo the Great probably explains it better than I did.

I hope so, because your explanation doesn't make much sense. "Looking elsewhere during this operation as we planned" and "forsaken" are hardly the same thing.

Like I said, the catholic Explanation is that this is Christ's Human nature (The God's Word made flesh) acting like any other Human would who is being put to death. If we go back to the earlier verses, Christ tells that he will be put to death and that his one of two reasons why he came. This is Christ's Divine nature speaking two us and to his Apostles. What we get in the agony in the Garden, his prayers to the father, and his passion show us Christ's human nature and his love and sacrafice for all of mankind by his death.

Wait...so if someone had actually braved the Roman soldiers and taken Jesus down from the cross, or just stopped the crucifixion from taking place at all...they would have been doing a bad thing, according to Christian doctrine?

[Darth Wong]

Wong, I'm not up to speed on my church history theology. I don't know who first explained why Jesus said "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" I don't know if it is even known who first wrote out the explanation.

I do know that Pope Leo the Great made reference to this explanation, which means it dates back to at least 461. Leo the Great probably explains it better than I did.

I hope so, because your explanation doesn't make much sense. "Looking elsewhere during this operation as we planned" and "forsaken" are hardly the same thing.

Like I said, the catholic Explanation is that this is Christ's Human nature (The God's Word made flesh) acting like any other Human would who is being put to death. If we go back to the earlier verses, Christ tells that he will be put to death and that his one of two reasons why he came. This is Christ's Divine nature speaking two us and to his Apostles. What we get in the agony in the Garden, his prayers to the father, and his passion show us Christ's human nature and his love and sacrafice for all of mankind by his death.

You know, you can say that a hundred times (and I know that the Christian indoctrination method does indeed rely upon rote repetition), but it will not make "why have you forsaken me" sound any more like things are going according to plan.

[SirNitram]

So not only is one God three people(Trinity), there's two discrete Jesuses. Or Jesi. How people beleive this stuff despite the blatant contortionism...

[Molyneux]

So not only is one God three people(Trinity), there's two discrete Jesuses. Or Jesi. How people beleive this stuff despite the blatant contortionism...

Plural of goose = geese
Plural of Jesus = Jeep?

[EmperorSolo51]

Wait...so if someone had actually braved the Roman soldiers and taken Jesus down from the cross, or just stopped the crucifixion from taking place at all...they would have been doing a bad thing, according to Christian doctrine?

Then Christ could've been Martyred someother way, though we can't say for certain. The point is that there was a need to fulfill the old covwnant of the Hebrew Scriptures and create a new and everlasting covenant in which the old sins of Adam will be washed away through the redemptive sacrifice of Christ.

[EmperorSolo51]

So not only is one God three people(Trinity), there's two discrete Jesuses. Or Jesi. How people beleive this stuff despite the blatant contortionism...

That is a gross oversimplification of the Hypostatic Union which states that Christ was born with two natures. The divine nature of course being God made flesh and the Humanity by which he was born into the world by the Blessed Virgin Mary.

[EmperorSolo51]

Wait...so if someone had actually braved the Roman soldiers and taken Jesus down from the cross, or just stopped the crucifixion from taking place at all...they would have been doing a bad thing, according to Christian doctrine?

Then Christ could've been Martyred someother way, though we can't say for certain. The point is that there was a need to fulfill the old covwnant of the Hebrew Scriptures and create a new and everlasting covenant in which the old sins of Adam will be washed away through the redemptive sacrifice of Christ.

EDIT Though I should point out that Christ by being the virtue of Being God the Son has both the dine and the Humanity even in Heaven after death becuase Christ is the perfect embodiment of God's love for Humanity and that love is perfectly shown to us in the image of Christ. The Holy Spirit is that guiding love that points in the direction of that perfect embodiment of God's love which is Christ.

[SirNitram]

So not only is one God three people(Trinity), there's two discrete Jesuses. Or Jesi. How people beleive this stuff despite the blatant contortionism...

That is a gross oversimplification of the Hypostatic Union which states that Christ was born with two natures. The divine nature of course being God made flesh and the Humanity by which he was born into the world by the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Which has the simple outcome of a human Jesus and a Divine Jesus, both of which happened to occupy the same flesh. Of course, what you will not hear is any explanation for how two entities could occupy the body for thirty years, yet be so firmly discrete you can use the 'Oh, it's the just the mortal half suffering' cop-out.

You want two discrete entities in one body with zero mixing or influence between the two to have your ending. Do you comprehend why this is ridiculed?

[EmperorSolo51]

You want two discrete entities in one body with zero mixing or influence between the two to have your ending. Do you comprehend why this is ridiculed?

Well, That's why it is a mystery of Faith. We Don't know how it happens, all we undertand is that it did happen. That's the beauty of Why I became a Christian, unlike in the other religions Christianity still has that sublime mysteriousness of God and we as Christians are encouraged to revel in those mysteries of Faith so that we can try to understand Him better.

[Surlethe]

You want two discrete entities in one body with zero mixing or influence between the two to have your ending. Do you comprehend why this is ridiculed?

Well, That's why it is a mystery of Faith. We Don't know how it happens, all we undertand is that it did happen. That's the beauty of Why I became a Christian, unlike in the other religions Christianity still has that sublime mysteriousness of God and we as Christians are encouraged to revel in those mysteries of Faith so that we can try to understand Him better.

See, the problem with this non-answer is we shouldn't expect not to be ridiculed; the reason it's a Mystery of Faith is because it is patently absurd, and there's no other way to explain it.

[General Zod]

You want two discrete entities in one body with zero mixing or influence between the two to have your ending. Do you comprehend why this is ridiculed?

Well, That's why it is a mystery of Faith. We Don't know how it happens, all we undertand is that it did happen. That's the beauty of Why I became a Christian, unlike in the other religions Christianity still has that sublime mysteriousness of God and we as Christians are encouraged to revel in those mysteries of Faith so that we can try to understand Him better.

If God wanted people to understand how he worked, wouldn't it have made more sense for him to lay it out flatly than make some convoluted mystery with alot of post-hoc rationalisations that only try to make sense out of it?

[sketerpot]

You want two discrete entities in one body with zero mixing or influence between the two to have your ending. Do you comprehend why this is ridiculed?

Well, That's why it is a mystery of Faith. We Don't know how it happens, all we undertand is that it did happen. That's the beauty of Why I became a Christian, unlike in the other religions Christianity still has that sublime mysteriousness of God and we as Christians are encouraged to revel in those mysteries of Faith so that we can try to understand Him better.

You became a Christian because Christianity has parts that make no sense?

[Rye]

Then why did he ask God why he had forsaken him?

It's apparently a reference to psalm 22, the various gospels have bits that fit with it, and it was intended as some sort of fulfillment thing.

How about original sin, is that unique to christianity?

[SirNitram]

You want two discrete entities in one body with zero mixing or influence between the two to have your ending. Do you comprehend why this is ridiculed?

Well, That's why it is a mystery of Faith. We Don't know how it happens, all we undertand is that it did happen. That's the beauty of Why I became a Christian, unlike in the other religions Christianity still has that sublime mysteriousness of God and we as Christians are encouraged to revel in those mysteries of Faith so that we can try to understand Him better.

You know, the Universe has many actualy, observable, measurable mysteries. For those of us who do not beleive a silly, mileenia old set of manuscripts by people who didn't drink water in the desert, we find beauty in actual mysteries; why complex sugars usually only found in lifeforms are found in interstellar nebulae, for example.

Of course, for you, it appears that making a bunch of ridiculous assumptions and then getting an answer that makes no sense is somehow a 'Great Mystery'. There's no mystery: The assumptions are simply bunk.

[Nephtys]

You want two discrete entities in one body with zero mixing or influence between the two to have your ending. Do you comprehend why this is ridiculed?

Well, That's why it is a mystery of Faith. We Don't know how it happens, all we undertand is that it did happen. That's the beauty of Why I became a Christian, unlike in the other religions Christianity still has that sublime mysteriousness of God and we as Christians are encouraged to revel in those mysteries of Faith so that we can try to understand Him better.

Mysteries are only so when you have some data that leads to something that you can't draw a meaningful conclusion from. Here, we've got self-referencial speculation. How does anyone know it actually happened? If I played 'telephone' for 2000 years, it sure is going to change.

What's the difference in practical terms between knowing this happened, and knowing about Xenu's galactic cruiser massacre six trillion years ago?

[Jew]

What's the difference in practical terms between knowing this happened, and knowing about Xenu's galactic cruiser massacre six trillion years ago?

In practical terms, Christianity has had and still does have a significant impact on world history. That is why it is important to understand at least the basic doctrines and beliefs of Christians. It helps to inform your understanding of history and of current events.