Interesting panel discussion on Guru Ethics

[Cino]

... obscure links to other religions and traditions...

Judaism in Jesus' time was not monolithic. The Gospels mention several factions. It is hardly an "obscure link" between early Christianity and Judaism. And if you read later theologians, the influence of Greek philosophy is also hardly obscure.

Regardless of my position on Christology, these links are just plain obvious.

And the do not detract from Jesus' teachings either. He put them forth in Jewish terms, later Generations used Greek philosophy, scienctific terms, even computer science is nowadays a source of words for the expression of religious/spiritual ideas and sentiments.

Nothing wrong with any of that, to me.

 

[RJM]

Of course the link to Judaism is not obscure. Christ came as the Jewish messiah. He turned everything on its head. He wasn't just a wandering Jewish misfit.

The complications just aren't there. There's no need to go searching in Greek and Roman religions for roots of Christianity. Christ simply was who he said he was. It's simple.

 

[Thomas]

I've heard it said you can't be a good Christian without first being a good Jew... But you seem to be implying to be a good Jew one would be a Christian?

I haven't heard either of those things ...

 

[Thomas]

I was specifically thinking of ...

I operate on the more commonly accepted notion of cherry-picking.

wiki:
"Cherry picking, suppressing evidence, or the fallacy of incomplete evidence is the act of pointing to individual cases or data that seem to confirm a particular position while ignoring a significant portion of related cases or data that may contradict that position. It is a kind of fallacy of selective attention, the most common example of which is the confirmation bias.Cherry picking may be committed intentionally or unintentionally. This fallacy is a major problem in public debate.

"Confirmation bias, also called confirmatory bias or myside bias, is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one's preexisting beliefs or hypotheses. It is a type of cognitive bias and a systematic error of inductive reasoning. People display this bias when they gather or remember information selectively, or when they interpret it in a biased way. The effect is stronger for emotionally charged issues and for deeply entrenched beliefs. Confirmation bias is a variation of the more general tendency of apophenia."

 

[wil]

And that is the kind of cherry picking that got me to reject what I heard from the pulpit and Sunday school as a kid.

And reject what I've heard for the past decade from the DOMA supporters and homophobes.

I realize, thru this forum, that the US is unique in its fundamentalist and evangelistic ways, but if anyone wants to know why church attendance and religious affiliation is down they sure don't have to look far.