Re: [asa] Re: good atheists?

On 9/8/09 1:53 PM, "Dehler, Bernie" <bernie.dehler@intel.com> wrote:

> Susan said:
> "Jesus, as portrayed, was happy to make his sacrifice for the sake of others.
> I'm sure he didn't enjoy the beatings, nails, etc. but doing anything else
> would have made him miserable. He did exactly what he intended to do. He
> sacrificed himself for people that he loved just as you or I would. In my
> case, if my courage failed me and I didn't, the rest of my short life would be
> utterly miserable."
>
> For those who believed that Jesus died on the cross for their sins, yes, that
> was a very unselfish and noble thing to do, as man-God.
>
> But if Jesus was not God and was instead a religious sect leader who ended-up
> getting killed because he clashed with the ruling elite, then it makes his
> death much less noble. And if he never rose from the dead, it makes his life
> that much more less meaningful, compared to what Christians believe.

This general idea has always amazed me. If Christ was divine or not should
have no impact on the relevance or importance of his teachings or his life.
He still said all that stuff and he still died in a pretty horrible way for
the love of mankind. The same with the Bible in general. I've heard
Creationists say that if the first couple of chapters of Genesis weren't
literal scientific fact, then the Bible is worthless. Really? It contains
nothing of value under any and all circumstances?

I just finished rewriting the Dhammapada (check out my website if you'd like
a free pdf). I originally thought the Buddha actually wrote the verses.
Later I found out that after he died they were constructed from the
collective memories of his followers. Knowing that doesn't diminish their
value. The Buddha also died in a very ordinary way as an old man. That also
doesn't diminish the value of his teachings. In fact neither thing has any
impact on the value of the verses at all.

Susan

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Received on Wed Sep 9 15:39:17 2009