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When I was younger I was told (by a pastor) that the reason Christianity was the one true religion was because "our" god is the only one who had died and risen from the grave. Later in life I found out this was absolute bullshit. Christianity is a retelling of several earlier religions. I often wonder if he was just as naive as I was, or if he was lying to further a religious agenda? Wich is worse?

Ktruin 5 Sep 28
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In the 90's, the Gospels of Judas were discovered in an Egyptian cave. He was supposedly one of the few literate disciples of Jesus. In his writings, he says Jesus ordered him to report to Pilot and told him that, in so doing, he would be reviled by the others. As has been described by Reza Aslan, it was a social and political movement, but at that time, religion and politics were intertwined. According to Thomas Paine, the time of resurrection varies in the bible according to who's telling the story, suggesting that they couldn't get their stories straight, probably because the overall story was just bunk.

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I once asked a priest what happened to all the people that died before Christianity took over. Are they all in hell?
He got mad...lol.

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I remember a guy telling me that the Bible is the only holy book that is the legitimate word of God. He knew that because it is so written in the Bible. Also Christianity is the only religion whose founder said that he was God. In his mind that made all the others false.

At this stage of my life I prefer to just cast a sidelong glance at such baloney and move on to the real world—vibrant, beautiful, mysterious miraculous.

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Most of the pastors in my sect came out of Dallas Theological Seminary -- and they were taught to be highly suspicious of sources of information that were outside that particular echo chamber. My professors at Grand Rapids School of Bible and Music (now defunct) were mostly from there and to this day my first reflexive thought is that since I didn't hear that from any "reputable" Bible teacher it's probably bogus. Over the years that thought has gotten weaker and just as reflexively consigned to the realm of bullshit, but it's still there. Operant conditioning is a powerful thing.

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There are, as you state, a number of similar religious groups and ideas that predate Christianity. Depending on your minister's denomination and mindset, it is possible he never learned that and would hold those ideas as lies. Some even would call them traps by the devil. Most religious scholars who truly understand stay with whatever religion they have chosen with a belief that they know is a leap of faith. Why they do so, I can not say; I don't have that leap of faith.

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He actually probably believed his B.S. It depends on his education. Those who actually did go to seminary are taught the truth and how to get around it, no kidding. Some lie and some are ignorant.

Well said.

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