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I'm a skeptical agnostic, but there is this small bit of Jesus Christ which I can't seem to eradicate

thomasdw 2 Dec 9
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16 comments

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Have you tried bleach? I find bleach helps get rid of those lingering stains.

In seriousness, are you talking about the influence of religion from your upbringing? We're always going to have our influences. The key, I think, is to examine our decisions and ensure we're not falling into old habits that might be contrary to our conscious worldview.

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Why does JC need to be eradicated from you? Is it a spiritual eradication your looking for? As possibly one of the most influential world-wide culturally organizing belief systems, Christianity and the Bible are massively important to many peoples' understanding of the world. As @skado worte earlier in the post, "Mythology is an emergent quality of the mind." And because your mind grows in relation to the communities you surround yourself with, it will become imprinted with the emergent mythologies of said community. As a fellow skeptical agnostic, there's a part of me that can't get rid of JC either. But that's ok. His life and teachings are good morals. The Bible is truly a phenomenal work of art. Does that mean that I blindly follow them as The Word of God? No. Does my skepticism mean that I can't have faith in some things, including Jesus' lessons (fiction or otherwise)? No. I don't try to eradicate JC because I know I don't worship him, and I use the useful bits from his life and story that suit my purposes. I hope this helps.

Yes, art. Not history, or science. Most religions should be considered a social artform, and appreciated as such, not taken as any kind of literal description of the natural world. (art is weird like that)

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The belief in Jesus has been forced as the acceptable norm for hundreds of years, it can be difficult rhe free yourself from. Through education on these matters freedom is possible

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There are many of us that were so indoctrinated/programmed/brainwashed, whatever you want to call it since we youngsters. It takes time. But rational thought and critical thinking will persevere. If there was a mummy of this person saved somewhere anywhere... well that might be another story but until they find some sort of real evidence, it's just not going to ever become reality no matter what anyone says. Keep in mind, it's human nature to try and make sense out of something that never existed so it's really a vicious cycle of chasing the tail.

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That is okay, you can see him as a philosopher if you want and pick and choose about his teachings. You don't have to be all in or all out. Your Life, Your Choice.

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the snark in me keeps thinking of answering in the persona of Heloise

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For me, being Agnostic means I don’t know. There may have been a Jesus. He may have been the son of God. However, the book about him and the stories about him are extremely hard for me to believe. There also are lots of other faiths out there. One of those may also touch on the real deal, but so far I find them lacking. I totally don’t understand that if there is a God out there, why doesn’t he just show up in front of us everyday. Not in some way that makes me read between the lines, but in person!!! So again I don’t know where we came from or where we’re going once dead. I guess I’m fine with not knowing. I like talking about different theories from science and religion, but most are just that, theories. What I can’t stomach are people that are sure they are 100% right. Even in science, they can come up with tons of science facts that lead them to conclusions. But who really knows!
So many people I’ve talked to want me to pick. What do I believe? When I say I’m clueless, they seem dissatisfied with that. They want to punch holes in me beliefs. When they find I don’t have one, they just don’t know what to do.

I find it odd that those pushing me to pick have been atheists, on this site. Even when I've said I believe that there is an ultimate reality (from Webster's definition of agnostic), whatever its nature might be (a god or otherwise) this too has been rejected. Not even rejected... just ignored.

I don't think any pushing is necessary, you are an atheist but just haven't realized it yet. Atheism is a non belief, if you are an agnostic you probably don't believe the claims that one or several exist, so you are a nonbeliever, an atheist as well.

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what do you mean?

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I revere Jesus (as a good man who was possibly crucified) and his Sermon on the Mount, although I am agnostic. I think his life story has been embellished in the Bible and that he wasn't really supernatural and didn't perform miracles. The story of his crucifixion is too much like stories of ancient pagan rituals where a child was sacrificed to god/s. And I sure don't believe a good and loving God would have tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his son--or allowed his own son to be crucified.

CheS Level 1 Dec 10, 2017
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Mythology is an emergent quality of the human mind. It will never go away. Taken metaphorically, It may contain great wisdom. Taken literally, it can be poisonous.

skado Level 9 Dec 10, 2017
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What part might that be? We're adults here, so you can be explicit.

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Kinda like Santa Clause when you were, oh, nine or so?

godef Level 7 Dec 10, 2017
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Why eradicate the guidance of a spiritual teacher?He is no more threatening than Bhudda ,Confucious,Socrates or Plato.
From my reading Jesus was teaching a self enlightenment spiritualism that should not really be a worry/problem for anyone.It should be a help in fact.If it is a problem you are not following it correctly.
You may be suffering from religious dogma that uses Jesus as a way to control your behaviour /thinking,that kind of brain washing is very hard to remove.As the Jesuit saying goes,"give me the child to 7 and he is mine for life".That's all they need to get inside your head.

Jesus was real,we have as much historic proof fot him ,if not more, than for the others.

The gospel version of Jesus is without doubt a fiction.There is abig difference.

We don't know much about the historic Jesus for sure but we know enough that he was teaching some form of spiritulaity/ self enlightmen,t pretty much on the lines of Bhudda,Socates etc etc,he was saying the same things basically and was a spiritual teacher in that respect,but he was a ordinary man.

See the Gnostic gospel version of Jesus, or the Unitarian version, or the Arian version and you see a different man/version to the one in the Bible,these were early traditions about Jesus, older than the current Catholic church....and all the sub divisions thereafter.

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Need to elaborate so we can engage...

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is that like being mostly vegan but eating the odd burger?

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Do you have trouble with accepting his existence or divinity?

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