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Christianity (and Judaism) were originally very esoteric but like most religions, they've become more literal over time. So a lot of things in the NT and the OT were never taken literally and fulfillment of the prophecies refers to people's spiritual salvation or metaphysical events and did not...

The following is a rough draft of some metaphysical thoughts I've been having, primarily it's an analysis of Christianity from an eastern perspective. To begin with, karma is sometimes defined as action that results in a "conditioning of the self to the material world." The avoidance of...

The New Testament is just the Old Testament with different rituals and pork.

The way I see, it's counter-intuitive, but I'll argue why government welfare policies and protectionism are counter-productive. We have these things we call genetics and epigenetics. When a trait is rewarded, it grows genetically. When an emotion is felt or not felt, epigenetics make it felt...

I know that Baha'i isn't materialistic or anything, it's definitely a religion. But I feel as if calls to asceticism are useful and I just have a visceral reaction, for whatever reason, to people who flaunt their wealth. So my biggest problem with Baha'i is the passage about not having a...

I tried reading up on Baha'i and apparently it rejects asceticism, which strikes me as strange in an age when material corruption is the most obvious spiritual danger. To be fair, I understand that asceticism has become fundamentally unfeasible in certain contexts but to doctrinally reject it...

I mostly agree with the OP. But we are never going back to a unified church, even in past eras the Catholic church only stayed unified through force and even that was not complete (the Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox sects, plus other small sects, remained separate). We have to acknowledge the...

I think it's pretty clear that the Mormons change some things about the bible, but then they are a new religion so that's not too surprising.

Nope, just from store-bought seeds so far.

I think this is a deeper subject than a lot of people realize. The OT says not to engage in "necromancy" which is sometimes analogized to ancestor worship, but in a way a cornerstone of the OT is ancestor worship (all of the begetting) and the Sainthood phenomenon is pretty close to ancestor...

He said that about forgiving, I feel as if turning the other cheek is not exactly the same thing. Otherwise, why say it in the way he did?

If he's alive he didn't really die.

There's actually way more than 5 denominations of Islam, sometimes down to each tribe will have its own variations. Although many of the variants will pledge allegiance to a larger entity. To a certain degree that's just the nature of religion, there are probably more than 5 denominations of...

The original meaning of the word "catholic" is actually "a diversity of beliefs" and not "a place physically located in Rome that has been developing specific beliefs for over a thousand years." This is not to say that I have a problem with Catholics, I agree with them far more often than I...

That's pretty interesting. I'm actually intending to start Kung Fu classes soon, so I'll keep an eye out for this slapping stuff. I have some martial arts experience so I can see how a slap would be useful in limited contexts but if I had to fight and had access to the face, just not sure I...

Gay sex acts are often physically harmful or dangerous, which is probably partly why so many people find them repulsive. To engage in such behaviors is a good indicator that a person has no shame. People with no shame are sometimes called sociopaths, you can't trust them. We are in a way...

Pope Francis seemed to be saying that we should reject consumerism, which is not an unusual thing for someone like him to say. Unfortunately, climate policy has nothing to do with consumerism, it has to do with targeting oil industries that are generally associated with conservative-leaning...

http://www.christianforums.com/threads/carrier-on-the-historicity-of-jesus-a-community-discussion.7939658/ on the historicity of Jesus.

Seems possible but presumably not on the cheek. If you are trying to seriously hurt them and have access to the cheek there would be no reason to slap.

Saying "have you actually read it" isn't challenging a position, it's a snarky comment with no details provided. To the point, the presence and influence of the Roman state over the Jews set the context of the New Testament. Passages like "if someone asks you to go a mile, go two" barely make...