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Originally Posted by !@#$%!
right, that's why i said she's a mythical figure. i mean, maybe there was or wasn't a jesus of nazareth who was a religious reformer among the jews--- and sure if he did exist he had to have a mother-- the fact that the dude got turned into a deity and his mother into another is not unusual. alexander the great also became a god, after all.
the pack of lies part for me is the form that the myth itself takes-- the whole notion of divine sexless pregnancy, which is to me a bronze-age invention cooked up to suppress and demonize female sexuality, debase the body and enshrine some vague "spirit" entity. female earth gods got replaced by male sky gods as war became an economic engine and women became chattel. yes, this wasn't the first virgin birth in religious history, but it's the most pervasive in our day. does this religious figure help give women in a "special" place? sure-- the same way the burkha does. to me, anyway, the cunt is holier than the hymen, and celibacy is an abomination.
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true true..
but you must admit there must be some cultural potency to the imagery and symbolism of Christianity and Judaism for their shit to dominate the world and survive when others, equally carried around the world through conquest, cooled and declined. All the great religions were carried around the world by the edge of the sword, and yet Christianity, Judaism and their sister in symbolism and origin Islam have stuck around long after all the colonial slave masters left.
Regardless of the truth of the stories and songs, so many different peoples of the world have adapted them as their own. How else could the stories, legends and hymns (as Joseph Campbell describes them) an obscure, demonic cult of Arabia come to be so well loved and personalized the world over across thousands of years? How else could a secret religion of the poor who sang and prayed in tombs and catechums become worldwide?
As ART, these religions are truly remarkable. Folks across time and place have embraced the symbolism, the philosophies, the mannerisms, the morals, the laws, the imagery, the song/music/hymn/liturgy, the architecture etc etc of Christianity and Judaism (and Islam) and made it their own.
I like to discuss this particularly with folks who do not believe, because we can critique the religion as ART rather than religion.
You all must admit, whether the stories themselves are true or not, the writers were powerfully creative and deeply intuitive to the human experience, and their creations have been of the most powerful literature, story and song the world has ever seen, and the world has seen the rise and fall of many many beautiful artists..
I mean, whether or not Tupac was actually a hardcore gangster and thug was irrelevent to the way his music was so well embraced across every corner of the world. Whether or not Bob Marley was a good or righteous man or believed what he sang, his songs have been embraced world wide. Whether or not Michael Jackson was a cool RB singer or a deranged child molester, his music still was the most popular ever.
See, the Bible and Tradition and Songs like the Virgin Mary are powerful cultural and artistic symbols which the world embraces and makes their own for a million and one reasons all deeply and intimately personal and individualized.
I am always awestruck simply at that fact alone, that the imagery and art of the Bible and Traditions are so widespread, and not because people are forced into it, that is a rather naive and even demeaning explanation..
That's like saying you like the Beatles because the record companies bombarded you with their music and the media and the pop culture vibe coerced you.. nonsense and we all know it
