Let me just say the Jesus myth is my favorite myth - - - hear me out here

[Taverner]

I love the Jesus myth

Let's agree to disagree on this one

That is, whether Jesus was anything other than a man, just like you and me

Let's just go by the myth - the storytelling - the opus magnus

It is a cool story

A guy stands up to the theocracy of the day, and says "This Sucks!"

And proceeds to knock down the banks of the day's stands

It gave birth to countless other myths about selflessness

And, it is a great story

[pipoman]

1. You really spend a lot of time

thinking about this kind of flame bait nonsense, huh?

[Goblinmonger]

5. How is it flamebait? n/t

[pipoman]

8. Gee, I don't know...

[Goblinmonger]

9. Wow, that clears it all up

Let me guess (since you won't clarify) that it is a reaction to the word "myth." A word that everyone throws around pretty easily when it is about other people's beliefs like the Native Americans. So someone who doesn't believe the stories of divinity can't refer to it as a myth? Look up the definition of myth and tell me how the story of Jesus' divinity et al doesn't meet that definition.

Sorry he didn't refer to it as the "super awesome completely true story of a man that absolutely is the son of God without a doubt."

[pipoman]

10. Religious bigotry, the last safe haven for those who can't help themselves..

[Goblinmonger]

11. Are you ever going to explain yourself

Or just offer what you think are snappy one-liners?

Are you talking about those people that refer to Native American religion as myth that are bigots?

One of the two of us is trying to engage in conversation here. You haven't explained how the story of Jesus doesn't meet the definition of myth?

[Ken Burch]

12. There isn't any religious bigotry.

It's not anti-Christian to use(or, in this case, simply defend the use of)the phrase "the Jesus myth". And the OP wasn't an attack ON Jesus...if you read it, it was an impassioned salute to Jesus and the implicit radicalism of his true message.

The term "myth" is not derogatory...it's simply a scholarly term. It did not mean that anybody was saying that Jesus was bogus.

You've totally misconstrued what both other posters were saying here.

[Taverner]

17. Even C.S. Lewis discussed Jesus in terms of "The Jesus Myth"

It's about the story, not the reality

The funny thing here is that Atheists get bashed if we even MENTION Jesus

[trotsky]

14. Even if "myth" had been used here as a synonym for falsehood or fiction...

how exactly would stating one's non-belief in another person's religion constitute "religious bigotry"?

Would you mind explaining that, please?

[Ian David]

2. Jesus is the second coolest zombie ever.

The coolest zombie is still Randall.

[Silent3]

4. I must admit I have a fondness for "Jesus Christ Superstar"

London cast version, of course.

[Taverner]

7. Featuring Ian Gillian and Murray Head!!!!

Murray's "Heaven on their Minds" is awesome!

[Ken Burch]

13. Was Yvonne Elliman in the London cast?

She was always the definitive Mary Magdalene.

[Taverner]

15. I dunno - I think so

On a similar note, the original Broadway cast of "Godspell" (my other favorite Jesus) had Maria from Sesame Street playing a disciple.

[Ken Burch]

19. The movie featured Victor Garber(from ALIAS & also the original "Toby" in SWEENEY TODD)as Jesus

I still remember how said it was when Jesus choose to go down with the Titanic.

(then again...maybe that was a different movie he was in).

[ashling]

6. I like that one too

A lot of other stories in the Bible are cool too. And some of them can speak to us today ...

I will be the first to admit that literal fundamentalist adherence to these stories is senseless and has caused the world a lot of misery. But we should not let that keep us from seeing the universal messages in some of them. I have been listening all day and practicing the Jeff Buckley version of Hallelujah. Great song. And I keep thinking that some of the lines right out of the Bible story have a deep meaning

I've heard that there's a secret chord
That David played and it pleased the Lord
but you don't really care for music do ya
Well it goes like this: the forth the fifth
the minor fall the major lift
the baffled king composing hallelujah ....

Sometimes I think that the only things that are ultimately worth having and worth disseminating are metaphysical things like concepts of morality, justice, love, reverence.


There is something to say for reverence. It may be reverence to mountains, oceans, the power of the weather, mystery, the unknown, life, death, justice ... or to a myth.
and isn't everyone just a little bit baffled ... some of us more than others (that would be me)

You can make fun of the way ancient humans cobbled together their concepts/image of nature or the unknown, or we can appreciate it for what it is.


OK, I'll shut up now.

[Taverner]

16. For me, reverence always implied assumed respect

Rather than earned respect - but maybe I'm getting the definition wrong

[ashling]

18. Paul Woodruff describes it this way

"the well-developed capacity to have the feelings of awe, respect, and shame when these are the right feelings to have."

I think the earned/assumed dichotomy is less important than what Woodruff describes as when these are the right feelings to have

It has been a while since I looked at Woodruff's book. But here is a description of it from Amazon:

Reverence is an ancient virtue dating back thousands of years. It survives among us in half-forgotten patterns of behavior and in the vestiges of old ceremonies. Yet, Paul Woodruff says, we have lost sight of reverence. This short, elegiac volume makes an impassioned case for the fundamental importance of the forgotten virtue of reverence, and how awe for things greater than oneself can--indeed must--be a touchstone for other virtues like respect, humility, and charity.
Ranging widely over diverse cultural terrain--from Philip Larkin to ancient Greek poetry, from modern politics to Chinese philosophy--Woodruff shows how absolutely essential reverence is to a well-functioning society. He tackles some thorny questions: How does reverence allow not only for leaders but for followers? What role does reverence play in religion? Do some religions misuse reverence? Must reverence be humorless? In the process, Woodruff shows convincingly how reverence plays an unseen part in virtually every human relationship.

(I revere this new format links! LOL)

I first saw Woodruff talk about this on Bill Moyers - which says it all right there - Moyers has a deeply developed reverence for truth and justice . . . and I can't help but feel the same when listening to him.

[Odin2005]

20. "I Like your Christ, I do not like your Christians..."

"...They are so unlike your Christ" -Gandhi

[Taverner]

23. I love that line

[AlbertCat]

21. Alas!

I find most Judeo/Christian myths just don't stack up to

Hindu myths
or
Greek myths


But they make good Baroque and Early Romantic Oratorios!


And I do like the Arthur myths somewhat.

But the Mahabharata is awesome!

Maybe it's the exoticness of it all from a Western Civilization POV that intrigues me.

[Taverner]

22. The Mahabharata is awesome

Lots of surrealism for sure!