Ramblings

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~~Title:Christianity~~
{{page>Templates:Factuality}}

<fs xx-large>Christianity</fs> is one of the major global [[Religion|religions]]. Christianity is mostly based on its holey scripture, the [[Bible]], which, according to some, is the cause of, and to others, end of all problems. If someone is talking about Christianity, they got it from the Bible or someone else who got it from the Bible. Or, but that's just my personal suspicion, nobody is actually so deranged as to read the whole thing, nobody ever actually read it and all they have are some random excerpts they will throw around at every opportunity. So, when I say "Christianity does" or "Christianity says" then I mean mostly "people who believe in Christianity and base it upon conclusions drawn from <del>random Bible excerpts they stumbled over and found themselves agreeing with</del>((Of course while rejecting the stuff they don't agree with.)) the Bible".

Christianity is historic and has greatly (and badly) affected human [[history]]. Being history, like most things I wouldn't give Christianity the time of day if it wasn't for its way to affect the modern times. Unfortunately Christianity keeps making headlines for many negative, very negative things, scarring its general perception. This page doesn't seek to dump Christianity. I personally don't //really// have a strong opinion on Christianity either way - people can believe in what they want. I only have strong opinions on the people who do things //because// of it, be it good or bad. Christianity on its own is just a concept where labels like "good" or "bad" don't really apply. Like, the concept of "feelings" is just a concept - it's the context that matters: Feelings can make you be kind to others but it can also make you kill people. Saying "Christianity is bad because many Christians hate gay people" would be like calling feelings "bad" because some people commit murder because of their feelings.

====== Globality ======
Christianity as a whole is hard to pin down, so anything on this page needs to be treated very carefully. Christians come in many shapes and forms:\\
Some Christians consider certain things sinful, others don't really mind. Some take the Bible literally, others see it as an interpretative piece from a certain timeframe that they think should be cherry-picked because the times have changed (as if slavery was moral then but is immoral now). Some Christians see themselves as Christians while [[Jehovah's Witnesses|others]] think they're not Christians, even though they believe in the Bible and worship the abrahamic god.

It should be clear from this that, whatever you say about Christianity, you will probably always find someone who will point out that this actually isn't true and doesn't apply to them. Or they will point out that what you're saying is true, does apply to them, but doesn't apply to //every// Christian denomination. Christianity is //the// religion on god's green Earth, so the variety you will find here is so large that the Christians themselves don't know and actual scientists named an entire field of inquiry after. Getting an overview of the Christian religion is an undertaking that will take you back to the beginning of civilization and is an appropriately epic task.

This page does not aim to chronicle Christianity. It is meant to provide an interesting perspective into the kind of concept that I've gotten to learn about that calls itself "Christianity". That is, Christianity as it is found in modern times, and a historic Christianity and how it has shaped society, politics and scientific inquiry throughout the ages. When I talk about Christianity, I will try to talk about the kinds of sentiments that seem to most appropriately describe modern day Christianity - as a whole. This means that my evaluations of Christianity may disagree with invidual members or even the central scripture itself (though that is a good thing as both the beliefs of members, as well as the positions laid out inside the Bible, are self-contradictory messes).

====== Values ======
Perhaps the most problematic aspect of Christianity is its propagation of outdated and/or outright hateful and condemnable societal values. In short, the Bible //loves// to demonize all kinds of things for spurious reasons. At the same time it maintains an unspeakable level of [[Hypocrisy|hypocrisy]] by purporting to support "love" and "kindness" and "forgiveness", assuming you don't happen to be one of the many people the Bible says you shouldn't be, or assuming you didn't do one of the many things that the Bible says you shouldn't have done.

The Christian church and many of the faithful try really hard to portray the Bible as a message of good things, as a promoter of love and kindness, however I do not believe that the Bible is particularly noteworthy in that regard. See, nobody says that we shouldn't be kind. Even racists believe in kindness, it's just that racists just so happen to decide that black people aren't worth it. Now for the Bible it may not be black people, for the Bible it's gay people. And women. And Jewish people (maybe? I actually don't know about this and would love to have someone enlighten me about whether this is true). Just saying a lot that you are in favor of kindness and whatnot does not automatically make you a good person. It's the fine print that matters, and it seems we have an [[Bible|entire multi-volume novel of fine print]] on this one.

The point is that the Bible seems to be a pre-[[Utilitarianism|utilitarian]], unreflected presupposition on what //they// thought was good or bad without ever actually thinking about ethics and morals in the first place. The 10 commandments, being cited most often here, stand in complete contradiction with the rest of the Bible, and aren't reasoned or explained in any way (not beyond [[Goddidtit]]). Apparently not murdering things is good, but you don't get to question this, you better accept it //or else//.

====== Perpetuation ======