Thanks u/Plemethrock
We can have a discussion on whether or not free will exists. Discuss if every action we do is already predetermined by how our brain is wired, with the environment around us being the inputs.
We can also have a discussion on whether or not humans have souls and analyze the evidence for and against us just being our bodies
(I made an error and had to repost, apologies)
Obviously you don't know anything. Only the lies you have been told all your life, called brainwashing. For starters you have no idea the first Christian state was not Catholic Rome, but a Gnostic one, Osroene, with its capital at Edessa in modern Turkey. The Gnostic teacher, Bardesanes was able to convert the king of Edessa, Abgar IX, who established Bardesanes' version of Christianity as the state religion, which ended when Edessa was conquered by the Roman Emperor Caracalla in 216. Bardesanes also known as Bar-Daisan, was a Gnostic Christian writer and poet. He was born in the Syrian city-state of Edessa (now called Urfa, or Sanliurfa, in southern Turkey), where he later became a missionary after his conversion in 179. He was credited by church fathers with inventing the Christian hymn and wrote 150 songs that were popular for generations. The most famous is the “Hymn of the Pearl”.
What happened next, Christianity began to spread carried by devoted followers who risked their lives to share their faith. The message of Jesus resonated with many offering hope and redemption in a time of great turmoil. Over time the movement grew stronger eventually gaining the attention of the Roman Empire. By the early 4th Century emperor Constantine embraced Christianity leading to its widespread acceptance and the eventual establishment of the church as a dominant religious force. As Christianity evolved different interpretations of its core messages emerged giving rise to diverse and often conflicting beliefs.
How do you know all this secret knowledge and how did you confirm it's not made up? Why do you trust the gnostic account (as if there's a single one) and not the Church?
The Catholic Church in medieval Europe was the dominant power. It was beyond nations. It represented God on earth. Well, that's what central bankers are today. Central Bankers are the ultimate priest. They must control the flow of money to maintain the illusion that money is God. Do you trust the Central Bankers?
Good, you ruled out the RC Church which is a pdf satanic cabal. That leaves out the other major apostolic Church, which is the Eastern Orthodox.
Maybe you're correct and they all demons. That's why I asked you, how did you come to that knowledge and how did you verify it?
Now you're talking. And you're absolutely correct, they're all demons. It was then, same as it is today. If they can commit a genocide real-time, in front of everybody's eyes in the 21st century, they can do anything.
I'm sure you have heard about critical thinking, but have you heard about first principles thinking? also known as reasoning from first principles? you have to leverage both in order to navigate their web of lies. And they lie about everything. They hijacked Jesus's message a long time ago and made up stories to help the imperial interests. Jesus comes into this world and tells us the truth. He tells us freedom is what will enable us to seek the divine. But this creates this anxiety in people because like OMG now I have to like think for myself. Now I have to like go out into the light and feel all this pain. But I don't want to. I just want to live a happy life, I just want to watch TV every day, man. And then so and and so then the church is like, good, we need to create an organized religion and we need to fool people. Which is exactly what they've done and filled a void that was created because people don't want to think for themselves.
You want proof, okay. Don't have to go any further than the oldest and most foundational Christian Creed which jumps from Jesus's birth to his death and resurrection entirely skipping over his life. How did that happen and why? how Jesus came into the world and how he left is symbolized by Christmas and Easter which came to define Christianity itself. Are you serious? where did this emphasis on the entrance and exit points of Jesus's existence come from? and how did it achieve such centrality even above that of Jesus's life and teachings?
Another example, Jesus's message is very different than what church teaches. He says "That which you have will save you if you bring it forth from yourselves." - Gospel of Thomas, that is the portion of God that resides within each human being (within yourself) and connect. He says inner transformation matters. The way to enter into that kingdom is to return to God, you're not obeying God. You need to return to God. You need to repent and you need to to completely commit yourself to God and you need to start loving your neighbor as yourself, helping those in need, taking care of the poor and the hungry, the homeless. Church's message: worship (accept) Jesus and obey us or be condemned to hell. Belief is everything. Paul (the church) says he had to die. The death and resurrection is what matters. Religion is about control, about hierarchy, about obedience or authority rather than about direct spiritual experience. The most important question in Christianity which is this: if Jesus himself was a gnostic if this is what he taught that there is a light in us and we must constantly work hard to let the world shine with our lightness, how do we go from here to narcissism? to the Bible modern day Christianity which teaches us that Jesus came into the world to redeem us from our sins and that he will return to save the world? how did we get from here to there? and these are like two radically different conceptions of the world. In fact if Jesus were alive today and he saw that we worshipped him as a redeemer he would be appalled, by our rituals, by what he seen, he'll be appalled by Christianity.
You asked me "how did you come to that knowledge". Well, to me the paradox is simple but profound. And this is how I know, critical thinking and common sense logic. What Jesus believed and taught is fundamentally different from what Christianity teaches us about Jesus. And that gap between the man and the myth, that distance between the teacher and the religion built in his name tells me something crucial about how power works, about how empires operate, about how ideas get transformed when they become useful to those in control. Which is exactly what I notice in the world today.