We better get ourselves off the topic of Christianity as the majority of the forums are christians and some aren't really tolerable to discuss or question their belief like I am about Buddhism.

But in my honest opinion, I can rape, murder, burn and steal and still be Christian. Just that I have to accept that by doing those sins I will be overlooked by god, and probably burn in hell for it, which sucks.

A lot of criminals might not follow the ten commandments, but they can still believe in god and Christ. Don't see any reason why breaking a commandment would disqualify them of their belief.

"Damn, I murdered someone, now I gotta change religion!"

Doesn't quite work that way, don't you agree?

As for Longinus, he didn't kill Jesus Christ, he merely stabbed him to check if he was dead or not. And as he stabbed Jesus, Jesus bled water and blood, which is a phenomenon. The spear Longinus used was then henceforth known as the Spear of Destiny, or Spear of Longinus. Many have sought to aqcuire this artifact as it is said that it can increase your power tenfolds and grant you immortality. There are loads of replicas in the world. One is in Austria, one in Germany, one in USA and if I remember right, one is in the UK. The replicas might not be the real one, but they're pretty pretty expensive I can say.

Now, who said Christianity doesn't have mysticism?

-Taison out

Ever hear of the 'Gnostics'? Those were Christian mystics.Andwhat happened to getting of christianity? Listen to your own rules! lol
I want immortality! ha ha
Christianity does kind of leave room to do what you want and still be saved becuase you can just keep asking forgiveness and if yo uare saved God or Jesus will overlook your sins but most Christians would say if you use it like that you were never a true christian in the first place.
I don't know it gets complicated.

I don't think christianity has a monopoloy on killing, murdering etc and yet still proclaiming a belief. Buddhism, Taoism, and all the others have their own fair share.

Christianity does have mysticism. Carmelite mysticism for one. The Eastern Orthodox also has mystical practises.

You think I can rub elbows with both Azrael and Lucifer to avoid, you know, death and afterlife and all that stuff.

You see, I don't want to get burned for all eternity nor locked up in some gruesome chamber in darkness for all eternity.

-Taison out

Don't know. But to continue the derail (as long as the mod isn't looking... ): referring back to Trevek's post...Buddhists killing? That's odd.

Quote:

---

[BTW, since Buddhism and Taoism are not religions, how did these get into the discussion?

---

And, yes, Christianity does have this stream. It's just been diverted and oppressed.

Quote:

---

...do not confuse 'superstition' with 'mysticism'

---

What really bakes your noodle are the lost 'apocropha' books of the Bible. I have most if not all I think (unless there's a few I don't know about) and they are certainly unusual. Another guy named Jesus who was a scholar of those ancient times I think said that there really is no afterlife but we should be good anyway and focus on living in this life well. Another part I believe says about how Jesus (christ) supposedly said that people would not go to hell for all eternity but could get out eventually but no to tell anyone or they would do whatever they liked. (apparently that was told to one apostle or something).
Interesting stuff, true or not. Christianity does have genuine mysticism which I noticed especially when I went to some of the older churches in jerusalem for example the greek orthodox church or eastern orthodox ( I think).
Interesting stuff indeed.

quick one, I gotta class

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_mysticism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohingya_massacre

back again,

here's a couple more:


http://www.sanskritboy.net/2004/01/15/buddhist_violence_in_sri_lanka.html
http://www.bodydharma.org/choices/violence/sivaraksa.html
http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/slrv.htm

Now I'm certainly not saying that the violence was 'faith/belief' driven, but if you consider that many Buddhist or Taoist nations had strong empires, I'm sure they never got these through meditation alone.

I'm not suggesting the nature of any faith or belief is responsible for violence either.What I'm considering is that in each faith there seems to be a point where violence can be justified to either an individual or a group.

Interestingly warriors are often considered a high caste, such as in India, but they are responsible for killing. Shaolin monks for example were formidable warriors but responsible for violence.

Presumably at some point the nature of violence must be settled within oneself to allow one to live with it or to allow one to flow with oneself.