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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 8 of 8. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Sigismund on July 2, 2008, at 17:49:26
This is from "Straw Dogs".
I hope nobody is offended.
"If we truly leave Christianity behind, we must give up the idea that human history has a meaning. Neither in the ancient pagan world nor in any other culture has human history ever been thought to have an overarching significance. In Greece and Rome, it was a series of natural cycles of growth and decline. In India it was a collecive dream, endlessly repeated. The idea that history must make sense is just a Christian prejudice."
You find that interesting?
I don't quite understand it.
Posted by med_empowered on July 4, 2008, at 19:39:17
In reply to Christianity and History, posted by Sigismund on July 2, 2008, at 17:49:26
I think Christianity is maybe the only religion that offers humans forgiveness and transcendence, along with an afterlife. It gives meaning to our existence (I'm obviously speaking as a Christian--please, don't take offence anyone).
I read some books by CS Lewis about Christianity...he called it the "fighting religion," the *one* that fights for human dignity and meaning. Maybe this quote is something along the same lines?
Posted by Lou PIlder on July 4, 2008, at 21:15:06
In reply to Re: Christianity and History, posted by med_empowered on July 4, 2008, at 19:39:17
med_empowered,
You wrote,[...Christianity is maybe the XXX religion that offers...].
Could you post here an authority that you used for that? If you could, then I could have the opportunity to respond accordingly.
Lou
Posted by Sigismund on July 4, 2008, at 21:43:07
In reply to Re: Christianity and History, posted by med_empowered on July 4, 2008, at 19:39:17
One idea may be that history has an end point.
Posted by rayww on July 4, 2008, at 23:38:21
In reply to Christianity and History, posted by Sigismund on July 2, 2008, at 17:49:26
....but history does make sense....
Posted by Sigismund on July 5, 2008, at 17:01:56
In reply to Re: Christianity and History » Sigismund, posted by rayww on July 4, 2008, at 23:38:21
Oh good.
That's what I was after....someone who thought it made sense.I think one of the ideas is that Christianity seeks salvation in history, though that would be true for all of the monotheistic religions?
I suppose that is what Eliot means when he talks about 'the intersection of the timeless with time'.And then there's the idea that history is one bloody thing after another.
I guess there are may ideas about how it does or does not make sense.
Posted by rayww on July 5, 2008, at 18:17:01
In reply to Re: Christianity and History » rayww, posted by Sigismund on July 5, 2008, at 17:01:56
Do you really think the Creator of this all, as intelligent as he/she/both must be, would have created anything that did not make perfect sense? If your life doesn't make sense perhaps you, as a creator, need to step back and let it settle. But have you ever noticed that without God it can't make sense? And if God created it, he must have at least left clues. It's when man takes on the destroyer mode, rather than creator that things start to crumble.
What have you done in your life to create?
What have you done to destroy?
Hey, I'm just asking...
Posted by Jay_Bravest_Face on July 10, 2008, at 23:22:46
In reply to Christianity and History, posted by Sigismund on July 2, 2008, at 17:49:26
> This is from "Straw Dogs".
>
> I hope nobody is offended.
>
> "If we truly leave Christianity behind, we must give up the idea that human history has a meaning. Neither in the ancient pagan world nor in any other culture has human history ever been thought to have an overarching significance. In Greece and Rome, it was a series of natural cycles of growth and decline. In India it was a collecive dream, endlessly repeated. The idea that history must make sense is just a Christian prejudice."
>
> You find that interesting?
>
> I don't quite understand it.An interesting quote here from my days of grieving. Losing somebody you love may be compared on some level to losing something historical, an idea, a thought, etc.
When you lose the past, the future makes no sense. And that is exactly how I felt, and still partly feel to this day. Once again, I think we where given the deep capacity to remember, learn, and rationalize and theorize on history. Hence, it must serve a purpose.
Maybe I am getting off track here.sorry. But what does bother me is that we take the art of story-telling, which is what all history is, and make it literal. We dont think of all of the subjective things the story-teller may have been influenced by. The Scriptures and the Koran come to mind.IMHOetc
Jay
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