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It's a pity so few people realize that beside all the usual stuff (love or hate it) that society associates with the Bible, the Gospels contain discourses of Je
by xamuel 7y ago
It's a pity so few people realize that beside all the usual stuff (love or hate it) that society associates with the Bible, the Gospels contain discourses of Jesus which are genuinely brilliant purely in their own right as philosophical works.
"And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward." (Matthew 6:5)
- sysbin 7y agoThe brilliance exists. Indeed, anyone can witness the psychological nature of influence upon people "born into low social status" and who become docile & obedient from the "word" while disregarding their birth status because just wait until death. :)
- xamuel 7y agoPeople misunderstand that old saying, 'Religion is the opium of the masses'. They think it means religion is meant to pacify and control. And maybe that's what Marx intended it to mean, I don't know. But it has a truer and infinitely more subversive meaning. The words of Jesus will get you high as a kite, if you study them and meditate upon them. "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword." (Matthew 10:34)
- c0nducktr 7y agoThe reason there's confusion about that quote is it's always without context. "Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people" It's not so much that religion is meant to pacify, but that it does. It is soothing, and makes conditions which may be unbearable without it, bearable, preventing the people from attempting to change the underlying conditions which caused the suffering in the first place.
- xamuel 7y agoThanks for the context! I guess if you kick enough crutches out from under enough old men, maybe one of them will be inspired to become a doctor. I'll take the bearable world, thanks very much! "The kingdom of heaven is near."
- Nition 7y agoOver in the Old Testament, Ecclesiastes has a strong Greek philosophy feel to it. It's quite different from the books around it.
- pram 7y agoEcclesiastes is one of the finest works of existential literature ever.