What does it truly mean to love your enemies?

I think it means to want them to have all basic rights and necessities met even when you might disagree with them or think they're scum of the Earth bad.

Because basic rights and necessities are basic for a reason -- everyone deserves them with no exceptions. Even the most godawful people.

“The Vatican presents Waria, the evil nemesis of the Virgin Mary”

@scholarlysalamander42 El Mundo Today is a Spanish equivalent to The Onion. It's a satirical site.

"lying is wrong" what evangelical nonsense is this???

listen to me. lying is morally neutral. and for many people in shitty situations it's a survival tactic.

lying in order to cause harm is often wrong, because causing harm is generally wrong. lying is also done for a myriad of other reasons, including because it isn't safe to speak truth, or because privacy is a thing and damn what an incredibly invasive question to ask in the first place.

truth is earned, my friend.

As with most things in life, lying is morally complex and its morality is context-dependent.

Lying to keep someone safe (be it you or another person) is morally good, because you're doing so to minimize harm.

Lying to hurt someone is morally bad because you're increasing harm.

And small white lies can be either harmful, neutral, or good depending on the situation, consequence, and intent.

But the mindset that lying is always bad is so simplistic and black-and-white thinking. Few things in life are so simple as always being clearly deliniated as good versus bad.

What is the greatest expression of love?

It’s very hard to do anything without any selfish intentions at all. So the greatest act of love is… to do something sacrificial they will never know you did for them.

“What is the greatest expression of love?”

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”

John 15:13

Okay, but like, according to the Bible he was fine after two and a half days and got to become co-ruler of the universe.

And he did it expecting people to do whatever he says afterwards as payment for him being inconvenienced for part of a long weekend due to rules he himself made and could change at any time.

That doesn’t sound like much of a sacrifice to me.

For comparison, Odin was hung on a windy tree for nine days and nights with a spear through his chest without food or water solely for the purpose of gaining important knowledge that would help humanity.

Upon being found worthy of receiving the knowledge he traveled the world sharing what he had learned with anyone who wanted to learn, no strings attached.

Odin hung from a tree for nine days and gave an eye, and gained something from it. God became a human being, a mortal who could feel pain and experience death; God was tortured. God was humiliated. God was abandoned. God was made helpless. And then God died. And he went through this process so that He could give something; His life. In becoming human, God divinized humanity. But that also means that this gift isn’t over; God died once and for all at Cavalry, and He conquered death once and for all on Easter, but this cosmic battle continues to play out in the lives of each and every person. “Whatever you have done to the least of these, you have done to Me” is not just a saying, but speaks to some form of reality. God experienced hunger so that He may experience hunger every time someone is starving on the street. God worked and labored so that He may work and labor alongside every overworked employee you encounter. God was abused, so He may be abused alongside those facing abuse now. Imprisoned to be imprisoned, hated to be hated, rejected to be rejected. And, somehow, in these shared experiences, where we thought we were alone, God’s choice to experience these things firsthand with us communicates His divinizing life into us. In taking up His cross, God became the Lamb upon which every human experience, good or bad, was placed upon. He is the Lamb slain at the foundation of the world, and in doing so has become the foundation of the world. I’ll take Christ’s sacrifice over Odin’s any day.

@atheostic

Dude, when Jesus was in Gethsemane, he literally experienced every pain a human has had or ever will have. Mental, emotional, and physical. What do you not understand about bleeding from every pore?

And he didn’t do it because he wanted obedience. God has expected obedience since our creation. The purpose of Jesus’ death was to give the power of redemption. Which makes it possible for people to go to heaven in the first place.

Redemption from what @truthandlibertarianism?

God didn't NEED to have a human sacrifice in order to forgive us, he WANTED one. Probably because he's really into the smell of blood and burned fat (Genesis 8:20-21, Leviticus 1:9, Leviticus 17:6).

He's the one who made up the rule that he needed a human sacrifice in order to forgive us, and he could change the rules at any time.

He just doesn't want to.

I mean, historically speaking, Christianity has long since fused with those things.

From antisemitism to Indian Residential Schools to Mestiçagem and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, witch hunts, homophobic laws, killing atheists for the crime of disbelief, the Trail of Tears, paying people to hunt and kill Indigenous people and wearing the ears of victims as necklaces... The list goes on.

Christianity has an overall bad rep for a reason.

"The Vatican presents Waria, the evil nemesis of the Virgin Mary"

"i saw your name in the kudos list of the devil's sacrament"

Okay, but what were YOU doing in the kudos list of the devil's sacrament? 👀

Jesus myths.

genuinely hope to see the fall of christianity as a global power some day in my lifetime

belief on an individual level, whatever that's fine, but do not act as if christianity's influence and doctrine is not a heavy hand behind some of the most evil governmental decisions being wrought upon people at this very moment (anti-trans bills, don't say gay bills, roe vs. wade repeal, etc)

people who are not christian are being forced to live by christian standards and under christian rules and that isn't right

christianity has brought us untold suffering and death and slavery of all kinds for 2000 years. the church damaged humanity irreparably over and over again, and continues to do so as we speak

I want to move on

What is the greatest expression of love?

It’s very hard to do anything without any selfish intentions at all. So the greatest act of love is… to do something sacrificial they will never know you did for them.

“What is the greatest expression of love?”

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”

John 15:13

Okay, but like, according to the Bible he was fine after two and a half days and got to become co-ruler of the universe.

And he did it expecting people to do whatever he says afterwards as payment for him being inconvenienced for part of a long weekend due to rules he himself made and could change at any time.

That doesn’t sound like much of a sacrifice to me.

For comparison, Odin was hung on a windy tree for nine days and nights with a spear through his chest without food or water solely for the purpose of gaining important knowledge that would help humanity.

Upon being found worthy of receiving the knowledge he traveled the world sharing what he had learned with anyone who wanted to learn, no strings attached.

Odin hung from a tree for nine days and gave an eye, and gained something from it. God became a human being, a mortal who could feel pain and experience death; God was tortured. God was humiliated. God was abandoned. God was made helpless. And then God died. And he went through this process so that He could give something; His life. In becoming human, God divinized humanity. But that also means that this gift isn’t over; God died once and for all at Calvary, and He conquered death once and for all on Easter, but this cosmic battle continues to play out in the lives of each and every person, because they now share His life. “Whatever you have done to the least of these, you have done to Me” is not just a saying, but speaks to some form of reality. God experienced hunger so that He may experience hunger every time someone is starving on the street. God worked and labored so that He may work and labor alongside every overworked employee you encounter. God was abused, so He may be abused alongside those facing abuse now. Imprisoned to be imprisoned, hated to be hated, rejected to be rejected. And, somehow, in these shared experiences, where we thought we were alone, God’s choice to experience these things firsthand with us communicates His divinizing life into us. In taking up His cross, God became the Lamb upon which every human experience, good or bad, was placed upon. He is the Lamb slain at the foundation of the world, and in doing so has become the foundation of the world. I’ll take Christ’s sacrifice over Odin’s any day.

When Odin hung from the tree for nine days and nights he had a spear through his chest and was not given food or water for the nine days. And btw, the eye thing is an entirely separate event.

In the case of hanging from the tree, Odin gained something he fully intended to share with humanity -- which he did upon gaining the knowledge that made humans' lives better (it's similar in a lot of ways to the Bantu story of Anansi and the Story Chest).

Unlike your god, he was willing to share his knowledge without any requirements in return. If you wanted to learn how to wield the Runes he would teach you, no strings attached.

Your god didn't need to go through any process to forgive humans -- he was the one who made up the rules. He's creating a loophole for rules that he created in the first place and could change at any moment if he so chose.

Odin, on the other hand, is not a triomni god, and as such is limited in how he can help humans. Yet, despite his limited capabilities, he would still strive to help, sharing his wisdom, teaching slave and noble alike, and encouraging heroes on their adventures.

Holy crap! I knew we Christians (or those claiming to be) had been fairly shitty to the Jews in the past, but I never imagined how shamefully bad it was. WTF? This has really upset me.

The oldest unchanged town name in the world is a village in Spain founded in the 1200s called Matajudeos... which translates as "KillJews".

Yeah, Christians and antisemitism have a long and horrific history.