“For centuries the Jesuits were leaders in all things educational, including the sciences, as were also the religious leaders of Judaic and Islamic populations” I do know that @canidmajor. But the Roman Catholic church eclipsed all other offshoots of Christianity to the point where the contributions of the Jesuits (which I admire) were filed under the sin of “heresy,” and all the Christian denominations that followed rejected those scholarly teachings.
@chyna “The foundation of Christianity is to believe in the Gospel which is to believe that Jesus lived, died for our sins and was resurrected. Yep. That and all of the “miracles” that surrounded it all. I accept the philosophies attributed to Jesus, although I’m not convinced that “Jesus,” as one person, actually lived.
To me, the philosophies were more important than all of the other stuff, the impossible, illogical in keeping with the question conception, changing water to wine, the fishes and the loaves, the resurrection, etc. But, according to my church, you couldn’t just accept his philosophies, and try to live by them. You had to blindly accept the impossible, irrational stories as well to be a true Christian.
I only mentioned one church member’s reaction to my comment that I questioned the resurrection because I remember that particular exchange. We weren’t have a long, philosophical discussion on all the tenants of Christianity, just on that one point. Perhaps it was on the heels of a sermon about the resurrection. I don’t remember. I just remember she was shocked, almost afraid.
I questioned the miracles, I embraced science and evolution. I was a rotten Christian.