/lit/ - Literature

There are no practical reasons. We believe because it's true. We're willing to be tortured and killed for our belief because it's true.

If you take Christianity seriously you also have to learn to take seriously all the things that Christianity takes seriously.

So, yes, magic exists. It's forbidden, too, so don't fuck around with it, you'll put your soul in peril.

>tfw thinking about the fact that Christianity posits a worldview and mode of behavior that's so radically different than the typical ways of life of nearly everyone
>tfw thinking about how truly practicing Christianity puts you totally outside the "normal" world

The otherness of Christianity is one of those things that makes me think it might be for real. Actually following Christianity is so different than most of what humanity is like, and doesn't God say that his ways are not man's ways? It's so much more alien to the normal human condition than something like Islam.

>Jesus said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. On hearing it, many of His disciples said, “This is a difficult teaching. Who can accept it?”

>Aware that His disciples were grumbling about this teaching, Jesus asked them, “Does this offend you? Then what will happen if you see the Son of Man ascend to where He was before?

>The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. However, there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray Him.)

>Then Jesus said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to Me unless the Father has granted it to him.”

>From that time on, many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him. So Jesus asked the Twelve, “Do you want to leave too?”

>Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that You are the Holy One of God.”

>>11341535
I'm saying that if Peterson is turning to Christianity for "social cohesion" he's badly missed the point of the religion. A peaceful society in this life is not what Christianity promises.

>Do not assume that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn

>‘A man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.'

>Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; and anyone who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

Abandon your delusions of a masculinity that never was, and read the Gospels.

>>9697391
Then the little children were brought to Jesus for Him to place His hands on them and pray for them; and the disciples rebuked those who brought them. But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them! For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” And after He had placed His hands on them, He went on from there.

>>9440173
I didn't.

Perhaps God merely used me as an instrument to remind you of your obligations to Him.

>>9434636
To be virtuous unto death is a great thing. This is why we came to consider that it might be rewarded.

Honestly, OP, just read the Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, read all four. They'll clue you in on what you'll be signing up for. Jesus himself is pretty moving in his own words (so to speak).

>>8846695
>>8846680
>>8846688
This is pretty accurate. "My kingdom is not of this world."

>>8787603
I would argue that Christianity contains both impulses equally, given that Christ encompasses both impulses. After all, Christ is the King, the ruler of all time and space, but he's also the least and lowest, the hungry, the poor, the sick. "Whatsoever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."

Now, the trouble is that humans have a hard time encompassing both elements. They gravitate towards either the authoritarian or the humanitarian, and they fashion their own Christ in that image. But the actual Christ is too big to be pinned down that way--I think.

OP if you want to get the most out of LOTR you have to convert to Catholicism before you read it.

What does /lit/ think about the Zeitgeist movement?
It's very interesting, but is there any merit at all?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88GTUXvp-50