Devil, Satanism and Absolution

Post Reply New Topic

The term hypocrisy is usually used with people who are not what they say they are, like making others believe they are something which are not. So it is related to dishonesty and intentantional deceiving. If some ideals preached cannot be realized, that's different.

Anyone can be a hypocrite, wether it is christian or not, as well there are christians that are not hypocrites and are sincere in their beliefs.

There are lots of evil bastards in history who claimed to be Christians. If they were, then they sure as heck weren't following the rules. It's the same in pretty much any group of humans you look at. Whether it's Christians, Atheists, Muslims, Jews, etc., there will always be a some of them who do stuff that makes the rest of them look bad. That's what you get with humans. Especially humans who have been corrupted by power.

One thing that people have forgotten here is that Hitler was born of Jewish blood in 1889, and when he gained power he had his home town razed to the ground to destroy any record of his ancestry. Also, I believe Mao was actually Buddhist before he gained poer in 1949, so neither him nor Hitler could really be considered 'atheist' unless they truly gave up their faith.

Intersting thing to is that pagans do not believe in hell or Satan (the devil if you must). It's only Xians and those that practice the black arts that acknowledge him, and true pagans (like Wiccans eg) make no acknowledgement. The pentacle is as much a power of protection for a pagan as the cross or fish are holy symbols for Xians.

If they committed acts of torture and didn't follow Jesus' teachings, then they weren't Christians in the first place.

If I may interject here my own humble opinion - and that is - there are degrees of how much society is willing to let things just slide. In the case of the church - it's a case of millenia of hypocrisies, bloodshed, destruction and the endless suffering of millions of people. This isn't a case of *oh you're a vegetarian and you're wearing leather!, How dare you, you bloody hypocrite!* this is more like - OMG - the world is ending and it's your hand has been in it since Day One and you have the audacity to point fingers at OTHERS? OMG OMG OMG.

It's that severe. And it's that serious. And frankly, the people of the world over are so effin fed up with this BS, all they can do is pray that when the end comes, it will be as merciful as possible, knowing that there is justice, if not in this world than in the next.

And there is a next, contrary to church dogma.

mikebw wrote:

Quote:

They don't lower their ideals to suit what's easiest to do.

Are you joking, being sarcastic, or deadly serious?

I'm having trouble breaking this sentence down, do expand and clarify.

The following is just some banter, do ignore-
An ideal: Peace on earth.
Easiest way to get peace on earth with uncooperative people: Kill them.
Most difficult way to get peace on earth: Tolerate others.
What do hypocrites do: Spout off peace on earth while creating chaos by oppressing and killing others.
What happens to their ideal: It gets flushed down the commode.
Conclusion: Hypocrites suck.
/banter

My thoughts are that nobody succeeds at being perfectly good (assuming perfection and goodness actually exist, as such). Thus, the only people who can possibly not be hypocrites are those who are both living and preaching badness. Those who preach kindness, love, etc. will always be hypocrites because their ideals cannot be realized.

Granted, there are hypocrites who are trying to be good, and then there are hypocrites who are purposefully doing the opposite of what they preach.. and the former is obviously much preferred. But basically what I mean is that I like people who are aiming to do better than they're actually managing to do. I don't admire people who are satisfied with whatever their base urges command. That's all.

The Church is led by human beings and comprised of human beings that are obviously imperfect. In history there have been some bad popes and some decent ones. There are plenty of bad rulers and people in general who were not necessarily religious (despite their backgrounds). Most use the religion to control the masses and are not necessarily believers themselves in truth. They augment and bastardize the religion to suit their own agendas and use it to influence people to do their bidding. That is not the fault of the religion, but the fault of the ignorant masses and the person who is using said religion to control them. Centuries ago there was an excuse for ignorance. In this day and age there is no excuse in my opinion for someone who is blindly led around by religious figures.

Interesting with what Gwen said regarding hypocrisy. I know that just about everyone is a hypocrite in some manner. Most are not satisfied with everything they do and realize that they can improve themselves. They even know what holds them back from improvement, but continue to do things that impede their improvement. That is hypocrisy as well. That is about where I fit in, with the whole hypocrisy thing for the most part. I know what I should do, but I fail at living up to my own standard at times. That standard does not have to be based on religion either.