and I'm not even arguing with what you said. You can find it all in that Book.
But what people don't think about... don't consider... is that it's the culture around the religion that makes it so. All these "books" were written hundreds of years after the death of that "Christ"... most by those who'd heard third and fourth hand any info. And the stories within them are almost all gathered from other religions in the area at the time, and modified to fit what the authors wanted them to show.
Who knows if there even -was- a "Christ" that the bible teaches about? There were a lot of christs running around declaring themselves the messiah at that time. So many, it was a real pain in the butt to the Romans. And there isn't one good admonition in the bible that you can't find any almost any other religion... in that area and beyond it. There are some "truths" that are just ethically based across people. As a Seeker decades ago, I sought out the core truths amongst many of them and found it to be a "truth."
Culture and society changes the religion. Religion wishes it wasn't so, and fights with all their power to tamp it down to the barest minimum. But when the shekels start disappearing, the church will change inch by inch to get them coming back into the offering basket. The church has a vested interest in controlling the masses. The masses just want to be free. The government sides with the church as long as controlling the masses is a shared aim. The whole damn thing is politics at its base. Anyone looking for something spiritual or soul comforting is not going to find it in a church. It will be by searching out and discovering your own truths... and eventually creating a path of your own you can follow in good faith.
These Christians of today are no different than those of the 4th century. They don't like what their bible says... they want the freedom to change it as they see fit. So, bit by bit, they're trying to overtake the churches and remake them into what they envision it should be. Our government is in bed with the church (taken as a global whole), and has been for decades now. As long as it's about controlling the masses of us, getting us to back their visions, all is good. But the masses are in complete turmoil now. Call it cognitive dissonance. And thus, the churches can't find the way to control us; we've presently got a govt that is trying its best to be at arms length to the church, and those who are influencing the church are winning converts over to their side. By the time the whole damn thing has been worked out -- either by blood or diplomacy -- the Christian church is going to something completely different from what it is now, because of the changes our culture will have implanted in it. These Christianists (that's what I call them) are the seeds for the death of the church, globally, eventually. And I feel its going to be sooner rather than later. This church isn't just the christian church, either. You can see the same thing happening in Islam and Hindu religions. The masses are trying to turn away and/or change the church back to what they deem it should be, and the PTB are fighting them tooth and nail on it. That's why I said it'll settle either by blood or diplomacy.
Right now, Turning Point, NAR, and other Evangelical based religions have just "appropriated" the label of Christianity because that's the major religion in this country. Just because they've appropriated the moniker doesn't mean they've accepted the tenets or beliefs. They've picked out what they like -- what we would call the bad parts (like slavery, genocide, etc), and taken them as their own in creating their own brand of christianity. Most people want to better themselves and society around them. These people are hooked on evil. They see it as more powerful than good. Unfortunately, good people have already appropriated the label of "Satanists" and that path is too soft and wishy-washy for what these people want to accomplish. I believe they could and would have chosen that label given half the chance, but again... the Satanists have already set their path, and thanks to those like LaVey, they were into such shock jock techniques it couldn't be bended to fit what the christianists wanted today. Besides, the religion is just too small in numbers to help them accomplish their ends. All hail satan! (gryn)
What I find hilarious is how stupid these magas are about the book they proclaim. The things they fight against, aren't even mentioned in the book... or if it is, it's written about in completely different formats. They have to twist the words into puzzles to make it come out the way they want. They try to link disparate books of the bible to each other... like linking Revelation and other prophecy to Daniel in the OT. They might as well be scrying into a crystal ball. Their "prayers" of all types have all the formula of a spell included in them. They're not prayers to a god,.. they're setting up spells to act on reality, instead of having the cajones to actually affect the work themselves.
Sorry for rambling. This is just one piece of the politics today that I have a vested interest in. Plus, I'm trying to come out of a lupus flare today and that leaves my head a bit foggy, and words go on, rather than fit themselves concisely.
Like I said, I'm not arguing with what you said, brook... in fact, I agree with it. I just don't think people are going far enough, or deep enough, into the reasons. I graduated 3 hours shy of a degree in Anthropology, and sometimes that piece of me just won't lay still. 
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