The past is a memory—the future an expectation—both only exist in the present—in your mind. Christian religions believe in the damnation of souls—hell, which is happening right now in Christianity. Are they are the dammed, and they live among us. No need to wait til your dead when you can have it now through faith.
Resisting the flow of progress, anchored to the past like it’s a virtue. Arguing every social advance, hoping someone will come and save them—but he will not save them from themselves. I can’t think of a better example of damnation than the current Islamic and Christian doctrines.
It would have been possible through Christianity if…if they really knew what the good news was all about. But they put the messenger on a pedestal and suppressed the message. Jesus is the only son of god—no more! The church immediately became irrelevant by holding on to monotheism. They are now nothing but talking shops, void of meaningful liturgy, void of any meaningful religious experience. Damned, in every sense of the word.
TheCommonAtheist 
Damned by ignorance, dogma, blind faith, spiritual stagnation and epistemological impasse . . . . .
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Now say it in chiasmus and you’ve got yourself a scripture…
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True enough.
I knew many Christians who cherry-picked heaven but left eternal damnation (or denial of god, as one Pope seemed to put it) on the tree of religious beliefs. I liked that happier approach.
Interestingly, some C’s say there must be Hell or they would rue their religion and seek another. Not only must there be life after death, it must be properly packaged, even if only the good die young. 🙂
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Only the past is certain. The present passes fast. We don’t even get to notice it
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The past is as unreliable as the future. Who’s version are we willing to live by?
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What is written of the past is what can be doubtful. But the past is reliable. We can call up events from the past to review them. We can even recall philosophers and sages of old to chat with.
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Heaven is under dictatorship!
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Essentially, “now” is all we have. The past is gone; the future has not yet arrived. We cannot change what has already happened any more than we can alter what will come. It is only in our minds that either has substance.
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Put something in a bottle and it’s easy to sell, but it does go stale.
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I always found it sad they’re so obsessed with the next world they forget to simply live in this… Also, I find Jesus’ humanity the far more important part in terms of changing the world for the better. He never needed to be divine to show the kindness he did, and the highly liturgical and legalistic RCC for example, is way out of touch with Christ’s supposed simplicity. I mean who needs a “protonotary apostolic”? 😂
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It’s interesting that you use protonotary to describe the religion which is modeled after the king courts of an earlier era, while Protestantism is modeled after the judicial courthouse. Even the clothing of the pastor and the judge is the same.
Not so much lately with the megachurch and the strip mall congregations, but early on modeled like a judicial courthouse. Great comment.
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I’m interested in the vestments and hierarchy of the RCC lately… It makes my head spin!!! Protonotaries de numero, monsigiori, nuncios, canons, auditors of the Roman Rota, metropolitans, Primates (not the poop flinging kind), and Chaplains of His Holiness, oh my! 🎶 The RCC is basically an extension of the Roman Empire…
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Several years ago (2013), I wrote a post on Catholic attire. You might find it interesting.
https://sayitnow.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/catholic-leaders-and-their-fancy-clothes/
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