I have two questions:
-I’m sure there have been plenty of self-sacrificing people and martyrs in other world religions. Why would a total pacifist Jainist be condemned for not believing specifically in Christ?
-How did Christianity evolve from Jainist-style pacifism and bias towards martyrdom to extreme risk aversion (worldliness), “just war” theory, and the crusades?
I have two questions:
Isaiah Peterson
Christian Green
Jainists specifically teach detachment. They'll get exactly what they want. Seperation from God.
Second question is more interesting. After the persecutions under the Roman empire, Christianity indeed became a bit too comfortable within society. This is precisely why hermits ran out to the deserts and monastic orders came to be. They were distraught at being in the world - let alone suddenly having to commune with the very people who persecuted them just years prior. They knew they couldn't harm their own selves, so they retreated from the world to recreate (as best they could) the experience of the martyrs, by practicing the motification of sinful desires and flesh. But this has nothing to do with detachment in the Eastern sense. Only a detachment from sin specifically.
All branches of Orthodox Christianity believe in the Oneness of body and soul. Only Gnostics every tried to "escape" the body (much like Buddhists or Jainists). This has always been a heresy in Christianity, even for those who retreat from the world.
Nicholas Martinez
Because Rome purged the gnostic heretics and galaxy brains like Augustine wrote accessible works that reconcile Christianity with real life observation, which includes just war theory and aversion to cuckoldry. The Romanization of Christianity brought it CLOSER to God.
Grayson Walker
I appreciate your answer. What do you think is the precise difference between Christian monasticism and eastern detachment? On the surface at least they appear very similar.
Dylan Lopez
Not sure about this. Are you even a Christian? Do you think Christ was a ”cuck” then?
Juan Anderson
Augustine had much practical application for the world, but he was hardly a symbol for worldly rule. He wrote City of God, after all.. which was first meant to comfort a poor brother who mourned the sack of earthly Rome.
Noah Nguyen
That's precisely it. The detachment part. We Christians look to Christ and pray.. and as I just actually mentioned in another thread, God is always the "Other". We are Not God or not part of the "One" or some pantheistic view of the universe to get our egos lost into. We retain our identies. We were created in the image of God, but not God ourselves.
Henry Mitchell
Of course I'm Christian.
Christ was God. He could raise Himself from the dead. Humans can't.
Luis Thompson
If the eastern mystics don’t worship God, what do they worship?
If you have faith in God then you believe with perfect certainty that will be raised at the Resurrection.
Nathan Bennett
Nothing. They're all reflect the story of Eden and the original lure of the serpent. They want to be like God.