126 sats \ 8 replies \ @jerrybature 7 Aug \ on: The impact of Jesus on culture culture
Jesus dealt with the issues plaguing the human nature. So far, He's the best solution there is.
Yes, the hierarchy of solutions are:
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physical solutions - this is the animal style solutions. How to get more resources and how to distribute them...these include politics and economics as solutions to "the problem of living". (note: the modern world is stuck solely at this level)
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philosophical solutions - these include approaches like Buddhism, Stoicism...and also psychology (talk therapy, cognitive, behavioral, etc). These are how to manage "endless desire" that plagues humans - a real step-up from the physical solutions. These posit that its not just a distribution of resources problem, but your desires themselves must be managed.
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religious / spiritual solutions - these include the major world religions, of which Christ understood the solution the best: This posits that you cannot solve these problems by yourself, but you require God to help you. Specifically your suffering must be "transformed" not simply done away with. You must not just grudgingly accept suffering, but must embrace the burden and offer it up as a sacrifice. Powered by love and forgiveness towards the burden, God will help you transform the problem. In essence, this is the idea that you must be changed and not the problem itself. The transformation changes something that was once holding you down and crushing you, into something that helps you and gives you more power. It is most signified by Christ on the cross: He knew he did no wrong and only tried to help people, yet he was beaten, stabbed and crucified for it. He willingly accepted this suffering with a spirit of love and forgiveness, offering it up as a way to help humanity as a whole.
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This is very profound
Have you read Viktor Frankl, Man's Search For Meaning?
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Not yet. My wife has and highly recommends it
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Do we blame the Romans or the Israel lobby for crucifying Christ?
Pontus Pilate or Judea?
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You ask the wrong question. If we had been there it is likely we would have went along.
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Its a thorny question, however the Gospels make it pretty clear that PP was trying to broker a solution with the Pharisees/Sadducee to not execute him, even sending him off to Herod to deal with. However all approaches were rejected, until PP finally just posed the question to the crowd...."Give us Barabbas was the response"
(Note: a very interesting name that "Barabbas" had. In Hebrew, Bar = Son / Abba = Father. So in a sense the crowd was chanting "Give us the Son of the Father"....very curious)