I'm certainly no religious expert

[SHRED]

But it seems to me that in the Christian Bible Jesus was trying to bring a feminine, tender, and loving side to a hyper patriarchal religion. We see how that went.

Seems like this is the age old struggle.

[wasupaloopa]

1. I don't think the ideas in the gospels have any feminine or masculine sides to them. Almost every

religion has similar ideas.

Compare the Buddhism's eight fold path to what Jesus said for instance.

[SHRED]

2. Buddha to me

Is receptive, open, and loving.
The opposite of hellfire, floods, and damnation as is the God of Abraham.

I'm probably just splitting hairs.
Again, I'm no religious scholar by any means.

[wasupaloopa]

3. I agree with you. I am a recovering Catholic and I have adopted Buddhism almost as an antidote.

In Catholic school I was told that we suffer on earth to gain a higher place in heaven. We even praised saints that beat themselves and wore hair shirts.

Buddha said I teach suffering and the end to suffering.

[bdtrppr6]

4. Well I am a religious expert

and it's all made up bullshit.

[DetlefK]

5. Quick, aside from his mom, list some important women in the New Testament. I'll wait.

[Dale Neiburg]

7. Mary Magdalene

(Who would be even more important if she were consistently referred to be name instead of multiple monikers intended to reduce her status.)

[DetlefK]

8. I knew that example would come. Any more?

And her character is a problem to begin with: First a prostitute, then a saint. His mother was first a virgin, then a saint.

So there's 3 kinds of women in the New Testament: Virgins, prostitutes and saints.
If the New Testament is supposed to give a balancing, feminine touch to a hyperpatriarchial religion, where are the ordinary women??????

Where are the wives and daughters and sisters?
Were the Apostles married? Or did Jesus' gang consist of 13 single bros?

[Mariana]

11. What was her status, exactly?

The Bible says Christ cast demons out of her, that she was present at the crucifixion, and that she was the first, or among the first to see him after he was resurrected. Certainly she was devoted to him, but did she really do anything important?

[trotsky]

14. The fact that she was mentioned *at all* is apparently all we need to know...

in order to proclaim Christianity the gosh-darn'dest most women-friendliest religion the world has ever known.

Duh!

[Cartoonist]

6. Expertise

What makes a religious expert?
Is that like an astrology expert?
Or a ghost expert?
How about a UFO expert?

[Merlot]

28. I met someone who had an advanced degree in religious studies

I met her at an athiest meetng. She did all that studying and figured out it was BS. So now she's stuck with a degree in something she doesn't believe in and years of student debt.

But her mind is free, so that's the best outcome.

[trotsky]

9. "feminine, tender, and loving"?

Overlooking the sexism of that choice of words, I'd say there was quite a bit in the message of Jesus what was anything but tender or loving.

Luke 19:27 - “But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.”

[Voltaire2]

10. Well generally the abrahamic religions are

considered the primary examples of patriarchal religions.

[LanternWaste]

17. Hinduism is not Abrahamic and is arguably the most patriarchal of the world's major religions

Hinduism is not Abrahamic and is arguably the most patriarchal of the world's major religions (Hinduism: A Cultural Perspective by David R. Kinsley).

[Act_of_Reparation]

12. You must have missed all those passages where Jesus addresses his mother.

It's OK. Most other people who haven't read the Bible don't really know what they're talking about, either.

[SHRED]

13. So is it really "OK"?

Because it looks like condescension to me.

[Act_of_Reparation]

15. Perfectly fine.

Lots of people miss the misogyny in the first chapter of the New Testament that is actually devoted to Jesus' teaching (Hint: it's Matthew 5). But let's be honest, here: the Bible's pretty damned boring. So much begetting. So many old dudes talking about oiled virgins and horny bridegrooms in pompous primitive affect. It's completely understandable if you lose interest after the gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

So yeah, if you ignore or don't read any of the parts where Jesus talks about women -- or to his poor mother -- you might think he was great for the ladies.

[Angry Dragon]

19. Perhaps if you post those passages we would know what you are talking about

and we could learn

[Act_of_Reparation]

20. Perhaps if you read the Bible yourself I could sit here and enjoy my coffee instead.

Hint: one of the best examples is in John.

Happy hunting.

[Angry Dragon]

21. So sad......... just asking for you to back up your point of view

you sound like the trump people shouting 'fake news' and state no facts

[Act_of_Reparation]

22. No, you're asking me to do all of the work.

As odd as this might seem, I don't keep a compendium of obscene Bible verses at the ready should the random association decide to question, for reasons I find utterly incomprehensible, whether an iron age book about an iron age man written in the iron age by other other iron age men would reflect the gender attitudes common to men in the iron age. Neither do I feel especially obligated to compile such a list when the opponent's attitude toward the topic is "I'll make up whatever the fuck and I want and assume I'm right until someone can explicitly prove otherwise". Way to hold others to a standard to which you apparently do not even hold yourself.

It's my turn to be lazy. Book of John. Chapter 2. Happy reading.

[Angry Dragon]

23. I never said such things

"I'll make up whatever the fuck and I want and assume I'm right until someone can explicitly prove otherwise"
I never said anything
I just asked you to list the facts

[Angry Dragon]

24. I read John 2 and he spoke 10-15 words to his mother

and found nothing distasteful

[Act_of_Reparation]

25. The next time your mother asks you to run to the store for some milk, ask her:

"Woman, what has that to do with me?"

The next time she asks why don't spend time with her and your brothers, ask her: "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?"

Let's see how that works out.

[Angry Dragon]

26. My mother is dead

[Cartoonist]

27. There they go again

Why do bible readers enter a discussion and make claims they don't back up? "Do your own research! I'm too busy drinking coffee to support my statements"

[Merlot]

29. Becasue he talks to his mother it's all ok?

[Act_of_Reparation]

30. You're kidding, right?

You have to be.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

16. Well...

[Angry Dragon]

18. War and Peace -------------