Originally posted by mug222:
Well, to a believer, of course. To a non-believer, his impact has been negative, being the source of more wars and deaths than perhaps anyone in history. (indirectly, of course. I need not cite many wars founded on religion to prove this point).
Yes, his impact has been more than a 2,000 year old carpenter, and far worse.
mug222;
You can't generalise like that at all, not everybody who doesn't believe in him think him negative, in fact, I would think the opposite; most DON'T. My father is the biggest athiest on the face of the Earth, however, he still values Jesus and loves what Jesus represents. As Acthung Bubba said, you can't blame pratts taking arms in the name of Christ on Jesus, it is neither right nor are you justified. Jesus once said that 'those who live by the sword shall perish by the sword', he never meant for anyone to use violence, to force their beliefs on anyone and never for an instant intended negative effects.
There is always an important distinction to be made between religion in itself and the interpretation of religion; interpretation can sometimes fall into the wrong minds, producing wars and never-ending violence. Whether you believe this or not, you can't say that all non-believers think of Jesus in a negative way.
My view of Jesus is that he was connected to God, that he had found God and he knew of his will, he had, in essence, become God. However, I am not a Catholic, if anything, I am very anti-catholic as I find it to be quite a fasicst institution. However, that does not discredit Jesus and what he stands for; to me, he stands for everything in life I want; union with God.
Returning to the topic at hand, I am sorry mug222, but there is a HUGE difference between christianity and the scientologists, even my father is able to recognise. Yes, all religions started off as and are in essence cults (the Catholic church was a cult under the Romans), however, not all cults are the same and this you must agree with. After all, the Catholic church preaches about God, peace on Earth, good will to your neighbour and basicallu upholds morality - scientologists are only interested in money money money.
Where Bono asks the question 'for love or money?' The Catholics say LOVE, while the Scientologists say MONEY! Its not an opinion, its the truth. In order to join you need to pay like a lump sum, you need to do this, you need to do that, you need to pay for this you need to pay for that; they LEECH money out of you for God's sake.
Also, I'm not sure they even worship God, I'm pretty sure they preach about L. Ron Hubbard and his genius, which is pretty twisted, seeing as the man is the most untalented fool there ever was.
I never thought I'd see the day I would defend the Catholic Church, this is how strongly I feel about the distinction between them and the church of Scientology.
Ant.