>>24837421
You can probably scroll up and get a feel for what compels me to Christ. It's not just one thing for me. I've studied Antique philosophy and probably would've been considered a "pagan" (not like the Wiccan types, more chuddy like Tom Rowsell/Survive the Jive) before and all of it feels lacking. They're dead. The rituals do not work, the Gods aren't there. All of the philosophy points towards One God, but I do not believe as the Platonists (or modern Deists, for that matter) do that there is some impersonal God. If there is a True God, then He MUST have a personage. What drew me to Christ was all of these questions, and I found my answers within the Crucifixion and Resurrection. As I've said, to me it is a multi-tiered thing. Christ redeems us and the corrupted nature of our souls through this sacrifice, but more than that he conquers death (Christus Victor, if you want a name for this), but also - and this part is always overlooked - abrogates all of the old rituals and laws. He lays it out, as he does throughout the Gospels, that we don't need to follow Bronze Age formulae. We merely need to open ourselves to God, through Christ, and realize that we were always able to talk to Him.
The moral message of Christ is revolutionary. It still is revolutionary. It will always be revolutionary until all men realize and follow it. It is about true humility, patience, understanding, and charity. It isn't about "faith in God alone" nor is it about going to Church on Sunday for the Eucharist (what cathodox mean when they say "works" btw) but a unification of our will and God's will. That is what Christ taught.
As I've said I can accept that the Hebrew prophets were given sight-seeing. The oracles and sibyls were given this too. But that doesn't mean that the Mosaic Law came from the True God. All of Christ's miracles and signs were about rejecting and abrogating this Law. He heals on the Sabbath. He allows his Apostles to pick the grain on the Sabbath. He heals the uncleansed. The Hebrews had gotten so wrapped up in their law, just as our (assuming you're European-descendant here) ancestors got wrapped up in our rituals, that we had forgotten God.
That is the message of Christ. That is what propels me forward. That is what gives my life meaning. I hope I've answered your question, and I appreciate your respect in asking it.
