this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2024
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No Stupid Questions

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[–] TootSweet 86 points 1 month ago (11 children)

Nope. Lots of stuff commonly believed by Christians isn't from the Bible. (Though sometimes they'll do a lot of mental gymnastics to assert that what they believe is from "the only reasonable interpretation" of the Bible.)

Just a few other things commonly believed by Christians not (or at least only dubiously) from the Bible:

  • The seven deadly sins
  • The nine circles of hell
  • The seven levels of heaven
  • Transubstantiation
  • The trinity
[–] Bassman1805 40 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Transubstantiation is kind of in the Bible. Matthew 26:26-28

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”

Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the[a] covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

The discussion of transubstantiation is just how literal "my body/blood" is.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Transubstantiation is the doctrine that it ceases being bread and wine. Which St Paul kind of debunks in his first letter to the Corinthians at Chapter 11, where he refers to it as bread.

"For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes."

What you're talking about is consubstantiation, which is where the body and blood physically coexist in the bread and wine, which can be derived from the Bible.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 month ago (1 children)

There's a surprising amount of modern Christian lore that actually comes from The Divine Comedy, the granddaddy of all ascended fanfic.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

Don't forget Paradise Lost, also a great hit

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 month ago (2 children)

That humans eventually become angels.

Though, there was one human who did, in an apocryphal book. And then was elevated yet again to being a second diety; there were apparently strains of Christianity which were DUOtheistic! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enoch

[–] FourPacketsOfPeanuts 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Matthew 20:30

"At resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven."

I think that's where the sentiment comes from. It's explicit in Mormonism (I think). In mainstream Christianity the saved don't become angels, they become like angels.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (6 children)

... they become like angels.

In the sense that they no longer have sexual or romantic urges, would be my reading of that passage. Angels have no belly buttons!

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

Want a rabbit hole of apocryphal knowledge, start digging into gnosticism. It's like more internally consistent Christianity. Also depending on which flavor and particular interpretation, you could arrive at such truths as: Satan runs the church. God(old testament) is an asshole and a fool. Jesus (specifically the divine aspect Christ) is on a rescue mission to save God's mom, Sophia, from the prison world that is earth, that God made specifically to trap her. Judas is a tragic hero who has to kill his friend, Jesus, so that Christ can escape the prison world.

It's wild, it's a more interesting story than Christianity, and I can ABSOLUTELY see why most of these books were branded heresy.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

my favourite misbelief is that people are already in heaven, and that hell is a 'place'.

What the bible claims will happen: second coming of Jesus happens; believers are resurrected, believers are raptured, and then war breaks out. Jesus fucks off with the angels and everyone left on Earth is "in hell" (permanently separated from God).

Everything about hell being a demonic underworld is from Dante's Divine Comedy.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Oh so we are all already in hell. Got it.

[–] samus12345 10 points 1 month ago
[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago

If you're an atheist: we're in hell, literally.

If you're a Christian: we're where hell will be, when Jesus comes back with cigarettes and half a bottle of bourbon.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

I already suspected as much.

[–] SkyezOpen 15 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I love transubstantiation. It's basically mandatory to believe it to be a catholic. A lot don't understand it though. But if you find one that does, ask them to explain why it's not cannibalism.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Well, you see, Jesus is all god, but also all man. And we literally eat his flesh.
But it isn't cannibalism because ... look it just isn't, OK?
What a weird fucking question!

[–] VindictiveJudge 5 points 1 month ago

Try this - We're humans, but Jesus is an aasimar. Depending on what rule set he's on, he's probably something like a divine soul sorcerer, too.

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[–] Live_your_lives 10 points 1 month ago

This is much more of a list of stuff commonly believed by Catholics, not so much by Christianity as a whole.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The Trinity is clearly taught in the Bible. Sure, not in explicit Athanasius creed form, but Jesus even said "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19).

Notice how "Name" is singular, implying the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is one thing, or at least equal. Jesus is referred to as God, the Father, and the Holy Spirit are also. And it's made clear that there is one God. The Athanasius Creed is just the Trinity clearly defined in a single text. Clarifying interpretation (like the Nicene Creed).

Seven deadly sins are based off of various sins listed in the Bible, but most of it has kind of been overhyped and overemphasized. It's useful for giving a rough idea of what sin is, but it's been meddled with over time.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Like watching people argue fanfic canon in here. 😅

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Minimize it all you like, but no one ever started a bloody war over "Encounter at Hotpoint". Yes, all human culture is alike in some ways. Very clever observation. I think you will find that most of the people engaged in this discussion are not even Christian. It's still significant and meaningful, if not to us personally, to the world we exist in.

This is one of the more interesting, informative and respectful discussions I have seen in a few days. Why shit on it. The age of edgy Internet atheism has passed. It's okay just to BE an atheist now. No one is coming for you. You can stop fighting.

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[–] Death_Equity 6 points 1 month ago

The seven heavens is an extension of the seven named heavens of Judaism. Islam also has seven named heavens.

There is a reference to a third heaven in the Bible and a reference of ten heavens in a book that was not included by the Council of Nicaea.

[–] T156 6 points 1 month ago

Fire and Brimstone Hell is also commonly believed, but not actually in the bible, if I recall right.

Most of the punishment around Hell in the Bible is less about Hell itself, and more about not being able to enter Heaven and join God, and all of that, as oppose to Hell itself being punishment.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

So is "God helps those who help themselves"

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[–] FuglyDuck 36 points 1 month ago (1 children)

So, Peter at the gates comes from a more or less literal interpretation from the passage where Jesus was making Peter the first pope. “To you I hand the keys to the kingdom of heaven….”

What Jesus was saying is that Peter got to decide who was in the Blood Ritual Cannibal Club,

Keep in mind, the books were written well after Jesus died, and the scriptures weren’t canonized until 300 years later; at the council of Nicaea- which was called specifically to “unify” the church. A lot of the choices about what was canon or not was specifically made to protect the bulk of the bishop’s authority (by drawing a straight lineage of succession from Peter.)

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

Ah. The Holy Bible. Literal word of God (Edited and abridged by man.)

Because even their perfect God can't write a perfect book.

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

St Peter doesn't judge you! He's always depicted with a book that already contains the judgements. He has no real authority, he's just the gatekeeper.

[–] spankmonkey 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

I wonder if enough technicians go to heaven could the pearly gates can be automated so St Peter can finally retire.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Imagine being sent to hell over a database error

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

Imagine being sent to hell to be a database administrator. MySQL and Access, obviously

[–] moistclump 6 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Going to name my kid [NULL] so he has a fighting chance.

[–] edgemaster72 5 points 1 month ago

Little Bobby Tables is gonna break the pearly gates

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago

THE FACTORY MUST GROW

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

St Peter gets laid off, and unionises the other saints to go on strike.

[–] spankmonkey 6 points 1 month ago

Lucifer was cast out of hell for forming the first union.

[–] FourPacketsOfPeanuts 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

It comes from Matthew 16

15 “But what about you?” Jesus asked. “Who do you say I am?”

16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

[end quote]

So, yes, authority given to St Peter to "bind and loose" in heaven and on earth. How that's supposed to work alongside it being Jesus separating the sheep from the goats is anyone's guess.

The reason this takes place at the "pearly gates" is because the new Jerusalem descending from heaven in Revelation is described as having giant pearls for gates.

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[–] partial_accumen 11 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Even "the bible" isn't "the bible".

"Protestant Bibles have only 39 books in the Old Testament, however, while Catholic Bibles have 46." source

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Neither of these mention St Peter at the pearly gates, though. The biggest addition the Apocrypha makes is a record of someone praying for the dead. Protestants generally still do recognise the Apocrypha, but just as historical records and not authoritative, hence not a part of the Bible.

[–] FourPacketsOfPeanuts 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

In Matthew 16 Jesus gives Peter the "keys to the kingdom" and in Revelation the new Jerusalem has pearls for gates. That's where it comes from.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago

I've never heard about Peter judging or the gates etc. in all my religious upbringing and didn't realize this was an actual belief.

I just knew this pearly gates thing as a movie cliché, from Tom and Jerry to modern shows copying that idea.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (9 children)

Most Christian think of it like a cartoon. At least from what I can tell. Nobody actually seems to believe Peter is at the gates, but it is sometimes fun/useful to pretend that is what happens instead of trying to figure out what the judgement day really means (we often think of that like a court room with God as the judge and jury, but the scripture is not clear and so it isn't really any more correct that Peter at the gates)

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

lol. The OG Bible, you mean The Torah, Jesus isn't even in that one.

[–] sanguinepar 4 points 1 month ago

Although some would argue there's a lot of foreshadowing.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Aren't you staying dead for millenia until the second comming and the judgement day ? To my understanding the reason why Christian burry their dead rather than burning them is that they need to resurrect on jugement day

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (2 children)

There was a time, not that long ago, when cremation was not an option for Catholics. At some point, the church changed its mind. Maybe in the seventies or eighties?

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