Earlier quoted context omitted.
The trinity is a fundamental Christian belief, not just Catholic. If one doesn’t believe it than most won’t consider them Christian. This is a huge reason why Mormonism is it’s own thing. I don’t believe anymore as an adult, but this was taught right away when I was a kid going to the Catholic Church. I don’t think you could find a catholic who doesn’t know what the trinity is.
The trinity is the Orthodox belief. The history of Christianity is full of “heretical” beliefs about the Godhead. Also there is solid evidence that first century Christians did not hold a trinitarian position
Roman church decorated with 4k skeletons
131–140 of 202 posts
Re: Roman church decorated with 4k skeletons
#132Re: Roman church decorated with 4k skeletons
#133Re: Roman church decorated with 4k skeletons
#134Earlier quoted context omitted.
A stable society stands on a set of shared principles, not on blind respect of each other traditions, no matter what those are. That no-cremation rule was made for a good reason, but that reason can't be explained to masses, hence the "just do what the sacred book tells you!" A dead body isn't completely dead, so it's better (more respectful, indeed) to keep it for two months, and then it can be burnt. But you can't…
I don't think viewing religious tradition as "we don't want to explain our reasoning to you plebs" is doing justice to the religion. I believe Catholicism does have a reason that is understandable by common folk: since Jesus will resurrect the faithful to be with him in the new heavens, earth, and Jerusalem (which are seen as physical, not an abstract "Heaven" like modern American evangelicals tend to see it), there…
More practically, it is a practice which unnecessarily damages the sacred bodily remains and prevents them from future veneration. So it's much more difficult, if someone should become a saint, to distribute relics of a cremated body rather than bones and significant, identifiable parts of a buried/exhumed body.
It's not like God won't find a way to resurrect bodies that have been dismembered, burned, disintegrated, destroyed, or what have you. He's God, it's no big deal. Glorified bodies are understood to be spiritual, otherworldly, and beyond our imagination, but there's also been a lot of work to describe what they're like and how they work.
Cremation also led to abhorrent practices such as scattering ashes, or keeping them on a mantle, and in modern times, turning them into personal jewelry or launching them into space. The Church didn't like that stuff either. Personally speaking, my dear uncle's cremains are on my cousin's mantle and essentially inaccessible to me, since we're not on speaking terms. I'd really like to visit my uncle's grave, but he doesn't have one!
So even today, the Church forbids cremation if it's for the wrong reasons. But it's tolerated widely because it's often cheaper and expedient.
Re: Roman church decorated with 4k skeletons
#135A great many people are incredibly uncomfortable with the idea of death, and installations like this, and similar works of art, are a great antidote. Accepting death as the price of life might be a bit difficult for people raised in a culture that worships perpetual youth and which dreams of immortality, perhaps in the form of a digital silicon upload, but it's really a sign of maturity. Taking a minute or so out of…
Personally, I find a lot of truth in what you say but I vehemently disagree with the premise that we should accept death as the price of life. Of course, we need to be realistic and acknowledge that everyone living will all almost certainly die one day but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't strive for a future without death. I think that CGP Grey's video, Fable of the Dragon-Tyrant, does a wonderful job arguing this…
Statistically, I fully expect to die. Never dying would be a fantastic surprise.
I think acceptance is a lot healthier and more likely to produce happiness in life than thinking one may be an exception.
Re: Roman church decorated with 4k skeletons
#136Earlier quoted context omitted.
The trinity is a fundamental Christian belief, not just Catholic. If one doesn’t believe it than most won’t consider them Christian. This is a huge reason why Mormonism is it’s own thing. I don’t believe anymore as an adult, but this was taught right away when I was a kid going to the Catholic Church. I don’t think you could find a catholic who doesn’t know what the trinity is.
It's an interesting historical and political question though, since it was the core question of the First Council of Nicea which Constantine used to establish an orthodoxy for his empire. That single church lasted for almost 700 years before splitting in two.
Re: Roman church decorated with 4k skeletons
#137A great many people are incredibly uncomfortable with the idea of death, and installations like this, and similar works of art, are a great antidote. Accepting death as the price of life might be a bit difficult for people raised in a culture that worships perpetual youth and which dreams of immortality, perhaps in the form of a digital silicon upload, but it's really a sign of maturity. Taking a minute or so out of…
Re: Roman church decorated with 4k skeletons
#138A great many people are incredibly uncomfortable with the idea of death, and installations like this, and similar works of art, are a great antidote. Accepting death as the price of life might be a bit difficult for people raised in a culture that worships perpetual youth and which dreams of immortality, perhaps in the form of a digital silicon upload, but it's really a sign of maturity. Taking a minute or so out of…
Personally, I find a lot of truth in what you say but I vehemently disagree with the premise that we should accept death as the price of life. Of course, we need to be realistic and acknowledge that everyone living will all almost certainly die one day but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't strive for a future without death. I think that CGP Grey's video, Fable of the Dragon-Tyrant, does a wonderful job arguing this…
Re: Roman church decorated with 4k skeletons
#139A great many people are incredibly uncomfortable with the idea of death, and installations like this, and similar works of art, are a great antidote. Accepting death as the price of life might be a bit difficult for people raised in a culture that worships perpetual youth and which dreams of immortality, perhaps in the form of a digital silicon upload, but it's really a sign of maturity. Taking a minute or so out of…
I don't know about you but seeing a big pile of skeletons in a basement mainly serves to confirm the ideas about death that I already had. It's also kind of misleading because they're not complaining but dying is actually pretty awful unless you're really, really lucky.
Re: Roman church decorated with 4k skeletons
#140Earlier quoted context omitted.
Gambler's fallacy
"Okay, wow. You don't want me to kill you because you have so much to live for? Umm, sunk cost fallacy, heard of it?"