Think that religion will solve my existential anxiety

Is liberal anglicanism the only choice for post-truth Christianity?

>“yeah, James is actually Jesus’s brother guys”
>doesn't understand Greek
>doesn't understand the cultural significance of big families living together in Israel
>living with a cousin or half brother is basically like your brother anyhow
>doesn't matter, because the Greek word translates to either brother or cousin.

Wait. There's more:
>says there's no biblical reference to purgatory so dont buy it
>trinity isn't in the Bible either
>still believes it

Okay man

You will never be a true christian if you are searching for certainty. Belief that is anything, but trust and commitment in front of unbearable uncertainty is only foolishness. Don't search god for your comfort or reassurance. Only trough acting virtuously despite any guarantee can you live a good life worthy of the lord. These days even most protestants will put their trust in the church and it's tradition instead of God or his word and the conscious he has given you. Do not trust anything earthly.

just lol @ you catholic dweeb. christ is called mary’s firstborn in Luke 1:7.

>and she gave birth to her first-born, a son

and she is confirmed to have lost her virginity in matthew 1:25

>But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

>consummated
>virgin
>???

spend less time studying greek and more time studying the bible before you go acting like you know something.

>because when the angel of death swept through egypt, all of the only children were obviously fine.

What is this then?
>in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water.

>consummate their marriage
>consummate their marriage
>consummate their marriage

referring to physical bodies in physical prisons

Your earnest search for God was not earnest. Ya doofus! look what they all have in common: you are broken, evil, a sinner, as we all are— and Christ paid the price for your crimes. Why does the rest matter?
Go inward, or go prayerfully to the scriptures themselves. Christianity required this weird suspension of logic anyway (transrational thinking i believe they call it).

Christ died for you. The rest is pretty much aesthetics. Do you prefer jeans and Christ-pop or the smells and solemnity of Orthodoxy etc.

You should have been praying more than studying.

You went to a religion that says the earth is meaningless and assigns meaning to a fantasy land you enter after you die. In order to cure your anxiety that there is no meaning.

Find a philosopher like Nietzsche or Stirner which emphasizes the instincts in a man. Existential angst is a result of having strong instincts that are unfufilled. Once you start exercising them, the concept of 'meaningless' no longer makes any sense. It would be like complaining about being thirsty, the solution is so fucking obvious.

Modern scholars generally agree that James was Jesus' biological brother. A second century doctrine partly inspired by the apocryphal gospel of James isn't persuasive for arguing that he was only a cousin.

Every first century mention of James refers to him as a brother of Jesus, Galatians 1:19, Mark 6:3, Matthew 13:55, and Josephus Antiquities 20.9.1. There are Greek words to specify cousin if the authors meant that, the most likely meaning is brother.

>just turn your brain off lol

>just turn your brain off lol

Faith is a supernatural gift of God, an infused virtue which allows your intellect to assent to divinely revealed truth. As it is a gift, you must pray and ask God for it. You can't just will yourself into faith.

>Modern scholars

Stopped reading here.

Easier than admitting Catholic doctrine contradicts scripture I guess.

"The latest experts in their field who have the greatest knowledge and aptitude for studying this say...."

>stopped reading there

LOL subhuman

Read what St. Peter and St. Paul say. You don't have the authority to interpret scripture.

>implying "modern scholars" means "latest experts"
>implying no bias

lol

Useless platitudes. If it isn't rationally comprehensible then there is no point whatsoever in learning anything about it. Even though I'm not a Christian, I can respect catholic scholastics who believed the Christian religion had rational foundations that could be articulated, they didn't shy away from these questions but took them seriously. Nowadays you only get this shit about not having the proper grace, humility or whatever. A thinly veiled superiority complex, I guess some people are just more favored by God so he gives them instant knowledge, while the rest can burn in hell.

Fuck you, sincerely.

Tbh you need have faith in God before a faith in religion

>Even though I'm not a Christian, I can respect catholic scholastics who believed the Christian religion had rational foundations that could be articulated

I just recited precisely the old scholastic definition of faith (see Aquinas). Nowhere did I imply that faith was contrary to reason.

You're the one basing your entire argument on a barely implied meaning of a particular translated word. You know what the word "until" means, right? And that the greek implies negation afterwards even less than the english? Maybe you should study more greek.
Anyways, about the James as a brother thing, as well... I'm disinclined to trust politically inclined textual analysis over tradition and texts dating back to less than a century after James was alive as a member of the early Church.
>>and don't start screeching like a moron when wait to address the part of your argument I'm not an expert in
>>and don't start screeching like a moron when wait to address the part of your argument I'm not an expert in
>>and don't start screeching like a moron when wait to address the part of your argument I'm not an expert in

Aquinas also explicitly said that belief was provided for those who don't have the time or will to study proper philosophy, and that it is in principle possible to derive the Catholic doctrines from reason alone. Given that belief is harder now than ever, and acquiring philosophy books easier than ever, this enterprise should be absolutely essential for the Church, if it still holds Aquinas to be correct.

Gee who's going to be less bias.

Those that think Catholic dogma is correct a priori.

Or people that have an interest in historical investigation and are subject to ruthless peer review in one form or another.

>brothers = cousins
>until = never
wow greek is such a funny language

Protestants and atheists deserve each other, I just wish they left us normal people alone.

Not to say catholics are unbiased, but thete has been a ton of utterly ahistorical dreck published that shits on catholicism in any way possible (see 90% of discussion on Hypatia or Galileo). Got any sources more specific than "modern scholars"?
In any case anyone publishing on tge specific meaning of one of about 2 verses relevant here has an axe to grind, whether catholic, protestant, or anti-catholic.

>I'm disinclined to trust politically inclined textual analysis over tradition and texts dating back to less than a century after James was alive as a member of the early Church.
And yet you ignored the 1st century sources I cited in exchange for 2nd century theology.

> Be me, le epic chaos mage
> Go to Europe as part of a soul searching expedition/suicide attempt
> Read lots of rare hermetic texts
> Archangel Michael appears to me in the guise of a tour guide in Brussels
> Says a bunch of stuff in parable, don't really understand it, go back to the hostel
> Study the gnostic and hermetic symbolism in Undertale, visit church once
> Suddenly realize my spiritual/philosophical investigations make me like a Chara possessed Frisk, since I'm dissecting/destroying everything I investigate simply to try to advance my own understanding and power
> Suddenly synthesize a bunch of stuff and cry out desperately for help in exactly the right terms, sincerely repenting
> Feel myself in a quantum hyperposition of burning in a lake of fire and seeing beyond the veil on the borrowed strength of eagles, achieving union with God, etc.
> A whole bunch of crazy shit happens that's physically and epistemologically impossible
> Convert to Christianity
> Months later, realize I can't rationally square anything I experienced with literally any philosophy or religious system
> Go back to being a chaos magician and philosopher, albeit with gnostic and hermetic tendencies

I didn't say never, you idiot, I just said it implies even less than the english there was Marian canoodling after Christmas. It would seem your english is almost as bad as your greek, and pleading utter ignorance of anything about the text but talking points discredits your argument entirely.

yeah that was a mean thing for me to do, sorry i quit taking you seriously after you said you don’t take politically charged textual analysis seriously when i know someone as educated as yourself should know that the perpetual virginity of Mary wasn’t theorized until the 4th century.

You mean second century at latest? Irenaeus, Origen slightly later. Protoevangelium of James (noncanonical, but shows at least that the idea was by then recognized, though not definitively affirmed)
I didn't mean that I discard it out of hand, I mean that I view politically charged research with enough caution to be sure to read it and make sure that conclusions are delivered very precisely. In the absence of specific citations to the contrary, I see no reason to accept tradition recorded not more than a century after firsthand- that, incidentally, depicts James, etc as half-brothers, for which the Greek in question is accurate.

> Protestantism, Orthodoxy and Catholicism can't all be true and all make strong claims about universality

It's a bit less recent than you think, buddy. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauline_Christianity

I don't believe (lol) you've spent several years studying.

you guys remind me of the children who discuss power levels from animes and delve deep into its lore trying to make sense of japanese products for children