One Solitary Life

[cpwill]

got this from a sermon piece; thought it was interesting.

He was born in an obsure village, the child of a peasant. He grew up in another village, where he worked in a caprtenter shop until he was 30. Then, for three years, he was an itinerant preacher.
He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a home. He didn't go to college. He never lived in a big city. He never travelled 200 miles from the place where he was born. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but himself.
He was only 33 when the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. His best friend flat-out denied knowing him. He was turned over to the authorities and went through a mockery of a trial. He was summarily executed in between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his clothes; the only property he had on earth. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of an aquaintance.
Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race. All the armies that have ever marched, all the navies that have ever sailed, all the parliaments that have ever sat, all the kings that have ever reigned have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that single, solitary life.

neat.

[MikeD4o7]

For now... but the runner up right now is Mohammed... and isn't Mohammed catching up?

[Craig]

For now... but the runner up right now is Mohammed... and isn't Mohammed catching up?

The reports I've read indicate that Christianity is in decline on a worldwide scale, while Islam is on the rise. My prediction is that as Western nations become increasingly less Christian as people shift to being simply spiritual, or agnostic, or even atheistic, the immigrants to the nation will further erode the Christian backbone. The way the current trends are going, Christianity might end up being a relatively minor religion on the global scale even as early as the end of this century.

[Smurf]

I highly object to: Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race. What a ridiculous claim.

All the armies that have ever marched, all the navies that have ever sailed, all the parliaments that have ever sat, all the kings that have ever reigned have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that single, solitary life. This sentence also shows extremem lack of historical understanding.

[Rivet]

I highly object to: What a ridiculous claim.


Well, considering that people are still arguing about him to this day, I don't think it is so ridiculous.

Just do a search on this forum for "Jesus". There are 1000+ matches.

[MikeD4o7]

central figure of the human race is a stretch... but it would be pretty easy to argue that Jesus is the most influential human that's ever existed, whether it's warranted or not.

[JoeR]

Seems that nothing really changed despite him dying on the cross

[Malone1234]

All the armies that have ever marched, all the navies that have ever sailed, all the parliaments that have ever sat, all the kings that have ever reigned have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that single, solitary life.

If it weren't for all those armies, navies, parliaments, and kings, we probably never would have heard of the guy.

[Redratio1]

Is this like "Time's Man of the last couple of millennia"?

[Redratio1]

Krishna, Vishnu, Buddha, Dionysus...

They all had their influence wide and far. This thread is very Western centric is its veiw that the Christiandom is the world.

[Larani]

I think this guy was kind of ripping off Carl Sagan,

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there - on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors, so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light.

Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

THE PALE BLUE DOT (http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/pale_blue_dot.html)

[eugene40]

Krishna, Vishnu, Buddha, Dionysus...

They all had their influence wide and far. This thread is very Western centric is its veiw that the Christiandom is the world.


An argument could be made for Hitler and the events surrounding him..... Cesar,,, Aristotle,,, a huge amount of people.... that have been actually proven to have existed... Go figure.

[Smurf]

and that's only the people in the West, I think Confucious, Siddartha, ect.. also qualify for the contest.

Oh! Oh! I got it, Sun Tzu.

edit: damnit i just realised redratio said pretty much the exact same thing.

[cpwill]

An argument could be made for Hitler and the events surrounding him..... Cesar,,, Aristotle,,, a huge amount of people.... that have been actually proven to have existed... Go figure.
:lol: we have better documentation for Jesus than virtually any other figure in the ancient world. we have more direct non-christian references to Jesus than we do to the Roman Emperor at the time. If the evidence is not strong enough to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Jesus existed; then quite frankly; nobody we think existed existed; from Caesar to Alexander.

[cpwill]

Oh! Oh! I got it, Sun Tzu.

Sun Tzu was not a person; he was rather a collection of the various wisdom of Legalist generals during the latter Easter Zhou period. furthermore, within Chinese society; the supposed writings (not really his) of Confucious have been far more influential than Sun Tzu; the fall of the confucianist focus led chinese militants to depend more upon figures such as Zeng Goufan.

[eugene40]

Sun Tzu was not a person; he was rather a collection of the various wisdom of Legalist generals during the latter Easter Zhou period. furthermore, within Chinese society; the supposed writings (not really his) of Confucious have been far more influential than Sun Tzu; the fall of the confucianist focus led chinese militants to depend more upon figures such as Zeng Goufan.

Actually I was reading on this the other day... They think now there actually was a general named Sun Tzu who scribed the very first draft of the art of war Not the entire thing that we can get at any decent book store.. that does have the ad ons from several other generals and philosophers of military tactics. But apparently there actually was one... but he gets the credit for about a dozen different people that added on to his first work. I need to find that site again...

[cpwill]

if you do; please pass it on; i rather like the Qin dynasty and would be interested in anything you dig up on them of that nature.

[eugene40]

if you do; please pass it on; i rather like the Qin dynasty and would be interested in anything you dig up on them of that nature.


Cool,,,, I will see if I can find the site again.... when I do I will let you know. And of all the dynasty it was an interesting one.

[cpwill]

true; i always find it interesting when parralleling chinese reunification dynasty's.

[Kong]

central figure of the human race is a stretch... but it would be pretty easy to argue that Jesus is the most influential human that's ever existed, whether it's warranted or not.
I would argue that Moses was far more influential to the human race than Jesus.

[cpwill]

i would argue that since Moses helped to found a single nation, and not even a very powerful one, you would be incorrect.

[Kong]

i would argue that since Moses helped to found a single nation, and not even a very powerful one, you would be incorrect.
If you consider that Moses is the founding father of the beliefs that lead to Judaism, Christianity and Islam I am correct. What does nation building have to do with your argument? Did Jesus start up various powerful nations thereby surpassing the influence Moses has had on the human race?

Moses championed the belief in a single god and fought against idol worship and other superstitious practices. Moses brought about a fundamental change greater than any other single person in the history of humanity did.

Wrong, Jesus is not the central figure of the human race. Jesus is the central figure of Christianity. From my limited understanding of human history I surmise there is no single central figure of the human race.

[Entz]

You fools.. NONE Of us would be on Earth if it wasn't for Lucifer... it was because of him we ended up on Earth instead of heaven :) . Since he was an angle though.. we will name Adam the man of millenia... he fathered us all. He was the first guy spreading the good word to his offspring

[Miss Kitty]

If you consider that Moses is the founding father of the beliefs that lead to Judaism, Christianity and Islam I am correct. What does nation building have to do with your argument? Did Jesus start up various powerful nations thereby surpassing the influence Moses has had on the human race?

Moses championed the belief in a single god and fought against idol worship and other superstitious practices. Moses brought about a fundamental change greater than any other single person in the history of humanity did.

Wrong, Jesus is not the central figure of the human race. Jesus is the central figure of Christianity. From my limited understanding of human history I surmise there is no single central figure of the human race.

Actually, it was Abraham who was the founding father of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Judaism/Chistianity through Isaac, the son of his wife (sister) Sara and Islam through the Ishmael, the son a Hagar, Sara's slave.


So I would say Abrahm has had a very profound effect on the world.

[cpwill]

If you consider that Moses is the founding father of the beliefs that lead to Judaism, Christianity and Islam I am correct.

when you take a look at actual biblical scholarship and realize that no he isn't; no you aren't :).

What does nation building have to do with your argument?

that's the single thing that moses did that had most of an impact. although here of course he would have to share credit with a few others.

Did Jesus start up various powerful nations thereby surpassing the influence Moses has had on the human race?

Jesus has been the central figure in multiple powerful nations; but most especially europe; which, as you will recall, in recent centuries, went out and conquered the world.

Moses championed the belief in a single god and fought against idol worship and other superstitious practices.

such an idea was already in existance, and if you accept the biblical account, always had been.

Moses brought about a fundamental change greater than any other single person in the history of humanity did.

no he didn't, the only change he brought within the jewish people was the establishment of basis for the legal code.

Wrong, Jesus is not the central figure of the human race. Jesus is the central figure of Christianity.

:shrug: he remains it's most divisive and most powerful figure.

[JoeR]

considering all the nations that claimed to have him as the centerpiece flew blatantly in the face of his teachings, I would question just how much of an influence Jesus had. I'd make a case for Constantine co-opting Christianity for political purposes would be one of the most influential things to have happened.

[cpwill]

:shrug: you still can't coopt or misuse christianity without Christ. you have to have the true form before you can have the perversion.

[JoeR]

The he perversion was more influential than the actual true form though. I would compare it to whomever actually invented the telescope and Galileo who improved it and used it for astronomy, and hence made more of a difference.(not saying the perversion was an improvement of course)

At least some people are really trying to get back to the true form of Christianity. True Christianity I have no issue with.