Some of you don't get it about what Christianity really is and why it works everywhere it is tried, and why it is the ONLY solution to the problems we face today (not just the jews, but everything else.)
Let me try to summarize my thoughts with a few ideas that should lead you to the right conclusion.
Number 1: Jesus prayed, "THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE, ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN." Do I need to translate that for you? When Jesus prays for X, does X happen or does it not? Quite literally, that prayer, the prayer he tells us to copy and emulate, is asking for God to manifest his will on THIS earth, at THIS time, among US.
Number 2: Jesus condemned the Pharisees and others of the day, but the most vicious condemnation were things like "You deny your parents food and shelter because you've promised your wealth to the temple" or "you strain at gnats (which are unclean) but you forget all about feeding the hungry."
Number 3: Jesus didn't speak very often about things that weren't obviously important to the people of his age. And when he did speak about esoteric stuff, he was always talking about things we should already be doing. Sowing and harvesting wheat, fishing, separating goats and sheep, finding lost coins and lost sheep, etc... Go look back at his teachings. At the surface level it was all about taking care of people's actual needs and not denying oneself of the necessities of life. At the deeper level, it was all about teaching others how to do the same.
Number 4: The earliest records of the church Jesus established and how it operated are found in the Acts of the Apostles. In it, it becomes clear that the church did 2 important things: (1) Preaching the gospel, and (2) feeding and caring for the poor. It's very easy to see which churches are actually "walking the walk" because they literally feed and clothe and shelter people all the while doing missionary work in proclaiming the gospel. Are those two separate things or are they one and the same? What good is it to baptize a man if he is starving to death, or why should we fill our belly and not consider the weightier matters of sin and salvation? Both go together.
Number 5: The nature of Jesus is that he is God and he is Man. He is literally all the esoteric ideas about what God is, but embodied in physical form, so much so that he even experienced suffering and eventually death. What was he trying to show us? That we are supposed to deny ourselves of our humanity, endure suffering pointlessly and die? No, that THIS WORLD is extremely important to him, so much so that he would die that he can redeem it.
Compare Christianity in its core actions, the things it DOES, and you see a religion that out-competes all the other world religions in the aspects it matters.
Why are Christians wealthy? Because we do not think poverty is a virtue, and we work our butts off to secure our own wealth as well as the wealth of others.
Why are Christians healthy? Because we do not think sickness is a virtue, and we work our butts off to become healthy, stay healthy, and heal the sick.
So on and so forth.
THIS WORLD is going to be the Kingdom of God. Many, many parables and prophecies point to this fact over and over again.
We are not here to deny ourselves of humanity, but to fully embrace it, as Jesus taught us to do. Become the full measure of a man, capable in every aspect of life, like Jesus was.
This isn't esoteric bullshit. It's literally "Build your house, sew your clothes, and eat good food because THIS is the kingdom God wants to build on the earth." And then get others to do the same.
We are meant to face ALL of life's challenges head-on, overcome them, and persevere until we become conquerors and victors. Not sit around and complain about how selfish the boomers were or how hard life is. Keep DOING the work, don't talk about it, just DO IT.
So get back to work. Your work is not meaningless and pointless. Every physical thing you do is literally for the glory of God and building his kingdom on earth!
Let me try to summarize my thoughts with a few ideas that should lead you to the right conclusion.
Number 1: Jesus prayed, "THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE, ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN." Do I need to translate that for you? When Jesus prays for X, does X happen or does it not? Quite literally, that prayer, the prayer he tells us to copy and emulate, is asking for God to manifest his will on THIS earth, at THIS time, among US.
Number 2: Jesus condemned the Pharisees and others of the day, but the most vicious condemnation were things like "You deny your parents food and shelter because you've promised your wealth to the temple" or "you strain at gnats (which are unclean) but you forget all about feeding the hungry."
Number 3: Jesus didn't speak very often about things that weren't obviously important to the people of his age. And when he did speak about esoteric stuff, he was always talking about things we should already be doing. Sowing and harvesting wheat, fishing, separating goats and sheep, finding lost coins and lost sheep, etc... Go look back at his teachings. At the surface level it was all about taking care of people's actual needs and not denying oneself of the necessities of life. At the deeper level, it was all about teaching others how to do the same.
Number 4: The earliest records of the church Jesus established and how it operated are found in the Acts of the Apostles. In it, it becomes clear that the church did 2 important things: (1) Preaching the gospel, and (2) feeding and caring for the poor. It's very easy to see which churches are actually "walking the walk" because they literally feed and clothe and shelter people all the while doing missionary work in proclaiming the gospel. Are those two separate things or are they one and the same? What good is it to baptize a man if he is starving to death, or why should we fill our belly and not consider the weightier matters of sin and salvation? Both go together.
Number 5: The nature of Jesus is that he is God and he is Man. He is literally all the esoteric ideas about what God is, but embodied in physical form, so much so that he even experienced suffering and eventually death. What was he trying to show us? That we are supposed to deny ourselves of our humanity, endure suffering pointlessly and die? No, that THIS WORLD is extremely important to him, so much so that he would die that he can redeem it.
Compare Christianity in its core actions, the things it DOES, and you see a religion that out-competes all the other world religions in the aspects it matters.
Why are Christians wealthy? Because we do not think poverty is a virtue, and we work our butts off to secure our own wealth as well as the wealth of others.
Why are Christians healthy? Because we do not think sickness is a virtue, and we work our butts off to become healthy, stay healthy, and heal the sick.
So on and so forth.
THIS WORLD is going to be the Kingdom of God. Many, many parables and prophecies point to this fact over and over again.
We are not here to deny ourselves of humanity, but to fully embrace it, as Jesus taught us to do. Become the full measure of a man, capable in every aspect of life, like Jesus was.
This isn't esoteric bullshit. It's literally "Build your house, sew your clothes, and eat good food because THIS is the kingdom God wants to build on the earth." And then get others to do the same.
We are meant to face ALL of life's challenges head-on, overcome them, and persevere until we become conquerors and victors. Not sit around and complain about how selfish the boomers were or how hard life is. Keep DOING the work, don't talk about it, just DO IT.
So get back to work. Your work is not meaningless and pointless. Every physical thing you do is literally for the glory of God and building his kingdom on earth!
people who go "i'm an atheist, but i can see why Christianity works" are especially telling. they've made a conscious effort to deny God and still can't get away from His simple, reasonable truth.
Like, literally the last thing Jesus cared about was what specific points of doctrine people believed in. At best, he would ask them if they had "faith". We interpret that word today as "a belief in something" but back then it was more like the word "trust" or even "loyalty". He was asking them, "Do you trust me?" or "Are you loyal to me? Are you willing to do what I tell you to do?" If so -- congratulations you can be healed. If not -- Jesus can't help you anyway.