/lit/ - Literature

>>18955360
Just wank to what you remember. Remember to cum in the cunt in his side that the spear of destiny created.

>>18955360
the gospels are gonna be shorter than any book doing that

>>18955360
When you have the time, read picrel too.

>>18955360
If you don't agree with David Bentley Hart, you're NGMI.

how do christians cope with the fact that the rise of christianity and why it survived can be explained historically, like the rise of communism or any other ideology? There's nothing unexplainable and metaphysical about the process, just like there's nothing supernatural about all the other religions that have perished

>>18955432
yes you are right, it can be explained historically. A man claimed to be God, spoke great wisdom and performed many miracles, died and rose again, therefore many people became dedicated to him and spent their lives trying to convince others of his greatness, mission and divinity.

>>18955378
But after reading the gospels, will you know what the message of Jesus was? I've never really understood it, and considering that the different christian churches / sects have very different opinions even on the basic tenets (e.g. what's exactly being saved consists of, and how to be saved), I think no one can say he has understood it for sure. By reading secondary stuff you will at least see a coherent theory someone else with a lot of time and interest has formed for himself.

>>18955360
read the baltimore catechism. Designed for schoolchildren so probably a zoomer could read it, especially if you find a youtube channel that reads it out loud for you.

https://www.catholicity.com/baltimore-catechism/

>>18955470
>performed many miracles, died and rose again
proof?

>>18956865
Everything we know about Jesus’s opinion comes from the gospels, everything else is people’s opinions. There literally is nothing beyond the gospels, that’s it

>>18958150
Abundant historical record compiled into and know as the New Testament.

>>18955360
GO TO A CHURCH AND ASK THEM TO HELP YOU. You cannot do Christianity separately from the Church.

>>18958182
Go to a church? I don't even leave my room.

>>18958179
>The accounts of the Gospels, including the empty tomb and the appearances of the risen Jesus to his followers, have been interpreted and analyzed in diverse ways, and have been seen variously as historical accounts of a literal event, as accurate accounts of visionary experiences, as non-literal eschatological parables, and as fabrications of early Christian writers, among various other interpretations. One hypothesis, for example, that Jesus did not die on the cross, that the empty tomb was the result of Jesus' body having been stolen, or, as was common with Roman crucifixions, that Jesus was never entombed.
oh no no no no christian bros, it seems that we got too cocky

>>18955360

>>18955360
Truth matters by Walter j. Veith

As others have mentioned, read the four Gospels.

After that, I highly recommend Pope Benedict XVI's Jesus of Nazareth series. There's three books that will walk you through the Gospels again, with Benedict commenting and praying throughout on the story. They do a really good job about explaining Jesus Christ to someone without much scholarly or theological experience. I love them and highly recommend them.

>>18958470
Did you just quote Wikipedia? lmao

>>18959495
Literally all of the church father's held conflicting views, and the truth is not bound by time.

Bernard McGinn, Christian Mysticism

>>18955360
I watch bible videos on youtube meant for little kids to watch to learn about Jesus
https://youtu.be/mc-x4qKY6Wc
This channel has been really helpful to me. It's really boiled down yeah but that's what makes it digestible to noobs.

>>18959920
That's based Anon. As a general rule nobody recommend the OP anything complex or intricate. Don't throw the Summa or the City of God at him. He's a beginner, he needs stuff for beginners. If he wants the deeper cuts of Christianity he can read those later, when he's further in. Christianity is a religion for both the simple and the brilliant.

>>18959495
I like the infographic, it's quite good. Calling Augustine 'close to the time of Jesus Christ', however, is like calling me close to the time of Henry VIII.

Hopko’s lectures on the Sermon on the Mount are really good.
Rosary encapsulates 15 mysteries that can teach you a lot.
Pray to the Holy Spirit for eyes and ears.

>>18959966
>Rosary encapsulates 15 mysteries that can teach you a lot.

This is actually really excellent. The Rosary has all the core prayers of Christianity: the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Glory Be, the Creed. Its Mysteries take you through the Gospels and meditate upon the life of Christ. Unlike some people, I actually love the Luminous Mysteries too, because if you add them to the original three Mysteries you have essentially gone through the entire story of Jesus in the span of a week. The Rosary is really great, I recommend praying it every day.

>>18955360
Read Luther’s small catechism, then his large catechism when you get the gist.

Watch videos on YouTube from the “Bible Project” to get overall understanding of Bible literacy.

Christianity is all about building up your biblical literacy and cursory reading of the Bible while at the same time studying basic doctrine, keeping the two balanced.

>>18959984
Rosary is what got me back into Christianity. I found a copy of Stories of the Rose “by accident” and kept going from there. I could talk about it all day, just don’t want to lay it on too thick and spook OP.

>>18955360
Just read Mathews, it's short and designed for non-Christians.

>>18955360
Catechism of the Catholic Church

alternatively the Baltimore Catechism if you want something pre-Vatican 2

>>18960102
I want to hear the spooky stories

>>18961378
More like spooking in the sense that potential converts are a very elusive game ;)
I got Thai food one day and the delivery man gave me a copy of The Heart of Buddhist Meditation, “for no reason.” I read it and went pretty far down that path. I eventually joined a group that did samatha meditation and went pretty far with that. I also read a bunch, not just a bunch of pali suttas but also mahayana stuff. I got pretty into the lotus sutra. I started looking into pure land stuff after that. There is a pdf of Three Pure Land Sutras out there. The middle one is straight up visualization/path working if you have studied occultism. The third sutra on Samantabhadra in the lotus sutra is also like this.
Keep in mind this all started with some delivery guy giving me some book on a whim.

>>18962420
I’m not going to finish this story any time soon. If someone is dying to hear it leave a request before thread gets archived.

>>18955360
Tolstoy's Gospel in Brief

>>18959953
>thinks Henry VIII is old
zoomer spotted

>>18962685
I have a baby girl! Still not going to finish the story but cigars and brandy to everyone in this thread. The Holy Spirit is real and there’s nothing like it.