Misquoting Jesus with Bart Ehrman Can There Be Meaning In A World Without God?
Dec 12, 2023
Explore the challenges of finding meaning without God, homemade gifting and ancient philosophies, challenges of deconverting, discovering meaning through understanding oneself and others, origins and purpose of a blog about early Christianity, origins of Jesus' resurrection and growth of the early church, and personal journey of finding meaning after leaving the Christian faith.
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Ancient Life Meaning
- In the ancient world, meaning came from family, friends, and daily life pleasures rather than religious afterlife beliefs.
- Religion aimed to appease gods for survival, not to provide ethical guidance or deep personal meaning.
Philosophy and Ethics
- Ancient philosophical schools, not religion, taught ethics and ways to live a happy, fulfilled life.
- Different schools agreed life’s ultimate goal was happiness, a deep contentment, not shallow pleasure.
Christianity's Afterlife Focus
- Early Christians shifted the goal of happiness to an afterlife with God, viewing earthly suffering as worthwhile.
- This introduced deferred gratification, unlike pagan or Jewish traditions focused mostly on this life.