Let it be just religiousness.
Nobody can reduce religiousness to a cult.
That is absolutely impossible.
Without God it is very difficult to reduce a religion to a cult. That's why Christianity is more of a cult than Buddhism.
This is our blessing, because we can look back upon the whole of history. And only fools say that history does not repeat itself; it continuously repeats, unless you prevent it from repeating itself. If you have accepted the idea that history never repeats itself you are not going to prevent it from repeating itself, there is no need. I say to you that it always repeats itself, unless somebody intelligently prevents it.
Judaism, Christianity, Mohammedanism, Hinduism, are all God -- oriented. Jainism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, are not God -- oriented. And the difference can be seen immediately. The God -- oriented religions become cults immediately.
God is a very dangerous concept because in the name of God comes the priesthood.
If there is no God it is very difficult to create a priesthood. In Jainism there is no priesthood. They have to borrow priests from the Hindus for their worldly rituals; for example, marriage. They don't have any priests, their religion is against brahminism. But Hindus have the greatest and the longest-standing priesthood; the most sophisticated, cultured, very solidly based establishment.
Jainas have no priesthood because without God what is the function of the priest? Things are interrelated. God is absolutely needed to create the hierarchy -- then the messiah, then the pope, then the cardinals, then the bishops, then the priest.... And it goes on and on; from the bottom to the peak, so many steps. But they are all possible only if you accept the peak, and the peak is fictitious. God is fictitious.
If I had met Jesus I would have told him, "God is fictitious. I am not denying you anything; I am simply saying that unless you prove God as a fact, your messiahship is out of the question -- so there is no need to deny it, as the Jews are denying it, saying that you are not the messiah, not the true messiah."
Nobody can reduce religiousness to a cult.
That is absolutely impossible.
Without God it is very difficult to reduce a religion to a cult. That's why Christianity is more of a cult than Buddhism.
This is our blessing, because we can look back upon the whole of history. And only fools say that history does not repeat itself; it continuously repeats, unless you prevent it from repeating itself. If you have accepted the idea that history never repeats itself you are not going to prevent it from repeating itself, there is no need. I say to you that it always repeats itself, unless somebody intelligently prevents it.
Judaism, Christianity, Mohammedanism, Hinduism, are all God -- oriented. Jainism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, are not God -- oriented. And the difference can be seen immediately. The God -- oriented religions become cults immediately.
God is a very dangerous concept because in the name of God comes the priesthood.
If there is no God it is very difficult to create a priesthood. In Jainism there is no priesthood. They have to borrow priests from the Hindus for their worldly rituals; for example, marriage. They don't have any priests, their religion is against brahminism. But Hindus have the greatest and the longest-standing priesthood; the most sophisticated, cultured, very solidly based establishment.
Jainas have no priesthood because without God what is the function of the priest? Things are interrelated. God is absolutely needed to create the hierarchy -- then the messiah, then the pope, then the cardinals, then the bishops, then the priest.... And it goes on and on; from the bottom to the peak, so many steps. But they are all possible only if you accept the peak, and the peak is fictitious. God is fictitious.
If I had met Jesus I would have told him, "God is fictitious. I am not denying you anything; I am simply saying that unless you prove God as a fact, your messiahship is out of the question -- so there is no need to deny it, as the Jews are denying it, saying that you are not the messiah, not the true messiah."
hans-wolfgang - am Donnerstag, 22. Juli 2004, 13:36
