Did Christianity get co-opted?

I often feel unseasy around Christians or those wearing crosses as my experience with Christianity is that it is a doctrine based on hierarchy, submission, and punishment. It is fueled by comparison, hate, shame, and fear.

But then I know Christians who swear to me that their experience is all about love. ...how can that be?

Well I recently learned about Gnostic Christianity. This was one of the earlier forms of Christianity and it was much more focused on inner experience and knowledge rather than institutions and punishment. But then, somewhere around 300 ce it shifted. ...it got co-opted.

And that makes perfect sense. We can see now that’s how politicians and “leaders” of all varieties function today. They take something that is very popular among “the people” and twist it and turn it to fit their needs.

Perhaps the tyrants of the day co-opted what Christianity was, and made it conform to their hierarchy, submission, and punishment based structures?

Did Christianity get co-opted?

I often feel unseasy around Christians or those wearing crosses as my experience with Christianity is that it is a doctrine based on hierarchy, submission, and punishment. It is fueled by comparison, hate, shame, and fear.

But then I know Christians who swear to me that their experience is all about love. ...how can that be?

Well I recently learned about Gnostic Christianity. This was one of the earlier forms of Christianity and it was much more focused on inner experience and knowledge rather than institutions and punishment. But then, somewhere around 300 ce it shifted. ...it got co-opted.

And that makes perfect sense. We can see now that’s how politicians and “leaders” of all varieties function today. They take something that is very popular among “the people” and twist it and turn it to fit their needs.

Perhaps the tyrants of the day co-opted what Christianity was, and made it conform to their hierarchy, submission, and punishment based structures?

Did Christianity get co-opted?

I often feel unseasy around Christians or those wearing crosses as my experience with Christianity is that it is a doctrine based on hierarchy, submission, and punishment. It is fueled by comparison, hate, shame, and fear.

But then I know Christians who swear to me that their experience is all about love. ...how can that be?

Well I recently learned about Gnostic Christianity. This was one of the earlier forms of Christianity and it was much more focused on inner experience and knowledge rather than institutions and punishment. But then, somewhere around 300 ce it shifted. ...it got co-opted.

And that makes perfect sense. We can see now that’s how politicians and “leaders” of all varieties function today. They take something that is very popular among “the people” and twist it and turn it to fit their needs.

Perhaps the tyrants of the day co-opted what Christianity was, and made it conform to their hierarchy, submission, and punishment based structures?

And if you cannot articulate your abstract values in material & precise terms, you will have an even harder time to defend them or yourself, when your peace & comfort gets disrupted.

Did Christianity get co-opted?

I often feel unseasy around Christians or those wearing crosses as my experience with Christianity is that it is a doctrine based on hierarchy, submission, and punishment. It is fueled by comparison, hate, shame, and fear.

But then I know Christians who swear to me that their experience is all about love. ...how can that be?

Well I recently learned about Gnostic Christianity. This was one of the earlier forms of Christianity and it was much more focused on inner experience and knowledge rather than institutions and punishment. But then, somewhere around 300 ce it shifted. ...it got co-opted.

And that makes perfect sense. We can see now that’s how politicians and “leaders” of all varieties function today. They take something that is very popular among “the people” and twist it and turn it to fit their needs.

Perhaps the tyrants of the day co-opted what Christianity was, and made it conform to their hierarchy, submission, and punishment based structures?

Did Christianity get co-opted?

I often feel unseasy around Christians or those wearing crosses as my experience with Christianity is that it is a doctrine based on hierarchy, submission, and punishment. It is fueled by comparison, hate, shame, and fear.

But then I know Christians who swear to me that their experience is all about love. ...how can that be?

Well I recently learned about Gnostic Christianity. This was one of the earlier forms of Christianity and it was much more focused on inner experience and knowledge rather than institutions and punishment. But then, somewhere around 300 ce it shifted. ...it got co-opted.

And that makes perfect sense. We can see now that’s how politicians and “leaders” of all varieties function today. They take something that is very popular among “the people” and twist it and turn it to fit their needs.

Perhaps the tyrants of the day co-opted what Christianity was, and made it conform to their hierarchy, submission, and punishment based structures?

Did Christianity get co-opted?

I often feel unseasy around Christians or those wearing crosses as my experience with Christianity is that it is a doctrine based on hierarchy, submission, and punishment. It is fueled by comparison, hate, shame, and fear.

But then I know Christians who swear to me that their experience is all about love. ...how can that be?

Well I recently learned about Gnostic Christianity. This was one of the earlier forms of Christianity and it was much more focused on inner experience and knowledge rather than institutions and punishment. But then, somewhere around 300 ce it shifted. ...it got co-opted.

And that makes perfect sense. We can see now that’s how politicians and “leaders” of all varieties function today. They take something that is very popular among “the people” and twist it and turn it to fit their needs.

Perhaps the tyrants of the day co-opted what Christianity was, and made it conform to their hierarchy, submission, and punishment based structures?

I don't like Captain Kirk and I specifically don't like him due to how he failed to handle the Kobayashi Maru.

The whole point it to test your character, your emotional maturity, to see if you are mature enough to handle the inevitable no-win scenario that life will throw at you. Are you capable of doing the right thing even when you know that the outcome won't go your way?

He failed... massively. He should be ashamed of that.

every second item on my instagram now is advertisement

Painful feelings are mostly the result of the meaning we assign to events, not the events themselves. "She left me & that means I am this that and the other and am doomed to be lonely forever". The pain of having to re-adjust to an existence temporarily less joyful is much smaller.

We can choose what meaning we attach to events, even though it takes time and effort to learn to.

You can love people more when you trust yourself to be able to walk away.

People get so scared of “falling in love” or having intense feelings, romantic or not, for anyone. And I get that, you can get your heart stomped on. But being really into someone, romantically or platonically, is really good for you! It makes your day better when you think about them, it fills you with happy hormones, it just makes life more worth living.

When you get a bit old, and after you’ve already had your heart stomped on a few times, you can get pretty good at knowing when and how to walk away. And once you trust yourself to be able to walk away, then you can really dive into appreciating someone.

Go on and be obsessed. If they become an asshole you can say goodbye. And there is no need to feel bad about it. You gave love because you are a loving person, and they were the ones that lost that.

You can love people more when you trust yourself to be able to walk away.

People get so scared of “falling in love” or having intense feelings, romantic or not, for anyone. And I get that, you can get your heart stomped on. But being really into someone, romantically or platonically, is really good for you! It makes your day better when you think about them, it fills you with happy hormones, it just makes life more worth living.

When you get a bit old, and after you’ve already had your heart stomped on a few times, you can get pretty good at knowing when and how to walk away. And once you trust yourself to be able to walk away, then you can really dive into appreciating someone.

Go on and be obsessed. If they become an asshole you can say goodbye. And there is no need to feel bad about it. You gave love because you are a loving person, and they were the ones that lost that.

You can love people more when you trust yourself to be able to walk away.

People get so scared of “falling in love” or having intense feelings, romantic or not, for anyone. And I get that, you can get your heart stomped on. But being really into someone, romantically or platonically, is really good for you! It makes your day better when you think about them, it fills you with happy hormones, it just makes life more worth living.

When you get a bit old, and after you’ve already had your heart stomped on a few times, you can get pretty good at knowing when and how to walk away. And once you trust yourself to be able to walk away, then you can really dive into appreciating someone.

Go on and be obsessed. If they become an asshole you can say goodbye. And there is no need to feel bad about it. You gave love because you are a loving person, and they were the ones that lost that.

You can love people more when you trust yourself to be able to walk away.

People get so scared of “falling in love” or having intense feelings, romantic or not, for anyone. And I get that, you can get your heart stomped on. But being really into someone, romantically or platonically, is really good for you! It makes your day better when you think about them, it fills you with happy hormones, it just makes life more worth living.

When you get a bit old, and after you’ve already had your heart stomped on a few times, you can get pretty good at knowing when and how to walk away. And once you trust yourself to be able to walk away, then you can really dive into appreciating someone.

Go on and be obsessed. If they become an asshole you can say goodbye. And there is no need to feel bad about it. You gave love because you are a loving person, and they were the ones that lost that.

I've pondered and pondered and am now convinced that the single most important thing in this life is your relationships with others. I just think that's the only thing you take with you when you leave this dumpster fire of a planet.

I've pondered and pondered and am now convinced that the single most important thing in this life is your relationships with others. I just think that's the only thing you take with you when you leave this dumpster fire of a planet.

I've pondered and pondered and am now convinced that the single most important thing in this life is your relationships with others. I just think that's the only thing you take with you when you leave this dumpster fire of a planet.

What happens if I join your community and they don't want to kick me out? Do you run?

Every regulation is a confession: "We don't trust humans to be decent without our guns pointed at them."