It was very special spit.
Then again it was a witness account.
Did the witness actually hear the words exchanged?
Perhaps, that spit in the eye, had to do with something altogether different, than the witnesses wanted to relay? 
What makes me suspicious is that I am promised eternal life AFTER I die and then all the excuses to follow for why they can’t offer evidence for this. For example, my body will still be here, rotting in the ground. So nobody is able to check if I’m actually not dead any more. And I’ll go to a place right next to the farm where mom sent Fido 40 years ago and he still lives happily to this day, but it’s way too far away for us to get to so we can’t go see him and you can’t come see me. And if they don’t deliver what am I going to do? Sue them for breach of contract? You have to be “not dead” to sue someone. So there is literally zero possible consequence for them.
An amusing thought. A couple of years ago I saw a “zombie fortress” for sale, probably on thisiswhyimbroke.com. They guaranteed that it was 100% zombie proof with a money back guarantee. If a zombie ever got through the defenses of this fortress they would give you a full refund, no questions asked! That’s kind of what they’re selling here. I just have to give them 10% of my income (PRETAX! Don’t go cheating God!), plus offerings, plus participate in fundraisers, plus pay to send my kids to camps during the summer, plus the odd special need here and there, like when the church needs a new roof and, since the church is for its members, the members should pay for it, not the church funds, plus my time, plus my unquestioning obedience, plus work hard to bring other sources of income…um…parishioners into the fold and that’s it! Just that all-consuming, life long commitment plus a shitload of cash and I get eternal life…after I die… What do I have to lose???
Nice history lesson W. I think the Catholics next move for survival is to start selling the things they’ve stolen from world and keep in the Vatican basement. This will fund their charity do they can claim good works
Oh, the Catholic Church isn’t hurting one bit. They own a good share of the hospitals in the US. They’re buying up hospitals left and right as part of their “charity work”. Yet Catholic hospitals do less charity care than average. A hospital can make a ton of cash and still be “not for profit” if they funnel it right into golden pope thrones because everyone knows that Jesus wouldn’t amass wealth without a good and noble reason benefiting all of mankind.
Absolutely.
Does it matter? Not in the slightest.
Religion doesn’t rely on logic, it relies on faith.
Intelligence, education, critical thinking skills, logical rationalization can completely destroy just about every single religion that exists, with the exception of some that are philosophical practices as opposed to those based on deism.
But Faith can counter all of those things. Faith doesn’t need to be rational. Faith doesn’t need to be logical. It just needs to exist.
For the faithful, religion can serve as a catch all solution to the unanswerable questions.
Brian: "Religion doesn’t rely on logic, it relies on faith."Lots of substance packed in that statement.
Good luck using logic and rational thought to change the mind of someone who used neither to get where they are.
Brian: "For the faithful, religion can serve as a catch all solution to the unanswerable questions."The goal is to convince people they don't need ultimate answers or happy answers to live a good and happy life. Not knowing or knowing things aren't how you want shouldn't trigger an emotional response: we should just shrug it off.
What makes me suspicious is that I am promised eternal life AFTER I dieAnd you don't even get to take your body along, I mean, like what good is living, if you don't have a body to do it with?
CC: "And you don’t even get to take your body along, I mean, like what good is living, if you don’t have a body to do it with?"It's actually good marketing. I mean, if I died of cancer or in a car crash, why would I want to keep the cancerous or smashed-up husk that held my spirit?
This sales pitch is especially attractive to those in the lowest economic/social levels of society since they are most likely to suffer from health issues. Tell a sick or starving person they can be free of a body that gets sick or hungry and you have a convert.
David Brooks recently said in a op-ed that it will take a generation to get out of this “epistemological crisis” we are in. Before I was born, we released the power of the atom and have been dealing with the consequences. Now, we’ve released the power of changing minds. It was fine as a local power that would come and go with the latest con man (usually a man). Now it’s a genie in the internet that can be summoned if you have enough bandwidth and enough fake accounts. It’s that knife edge we continually ride where we figure out how things work just as we are gaining the maturity to handle using them.
Wow, deep, don’t think about it too much.