A different view from Athens

[VON_CAPO]

Well, the topic is humor from a secular point of view.

I hope this post does not bother anyone. :roll:
But if it does, please, turn back and choose another thread.
If you are a religious person and you decide to remain here and antagonize my posts, it is because you want to create troubles.

This is about Socrates and Jesus, very funny indeed. Enjoy. :lol:

From ---> http://www.unm.edu/~humanism/socvsjes.htm (http://www.unm.edu/%7Ehumanism/socvsjes.htm) (this is just an extract, follow the link for the whole tale).

http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/7739/socjestr3.th.gif (http://img141.imageshack.us/my.php?image=socjestr3.gif)

- Socrates: Good morning, Jesus, I have heard much of your marvelous teachings.
In my own modest way I am a philosopher here in Athens.
I am told you have great wisdom and certainly that is indicated by the throng of admirers that follow you through the streets.
If you have a few moments to spare, I would appreciate it if you would enlighten me with the answers to some of the puzzling problems I have been wrestling with all my life

- Jesus: I am as a fisher of men in my search for followers.
I bring the truth of God to all men.
Seek and you shall find, ask and it shall be answered knock and it shall be open unto to thee.

- Socrates: There is one basic question that has always been uppermost in my mind.
Although it has always been an insurmountable obstacle to me in my search for the truth and meaning, I am sure that with your learning you will find it far to easy and think me a foolish old man.
I have always longed to live honorably and nobly, but it seems that I have merely stumbled through life without even even knowing what was honorable or noble.
With my limited understanding, it often seems to me that life, even with all its sound and fury, really signifies nothing.
Please tell me: How should a man live; what is the purpose of life.

- Jesus: To serve and worship God.

- Socrates: Which God.

- Jesus: There is only one god.

- Socrates: Oh. You should live here in Athens. We have several to choose from.

- Jesus: There is only one true God.

- Socrates: Of course. And which one is the true God?

- Jesus: The true god is Lord God.

- Socrates: Yes. But who is Lord God? Or what is he?

- Jesus: He is the infinity of wisdom, love, compassion, peace, and mercy. He is the creator of heaven and earth all things in the universe.

- Socrates: Of all things?

- Jesus: Yes-all things.
He is omnipotent.
He is master and controller and maker of all things.
He is omnipresent-nothing can happen that he does not know beforehand.

- Socrates: Did he create plagues, wars, death, suffering and evil.

- Jesus: No. These things and all other evils and tragedies come from the Devil, the prince of darkness; or from man's weakness and evil nature.
God is all goodness and free of evil; only good can come from God

- Socrates: And who for gracious sakes is the devil?
Surely he must be a god to be able to visit such powerful calamities on mankind: Yet you have just said there is only one God.
Also you have said that all that exists comes from God: And now you say that only good comes from God and all evil comes from someone called the devil.
These would seem to be contradictions.
I am afraid that your religion is far too complex for this old head to fathom.
Yet I will be an eager student and try hard to understand, if you will but help me.
Please explain: who is the devil and how can all things come from God and yet not come from God?

- Jesus: The Devil is a fallen angel who is ambitious.
He rebelled against God and wants to overthrow all his works.

- Socrates: What in Zeus' name is an angel?

- Jesus: An angel is an angel.

- Socrates: Of course, that's an identity.
Socrates is Socrates. But, you see, it doesn't mean anything to me, inexperienced as I am in your religion.
Although it's true as true can be, it doesn't relate to anything I can understand.
Compare it to something I am familiar with.

- Jesus: An angel is an angel.

- Socrates: Please forgive me for my stolid ignorance.
Understand that I am no authority such as you are.
I have never seen an angel or heard of one.
I am told that you had many strange visions when you wandered in the desert for 40 days without eating.
Pray tell, what do they look like, these angels?

- Jesus: They have wings.

- Socrates: So do gnats. Could you be a little more specific?

- Jesus: They look like people except they have wings.

- Socrates: What else? They can fly, I assume

- Jesus: Yes, that's what the wings are for.

- Socrates: Of course--I might have known.
You say they look like men. How are they different from men?

- Jesus: The are much better than men, and they never die.

- Socrates: How better than men?

- Jesus: More virtuous and more powerful. Much more powerful.

- Socrates: They are super-human, then.

- Jesus: Yes. Absolutely!

- Socrates: Then they are superhuman and they are immortal.
We in Athens would call such beings gods.

- Jesus: No! God is more powerful than they.

- Socrates: So is Zeus to us more powerful than other Olympic gods, but the others are still by definition gods.
How would you define the term God?

- Jesus: God is the creator of all.
He is all power, knowledge, wisdom and the epitome of justice, mercy, compassion, goodness; and peace.

- Socrates: These qualities are, however, not necessarily consistent.
It is not possible for a person to be just, peaceful and merciful, all in one instance or situation.
If a person or a nation deserves punishment by the rule of justice, you must punish him or wage war on them, but this would be a violation of the rule of peace or mercy.
No one being could have all these qualities because they contradict each other; they cannot exist together in the same person at the same time.
It is as though a man had turned both left and right at the same corner at the same time, while still remaining whole and entire.

................... It follows at ---> http://www.unm.edu/~humanism/socvsjes.htm (http://www.unm.edu/%7Ehumanism/socvsjes.htm)

[TteFAboB]

It's not funny at all.

If you had studied anything about Socrates you would've known that he lived a life of extreme similarity to that of Jesus. He reached a truth that nobody else had reached before. For that he was alienated from the rest of society eventually leading to his execution. He knew this would eventually happen. Both his work and that of Jesus stand in the realm of universal truth and they were both individuals who conflicted with their respective historically determined collectivities exactly because of that. This piece proposes antagonism between the two, nothing further from the truth. Sub-illiterate trash.

Next, I do not see neither Socrates nor Jesus being characterized here. There's no greater exclusion than the exclusion of the dead. They cannot speak back and we treat these men of the past as mere objects, we look at them from behind the keyhole instead of opening the door and bringing them to speak with us wondering what they have to say about our opinion of them and what they have to say about us. Instead of analyzing both characters as men of their time, we must prolong their logic untill they reach our time.

The world is not this simple Von_Capo, don't let the weight of reality crush you down, however. Either Socrates or Jesus will help you deal with it.

[Tchocky]

It's not funny at all.

If you had studied anything about Socrates you would've known that he lived a life of extreme similarity to that of Jesus. He reached a truth that nobody else had reached before. For that he was alienated from the rest of society eventually leading to his execution. He knew this would eventually happen. Both his work and that of Jesus stand in the realm of universal truth and they were both individuals who conflicted with their respective historically determined collectivities exactly because of that. This piece proposes antagonism between the two, nothing further from the truth. Sub-illiterate trash.

Next, I do not see neither Socrates nor Jesus being characterized here. There's no greater exclusion than the exclusion of the dead. They cannot speak back and we treat these men of the past as mere objects, we look at them from behind the keyhole instead of opening the door and bringing them to speak with us wondering what they have to say about our opinion of them and what they have to say about us. Instead of analyzing both characters as men of their time, we must prolong their logic untill they reach our time.

The world is not this simple Von_Capo, don't let the weight of reality crush you down, however. Either Socrates or Jesus will help you deal with it.

Do you bring hoses to parades?

[Gizzmoe]

Capo, if you want to ridicule other peoples religions do that somewhere else, not on Subsim.com. We have seen enough of that from you already. For many people religion is an integral part of their life, accept that. Serious discussions about religions are fine, but what you do is something completely different. What you posted here is basically just a more elaborate version of the comics you posted in another thread.

So please stop trolling and stop playing games with moderators. Final warning. I don´t want to see any kind of religious topics from you for a while.

Contact Neal Stevens if you wanna complain about that.