Thread by @PnictogenHorses

we chose the example of a *stone* as a personal anchor (or an idol) with an eye towards _stone_ iconography in Christianity, of course: even @jordanbpeterson, if he's sober enough, might remember that stones are important in Christian symbolism. "Peter" means "stone".

(cont'd)

https://twitter.com/PnictogenHorses/status/1639305923020861441

to cite Strong's Biblical Greek lexicon:

biblehub.com/greek/4074.htm

_petros_ as a Greek word for "stone" or "rock" is what gives us English words like petroleum (literally "stone oil") and petrology (the study of rocks.) and they also gave the Gospels a certain *joke*.

(cont'd)

the Gospels are rather dreary and humorless documents for the most part, but there's a joke in them: the Incarnation teases Peter with his own name, in Matthew 16:18, saying roughly: "on this rock (i.e Peter himself) I will build my church."

biblehub.com/matthew/16-18.…

(cont'd)

the Christians (especially fanatics like @MattWalshBlog and @Franklin_Graham and the @GOP crooks) will say that this one line is somehow proof that #Christianity is *necessary* and that we should all be forced to worship Jesus's corpse on a cross; others would disagree.

(cont'd)

Catholics and Orthodox churches, who assert the necessity of "apostolic succession" (i.e. a purportedly unbroken line of church authority from a first pope or high priest) claim that Jesus's jest about Peter is equivalent to anointing him the first Christian priest.

(cont'd)

again, this is...debatable. Christianity rests on a set of extremely tenuous assumptions and extrapolations from its own founding documents—none of which explicitly call for the establishment of a definite body of worship and ritual. the Gospels are not like the Quran.

(cont'd)

the central religious duties of Islam are explicitly set forth in the Quran (q.v. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Pill… and the Hadith of Gabriel); there's no equivalent in the Christian scriptures—there's no definite establishment of any religious duties or pattern of worship.

(cont'd)

ceremonial Christianity interprets the story of the Last Supper as instructions for a particular ritual, namely the (spiritually cannibalistic) ritual consumption of the Body and Blood of Christ, i.e. the administration of the Eucharist. other Christians reject this.

(cont'd)

the *shapelessness* of Christianity (vs. Judaism and Islam which are much *better specified* as religions) cannot be overemphasized. there's a good reason why American Christian leaders tend to be mere worldly celebrities—any crook, even @DouthatNYT, can assert "faith".

(cont'd)

Christianity may regard itself as a Rock of Ages but in fact Christianity is *mushy* as a religion. it's all about personalities and individuals and *feelings*. why does @PastorMark (say) think he's God's best friend? because he feels that he is, and feels it strongly.

(cont'd)

this highly personalized and individualized sort of faith isn't necessarily a *bad* thing—except that @PastorMark and @MattWalshBlog and the rest of these fanatical Christian bigots seem to think that the whole world ought to honor their *feelings* about what's sacred.

(cont'd)

that's really what @MattWalshBlog &c. want from @RonDeSantisFL and other fascist politicians...mere _validation_.

~Mona Drafter of Pnictogen

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