There’s a surprising amount of modern Christian lore that actually comes from The Divine Comedy, the granddaddy of all ascended fanfic.
TootSweet@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Nope. Lots of stuff commonly believed by Christians isn’t from the Bible. (Though sometimes they’ll do a lot of mental gymnastics to assert that what they believe is from “the only reasonable interpretation” of the Bible.)
Just a few other things commonly believed by Christians not (or at least only dubiously) from the Bible:
- The seven deadly sins
- The nine circles of hell
- The seven levels of heaven
- Transubstantiation
- The trinity
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
Droechai@lemm.ee 4 weeks ago
Don’t forget Paradise Lost, also a great hit
jerkface@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
That humans eventually become angels.
Though, there was one human who did, in an apocryphal book. And then was elevated yet again to being a second diety; there were apparently strains of Christianity which were DUOtheistic! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enoch
FourPacketsOfPeanuts@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Matthew 20:30
“At resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.”
I think that’s where the sentiment comes from. It’s explicit in Mormonism (I think). In mainstream Christianity the saved don’t become angels, they become like angels.
jerkface@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
… they become like angels.
In the sense that they no longer have sexual or romantic urges, would be my reading of that passage.
FourPacketsOfPeanuts@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Yes that’s the context - Jesus saying no one will be married in heaven. Either angels are asexual or they’re all male. The latter is a little more likely given all angels in the bible are presented as male. Which if that’s the case has weird implications for what female Christians become when they’re resurrected. Some weird male equivalent? So now we’re “all like the angels”?
Ookami38@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
Want a rabbit hole of apocryphal knowledge, start digging into gnosticism. It’s like more internally consistent Christianity. Also depending on which flavor and particular interpretation, you could arrive at such truths as: Satan runs the church. God(old testament) is an asshole and a fool. Jesus (specifically the divine aspect Christ) is on a rescue mission to save God’s mom, Sophia, from the prison world that is earth, that God made specifically to trap her. Judas is a tragic hero who has to kill his friend, Jesus, so that Christ can escape the prison world.
It’s wild, it’s a more interesting story than Christianity, and I can ABSOLUTELY see why most of these books were branded heresy.
Zozano@lemy.lol 4 weeks ago
my favourite misbelief is that people are already in heaven, and that hell is a ‘place’.
What the bible claims will happen: second coming of Jesus happens; believers are ressurected, believers are raptured, and then war breaks out. Jesus fucks off with the angels and everyone left on Earth is “in hell” (permanently seperated from God).
Everything about hell being a demonic underworld is from Dante’s Divine Comedy.
scbasteve7@lemm.ee 4 weeks ago
Oh so we are all already in hell. Got it.
samus12345@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Zozano@lemy.lol 4 weeks ago
If you’re an atheist: we’re in hell, literally.
If you’re a Christian: we’re where hell will be, when Jesus comes back with cigarettes and half a bottle of bourbon.
LiamMayfair@lemmy.sdf.org 4 weeks ago
I already suspected as much.
SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I love transubstantiation. It’s basically mandatory to believe it to be a catholic. A lot don’t understand it though. But if you find one that does, ask them to explain why it’s not cannibalism.
superkret@feddit.org 5 weeks ago
Well, you see, Jesus is all god, but also all man. And we literally eat his flesh.
But it isn’t cannibalism because … look it just isn’t, OK?
What a weird fucking question!VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Try this - We’re humans, but Jesus is an aasimar. Depending on what rule set he’s on, he’s probably something like a divine soul sorcerer, too.
CetaceanNeeded@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Because shut up, that’s why.
Live_your_lives@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
This is much more of a list of stuff commonly believed by Catholics, not so much by Christianity as a whole.
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 5 weeks ago
The Trinity is clearly taught in the Bible. Sure, not in explicit Athanasius creed form, but Jesus even said “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19).
Notice how “Name” is singular, implying the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is one thing, or at least equal. Jesus is referred to as God, the Father, and the Holy Spirit are also. And it’s made clear that there is one God. The Athanasius Creed is just the Trinity clearly defined in a single text. Clarifying interpretation (like the Nicene Creed).
Seven deadly sins are based off of various sins listed in the Bible, but most of it has kind of been overhyped and overemphasized. It’s useful for giving a rough idea of what sin is, but it’s been meddled with over time.
T156@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Fire and Brimstone Hell is also commonly believed, but not actually in the bible, if I recall right.
Most of the punishment around Hell in the Bible is less about Hell itself, and more about not being able to enter Heaven and join God, and all of that, as oppose to Hell itself being punishment.
Death_Equity@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
The seven heavens is an extension of the seven named heavens of Judaism. Islam also has seven named heavens.
There is a reference to a third heaven in the Bible and a reference of ten heavens in a book that was not included by the Council of Nicaea.
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 5 weeks ago
So is “God helps those who help themselves”
FourPacketsOfPeanuts@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
The sentiment is there though…
2 Thessalonians 3:10 “While we were with you, this we commanded you: If someone won’t work, then neither shall they eat”
Ookami38@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
I always liked Stephen King’s version better. Pray for rain all you want, but dig a well while you wait.
Bassman1805@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Transubstantiation is kind of in the Bible. Matthew 26:26-28
The discussion of transubstantiation is just how literal “my body/blood” is.
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 5 weeks ago
Transubstantiation is the doctrine that it ceases being bread and wine. Which St Paul kind of debunks in his first letter to the Corinthians at Chapter 11, where he refers to it as bread.
“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
What you’re talking about is consubstantiation, which is where the body and blood physically coexist in the bread and wine, which can be derived from the Bible.
yannic@lemmy.ca 4 weeks ago
Is it possible Paul is referring to the accidents, not the substance?