I saw a little bit of that documentary a few years ago, but I stopped early as it had way too many lies (or misunderstandings) in it. Even its basic descriptions of past religious figures differed greatly with the basic wikipedia articles. I have a theologian as a father and know enough about history and religion to understand how much that documentary was twisting the truth. But like I said, I didn't watch too much of it. There is a difference between having an open mind and being gullible. You can't be open to absorbing everything as Lurker stated earlier, you need to be capable of filtering it out. A lot of early religions did worship the sun, but this was not related to Christianity as stated in the documentary (although I'm working off memory here). Christianity is more about creating a religion using our misconceptions about Jesus and his teachings as the base (I use the word 'our' as I was raised in the Methodist Church). Protestantism is a little better than Catholicism in this respect, but there are still problems.PassionSoul wrote: Also worth noting is the documentary Zeitgeist which opened my eyes to a new world in front of me, and how it shows that time and time again, our "civilizations" have all worshipped the "sun" and how most religions are based on the stars in the sky. Not saying it's the absolute truth, this movie I mean, but those not firm in their religious convictions, and that have an open mind, must watch this theory.
I can't tell you how confused I was years ago when I started doubting religious doctrine as it didn't make much logical sense. Jesus died for our sins? I didn't realize they required dying for. That part always confused me and now I know why. God was always merciful, He didn't change personalities the way the Old and New Testament changed. Why would He need to sacrifice his Son in order to forgive us? There is no logic in that. That was simply our own misunderstanding of what happened as we still tie, even to this day, the idea of sacrifice into religion. Another issue that confused me was the belief of Jesus being God's only Son. What? Weren't we also God's children? Why was Jesus the only Son anyway? One issue was our misunderstanding of the Trinity (the Universal Father, the Eternal Son, and the Infinite Spirit). I can understand where the misunderstanding came from. The bible rarely ever mentions the Trinity, and Jesus is the only example we had of a Son of God. I think another problem was the early belief that we were the center of the universe. If we were the only living material beings, then it is understandable why we would think we were dealing with a member of the Holy Trinity instead of a Creator Son. When I really thought about it, it became even sillier. Why would a third of the Supreme (I can't remember the name of God the UB uses for what the Trinity makes up),incarnate on earth? That's almost like the Father materializing on a planet, and this is the origin of reality as we know it. It is inconceivable for me.
Sorry for ranting guys
, I just enjoy writing a lot. You have no idea how much the Urantia Book has helped me sort out my personal beliefs and understandings of truth. I can finally match my internal beliefs with an external source. I was never capable of doing that with the Bible, which really hampered my spiritual growth as a teen.