On Magic and Church Inconsistencies

This was a post I made in pinoy exchange...

this is going to sound oh so anti-Catholic...

a. I believe that Jesus' miracles weren't magic. They were extraordinary human experience (for the time) written into prose as symbols. e.g. Lepers weren't cured by Jesus. The definition of a "Leper" in Judea at Jesus' time was anyone with a skin disease, even pimples. If you had a skin disease, you were out-casted from society. If you are out-casted, people spit on you, stay as far away from you as possible, and condemn you because you are sinful. Your nation's law says that you have a skin disease because God hates you. Nobody at all wants to go near you, even less so be your friend. There are no opportunities for a stable job. Even your family is chastised as a sinful family. You fear for your soul, and the souls of your family, but there is absolutely no way you can offer sacrifice to God for forgiveness because... you have no money! Don't you think any ailment will get worse under these circumstances? Won't your rash worsen if untreated and aggravated with psychosomatic symptoms? Now... Jesus comes along and tells you, "I am your friend. God has forgiven your sins. I, the son of God, will dine with you." Don't you think this absolute vindication of all your suffering will result in the automatic dissipation of any psychosomatic and/or stress related illness? Anyway... that's what I mean by science and religion... The miracle there is not magic, but rather the fact that he was cured by the son of God, who befriended a sinner. The statistical possibility of a sinner being approached by anyone at the time is one in a billion. All he needed was some vindication, some love. That's the miracle.

b. All the rules of the Church change... but one thing has remained the same from Jesus' Ministry until today, and that is the fact that Jesus is message and messenger. The concepts of equality, charity, and living simply were always at the very core of Church teaching. It doesn't matter how grand the Basilica in Rome is. The main point is Social Responsibility. That hasn't changed in 2000 years of Church existence.

c. What's sad is that most Christians don't realize the message. Most are so stuck up following moral rules thinking that the end goal is heaven. Heaven isn't the goal... Bringing the kingdom of God to earth is the Goal. Heaven is where you go if you've done enough to try to bring the kingdom to earth.

I hope that was helpful... I'm not sure how helpful that was... thanks for the question though... that got me thinking really hard.