the legion pig incident (not sure what its really called) is easily the most inscrutable part of the gospel narrative

@georgia it's called the Exorcism of the Gerasene Demoniac. yeah it's kinda weird and probably decontextualised so that nowadays it just comes off as another Jesus aura farming moment

@risperdoll I like to think it means that Jesus was compassionate even to demons. sure this would seem like a contradiction because he wasnt compassionate to the pigs, but usually animals can't know God while demons can. (not in christianity maybe but definitely in hinduism)

@georgia @risperdoll in christianity the consensus is the same iirc

@lizzie @risperdoll oh I like that!

@georgia @risperdoll oh i was talking about the animals not being able to know god. i do agree with that interpretation

actually it being compassion might be consensus but im less confident about that. it is what i grew up with though

@georgia@netzsphaere.xyz @risperdoll@social.xenofem.me fucked up

@georgia @risperdoll i forget the terminology around it but the patristic perspective is basically that the existence of an animal is more of an action that eventually ends instead of a fundamental existence like humans. still, they are part of creation and therefore subject to restoration

@lizzie @risperdoll there is no unified hindu perspective on whether there are fundamentally different kinds of beings (in the form of different souls with different destinies, fuck you madhva in particular) but certainly all monist and many monotheist schools agree with the highest dharma that all are Brahman and ought to be looked upon and treated as such. yoga provides equal vision and a brahmana, a dog, and a dog-eater (kind of outcaste) are viewed by the enlightened with perfect equanimity. personally i believe that all souls are totally equal and it is only their samskaras and karma and bodies and faculties which are different. also I will say that in general hinduism exalts animal life more than any other non-shamanic or indigenous religion. not just with the ideology of ahimsa and lactovegetarianism, and with them being perceived as part of divine immanence but in the many animal forms of devas and their vahanas.

@georgia @risperdoll my own perspective is that, as the maximians say, “incarntion is creation”. as Jesus took on all flesh by taking on flesh as one individual, He also took on life and matter as a whole. everything that exists must be a manifestation of the divine as a result (which is also why evil is considered to have no true existence). also, the lines between humans and animals arent so thick as people might imagine. original sin kinda depends on the idea that the lines between people arent so thick as it seems to some. iirc paul says something along the lines of “humanity is naturally one whole” when talking about it. likewise creation as a whole is considered fallen (except christ’s created nature and the saints in heaven) even if animals do not sin.