Interesting piece here talking about how people read the bible, as historical fact and edict from god as written or as ancient mythology that can provide some comfort to people who long for existence beyond this life as well as some stories for how to treat others and live a pious life. The author makes many great points detailing how it cannot be possible to interpret the bible literally, there are just too many issues. But once you make that first step into not believing the bible is the literal word of god, the whole christian faith breaks down. It is imperative as a christian to believe that Jesus is the son of god and that his "miracles" indeed happened or there is no point. Either he was divinely begotten to a virgin, crucified and resurrected from the dead or he was not. If he was, then the bible should be read literally and we should grapple with the inconsistencies, contradictions and lack of evidence as it is written. If he was not, then there is no point to the scripture in my point of view. There are just as many sinister, evil passages as there are ones of hope and inspiration. There are plenty of other books that can help people find direction and purpose in their lives without screwing up the world for the rest of us who are happy just being. The people who read the bible literally are the ones preventing the human race from reaching its full potential in this universe. The people who don't take it literally but still call themselves christians are enabling the literalists and giving credence to their point of view by allowing it to still pervade our public discourse and influence politics, education, research and a wide range of social and scientific issues. We need more (secular) humanists in this world. As per Wikipedia, secular humanism is an ideology which espouses reason, ethics and justice whilst specifically rejecting supernatural and religious dogma as a basis of morality and decision making. People who are more concerned with collective human well-being as opposed to people who are only concerned with the well-being of the members of their particular religion over the well-being of others...
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Collective Human Well-Being
The Bible: History or Myth?
Interesting piece here talking about how people read the bible, as historical fact and edict from god as written or as ancient mythology that can provide some comfort to people who long for existence beyond this life as well as some stories for how to treat others and live a pious life. The author makes many great points detailing how it cannot be possible to interpret the bible literally, there are just too many issues. But once you make that first step into not believing the bible is the literal word of god, the whole christian faith breaks down. It is imperative as a christian to believe that Jesus is the son of god and that his "miracles" indeed happened or there is no point. Either he was divinely begotten to a virgin, crucified and resurrected from the dead or he was not. If he was, then the bible should be read literally and we should grapple with the inconsistencies, contradictions and lack of evidence as it is written. If he was not, then there is no point to the scripture in my point of view. There are just as many sinister, evil passages as there are ones of hope and inspiration. There are plenty of other books that can help people find direction and purpose in their lives without screwing up the world for the rest of us who are happy just being. The people who read the bible literally are the ones preventing the human race from reaching its full potential in this universe. The people who don't take it literally but still call themselves christians are enabling the literalists and giving credence to their point of view by allowing it to still pervade our public discourse and influence politics, education, research and a wide range of social and scientific issues. We need more (secular) humanists in this world. As per Wikipedia, secular humanism is an ideology which espouses reason, ethics and justice whilst specifically rejecting supernatural and religious dogma as a basis of morality and decision making. People who are more concerned with collective human well-being as opposed to people who are only concerned with the well-being of the members of their particular religion over the well-being of others...
Interesting piece here talking about how people read the bible, as historical fact and edict from god as written or as ancient mythology that can provide some comfort to people who long for existence beyond this life as well as some stories for how to treat others and live a pious life. The author makes many great points detailing how it cannot be possible to interpret the bible literally, there are just too many issues. But once you make that first step into not believing the bible is the literal word of god, the whole christian faith breaks down. It is imperative as a christian to believe that Jesus is the son of god and that his "miracles" indeed happened or there is no point. Either he was divinely begotten to a virgin, crucified and resurrected from the dead or he was not. If he was, then the bible should be read literally and we should grapple with the inconsistencies, contradictions and lack of evidence as it is written. If he was not, then there is no point to the scripture in my point of view. There are just as many sinister, evil passages as there are ones of hope and inspiration. There are plenty of other books that can help people find direction and purpose in their lives without screwing up the world for the rest of us who are happy just being. The people who read the bible literally are the ones preventing the human race from reaching its full potential in this universe. The people who don't take it literally but still call themselves christians are enabling the literalists and giving credence to their point of view by allowing it to still pervade our public discourse and influence politics, education, research and a wide range of social and scientific issues. We need more (secular) humanists in this world. As per Wikipedia, secular humanism is an ideology which espouses reason, ethics and justice whilst specifically rejecting supernatural and religious dogma as a basis of morality and decision making. People who are more concerned with collective human well-being as opposed to people who are only concerned with the well-being of the members of their particular religion over the well-being of others...
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