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marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
Posted - 05/05/2009 : 22:57:52 [Permalink]
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dglas wrote: | What do you think it would look like if we lost control of a conceptual tool, forgot that it's a tool; what do you think it would look like? |
I think that's how a lot of religions get started.
This whole conversation is reminding me that the Bible just can't and never should be taken literally, and that religious people need to be humble enough to recognize that their interpretations of scripture are much like interpretations of fiction - entirely subjective and not the only "right" way of looking at it. |
"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
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| Edited by - marfknox on 05/05/2009 22:58:17 |
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Simon
SFN Regular
USA
1992 Posts |
 Posted - 05/06/2009 : 07:53:56 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Zebra
So, was it God the Father who placed the homunculus Jesus into Mary's uterus, or was it the Holy Spirit? And if the claims of trinity are true then how is either of those descriptions any different from simply saying, "Jesus impregnated his own mother"?
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Eeew, divine incest!
I never thought about it that way but eeeeew...
Very Greco-Roman of him (yes, I know, incest is part of many mythology, including the Bible itself, but, I find it funny). |
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
Carl Sagan - 1996 |
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Zebra
Skeptic Friend
USA
354 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2009 : 13:24:49 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by marfknox
dglas wrote: | What do you think it would look like if we lost control of a conceptual tool, forgot that it's a tool; what do you think it would look like? |
I think that's how a lot of religions get started.
This whole conversation is reminding me that the Bible just can't and never should be taken literally, and that religious people need to be humble enough to recognize that their interpretations of scripture are much like interpretations of fiction - entirely subjective and not the only "right" way of looking at it.
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Rule books, laws, and contracts (covenants) require literal reading.
Mythology, fiction, & poetry don't require, and don't benefit from, literal interpretations.
The Bible "can't" be taken literally because of the internal contradictions. (Those who don't believe in the supernatural may also describe other reasons they/we feel it "can't" be taken literally.)
Whether or not it "should" be taken literally is a different matter, & depends on one's assumptions about its source & the "legal vs. lyrical" purpose as above.
Edited to change section bolded, and remove a redundant redunancy.
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| Edited by - Zebra on 05/06/2009 14:46:58 |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2009 : 17:12:12 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Zebra
Rule books, laws, and contracts (covenants) require literal reading.
Mythology, fiction, & poetry don't require, and don't benefit from, literal interpretations.
The Bible "can't" be taken literally because of the internal contradictions. (Those who don't believe in the supernatural may also describe other reasons they/we feel it "can't" be taken literally.)
Whether or not it "should" be taken literally is a different matter, & depends on one's assumptions about its source & the "legal vs. lyrical" purpose as above. |
I'd add that parts of the bible were meant to be taken literally as law, history, religious prescriptions, statements about nature, genealogy, etc. And some parts were meant to be taken as poetry, others as parable. There was no lead editor to make sure this anthology of tall tales was even self-consistent, never mind consistent with reality.
It's really a mess. Most of it is bad fiction posing as fact. Perhaps if it had always been presented wholly as a work of fiction, it would now be held in esteem right up there with the very worst historical fiction. But instead, it's not only on the non-fiction shelves, it's held to be "inerrant," unlike most real nonfiction books.
It's clear where L. Ron Hubbard, another second-rate novelist, got his inspiration for his own works of scripture.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Why are virgin conception & resurrection so key?
