Every week in Catholic Sunday school, our teachers would read a passage from our text books. The passages were interpretations of lessons in the bible, similar to the ones talked about in class today. There wouldn't be more than a few quotes to support the main issue of the story, and looking back I think that was a problem.
Maybe its because we were children that they thought we could not think for ourselves. I knew the Bible existed, of course, but we never read straight from it until about 7th grade. I was shocked when I read about The Great Flood and the Garden of Eden. These were moments where God was absolutely pissed at the humans, and wanted the flood to wash away everything except a male and female of each worthy species, so the world could start fresh. I saw that these stories were not anything like the silly cartoons of cute pigs and giraffe's on a boat smiling. I didn't know that "God purified the earth for you" meant only the good were quarantined. I never knew the reason why those creatures were on the ship, but was told that they just were. The 7th grade classroom was full of "God loves you!" and "Jesus makes me new again!" and here I was with the fear of God in me.
How can you love and trust someone with that much power without constantly fearing for your life? Where is there comfort in obliging to demands, and should you mess up, you could be responsible for the extinction of your species...(makes me wonder what the dinosaurs did... ; ) )
I know God decided the situation was bad and maybe the best solution was to start again. He didn't like the way the world was headed and stopped it before it went any further. Or so I've been told.
My point is that we can't trust one filter, we need many. We need to (if possible) look at the actual information ourselves and draw our own conclusions. When we need help, we need an unbiased expert. It is not necessary that we agree or change our believes, but we must try to understand what is really happening or why some people think a certain interpretation is correct.
The "Jesus" and "God" I was taught seems to be changing into someone else, and I just want to know the truth.
In regards to wanting to know the truth, I think that the Crossan book can be very helpful as far as Jesus is concerned. Of course, there are still significant parts of Jesus' life which are unchronicled, and which we can only guess at, but on a whole it seems that we can reconstruct a relatively clear picture of who he was and what he did.
ReplyDeleteGod, though, is a different matter. As God's actions are a matter of theology rather than history, we cannot simply find evidence of them through archeology or careful reading of historical texts. This unverifiability of God is, I think, one of the most significant issues dividing theists and atheists; as the reality of God has to be taken on faith rather than historical evidence, some people reject the idea, and others support it. Honestly, though, I think that the way this requires faith is a good thing; if God was a matter of fact rather than conjecture, religion would basically be another science, rather than a matter of belief - which is what makes it interesting to me.
P.S. I also posted this on my blog if you'd rather read it there.
Very true, Avery.
DeleteIt makes me wonder if we shall ever find historical evidence of the existence of God. Has God ever walked on Earth as a tangible creature, or is God just an invisible spirit whose existence can never be confirmed.
I'm curious though, what do you think about the creation of the 10 Commandments? It was said that God inscribed the Commandments on stone tablets and gave them to Moses. This is a direct encounter with God, and the event is recorded in the Bible. What do you think about instances like this? What about similar encounters?
"This unverifiability of God is, I think, one of the most significant issues dividing theists and atheists; as the reality of God has to be taken on faith rather than historical evidence, some people reject the idea, and others support it."
^ I can't agree more. Maybe it's just something we'll never know.
As Pilate said - "What is truth?"
ReplyDeleteThe story of the Flood, as you've pointed out, is particularly terrifying - all life on earth (with the exception of a few representatives) is wiped out because of human iniquity. The Flood story is particularly indicative of the value of reading biblical texts metaphorically rather than literally.
As I'm getting older, I'm starting to realize that maybe these stories were meant to be taken metaphorically, rather than the assurance I was given from teachers that things did happen.
DeleteIt makes me wonder where the line is drawn between what is to be taken literally and metaphorically. What about the punishment of sins in the eternal flames. Is Hell a metaphor?