| The Paradox of Christianity's Bible |
| Written by Iceberg |
| Sunday, 11 January 2009 17:53 |
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I have grown unhappy with modern Christianity and many of its practitioners. I don't think it's the majority of them that I am displeased with, but rather the vociferous minorities. Those people who advocate a bizarre style of "noble" and deliberate ignorance. The literalists, the condemners, and the excluders. People who stand on streets with signs proclaiming God's hatred of other human beings. Did you people even read that book you're thumping so hard? I was raised in the Christian church. I've read the bible cover to cover more than a couple times. I've thought a lot about it, and about its meaning in this modern world. I've thought about the person described in the New Testament, Mr. Christ himself. I've wondered about morality, and life, and the nature of God. And what I've concluded is this: The belief that you can codify the desires, goals, thoughts, and wisdom of an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent being in something so paltry as a book is ludicrous and arrogant. Look. If you believe in God as an all-powerful being then you cannot somehow believe that the Bible is even close to his almightly divine word. It would be like you trying to explain particle physics to an ant. If God is omniscient, and we are anything less than omniscient, then the ratio of his intellect to ours is effectively infinity-to-zero. Our pathetic little human brains couldn't possibly comprehend his infinite intellect. He sees future and past as one thing because he's not even standing in the same dimensional creek as we are. If he has plans and goals for the universe, they are far, far more complex than can be summed up in a few thousand sheets of pressed wood pulp. That being the case, it is the height of ignorance to stand there and proclaim that YOU have the final, hands-down authoritative distillation of his goals and plans. If you think that, frankly you're a fool. You have no idea what God thinks about gays, abortion, war, or anything. That ant might as well be postulating his opinion on Obama's fiscal policy goals. Ok. Having said that, do I think the bible is useless, or stupid? Not at all! However I think that we should look at it for what it is: A big paper groupthink of a particular segment of humanity. It's the combined information, history, knowledge, and rules of the Judaic people, and their successors. It has some good stuff in it, about living a good life, loving your fellow human beings, and doing the right thing. Go back and read Genesis again folks. Really read it, and analyze what that story entails. Do you really think that God would have literally created a fantastic garden, populated it with two people, told them not to eat a particular tree, then be surprised when they did? Come on! If God is omniscient, and if he has a divine plan, then their actions are part of that plan. To me, the story is an acknowledgment by the author that the very first thing we were given was intellect. The ability to think for ourselves, to make decisions for good or bad, and to reason things out. I believe at least one thing about God, and it's that he loves what he has created. Not just us, but the entire universe. The entire elegant, beautiful system that ticks along, spinning wildly out into the darkness of space. I think he does watch us with interest, to see what we do. To watch our inquisitive minds trying to grasp this amazing universe, like a new parent watching their baby as it first begins to examine the world around. And if there is one thing that would disappoint such a God, it would be the deliberate abandonment of that intellect. "God said it, I believe it, and that settles it" ... ? I don't think so. Try this one instead: "God designed it, I'm exploring it, and there's lots more to see yet." Furthermore, do I hate the Christian church? Definitely not. Generally speaking, it's filled with wonderful, loving, smart people. However, I believe their leaders should be encouraging them to think and question, not advocating blind, ignorant faith. Ask the hard questions, and really puzzle them out. |