A few buttons got pushed here! Dormouse, my wife & I have a friend who would agree with most of what you say. Clearly you've given serious thought to this. It is a vicious and vile world we live in and I find hope in the message of Christianity. Last Sunday I spoke on mercy at the 11:00 service of a United Methodist church. The congregation is about 35% gay & has more minorities than other predominantly white churches. The pastor is a woman and would be classified by many as a feminist. We took communion and I experienced it as a high time. It was at that same church ~25 years ago that the Dalai Lama told me not to lose heart. To me the greatest miracle is that there is forgiveness and mercy. I wouldn't get too caught up with contradictions and what not.
Gen 1.29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed, to you shall be for meat.
yes, i have indeed given the Bible god concept and it's cultural effects a lot of thought. when caught in a complex trap it is advantageous to figure out the triggering and locking mechanisms. the triggering and locking mechanisms of the Abrahamic based trap are ... guilt and fear. i personally find no hope in the concept of human blood sacrifice as a method of calming the ire of a wrathful deity. in fact, i am rendered rather despondent knowing that in the year 2009 there are educated people who believe that symbolically washing in the blood of an innocent victim somehow cleanses them of thier behavioral problems. the ritual of symbolic cannabalism is icky too.
i guess Christians will have to forgive my obvious underlying hostility toward their religion. having been raised within it and abused because of it i have yet to purge myself of the residule poisons of resentment. i apologise for any discomfort my words may cause but i won't apologise for my feelings or my analysis.
well, i'm not disposed to get into the tortorous details but have you ever seen the movie "Carrie"? my mother was only marginally less fanatical as Mrs White.
Ok time for me to weigh in. First and foremost when speaking of the bible as a whole one must always remember that the majority of it was written by and for jews. The only books that actually adress the rest of the world as their main audience are the majority of the books after Acts. Jewish law and dictation is what makes the bible what it is. Every person who wrote a book of the bible (or is speculated to have) is a jew, except for perhaps Luke, there is often questioning as to wether he was jewish. So as such the ideals of marriage, anti gay, anti anything except the Jewish God and Jesus, are all jewish in concept. They all follow a very set method. We must also give respect to the bible in the area of it being exceptionally accurate of ancient history. But the rest of it I think should be taken metaphorically, not litterally. Much of the bible would be best classified as parables and myths, used to teach a lesson. For example we have the story of Jonah. While his account is rather hard to believe according to the litteral idea of the bible, if taken as a parable it makes good sense. Religion is an institutionalized form of spirituality. If you seek true spiritual enlightenment it is often far better to go with philosophies and ideals that are more spiritual in essence. Some of these are traditional buddhism, Taoism, Native American beliefs, traditional Druidism, etc. These beliefs center around philosophy more than moral and law.
I have read the Bible from cover to cover , Ive lost count of how many times , and it contains some very wise truths on how we as loving people should live our lives and treat each other. God doesnt corrupt , the Bible doesnt corrupt , only Man corrupts when he twists the Bible and its messages to form how he thinks a church should be.
My friend and I were in this meadow, surrounded by woodlands. We'd each taken 2 tabs and were very, very high. I said, "One of the differences between women and men ..." and she interrupted me, saying (something like), "Why don't we just see the ways we're the same." It stopped me in my tracks and many years later, still resonates. What I'm trying to say is that we take different paths and have different understandings and experiences of things, like the Bible, Christianity, Buddhism, etc. and the various rituals of these. I know people who feel and often were deeply betrayed by religion (and not just Christianity) or by parents or by school or life or whatever. That doesn't mean that thing is inherently bad. I see you, loving a fawn and you see me, loving a refugee. There's a place to meet.
I posted a link in another thread and got to reading what was in that link - Stephen Gaskin website, and thought about this thread and so here is something from one of my teachers: You can't define God, and you can't contain God. But you can, if you don't look at yourself, be God. The way to keep from looking at yourself is to be so busy doing your best that you don't have anything left over to look with. You can't know the totality of God with your finite mind, because God is infinite, and your material plane intelligence is finite—it cannot contain an infinite thing. But if you aren't pressing about the totality, and just relax and observe what's in front of you, you are knowing God, because that's all there is to know. There is nothing else to know; and the knowledge, the knower, the thing known, and the act of knowing are all one and are all God. You are the eyes with which God looks, and the mind through which God understands itself. If you but know it, in your highest and your finest and your most honest places in your own heart, God is speaking to you. Even now. All the time, in your highest and finest places. Here are the keys to heaven: Love God. Love your neighbor as yourself. And here are the keys to hell: "Well, I know I got to take care of everybody, but I just want to get a little for myself first." From http://www.stephengaskin.com/more_books.html
