Brotherhood Of Nod

Post Reply New Topic

...
The more a man is imbued with the ordered regularity of all events the firmer becomes his conviction that there is no room left by the side of this ordered regularity for causes of a different nature. For him neither the rule of human nor the rule of divine will exists as an independent cause of natural events. To be sure, the doctrine of a personal God interfering with natural events could never be refuted, in the real sense, by science, for this doctrine can always take refuge in those domains in which scientific knowledge has not yet been able to set foot.

But I am persuaded that such behavior on the part of the representatives of religion would not only be unworthy but also fatal. For a doctrine which is able to maintain itself not in clear light but only in the dark, will of necessity lose its effect on mankind, with incalculable harm to human progress. In their struggle for the ethical good, teachers of religion must have the stature to give up the doctrine of a personal God, that is, give up that source of fear and hope which in the past placed such vast power in the hands of priests. In their labors they will have to avail themselves of those forces which are capable of cultivating the Good, the True, and the Beautiful in humanity itself.

This is, to be sure, a more difficult but an incomparably more worthy task. After religious teachers accomplish the refining process indicated they will surely recognize with joy that true religion has been ennobled and made more profound by scientific knowledge.

If it is one of the goals of religion to liberate mankind as far as possible from the bondage of egocentric cravings, desires, and fears, scientific reasoning can aid religion in yet another sense. Although it is true that it is the goal of science to discover rules which permit the association and foretelling of facts, this is not its only aim. It also seeks to reduce the connections discovered to the smallest possible number of mutually independent conceptual elements.
...

well since seeing is how ALL religion isnt based on reality anything should go. its your personal choice

oh im shure eventually some angry christians will try. the thread is still new, young grasshopper

It's a rare christian who actually knows anything at all about the source materials for their scriptures or their history. Perhaps we shall be blessed with the presence of one.

Jon

In what sense do you mean? Having read the entire Bible and various works of ancient literature and history or what?

I think reading the entire bible, in digested form prepared by others and where you are yourself ignorant and unable to analyze on your own, makes you fully competent to discuss your reactions to the material you have read. Like a book report, for example. It does NOT in any way inform you about the facts, though, any more than having read The Canterbury Tales over and over might inform you about its source materials, history, and provenances. You need to study and inform yourself, for that. And the same applies to biblical scripture. You need to study the relevant history, know the source materials, have walked through various parallels and done some analysis, taken a crack at translation perhaps, and so on to have much to say. I've done these things, by the way, and have the library of books here to prove it and would be very glad to hear from someone who also has done some of that. I'm no expert of course. But it is very, very rare to meet a christian who has done even the very modest level of study I have on the subject. And I'd probably appreciate meeting someone with an interest in objective analysis who is a christian and willing to discuss some of the details we might share.

My theology teacher is probably one of the very few I've met. She was/is a Catholic nun, had lived in a Kibbutz for 6 years before teaching the classes I attended, spoke fluent Greek and Hebrew and eastern Aramaic, could read old Hebrew fairly well and knew several of the old Greek dialects, as well. I very much respected her and respected her choice in beliefs. I didn't share them, but I have to say that I've known no else better informed with her beliefs. I enjoyed those classes a lot and frankly wouldn't mind meeting others having her level of training. I would enjoy the chance to learn. I'm not very interested in proclaimed beliefs, by fiat, though. Informed ones are very interesting. Uninformed ones are rather lackluster and common.

Jon