Interpretation of Texts (General)

by dhw, Wednesday, September 29, 2010, 19:00 (5167 days ago) @ xeno6696

MATT: If I may interject here:
I read a book over the summer about the Jewish experience, and one thing that is very interesting to note is watching how Jewish thought changed over time. Jewish Rabbis promote debate, and going back before the time of Christ, every copy of the Torah always had large margins for the Rabbis to write their interpretations. It is a matter of Jewish faith, to continually reinterpret their texts to match with facts. He actually cites the slow progression towards modern law as one that could not have happened without God. 
The few Jews I've known in life have been the most unobtrusive but also open-minded theists I've had the pleasure of meeting. I have an inclination to think that it really is a part of the culture. It is probably rash to assert that there is a slavish commitment in all Abrahamic faiths. (Not that they don't exist, mind...)-A very welcome and interesting interjection! But I would put the two sections together. The Jews, Christians and Muslims continually study their texts, and even set up theological colleges and madrasas to do so. This to me constitutes slavish devotion to texts and, appallingly, millions of lives have been and still are affected (and ruined) by the results of their labours. Writing was one of humanity's greatest inventions, but it wrought havoc on religion, and instead of oral traditions and rituals, there have been these endless disputes over the meaning of texts. Modern humans are capable of making and adapting their own laws to protect the society of their time, and in my view world disorder has nothing to do with godlessness and everything to do with human nature, which will never change. The world in biblical times was no less chaotic than it is today if the Bible is anything to go by, and the argument that 'if everyone followed Jesus it would all be OK' might just as well be 'if everyone followed humanism it would all be OK'. The texts, fascinating though they are, belong to a long-gone age and should not in my view be used for any kind of social guidance. As far as religion is concerned, people should be free to worship as they wish ... though I have to acknowledge that one of the weaknesses of human nature is the widespread desire to be led.-As for the open-mindedness of your Jewish acquaintances, like David I was brought up as a Jew (liberal not orthodox) and had very mixed experiences, as one does with any group. I hated the grimness and terror engendered by Judaism ... apart from some of the great OT stories ... and severed all ties with it as soon as I could. When I looked to Christianity, it wasn't long before I discovered just as much bigotry and just as much menace. Christ's cruel death seems to me totally pointless, as I've indicated in the "brief guide". I became an atheist in my late teens until I read Darwin (I tend to do things in unusual ways), and I have been decisively indecisive ever since. 
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