The Horrors of Religion (Religion)

by dhw, Monday, September 15, 2008, 13:49 (5708 days ago) @ George Jelliss

Carl: "I was encouraged by dhw's describing a kinder form of Christianity in his acquaintances." - You came on the scene at the tail end of a long and interesting series of discussions with Mark, who is a Reverend and who very sadly appears to have abandoned us. You may recall contributing to the thread relating to the sermon which he sent us. Here are a few quotes from his post under "How Do Agnostics Live?" (June 19 at 16.27): - "You refer to the stories of Noah, Sodom & Gomorrah and John 3:18 ["he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God"]. This raises the issue of how to read the Bible, which could itself fill several threads." [It has!] - "I do not take all such OT stories as historical fact. The Bible doesn't claim to be an inerrant piece of history in the sense in which we now understand history." - "The faith cannot be understood by studying the Bible in isolation from the church and its traditions of interpretation. The church existed before the Bible." - "[John is not] discussing the issue of those who have not heard of Jesus, so the church at its wisest does not force his words to apply to contexts which were not considered. If that were done with John, then one would have to say that everyone BC is lost, and it is absurd to believe that John thought this." - The church in the UK is split into all kinds of factions, some more liberal than others. Bear in mind that the above are statements by a "professional" preacher, i.e. paid by the Christian church to spread the word. Of course, he phrases his beliefs very carefully, but you and I might say this actually means that some of the stories in the Bible are a load of old cobblers, and the rest is a matter of interpretation. From then on, see BBella's perfect formula!