JoltinJoe wrote:Ibanez wrote:
Thanks for the philosophy lesson. Can't we all agree that religion is personal. Live your life the way you want to and leave others alone. Be good to others and they'll be good to you. Didn't some hippie carpenter from the Middle East say something to that effect?
I didn't start this thread. Some hippie from the Northwest did. He asked a question about what Pope Francis meant. I provided an answer, and then I was mocked by the High, Holy Snarky One.
I didn't say you did. Both of you can act rather sanctimonious. We all can be.
In all seriousness, I have a few questions. I'm interested in your take and this is in no way to bait or "troll" you. I genuinely like to hear people perspectives.
1) How do you reconcile logic, reasoning and common sense with the idea that a group of illiterate middle eastern men followed a stranger who performed magic tricks like walking on water, turning water into wine (which don't get me started on how that is wrong) among other things?
1a) How can someone claim logic and reasoning while believing in a book that claims so many supernatural events?
IMO, it comes down to a literal vs allegorical interpretation of the bible.
2) If we are made in Gods image. And we use what God has given us, to include reasoning and logic, shouldn't we critically examine the Bible and realize that these are stories, written hundreds and thousands of years after the events for a specific audience and that the focus should be on the message rather than the "facts?" Some of the events can be explained (the Great Flood or the Plaques) but the stories have become embellished to the point where people today actually believe the entire world was under water and that Arctic animals traveled to the Middle East to get on a boat.
And shouldn't we take church history and its corruption into account? As well as world history, for that matter in an effort to better understand the historical context in which Bible stories take place?
