> 1. do you fully accept the bible as the word of God, > straight up. Divine intervention between God and the > authors who were possessed by the Holy Spirit and > then wrote about it?
Not hardly. I think most of what's in the Bible is just a collection of oral traditions scribed and then retranslated over and over... I don't even believe that there ever was any divine purpose for the original scrolls (outside of the general divine purpose for our being at all, i.e. the tree outside my window has as much divine purpose as the original text of Genesis, which is to say, they are both absolutely necessary). I do believe in "god" but my beliefs have a different structure than most people I know. I believe "god" had/has a purpose, but I don't believe that purpose is served by dogmatic adherence to any set of "laws" whether those are Semetic, Islamic, Christian or other... at least... let me rephrase... they're not served any more or less by dogmatic adherence to any given set of laws than they are by total hedonism or even downright "evil" behavior such as is exhibited by rapists and serial killers. Everything that is, everything that ever has been and everything that ever will be serves "god" and "the plan" equally, because all things contribute to growth. Given that belief, I then do what I feel is best to produce the life which brings me the most personal fulfillment, part of which is not engaging in "evil" behaviors or what I perceive to be overtly stringent human doctrines such as Mormonism or Judaism. The bible? It's cute and historic and all, but as novels go it's only marginally entertaining. :) What I find more entertaining is examinations of its history and finding how its stories came to be included, like how a localized flood became the story of Noah's Ark and how Revelations became the burning of Rome before it was co-opted into a more generalized "end of the world" story for later inclusion in the Bible. What I find really fascinating in particular is how Christanity diverged from other religions in the belief that their god (Jesus) is literal as compared to other religions who've believed their (named) deities to be symbolic and how imo this has had a lot to do with the proliferation and dominance of Christianity. All of these things really give credence to the idea of there being power in a well-crafted lie, like a sales brochure. :) > 2. do you fully accept the idea of creation? Nope. > just wondering. > or > 1. do you feel like it was written more as a moral > standard with hopes that everyone would follow it > so that we have some modicom of peace and happiness > and global civility? Not to be taken literally, > only to be taken as a guide? Is that presupposing that I believe its contents were inspired by god? Personally I think it's been inspired primarily by human motivators... a good number but not all of which have been entirely self-centered or subversive. I think "peace and happiness" and "global civility" (or the equivalent in their time) have entered into the minds of some of the authors, although I somehow doubt that it's been a primary motivator. > 2. realize that science MIGHT disprove creation, > and therefore accept that it probably didn't > happen that way. It can't. It's just not capable of disproving it. Seriously, there's nothing anyone can do or say to disprove the idea that nothing exists outside of your head (you personally, Tony, are the only thing that exists -- which makes you "god" -- and you're just imagining everything else). I don't believe that, and I don't believe in creationism, but nobody can disprove either of them. s. isaac dealey 434.293.6201 new epoch : isn't it time for a change? add features without fixtures with the onTap open source framework http://www.fusiontap.com http://coldfusion.sys-con.com/author/4806Dealey.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:201902 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
