You raise an interesting point, Richard, by this example. People need
encourage to believe they can do things that need to be done but are
threatening or hard. Stories like David and Goliath, whether it is true
or not, provide this encouragement. Missing, of course are the stories
of the more common occasions when the "giant" is challenged and the
"David" gets creamed. Once again, we need to separate out the real
reality from the one being generated for another purpose. For example,
the reality in the Bible has been modified to promote Christianity just
as the reality in the Koran is designed to promote Islam. Both attempt
to describe the spiritual world, but with different results. How should
a person discover the true reality? Science, at least, has a few tools
that can be used. Unfortunately, religion does not provide such tools
nor does the idea of magic.
Ed
R C Macaulay wrote:
Howdy Ed,
By asking for a return to science, this theme, begun by Jones is
beginning to reach a level of scientific inquiry, fitting of Vorts.
Solomon expressed his opinion that "time and chance happens to us all".
This profound wisdom does not escape Jones in his musings.
There can be an entire trioloxy of writings on one simple observation ..
say for example..the story of David and Goliath in 1 Sam:17... if one
can get past the "religious aspect" of the account, the story becomes an
interesting exercize in mental gymnastics. Most of the elements of which
novels are composed are contained in this "seeming fairy tale" of a boy
slaying a fearsome giant. Here, out of the annals of history, is
captured an essence of what dreams are made of. Remarkably, within the
story, the method and resultant is revealed, offered to the world for
use, provided one searches.
Richard
Ed Storms wrote...
Educated people now know that
the belief, in this case, had no effect except to start the process.
While this is a trivial example, the same process occurs in all actions,
frequently where the relationship between belief and outcome is not so
clear. Superstition relies on this ambiguity while science attempts to
show the underlying process. Unfortunately, many people are not educated
enough to understand what is already known and enough true ignorance
remains to give support to the belief in magic. To make matters even
more confusing, while science attempts to sort out the actions in the
material world, I believe the spiritual world can always throw in a
joker to confuse the issue. This is how religion gets its power. In
addition, must people feel inadequate in their ability to control
reality using their knowledge. Instead a strong belief, which everyone
has without effort, or faith in a God, which requires no knowledge, are
used as a substitute for skill. It is sometimes difficult when exploring
this subject to separate the true reality from the substitution,
especially when the "true " reality is scary and the substitution is
entertaining and loving.
