Three ways of looking at it


March 5,2018



I have the same problem many 21st century people have.

I look at the Biblical “world” as presented in the New Testament,

then look at the world I live in, and they seem to be two

different worlds.

In the Biblical narrative, miracles are everywhere,

and God speaks to people.

That doesn’t happen in my world.

The “supernatural” is not part of my reality.

 


I see various ways to approach this problem.

 

1.

The Biblical “world” is false. Made up.

Invented. A fantasy. An infantile wish.

Superstition. Can’t relate to it. Don’t need it.

Out of date. Don’t bother me with it.

 

2.

The Biblical world is a matter of genre confusion.

Stories and reports of the Bible are to be understood

as poetry, metaphor, symbolic, etc.

The miracles of Jesus are symbolic.

The reports of resurrection appearances of Christ

are parables or poetic presentations.

Therefore, one can accept the poetic or symbolic

truth of the Gospels and apply them to modern life.

No problem.

 

3.

Biblical religion was a phase in humanities maturation process.

Religion itself is an infantile or childish stage on our way

to maturity as a species.

We have surpassed that stage and gone on to Enlightenment

made possible by the scientific method.

We can leave the Bible and religion behind and get on with

a more sophisticated understanding of reality.

We don’t need a god, or God; or Christ; or Holy Spirit.

All we need is Reason and Science.

Humanism is our new, more mature, Vision of life.

(And I would argue that the seeds of humanism are found

in the Jewish and Christian Traditions.)

 

 



 

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