Holy Books
One of the things that always bothered me were supposed holy books…of ALL religions. Why all the unproven ideas? Why all the lack of morality - like approval of Slaves. Why all the obvious lack of knowledge if the writer was either a supreme being or “inspired by god”? Why none of the people their god conveys the gospel were women? Why did every religion’s god originate a different philosophy based on location/country/et-al? Really????
AI Helped me write this 2022 dismissal of the books folks claim holy
If a Holy Book is truly the work of a Supreme Mind, then it ought to exhibit not merely piety, but intellectual majesty. It should surpass the finest productions of human genius in clarity, moral insight, and grandeur of conception. One would expect, upon every page, some unmistakable evidence of a mind immeasurably higher than our own.
In such a book, justice would be defined with precision, liberty with dignity, duty with moral seriousness, and compassion with a depth that exceeds the best of human thought. Its wisdom would not be obscure for obscurity’s sake, nor would it bury truth beneath needless length, repetition, or contradiction. If a revelation must be wrestled from prolixity, ambiguity, and editorial confusion, one is entitled to ask whether the fault lies in the reader—or in the text itself.
A divine author, if such there be, would hardly be expected to scatter error among insight, or to mingle nobility with what later ages must name cruelty, superstition, or moral absurdity. And it will not do, once such defects are observed, to retreat behind the claim that the work is “not meant to be read literally.” For if a text contains even one word misplaced, one instruction unworthy of goodness, or one passage incompatible with reason, then its claim to perfect inspiration has already been diminished.
The question, then, is not whether the reader must strain to fit the book. The question is whether a truly supreme intelligence would produce a holy book so opaque, so lengthy, and so uneven that it requires perpetual apology from its defenders. A revelation worthy of the name would illuminate the mind, not exhaust it.
Personal aside: I think everyone should be allowed to have whatever “religion” (belief system) they desire, with ONE restriction: They do not impose it on another person, especially on anyone under 18 who is entitled to come to their own belief system when they are old enough to reason for themselves.
Religion 101
I’ve had an interesting journey of exploration/understanding.
As a child, we were sent to Sunday School - First Methodist in Cape May (has anyone ever heard of a Second Methodist anywhere??)
I proudly wore my “perfect attendance” medals/ribbons - showing 9-years worth. Sadly, I stole the 5-9 years from a church desk. Fraud!! But I never felt guilty about that. Says something about my belief system, heh? I enjoyed my time there…even joined the Children’s Choir…before my voice started changing. HehHeh. I was such a good boy that the minister (Mr. Gravenstein with cute daughter 2-years younger than me) made me an Alter Boy. They guy who lit the candles ahead of the service and extinguished them on the conclusion as the choir sang. I’d head for the exit when the last choir member stepped over the sanctuary doorstep.
After joining the Navy, I stepped up my exploration. One of my Navy mates was Mormon, aka the preferred Church of Christ Latter Day Saints or LDS, so I got the intro to that brand of Christianity in 1968. From there I visited the School of Scientology somewhere in San Diego (I have the class receipt - really), but no memories of it. Of course, then there were brief studies of Buddhism, Hinduism, and even Islam. I read their books, asked a ton of questions, and could easily see the parallels. None particularly compelling.
Which, of course, led to leaning-Atheist. Still in the Maybe-God unwillingness to accept heaven/hell tradeoffs. Until Bart Erham’s books on Christianity with logical analysis of the origins (first 325 years) to the Roman Empire consolidated pagan practices/holidays into Christian mandates enforced by government. Hello Pope - how we doing?
When I was about to marry Anne, her father requested that I become Catholic, for all those Catholic reasons (including keeping the membership count growing). That was an “easy-OK” because he was such a good guy, and I’m not one to let a small future-family demand go unfollowed. Didn’t know that would require the full pre-ordained route of Adult Catholic Catechism Classes with a priest 1-on-1 followed by Adult Baptism. I recall one critical point upon learning that Baptism wiped my sin-slate absolutely clean, so I wondered “Shouldn’t I have lots more fun in my life with no regard to how the Church labeled it some level of sin before I do the baptism thing?” Bad boy!
More to follow…