BIBLICAL v. REALITY (again)

[2Dbunk]

Often someone will say “it is of Biblical proportion� about an extreme weather event or some other hard to believe occurrence. But to very many people the Bible is not unbelievable – People believing that serpents talk, the Earth stopped rotating for a day, a man walked on water – and they consider themselves to be rational! These people can’t accept that these are legends, stories passed on orally until they were written down with the advent of writing.

“It is too good to be true� is another statement uttered in remarkable revelation. The downside is “it just ain’t true.� Or “it must be a con.� With continual endorsement of religion (ANY RELIGION) these rational notions are suppressed to support archaic heritage and nothing else (nothing else makes sense).
Why is it that rational people are all too quick to seriously subscribe to books (holy in name only) that speak of men flying about, disagreeable dragons with multiple heads, seas being turned back to form a safe subterranean concourse, dreams that are really prophetic? Do not these apparitions fly in the face of reality? Is there anything rational about the Bible?

[Kenisaw]

Often someone will say “it is of Biblical proportion� about an extreme weather event or some other hard to believe occurrence. But to very many people the Bible is not unbelievable – People believing that serpents talk, the Earth stopped rotating for a day, a man walked on water – and they consider themselves to be rational! These people can’t accept that these are legends, stories passed on orally until they were written down with the advent of writing.

“It is too good to be true� is another statement uttered in remarkable revelation. The downside is “it just ain’t true.� Or “it must be a con.� With continual endorsement of religion (ANY RELIGION) these rational notions are suppressed to support archaic heritage and nothing else (nothing else makes sense).
Why is it that rational people are all too quick to seriously subscribe to books (holy in name only) that speak of men flying about, disagreeable dragons with multiple heads, seas being turned back to form a safe subterranean concourse, dreams that are really prophetic? Do not these apparitions fly in the face of reality? Is there anything rational about the Bible?

There are things that are rational in the Bible. The golden rule for example, although not originally of the bible, is well known because of the bible, and that rule meshes well with our evolutionary path as social beings. It is a rational concept that equates to successful group dynamics of the human animal.

There is also that which is clearly irrational about the bible, especially as it relates to logical paradoxes as well as earth and life sciences.

It's a mixed bag of a book. Who knows what other rational nuggets were lost when the early church rejected the gnostic side of Christianity, and omitted texts like the gospel of Mary Magdalene because they were considered unimportant or redundant.

Of the rational portions, there isn't really anything in the Bible that we had to have the Bible tell us, though.

[marco]

Why is it that rational people are all too quick to seriously subscribe to books (holy in name only) that speak of men flying about, disagreeable dragons with multiple heads, seas being turned back to form a safe subterranean concourse, dreams that are really prophetic? Do not these apparitions fly in the face of reality? Is there anything rational about the Bible?

Remember that acceptance comes first and faith later. Unless one agrees to be persuaded, one cannot acquire the truth. I believe that's the theological mechanics.

Superstitious people who believed heaven was in the sky come and go in the Bible. For the most part they are primitive nomads and the wonder is that they wrote some sort of literature. The fanciful and absurd are interlaced with family relationships and human disagreements. Angels pop in and out of people's houses, from where nobody knows. Weird old men are called prophets. Were the same tales written today and offered as fact then laughter and derision would follow their publication. Because they are safely couched in the mists of past centuries we are expected to treat the ridiculous in a serious way.

It is astonishing that people today can start reading "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth," without pondering on what "heaven" means. The opening sentence warns the reader that mythology - not reality - follows.

[JoeyKnothead]

From the OP:

Is there anything rational about the Bible?

That we can reliably argue how unreliable the bible is in its own claims.

[2Dbunk]

[Replying to post 3 by marco]

Remember that acceptance comes first and faith later. Unless one agrees to be persuaded, one cannot acquire the truth. I believe that's the theological mechanics.

Like hypnosis?

certain people, usually more suggestible, can be hypnotized IMO. Others cannot be, without their utmost cooperation -- and then often unsuccessfully.

And, IMO indoctrination from an early age supplants rationality, establishing "Faith" as a necessity for living. A proving parallel is the indoctrination establishing political affiliation in accordance with that of the parents. Brain washing and the "Stockholm syndrome" are later manifestations of intense indoctrination that have "turned" POWs against their heritage.

Speaking for myself, I was turned voluntarily from my early indoctrination by extensive world travel and reading books.
MOTHERS, don't let your children grow up reading too much (or thinking too much), or they may QUESTION EVERYTHING!

[marco]

[Replying to post 3 by marco]

Remember that acceptance comes first and faith later. Unless one agrees to be persuaded, one cannot acquire the truth. I believe that's the theological mechanics.

Like hypnosis?

I don't particularly like hypnosis, 2Dbunk. Just in case you think I'm in line with the words I wrote, I was being mildly ironic, describing what seems to be the way to acquire faith. My best wishes.

[Talishi]

Often someone will say “it is of Biblical proportion� about an extreme weather event or some other hard to believe occurrence.

I reserve that term for the mega-posts that appear here.

Ironic that we're getting "storms of the century" on a regular basis, in the Bible belt, where people insist there's no such thing as anthropogenic global warming because it's a liberal myth.

[2Dbunk]

[Replying to post 7 by Talishi]

Ironic that we're getting "storms of the century" on a regular basis, in the Bible belt, where people insist there's no such thing as anthropogenic global warming because it's a liberal myth.

You've noticed that too? It is ironic that very often overtly religious people are visited with disaster or malady (the mid west and prairie states -- Bible Belt -- visited with high divorce rates and higher incidence of stroke).

The list of incongruities go on and on, yet many do not heed the lessons of nature (and history). They are examples of the Biblically influenced mind blocking out what can be learned by observing Reality!