Post by Healthy Merking on Jun 25, 2009 23:39:50 GMT -5
a derivative thread with Samurai's response relating the idea of 'levels' of understanding to problems with peoples views of the bible -
i also want to emphasize that working out some sort of recognition of these levels of perception may be useful -
there is a stage where we look for magic in the book
and we make up a code for ourselves to decode in order for us to unlock this magic - the magic happens when you apply whats needed to yourself words of wisdom from the book -
maybe we should try to identify these stages - for example:
Agreed. Most people are grossly unaware of the origins of these “stories”, and the socio-political climates which birthed them. This lack of knowledge is deathly hazardous, when attempting to live by a theology created from it.
fair enuf
Yet another issue, that only further permeates the ignorance of the uninformed.
yes - but this is clearly the level that a lot of people are at - whether or not there is encouragement be the people who try to 'poison' as you mentioned in the other thread
I’m going to go into further detail with this as well… Suffice it to say, much of the notions that we have about Biblical stories are bogus.
yes - and this is a stage of coming into a larger understanding - the entry point to what we call 'critical thinking'
4. explore the context of the stories and when they were written
See #1. But this doesn’t happen, because A) people don’t bother to read the book in its entirety, and B) they lack any academic and extracurricular training, with which to look at these stories with a more scrutinous eye.
but it does happen here -
and id venture to say that this is a battle being won in that there are fewer and fewer people that just 'go along with it' because they were brought up that way
I would have no problems looking at the Bible in this manner; in fact I have seen in my research that much of it is actually to be seen in this manner. However, when looking at ALL of the issues that I’d sited in my comments from earlier, whatever value that can come from these metaphors becomes a mute point, when looking at the overall problems that the Bible presents.
hm
perhaps i am seeing the crux of where our opinions differ
your very last phrase: "when looking at the overall problems that the Bible presents."
i see this in the past tense at this point in time
- and i can see that this is only a relatively recent thing
i would say that the bible presented a problem in the past, but its grip as a foundation upon which people can possibly be governed seems to be almost gone - at least in societies such as ours
whoa whoa whoa
dont dismiss that so fast - i only included that level because earlier in the bible thread it was mentioned that the text was possibly a cipher for those 'in the know'
7. understand that words are powerful and the stories can be viewed in many ways
Agreed. However, this is still hazardous, when considering how “modern” society has (not) developed, as a result of believing in the various facets of the Abrahamic Legacy (Jewish, Christian, Muslim).
i dont know if i can share this perspective either -
altho i think that the psychological landscape of bible-inspired civilization is, for the most part, a deserted wasteland, there ARE definitely aspects of development
for every mistake made in history, technological innovation has taken place
these robots didnt just appear here
lets flesh out these levels
in this forum resurgence - it is becoming apparent that these types of 'levels' might be a good thing to look into more
everybody has different points of entry into these types of discussions, and i know i am not alone in saying that the bible has little if any stranglehold in the emerging progressive culture
please discuss this here -
i am at risk of going in another tangent - if you want to see that tangent, check out this thread:
cradle2dagrave.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=ASAMANTHINKETH&action=display&thread=802