Were you ever a believer? Do you know what it's like to believe? (meaning, delusion)
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Were you ever a believer? Do you know what it's like to believe?
Not until my encounter in my 30's. Up until my teens, I was a go along to get along Catholic but to my knowledge never ever actually believed any of it. After my encounter in my 30's, I immediately became an actual believer in the EXISTENCE of God but had no clue what if any of the religious nonsense out there was relevant.
I was raised in the Church of Christ and believed what I was taught without question, until...I'm not sure exactly when. I was in my 20s when I articulated in thought that the whole thing was a bunch of nonsense. But it wasn't a eureka moment; I don't know that I even had a eureka moment. It was merely the first time I had acknowledged even to myself that I no longer believed. I do know that the source of my first skeptical thoughts were Bible verses dripping with racism and misogyny.
That's a sure tip off to any compassionate human being!
I would bet most us who were raised with religion went through a process with quiet epiphanies more subtle than eureka moments
My transition from believer to non believer took place in my 15th year. I can recall aspects of being a believer, such as comparing how hard I struck my breast during the Sanctus Sanctus prayer to how hard others were doing it. I felt that I was somehow or other holier than those who were just going through the motions with light pats. I do not have a memory of of actual belief, rather of trust in what the adults had always told me.
That is why when I ceased believing, there was initially anger on my part that I had been deceived by all these people I trusted....or used to trust I should say. The experience made we wary of all adult authority, as in "If they lied to me about something this big, what else are they lying to me about?"
I recall the prime question in my mind at that point being "If I was able to figure out that this religious stuff is bogus, how is it that all these adults, more mature, more experienced than me, have apparently been unable to figure it out?"
I was never an adult believer, so my memory of belief is the same as my memory of anything in my childhood which I didn't understand yet. As soon as I developed the ability to scrutinize what I was being told, I started scrutinizing everything and everyone.
I wonder how much of a factor anger may be in not acknowledging the fictitious nature of religion by many.
And why can't they figure it out? They can't grasp reality or they don't even try, maybe.
Worth a re- read. If i may quote from it without infringing copyright..
"Too many people’s thinking is along the lines of I don’t know, I can’t understand, therefore it must be...insert belief of choice. I blame this on our educations, that schools do not produce critical thinkers, just consensus memory. We never were taught how to distinguish knowledge from belief and what is the correct place for each."
Nails it.
Nobody can believe in a particular religion without simply ignoring other religions, believing on Faith (which is simply being accustomed to what they were taught as kids and confirmed by everyone around them) that their religion is true, or, more probably, never even thinking about the others.
It's true of course that the religions of the book have an advantage as they have a grounding in historical events that the others (apart from Buddhism, somewhat) don't have. It's why the debate about the Bible is ongoing and so important. The evidence we have now shifts the weight of credibility from 'well we might doubt the trumpets and walls collapsing (1), but the event must be true." to "It now looks like a total fiction."
It's as serious as that for anyone who is either not blinded by faith or simply doesn't care and lets religion get away with whatever it likes.
(1) even I could come up with an apologetic of Hebrew sappers undermining the walls and (on a signal from the shofars) the supports were fired causing a collapse and a breach.
That does nail it for those that can't be bothered to or just don't care. Maybe they're not very smart or just so comfortable with the status quo they don't see the need.
But I disagree that the bible has much historical grounding considering much of it has no archeological or non-theist scholarly backing. The parting of Red Sea for instance? Never happened. Water in to wine, wandering 40 years along a short stretch of desert, Noah's ark, a talking snake, ascension to heaven and on and on. The centerpiece of it all, just another dying and reviving man-god, like all the others and no legitimate historical record just like there is no legit historical record any other fictional characters lived.
That does nail it for those that can't be bothered to or just don't care. Maybe they're not very smart or just so comfortable with the status quo they don't see the need.
But I disagree that the bible has much historical grounding considering much of it has no archeological or non-theist scholarly backing. The parting of Red Sea for instance? Never happened. Water in to wine, wandering 40 years along a short stretch of desert, Noah's ark, a talking snake, ascension to heaven and on and on. The centerpiece of it all, just another dying and reviving man-god, like all the others and no legitimate historical record just like there is no legit historical record any other fictional characters lived.
Quite true, and yet there are historical events like the siege of Tyre, the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem, the fall of Babylon, the Exile, the Maccabean revolt. The question is what is accurate history and what is spin?
Quite true, and yet there are historical events like the siege of Tyre, the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem, the fall of Babylon, the Exile, the Maccabean revolt. The question is what is accurate history and what is spin?
Yeah, but that only proves that the author was aware of the historical event. Historical fiction is still fiction.
Indeed it is, which is why, though acknowledging the particular historical content, the Bible still belongs on the Fiction shelf.
Despite your extremely prejudiced and biased view, fiction is characterized by the INTENT of the author(s). Its accuracy is a separate issue entirely. The Bible was NEVER intended to be a work of fiction, period!
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