Thumbs up x5
by Doram » October 18th, 2015, 9:07 pm
- This post by Doram was thumbed up by: 5
- Bogdan (October 19th, 2015, 10:46 am) • Harmless (October 18th, 2015, 9:49 pm) • Karyete (October 18th, 2015, 10:49 pm) • Oranjui (October 19th, 2015, 3:29 am) • PurpleYoshi (October 20th, 2015, 4:38 pm)
The Bible, while an interesting read, is splintered, and often self-contradictory, consisting of stories written over the span of 3000 to 5000 years, the most recent of which being roughly 1500 to 2000 years old. There is a vast difference between the God of the Old Testament, and the God of the New Testament, and worse yet, the good bits in there are generally NOT the ones that people remember, and act on. I have a lot of respect for Jesus. He said a lot of stuff that makes sense, if these writings can be believed, but I agree with the commentary here that the problem with the Christian religions is a matter of their interpretation of what this book contains, and to that, I have exactly three words to explain the phenomenon: the Telephone Game. The fact that it is interpreted at all, has added layer upon layer of misunderstanding to the thing, when a few literal readings would suffice for quite the nice religion. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Seems to me like that doesn't really need any interpretation at all. Just follow the rule, people. Seriously.
There's a joke that I heard once, and I love to tell in these conversations, and it goes like this:
A couple were very religious and faithful, and believed very strongly in God, and were good people. One day, a flood came to their area, and they did not heed the evacuation warnings, and stayed in their house, saying "We are good and faithful people, and God will save us." The waters came, and they were forced up on their roof to avoid drowning. As they clambered up on the roof, one of their neighbors came by, in a small boat that he owned, and said "Hey, come with me, I can take you to the shelter where people who have been caught in the flood are supposed to go." The couple refused, saying "We are good and faithful people, and God will save us." The neighbor shrugged and left for safety, as the couple returned to praying. Then a larger boat, owned by another member of the town came by, and the captain said "We are picking up stragglers who couldn't make it out in time. Come with us to safety." And the couple refused again, saying "We are good and faithful people, and God will save us." The captain shrugged and carried on, saving those that were willing. Then a police boat came by, and an officer on the boat said that they were enforcing an evacuation, and that the waters were expected to rise even more and completely engulf everything, but the couple refused again, saying "We are good and faithful people, and God will save us." The waters were continuing to rise, so the police had no choice but to continue on. The waters rose more and more, until the people were at the very top of their roof, and the couple prayed to God "We are good and faithful people, please save us!" The waters continued to rise, they were swept away, and died by drowning.
They arrived in heaven, and once done with St. Peter, they approached God, and asked him. "We were good and faithful people, and we never stopped believing that you would save us. Why did you not save us?"
God sighed and looked exasperated at them, saying "I sent three boats, didn't I?"