Reply #122: Here's my take [View All]

[uhhuh]

As someone who would identify myself as a Christian, I heve never felt that my beliefs are threatened by someone calling what I believe a myth. This is because, whether they know it or not, they are missing the whole point.

I am a Christian because I have read the things that were put forth in the Bible and attributed to Jesus. I think the things he supposedly said were good and noble lessons for life. Whether he actually said them, or whether he was the literal chosen son of God is immaterial and not in any way I can see, provable. In fact, if any of the quotes by God or Jesus or any of the other figures in the Bible were provable, it would cease being a religion.

The power of myth lies in the truths that the individual takes from them, not in who said or did what on what day, and in what manner.

The point of religion, to me, is not to be right, but to strive to be fair and honest and good to others. I am in complete solidarity with any person of any faith or non-faith that hopes to achieve the same.

I love stories. I don't care if they are true. I only care if they speak to something (divine or not) in me that may lead me to appreciate others more and care for them in an unselfish way. That's what I get out of what Jesus may or may not have said. Who he was or wasn't means little to me.

I'm sure there will be those, both Christian on not, who will say that what I have said makes me not a Christian. I don't care. This is by belief. They have their own. That's cool. From my understading of religion, it is a declaration of faith. I have faith in the principles that appear in a book that in commonly referred to as the Bible. I don't know what percentage of it is true, and I don't agree with all of it. I have found a lot of good principles in its pages and have incorporated them into my life as best I could. I have flatly rejected others. I don't feel contradictory in the slightest since I don't feel required to believe it all if I don't agree with it.

I know a lot of fundies cherry-pick the bible to promote hate and intolerence. You may say that I am doing the same thing, but from another perspective. That is true, but I am not claiming that the whole thing is true and should be right for all people. I am stating that I find the most truth for me in the words that are attributed to Jesus. They speak to me in some fashion. I don't expect everyone to have the same experiences with them as I do. Frankly, it would be impossible.