I said I would favor my United Methodist leanings, and I think I have made good on that. This week, I provide a link to an atheist website. It is a lot of fun to read, especially if you have pre-teen and early teen kids. I’m sure it will get very interesting as the kids grow. I’ll point you to one of my favorite entries, but there are many other good things there, click around.
In the link, his daughter comes up with the idea that a world where many ideas are presented and freely discussed is a better than one where we all think alike. Not a bad idea. I was raised to think for myself, but never thought of it this way.
Many people turn to religion when they start to think about how to teach values to their kids. Unfortunately, they find a confusing array of choices, each with a confusing array or values that they attempt to teach. For some, finding a church that comes close to their values is pretty difficult. As a Sunday School teacher, I had to figure out just what I would choose, Matthew 25 or Leviticus?
In the end, I concluded we are not much further ahead on how to teach values than they were 2,000 years ago. There is no set of rules out there waiting to be discovered. There are plenty of good ideas. I am not ready to write a book on parenting, but on the site linked above, I found something that works for me as guideline when deciding what to teach a young person.
“If it is ever the case that teaching this system to children will mean that later in life they come to hold beliefs that, were they in fact to have had access to alternatives, they would most likely not have chosen for themselves, then it is morally wrong of whoever presumes to impose this system.”
Nicholas Humphrey, Oxford Amnesty Lecture, 1997
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Thursday, October 8, 2009
The 13th Baktun
The Mayan calendar is made up of cycles. I’m very impressed at their ability to predict movements of the galaxy over long periods. However I wouldn’t say that it is unbelievable, or that they could only have done it with the help of divine or alien help. To say that is to say that they were not as smart as us.
The date that everyone is focusing on right now is the 21st of December, 2012. That date was determined by converting the Mayan calendar to ours. On that date, there will be a close conjunction of the Winter Solstice Sun with the crossing point of the Galactic Equator and Ecliptic. Of course if you’re like me and didn’t pay that much attention in school, you don’t know what any of those things are. In simpler terms, when the Sun rises, the center of the Milky Way will be right behind it. Of course you won’t see it because the Sun will be there.
Some people think this is significant. Given that this is a 5,000 year cycle in a universe that is 14.5 billion years old, I have my doubts.
But I can still have fun with it. It’s easy because there are so many references from so many cultures. Looking up at the sky has been going on for a long time. It is the beginning of much of what we call religion. It is only with the advent of street lights that we have lost the connection to the stars. Phrases like “cast into the outer darkness” or “following a Northern star” have lost their meaning. A surprising number of people don’t even know why our galaxy is named the Milky Way.
Observing the movements of the heavenly bodies is also the source of science. The farther back you go, the harder it gets to separate ritual and science. The person who could place a few rocks on the ground and tell you that they would line up with where the Sun was going to be on a certain day no doubt had a lot of power in the tribe. Predict an eclipse, and you were close to being a God.
Today, you can spend a lot of time on the Internet and find references to Ouroboros, a snake representing the Milky Way, the Greeks Suntelia Aion, Revelation 12:7, Qi energy and the Chinese Year of the Dragon, channeling Lord Metatron, Sun spots, predictions of the poles flipping and crop circles. All somehow related to this one day. Here’s the thing, none of this means anything. Every religion uses the image of death and rebirth, or destruction and re-creation in some form or another. If the Mayan priests were around today, I’m sure they would be loving the attention.
Why are people spending so much time putting together these ancient pieces? Because we don’t have our own story to work from anymore. As an adolescent, I was not handed one version of a story and told that it explained my place in society. I was blasted with a variety of images and had to sort them out myself. Although this made the job more difficult, I prefer it to the simpler model. I live at the 45th parallel in the Northern hemisphere in a quiet place, so the cold dark nights following the winter solstice work just fine as a time to reflect and hopefully renew my energy and think about making the world a better place before the next significant alignment of stars.
I hope you will all find the time to do the same.
If you haven’t heard about this yet, you probably will. I have been following the advance work for the movie 2012, this one is definitely my favorite, and links to all the rest.
This is the End
Via that site, I was led to the 2 part video below. Given the nature of linking on the Internet, I haven’t figured out yet how related the two are, but I like the coverage provided in it. There is a point where he says, “if you don’t want to hear my analysis, feel free to shut off the video at this point”. He shifts to a Biblical analysis. I am always surprised when a seemingly scientific analysis shifts like this. But that’s for another day.
The date that everyone is focusing on right now is the 21st of December, 2012. That date was determined by converting the Mayan calendar to ours. On that date, there will be a close conjunction of the Winter Solstice Sun with the crossing point of the Galactic Equator and Ecliptic. Of course if you’re like me and didn’t pay that much attention in school, you don’t know what any of those things are. In simpler terms, when the Sun rises, the center of the Milky Way will be right behind it. Of course you won’t see it because the Sun will be there.
Some people think this is significant. Given that this is a 5,000 year cycle in a universe that is 14.5 billion years old, I have my doubts.
But I can still have fun with it. It’s easy because there are so many references from so many cultures. Looking up at the sky has been going on for a long time. It is the beginning of much of what we call religion. It is only with the advent of street lights that we have lost the connection to the stars. Phrases like “cast into the outer darkness” or “following a Northern star” have lost their meaning. A surprising number of people don’t even know why our galaxy is named the Milky Way.
Observing the movements of the heavenly bodies is also the source of science. The farther back you go, the harder it gets to separate ritual and science. The person who could place a few rocks on the ground and tell you that they would line up with where the Sun was going to be on a certain day no doubt had a lot of power in the tribe. Predict an eclipse, and you were close to being a God.
Today, you can spend a lot of time on the Internet and find references to Ouroboros, a snake representing the Milky Way, the Greeks Suntelia Aion, Revelation 12:7, Qi energy and the Chinese Year of the Dragon, channeling Lord Metatron, Sun spots, predictions of the poles flipping and crop circles. All somehow related to this one day. Here’s the thing, none of this means anything. Every religion uses the image of death and rebirth, or destruction and re-creation in some form or another. If the Mayan priests were around today, I’m sure they would be loving the attention.
Why are people spending so much time putting together these ancient pieces? Because we don’t have our own story to work from anymore. As an adolescent, I was not handed one version of a story and told that it explained my place in society. I was blasted with a variety of images and had to sort them out myself. Although this made the job more difficult, I prefer it to the simpler model. I live at the 45th parallel in the Northern hemisphere in a quiet place, so the cold dark nights following the winter solstice work just fine as a time to reflect and hopefully renew my energy and think about making the world a better place before the next significant alignment of stars.
I hope you will all find the time to do the same.
If you haven’t heard about this yet, you probably will. I have been following the advance work for the movie 2012, this one is definitely my favorite, and links to all the rest.
This is the End
Via that site, I was led to the 2 part video below. Given the nature of linking on the Internet, I haven’t figured out yet how related the two are, but I like the coverage provided in it. There is a point where he says, “if you don’t want to hear my analysis, feel free to shut off the video at this point”. He shifts to a Biblical analysis. I am always surprised when a seemingly scientific analysis shifts like this. But that’s for another day.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Mr. Deity
I have a couple things cooking, but meanwhile, here’s something really fun I just found. Mr. Deity is somewhat of a Hollywood producer, not caring much about the show he is putting on, but everyone has to put up with him, because he is the deity. He has trouble remembering Jesus’ name, and likes to leave his all knowing power turned off because it’s too much to deal with.
Some of the jokes are better if you know your Bible, like when Jesus and Mr. Deity are discussing the differences between the gospels, but most of it covers the big issues, like why are we here anyway.
The episodes will keep playing if you let them, or you can go to mrdeity.com to pick them out yourself.
Be sure to catch these highlights:
Season 1 Episode 1 – right at the end when they are deciding what evil thing to leave in creation, catch the one right at the end.
Don’t miss the Superbowl extra interview when he explains why he can’t support either team.
Season 2 Episode 1 – It was God who taught George how to mess up the “fool me once, shame on me” saying.
Season 2 Episode 4 – Mr. Deity says, “What would the meek do with the earth?”
Season 2 Episode 8 – Mr. Deity says, “Hardcore atheists are basically just fundamentalist without the big hair and toll free phone number.”
Throughout, Mr. Deity refuses to take responsibility for much of anything, and no one can figure out what “thou shalt not take the Lord’s name in vain” means.
Some of the jokes are better if you know your Bible, like when Jesus and Mr. Deity are discussing the differences between the gospels, but most of it covers the big issues, like why are we here anyway.
From Crackle:
The episodes will keep playing if you let them, or you can go to mrdeity.com to pick them out yourself.
Be sure to catch these highlights:
Season 1 Episode 1 – right at the end when they are deciding what evil thing to leave in creation, catch the one right at the end.
Don’t miss the Superbowl extra interview when he explains why he can’t support either team.
Season 2 Episode 1 – It was God who taught George how to mess up the “fool me once, shame on me” saying.
Season 2 Episode 4 – Mr. Deity says, “What would the meek do with the earth?”
Season 2 Episode 8 – Mr. Deity says, “Hardcore atheists are basically just fundamentalist without the big hair and toll free phone number.”
Throughout, Mr. Deity refuses to take responsibility for much of anything, and no one can figure out what “thou shalt not take the Lord’s name in vain” means.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Doesn't Matter
Remember when Peter Jennings was doing all those reports in Ethiopia? Or was it Catie Couric in Kenya, doesn’t matter. A story I remember from that is of just one of those hungry kids. There was a major famine at the time and somebody decided it was news. Children are always dying somewhere. I don’t mean to be harsh about that, it’s just a fact. It’s unusual when people take note of it. We’ll take days playing out the story of a plane crash, but just as many people die every few minutes of hunger, but that is not news.
This is not a digression, but let’s get back to the one kid.
I don’t remember his name, but somebody did. Some couple, watching those programs sitting in their nice living room in New Jersey or Minnetonka or wherever it was, doesn’t matter, saw one face and got attached to it. They went to great lengths to find that one kid and bring him back to America, so he could grow up healthy. I can remember the video of him arriving at the airport, kind of a stunned look with his jaw hanging down, wondering what all the fuss was about.
For many people that is a heart warming story. For me it’s a little disturbing. For a few it’s just dumb, but we’ll put those people in the “doesn’t matter” bin with the other stuff. It’s disturbing because of the expense of tracking down just one kid. I have spent many hours fighting hunger and I know of one organization in particular, Kids Against Hunger, that can feed people for 25 cents a meal. Just one of the trips that couple made to Africa could have bought a lot of food.
So how do I get something good out of this ridiculous effort that did more to make a couple of suburbanites feel good than it did for a hungry country? The first step is to think of all of the times that someone has said, “If I can help just one person…” and fill in whatever cause that they are working on. This is commonly heard from people who have difficult jobs working with young people who are destroying their own lives and bringing down others with them. It can often seem like you are not making any difference. In those moments of despair saying, “If I can just save the life of one kid, and have them grow up and raise their own healthy children, it will have been worth it.”
Okay, they did that, they saved one kid. The second thing I would love to know, how did their friends and neighbors react? David Sedaris tells a story of two competing suburban families who start giving things to the homeless and bragging about it in their Christmas letters. Eventually they are giving away their own organs just to do their neighbors one better. Among the friends and neighbors of our child saving couple, I imagine the ratios of “didn’t care”, “were inspired”, and “found it disturbing” reflected the general population anywhere.
Is that bad? No. If you are disturbed by it, then you understand the issues, and you are probably involved with something because you know why tracking down one kid doesn’t make sense. If you don’t care, you may be beyond hope, or some other heart warming story will have to cross your path to make any difference. If you were inspired, that’s awesome, I hope you find something to do that does matter.
You know, I wonder what happened to that kid from Ethiopia. I should try to track him down.
This is not a digression, but let’s get back to the one kid.
I don’t remember his name, but somebody did. Some couple, watching those programs sitting in their nice living room in New Jersey or Minnetonka or wherever it was, doesn’t matter, saw one face and got attached to it. They went to great lengths to find that one kid and bring him back to America, so he could grow up healthy. I can remember the video of him arriving at the airport, kind of a stunned look with his jaw hanging down, wondering what all the fuss was about.
For many people that is a heart warming story. For me it’s a little disturbing. For a few it’s just dumb, but we’ll put those people in the “doesn’t matter” bin with the other stuff. It’s disturbing because of the expense of tracking down just one kid. I have spent many hours fighting hunger and I know of one organization in particular, Kids Against Hunger, that can feed people for 25 cents a meal. Just one of the trips that couple made to Africa could have bought a lot of food.
So how do I get something good out of this ridiculous effort that did more to make a couple of suburbanites feel good than it did for a hungry country? The first step is to think of all of the times that someone has said, “If I can help just one person…” and fill in whatever cause that they are working on. This is commonly heard from people who have difficult jobs working with young people who are destroying their own lives and bringing down others with them. It can often seem like you are not making any difference. In those moments of despair saying, “If I can just save the life of one kid, and have them grow up and raise their own healthy children, it will have been worth it.”
Okay, they did that, they saved one kid. The second thing I would love to know, how did their friends and neighbors react? David Sedaris tells a story of two competing suburban families who start giving things to the homeless and bragging about it in their Christmas letters. Eventually they are giving away their own organs just to do their neighbors one better. Among the friends and neighbors of our child saving couple, I imagine the ratios of “didn’t care”, “were inspired”, and “found it disturbing” reflected the general population anywhere.
Is that bad? No. If you are disturbed by it, then you understand the issues, and you are probably involved with something because you know why tracking down one kid doesn’t make sense. If you don’t care, you may be beyond hope, or some other heart warming story will have to cross your path to make any difference. If you were inspired, that’s awesome, I hope you find something to do that does matter.
You know, I wonder what happened to that kid from Ethiopia. I should try to track him down.
Friday, September 18, 2009
September 18th
I wrote this about 8 years ago.
At last, finally, thank God, a gray and dreary day. I drive into nothingness today. I only see a gray line of trees where yesterday there was the green and red and gold of early autumn. At last the day reflects my mood. Finally, the trees appear to cry, dripping with thick morning moisture and I know it's okay to cry. They cry with the millions, who mourn for the thousands, who came from the 80 countries, who worked in the two towers that fell in just a few hours, one week ago.
The days since have mocked me with warm nights, with sun and blue sky, absent of cloud and plane. That blue sky has angered me to cry out, "Don't you see!" and ask, "Where are you God? Won't you do something? Aren't you listening?". When that anger is not relieved, I turn it toward my radio, to the talk show host and the man on the street who want revenge and even closer to my neighbor who talks without knowing and is ready to send my friends to war, and I am ready to bind them and gag them so they can only hear what is inside their own heads when suddenly I realize that that is how it all began, and withdraw into shame. People speak, but I can't quite connect, and I am further withdrawn into the isolation. The isolation that it is to be a human being.
But on this day, I am comforted. Comforted by the gray blanket that covers the road ahead of me as I drive to work. The world is reflecting what I feel inside and it feels like I can hide here for a while. As I come over a hill, the sun filters through. Through a sugar maple in it's golden September glory. The gold dances off the drops in the air, all the way to me and all the way through me and into the fields around me. In the fields, it hits wet webs and they glow like tiny lanterns.
At last, finally, thank God, a gray and dreary day. I drive into nothingness today. I only see a gray line of trees where yesterday there was the green and red and gold of early autumn. At last the day reflects my mood. Finally, the trees appear to cry, dripping with thick morning moisture and I know it's okay to cry. They cry with the millions, who mourn for the thousands, who came from the 80 countries, who worked in the two towers that fell in just a few hours, one week ago.
The days since have mocked me with warm nights, with sun and blue sky, absent of cloud and plane. That blue sky has angered me to cry out, "Don't you see!" and ask, "Where are you God? Won't you do something? Aren't you listening?". When that anger is not relieved, I turn it toward my radio, to the talk show host and the man on the street who want revenge and even closer to my neighbor who talks without knowing and is ready to send my friends to war, and I am ready to bind them and gag them so they can only hear what is inside their own heads when suddenly I realize that that is how it all began, and withdraw into shame. People speak, but I can't quite connect, and I am further withdrawn into the isolation. The isolation that it is to be a human being.
But on this day, I am comforted. Comforted by the gray blanket that covers the road ahead of me as I drive to work. The world is reflecting what I feel inside and it feels like I can hide here for a while. As I come over a hill, the sun filters through. Through a sugar maple in it's golden September glory. The gold dances off the drops in the air, all the way to me and all the way through me and into the fields around me. In the fields, it hits wet webs and they glow like tiny lanterns.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Have You Read It? The Actual Post.
When I’m not writing my own blogs, I often read others and engage in online discussions on similar topics. Julia Sweeney has a forum that grew out of her public discussions of becoming an atheist. Someone in that forum supplied a link that sent me through a wide spectrum of doubt and belief. The link was to another blogger named Greta, defending her anger towards Christians. It made a lot of sense. Her theme was well developed and I could see how even in a non-violent movement, for example the civil rights movement, anger and violence play an important role, such as getting on the national news when your peaceful protest is broken up with night sticks and fire hoses.
She also included an extensive list of what made her angry about Christianity. This included all the killing in the name of God, suppression of birth control, oppression of gays, it was a long list. Then she linked to an earlier list she had created of all the references to hell in the New Testament.
I followed it. I was surprised at its length because I had just read The Gospel of Inclusion by Carlton Pearson, a preacher who suddenly stopped preaching about hellfire and damnation. Greta and I are very different, but we have a similar problem; finding good authors, with good historical, psychological as well as canonical information that are willing to point out the flaws of religion today, without bashing it as a whole. One excellent exception is “Jesus for the Non-Religious” by John Shelby Spong, a retired Bishop.
Having these books in my reading background kept me from being convinced that Jesus wanted me to love him or go to hell, but Greta’s list was strong evidence to the contrary. I had to figure this out for myself. I pulled out my NIV study Bible and started looking them up. I thought I might have to go back to my King James version to match up the language, but no, it was right there, have an evil thought, go to hell. My study Bible is heavily footnoted, so looking there on the first passage in her list, I found the hell in this case was a translation from Gehenna.
Gehenna was a part of Jerusalem in the time of the New Testament. It was what today we would call a bad neighborhood. There was a lot of garbage, sometimes it would catch fire, a lot of thieves hanging around, you get the idea. Just a few generations earlier, that part of Jerusalem had been used to make human sacrifices to Moloch. Moloch was a god who is featured in a story in the book of Isaiah. In other words, this is like a high school football coach today encouraging his players who live in or near the inner city, saying, “work hard, study your playbook, or your going to end up living in the projects the rest of your life.” It may not be the most appropriate motivation, but it certainly is not threatening someone with eternal damnation in a lake of fire.
Continuing on, I started to hit more parables. Some of these seem to say that actual people will be thrown in to actual fires. One of them, the Parable of the Talents, I am very familiar with and have found scholarly articles explaining it and written my own pieces on it. For example, the person who is “cast into the outer darkness” is actually an analogy for a follower of Christ, not an evil person being punished. I did run in to one parable, The Sheep and the Goats, that I could not refute or explain. But there was a time when someone had told me that the Parable of the Talents was about capitalism. It didn’t seem right, so I studied it and can now argue with logic and context and references to authorities that the interpretation is wrong. I can’t say for certain, but I would be willing to bet that I can do the same with the Sheep and the Goats.
I started skipping through the list a little quicker now and then skipped down to the comments. She graciously left commenting open and included her replies. It is an unusually respectful conversation. I was happy to see some very helpful comments. Of course there were others that were the standard, “Jesus is coming, hang in there” response too. In brief, the comments I liked said that you need to watch for “..it is as if” or “..the Kingdom of God is like” and other clues to when a story is a parable, not literal.
Finally, at the bottom of the comments was a refutation of the refutations. This started out by simply re-listing some of the same passages that Greta had and claiming those could not be explained by what the commenters had said. It seemed that the discussion had devolved into contradiction instead of debate, but he provided a link to an essay of his own, so I followed it.
The essay represented a tremendous amount of work and I really felt his pain. What is unfortunate is that he did something that Thomas Jefferson had already done when he created what is now known as the Jefferson Bible. Their conclusions however are very different. The author of this essay found some rules that he thought were pretty difficult to follow, and couldn’t let go of the parables that seem to say you will be thrown in to the fire if you don’t follow them.
I still recommend this essay. Especially if you are atheist, or undecided. One of the problems of researching the Bible is, when reading a seemingly scholarly work, every now and then the author inserts something like, “God in all his glory” or “the one and only true Christ” or similar phrases that don’t seem to fit. This essay definitely does not do that. It does break down what Jesus suggested one do with one’s life in to some very concise lists. He does use some subjective language and sometimes I think he misinterprets, but try to ignore that and decide for yourself if the advice seems reasonable. He also concludes that Jesus was an apocalyptic, and many scholars agree, that’s a little harder to work around, but try to defer that judgment until you have done further study.
She also included an extensive list of what made her angry about Christianity. This included all the killing in the name of God, suppression of birth control, oppression of gays, it was a long list. Then she linked to an earlier list she had created of all the references to hell in the New Testament.
I followed it. I was surprised at its length because I had just read The Gospel of Inclusion by Carlton Pearson, a preacher who suddenly stopped preaching about hellfire and damnation. Greta and I are very different, but we have a similar problem; finding good authors, with good historical, psychological as well as canonical information that are willing to point out the flaws of religion today, without bashing it as a whole. One excellent exception is “Jesus for the Non-Religious” by John Shelby Spong, a retired Bishop.
Having these books in my reading background kept me from being convinced that Jesus wanted me to love him or go to hell, but Greta’s list was strong evidence to the contrary. I had to figure this out for myself. I pulled out my NIV study Bible and started looking them up. I thought I might have to go back to my King James version to match up the language, but no, it was right there, have an evil thought, go to hell. My study Bible is heavily footnoted, so looking there on the first passage in her list, I found the hell in this case was a translation from Gehenna.
Gehenna was a part of Jerusalem in the time of the New Testament. It was what today we would call a bad neighborhood. There was a lot of garbage, sometimes it would catch fire, a lot of thieves hanging around, you get the idea. Just a few generations earlier, that part of Jerusalem had been used to make human sacrifices to Moloch. Moloch was a god who is featured in a story in the book of Isaiah. In other words, this is like a high school football coach today encouraging his players who live in or near the inner city, saying, “work hard, study your playbook, or your going to end up living in the projects the rest of your life.” It may not be the most appropriate motivation, but it certainly is not threatening someone with eternal damnation in a lake of fire.
Continuing on, I started to hit more parables. Some of these seem to say that actual people will be thrown in to actual fires. One of them, the Parable of the Talents, I am very familiar with and have found scholarly articles explaining it and written my own pieces on it. For example, the person who is “cast into the outer darkness” is actually an analogy for a follower of Christ, not an evil person being punished. I did run in to one parable, The Sheep and the Goats, that I could not refute or explain. But there was a time when someone had told me that the Parable of the Talents was about capitalism. It didn’t seem right, so I studied it and can now argue with logic and context and references to authorities that the interpretation is wrong. I can’t say for certain, but I would be willing to bet that I can do the same with the Sheep and the Goats.
I started skipping through the list a little quicker now and then skipped down to the comments. She graciously left commenting open and included her replies. It is an unusually respectful conversation. I was happy to see some very helpful comments. Of course there were others that were the standard, “Jesus is coming, hang in there” response too. In brief, the comments I liked said that you need to watch for “..it is as if” or “..the Kingdom of God is like” and other clues to when a story is a parable, not literal.
Finally, at the bottom of the comments was a refutation of the refutations. This started out by simply re-listing some of the same passages that Greta had and claiming those could not be explained by what the commenters had said. It seemed that the discussion had devolved into contradiction instead of debate, but he provided a link to an essay of his own, so I followed it.
The essay represented a tremendous amount of work and I really felt his pain. What is unfortunate is that he did something that Thomas Jefferson had already done when he created what is now known as the Jefferson Bible. Their conclusions however are very different. The author of this essay found some rules that he thought were pretty difficult to follow, and couldn’t let go of the parables that seem to say you will be thrown in to the fire if you don’t follow them.
I still recommend this essay. Especially if you are atheist, or undecided. One of the problems of researching the Bible is, when reading a seemingly scholarly work, every now and then the author inserts something like, “God in all his glory” or “the one and only true Christ” or similar phrases that don’t seem to fit. This essay definitely does not do that. It does break down what Jesus suggested one do with one’s life in to some very concise lists. He does use some subjective language and sometimes I think he misinterprets, but try to ignore that and decide for yourself if the advice seems reasonable. He also concludes that Jesus was an apocalyptic, and many scholars agree, that’s a little harder to work around, but try to defer that judgment until you have done further study.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Have You Read it? Part 4
There are many versions of the Bible available on the Internet. One of them is known as “The Jefferson Bible.” It is named for the man who edited it, one of the founders of the United States of America, Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson was a big supporter of the Unitarian church. He was sure that the world was moving in that direction and that within his lifetime the majority of people in the world would switch to that form of Christian study.
He looked at the Bible, and had a problem with all the miracles. He did not feel that was necessary for modern man. This is particularly troublesome with the New Testament because it is a mix of references to confirmed historical figures, names of cities that still exists, and miracles. So he sat down with the original tools of cutting and pasting and started working on his New Testament. When he was done he found a collection of common sense sayings. In his words, “There will be found remaining the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man.”
I’m sure many would argue with that statement. Perhaps he had not read every code of morals ever written. I don’t see much value in engaging in that argument. Nor do I see any value in taking the opposite step that some do and claiming that the code is so perfect, it proves that Jesus was God. All of that just takes us away from what would be valuable, that is discussing the code itself.
I’m sure there is more to say about this, but for now I just wanted to introduce it so I can finish this multi-part post. I will leave you will Thomas Jefferson’s own words on what I believe is a great way to approach the study of the Christian God.
“Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because, if there be one, he must approve the homage of reason rather than of blind-folded fear. Do not be frightened from this inquiry by any fear of its consequences.... If it end in a belief that there is no god, you will find incitements to virtue in the comfort and pleasantness you feel in its exercise and in the love of others it will procure for you."
--Thomas Jefferson, to Peter Carr, August 10, 1787
He looked at the Bible, and had a problem with all the miracles. He did not feel that was necessary for modern man. This is particularly troublesome with the New Testament because it is a mix of references to confirmed historical figures, names of cities that still exists, and miracles. So he sat down with the original tools of cutting and pasting and started working on his New Testament. When he was done he found a collection of common sense sayings. In his words, “There will be found remaining the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man.”
I’m sure many would argue with that statement. Perhaps he had not read every code of morals ever written. I don’t see much value in engaging in that argument. Nor do I see any value in taking the opposite step that some do and claiming that the code is so perfect, it proves that Jesus was God. All of that just takes us away from what would be valuable, that is discussing the code itself.
I’m sure there is more to say about this, but for now I just wanted to introduce it so I can finish this multi-part post. I will leave you will Thomas Jefferson’s own words on what I believe is a great way to approach the study of the Christian God.
“Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because, if there be one, he must approve the homage of reason rather than of blind-folded fear. Do not be frightened from this inquiry by any fear of its consequences.... If it end in a belief that there is no god, you will find incitements to virtue in the comfort and pleasantness you feel in its exercise and in the love of others it will procure for you."
--Thomas Jefferson, to Peter Carr, August 10, 1787
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