>Jason was talking about the Bible, but I was trying to point
>out the GENERAL stupidity of taking a book as THE TRUTH in the way he >was
>suggesting: "The Bible says it, I believe it. Period"
>Jason was INVERTING the proper basic relation to books and to intellectual
>authority in general. One should not START by believing everything they
>say,
>properly interpreted or not. One should start by NOT believing anything
>they
>say that you don't already have good reason to believe, and then
>judiciously
>adding on to what you believe those items in the book that stand up to
>critical tests (whether empirical or logical).
Chris:
Careful who you implicate. That wasn't me. Check whose initials are up above
by the post you responded to. Those statements applied to how I actually
approach my faith render your talk nonsensical babble. ;) I DO believe the
Bible, but I don't like blind belief.
>... By inverting this principle, Jason was saying, in effect,
>"Believe everything your favorite book says, and then concern >yourself
>with truth, proof, and reality later." I should think the >stupidity of
>this approach to life would be obvious, REGARDLESS of >what book was
>involved. Was it not so obvious?
Again, I didn't say that. But I have a question for you. Earlier you said
something to the effect of "the Bible is full of contradictions". I've asked
Susan to point some out before, and now I ask you. What are some examples? I
haven't found the Bible contradictory at all, and I've read it all my life
(of course, that's a lot shorter period of time than many of you on this
list) :)
Cya,
Jason
_______________________________________________________________
Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com