This post started as a comment on another blog, which snowballed into a long comment that I thought would be great to post on my blog. The father of three of my best friends growing up has his own blog, and he is one of a group of people whose incites on issues I greatly appreciate. His blog posts have been generating a lot of deep thoughts in my head lately, as I enjoy his topics for their "meaty" nature. Most of them are a little beyond my pool of knowledge but they make me think, which I like. Anyways, check out this post first if you want some background info on my post here.
RE: The Popular Trend of Christians Today in Watering Down the Scriptures
From my perspective on Christians, it appears as though this major trend is being caused by fear. In a society that is growing philosophically further and further away from religion, external pressures are causing Christians to become more and more defensive and afraid that the things they believe, the scriptures as an example, are inaccurate. The results seem to be that Christians are simply - to use an analogy - attempting to force what they are afraid has become a square peg (Christianity), into what they are being told is a smaller circular hole (popular theories) . Hence, in certain schools of thought, they are making efforts to invalidate portions of scripture, almost as an attempt to counteract with other pools of philosophy.
One of the largest contributers to this trend is a seemingly growing number of idiot preachers who have no place spewing their nonsense to a mass of trusting followers (forgive the harsh emotions, but this is a point of reality that frustrates me to my inner core). As a side note on this point, people are flawed and will make these mistakes for the duration of humanity. Just so we understand: this isn't something new, and it will never go away. It just sucks that these people fill positions that followers trust implicitly, a trust that is quite often abused. Example of an abuse: a preacher has a personal conviction that the mere act of drinking an alcoholic beverage is a sin, and to support his conviction, he manipulates scripture to sound as though he is right, (or vice-versa has mis-interpreted scripture leading to a false conclusion), and teaches a whole congregation that his thoughts are truth, when in fact they're far from it. This example does not directly apply to the main point of watering down scripture, rather it is meant to showcase how dramatically a trusted person can distort the truth for people for decades, if not all, of their lives.
I think it's important to raise a generation of Christians that are not afraid, rather encouraged, to think for themselves and question everything in a fair and balanced process. Don't just listen and accept, discover why something is true or false through your own balanced method. A great Christian mentor in my teenage life taught that to me; he taught me many great things before he passed away, but this is one of the lessons I cherish the most. Also, my parents, who do not share the same belief that I've arrived at, have fostered a similar environment for free thinking in my brother's and my upbringing - which is something I've come to greatly appreciate, and hope that I am able to foster for my kids as well.
Many Christians are afraid of that perspective of questioning though; they fear that if they question too deep, then they won't like what they'll find. Thus far, however, I can honestly state that personally, I have never been disappointed in what I've found.
These fears, in my opinion, are what lead people to make attempts to water down the bible, almost as a counter-measure, softening a potential fall. It's silly. If something is believed to be wrong in an account, then it's important for everyone to understand what it is, and why. To be honest, I don't have an account that I have found to be credibly discounted to give as an example, but there is plenty of debate on a number of items. One good item would be the gnostic gospel of Judas Iscariot. The argument is rubbish in my opinion, albeit hotly debated.
The main problem is that people are too quick to assert what is truth, and then jump on the band wagon, or simply surround themselves with only one side of the argument. I think it's important when something honestly challenges what you believe to be true, that you not react under that pressure; take your time, study as much of the thoughts and information as possible, and if you can't come to a proper conclusion, then that should be your position on an issue until you can come to one. Furthermore, never assuming that just because finally a conclusion is reached that it can't be changed by new data. Again, apply the same process of thought with the new information and see where it leads. At least that's what I try to do.
I feel like I'm starting to ramble. I wish I was a better writer, able to construct a proper line of thought leading to a dramatic mind-blowing conclusion; but alas, I am not, lol. So hopefully you can take the post for what it is, simply a long comment on a well constructed post.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment