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Originally Posted by Cheese
Im not sure your present view of Christianity is typical to your thoughts as late as 2 or 3 years ago?...
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Probably. I vacillate wildly in my theological and philosophical thinking in my attempts to make sense of the world around me. Not just the natural world, but my social context as well. I am surrounded by friends, family and other acquaintances who have meaningful experiences with God on a daily basis. Just yesterday, a friend of mine who just suffered a sudden onset of near fatal pneumonia (possibly caused by meningitis?) began to inexplicably recover. His wife reported on her facebook page that doctors were "baffled" but that those of us who believe in prayer are not in the least bit surprised by his rapid recovery. You and I know that the appearance of divine intervention is a symptom of the vast gulf of incomprehension about the human body that medical sciences are still grappling with, and not the result of answered prayer. When I am surrounded by this climate, assent builds solidarity and community with a wonderful group of people that I cherish as my friends and family. As I remain hopeful about the existence of a god, it is not such a stretch for me to believe that "god"—whoever he is or whatever it is—had a hand in seeing that my friend is still alive, and I am glad for it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cheese
I also find it interesting that a Christian could be raised believing one message, eg the belief that the virgin birth was a fact, and yet change that view to something more mythical and continue to find solace in the same religion.
Where does the line in the sand blur?
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Maybe the line is not so fixed as you imagine it should be in the first place. I have come to consider many things taught within diverse branches of Christianity incredulous, but I continue to ascribe to my religion through a careful consideration of what I understand to be the motivations behind the formation of preposterous doctrines and ideas. Vulcan's analogy of Skinner's chicken is actually a very apt description of how I continue to hold to my faith. The
purpose underlying the virgin-birth legend was theological and idealistic, but over the course of only a couple of decades came to be a tenet of history. Any careful reader of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke will recognize the subtle theological function of the legend, and my current religion seeks to rediscover those intentions in a contemporary applicable way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cheese
How does one find belief in something that has more symbols than fact, or am I misinterpreting your writings?
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No, I think you are understanding me, but I would take issue with the manner in which you have juxtaposed
symbols against
facts in such a way as to elevate the value of one over the other. One of the reasons the fact / fiction dichotomy has become a sticking point among Western skeptics is because we have been conditioned through the course of hundreds of years to set an incredibly high value on "what really happened" at the expense of "what it means". Historiography in the ancient world was governed by different premises and concerns, and this resulted in the propagation of legends and "myths" that we tend to now look down upon as primitive or naïve.
I guess, to answer your question, I would have to say that despite my own conditioning and my own training in rigorous historical critical methods, when it comes to my faith, I find the highest value in the meaning conveyed through stories. The "facts" of history—and I hold to these somewhat tenuously, out of recognition that our minds will always reconstruct "what happened" in the form of a rather poignant narrative—on their own are arbitrary and meaningless. Human nature imbues the past with meaning every time we attempt to re-tell it. The ancients had a much better understanding of this than we do, as they paid significant attention to the meaning of events. In essence, these become symbols, and can actually prove to be incredibly valid and relevant.
As an historian, I am bound by the tools and methods assigned to my craft, but philosophically speaking, I am also free to uncover meaning in the events of history, or even through others' interpretation of said events.
Does that make any sense?