[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Yeah, a very heavily culturally conditioned and flat reading of the Bible that is most certainly Western. You have caricatured "religion" from your rather dismissive appraisal of one religion—specifically, a particular expression of Christianity, which is by no means the lone representative, nor even the dominant one.


Not according to Gen 1:1–2:4 in which the cosmos is described as eminently purposeful and functional. And not according to Gen 2:5–14 in which the ideal world was a paradise.


So, you realise that this is an etiological tale, right? One told by an ancient group of people as an explanation for why life was so difficult. In ancient Israelite religion, there was no thought or belief that anyone could ever actually return to Eden. This was simply a story that sought to explain the present difficult state of living, and to contrast it with an ideal.


These are absolutely not the "fundamentals" of the Bible. These are tangential doctrines which emerged from a lot of parable, allegory, and metaphor. The "fundamentals" of the Bible, I would say are that the human condition is bleak, and the pursuit of justice and righteousness in accordance with God's intention for mankind's benefit is good. That the forces of evil which manifest in empiricism, excess, and the oppression of the weak are often overwhelming, and that we are incapable individually to defeat them. That the Kingdom of God is a grass-roots movement by which the ideal world can and will emerge in accordance with the promotion of justice and righteousness.

I could see how you would arrive at different conclusions by such a literal reading of several of the texts within the Bible, and for failure to consider its historical and cultural context. But it does seem strange to me why you would insist on such a literal reading of much of this literature that is myth, allegory, and metaphor.

I take a different view. Sure we should strive for the ideal world but I don't think that is what Jesus and other such prophets are basing their teachings on. I don't believe his main teaching is about changing the physical world, he's trying to change our perception.