Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Faith and Reason

Religion has a long and troubled history upon earth. Nonetheless, there have been numerous individuals guided by reason who have attempted to reform the brute by moderating or rejecting it's worst aspects and amplifying those aspects that are deemed proper by a reasoned conscience.

Then there is the fundamentalist. Rejecting reason completely, the fundamentalist says "The flaws are an integral part of my faith, and I'll die on this mountain before I let you take it!" For the fundamentalist sect, there is such a perverse desire to preserve error at the expense of all else, that indeed, error becomes that which such a system comes to revolve around.

The evidence of faithfulness can be found in justice and humility, but error shows itself in misanthropy and arrogance

2 comments:

  1. I love your final comment. Such arrogance, sadly, is common among these fundamentalists whom I call my own. Doubtlessly, you would not like me, and find me as foolish as all the rest of these men and women who cling so fast to a text which has been proved to be wrong by scholar after scholar *friendly sarcasm*. The main source of this arrogance is that these Christians think that they should be the model of religion rather than the man (Jesus) they follow. Once they make themselves the standard and the defender, religion becomes distorted. Never would you agree with any of what I believe, and I don't blame you, for a man is nothing without his convictions. I simply wanted to give you my perspective on the subject, and attempt saying, humbly, that you do, in my mind, have part of the truth down.

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  2. One day, I spent hours trying to tell my wife what I had found in the Bible. More specifically, what I had found out, that the Bible said "about us". (as in you and me, and even her.)

    In deed, I even showed her the text/scripture where it said Exactly what I was trying to tell her (as she didn't believe me), and I even had her to, "Read it"!

    That's when something Absolutely Astonishing happened. For even as she was reading the scripture, out load. She was Actually Leaving Words Out as she was reading. Words that were written right there in plain Black&White. Yet, it was as if, the words didn't even exist. "Read it Again", I said. And again, the words were nonexistent. So I began pointing them out saying;

    "You see that word right there?"
    "Yeah", she said.
    "And that word, and that word, and that word?", I asked.
    "Yeah", "Yeah", "Yeah", she said.
    "So what do they say?", I asked.

    And without hesitation,
    or even some much as speaking one of those words.

    She said...

    "well but that's not what it means".

    That's when I realized, it does not matter if you are a fundamentalist, or even a "reasoned conscience". We will only see, what we want to see.

    Oh, and the scripture? Well, let's just say that it is imperative that we keep God, Above us. Separate from us. And even, and especially, Superior to us. As otherwise, we would have no excuse for our actions, and/or our inactions.

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"Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for the profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men: Therefore the people alone have an incontestible unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government; and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness require it." -- Constitution of Massachusettes (1780)