I have a lot of fun reading books I mostly don’t understand and marking the parts I think I do understand while also writing out questions and comments in the margins. When I pick up the books again and read what I wrote and marked, I end up realizing that I’ve internalized all kinds of phrases and analogies and postures and moods and also, for some reason, repressed the memory of where they came from.
The question of how would I respond if I learned beyond a shadow of a doubt that God wasn’t real/the Bible is complete fiction has come up periodically over the years. My response has always been this. I wouldn’t be that shellshocked. I would adjust and would be fine. It was never about being right but doing right. Fact or fiction, if it inspired me to be the best version of myself and to make the world a bit better, then there’s no shame in that. If it inspired me to act and do what’s right and help others, be it a Bible, a tv show or a graphic novel, that’s power in and of itself.
It wasn’t just the religion but the spirit or intent behind it. You evolve, you adapt and when you know better you do better. I can say this with confidence as this isn’t the first time I had to drastically change my world views and reinvent myself accordingly. If any of this makes any sense.
But that’s just me. The next person’s mileage may vary.
Thanks for sharing these wise words, David. My summary: ‘belief is a free expression, an act of will’. Would you concur that it follows that the truthfulness of our belief is irrelevant?
I love SK too. He questions middle class Christianity referring to the geese which I think apt. I like his demand for a decision but because I’m a doubter more than a Knight of Faith I wonder about authority to demand such a decision. It is a bit bleak thh
X is morally repulsive. X + resurrection is morally laudatory. I believe in the resurrection, but his statement doesn't make much sense.
At 88 I ponder ,
“why do we even need the belief that Jesus raised from the dead?”
What is your answer?
The question of how would I respond if I learned beyond a shadow of a doubt that God wasn’t real/the Bible is complete fiction has come up periodically over the years. My response has always been this. I wouldn’t be that shellshocked. I would adjust and would be fine. It was never about being right but doing right. Fact or fiction, if it inspired me to be the best version of myself and to make the world a bit better, then there’s no shame in that. If it inspired me to act and do what’s right and help others, be it a Bible, a tv show or a graphic novel, that’s power in and of itself.
It wasn’t just the religion but the spirit or intent behind it. You evolve, you adapt and when you know better you do better. I can say this with confidence as this isn’t the first time I had to drastically change my world views and reinvent myself accordingly. If any of this makes any sense.
But that’s just me. The next person’s mileage may vary.
Thanks for sharing these wise words, David. My summary: ‘belief is a free expression, an act of will’. Would you concur that it follows that the truthfulness of our belief is irrelevant?
I love SK too. He questions middle class Christianity referring to the geese which I think apt. I like his demand for a decision but because I’m a doubter more than a Knight of Faith I wonder about authority to demand such a decision. It is a bit bleak thh