deacon blues wrote:I think Church leaders would rather "fool some of the people all of the time" than try to "fool all of the people some of the time." It's worked for almost 200 years.
I'm sure they are happy to fool some of the people all the time, but the number of the fooled is isn't growing like it once was and will soon start to shrink. Their imaginary narrative isn't sustainable. It has to change.
"Religion is about providing human community in the guise of solving problems that don’t exist or failing to solve problems that do and seeking to reconcile these contradictions and conceal the failures in bogus explanations otherwise known as theology." - Kishkumen
I'm almost halfway through. A bit frustrating because Dehlin keeps butting in and talking over Bokovoy, and seems to be guiding him to talk about the obvious stuff that doesn't always even have much to do with historical criticism.
If there can be a Flat Earth Society, then there can certainly be a Native Americans Were Israelites Society. The latter is certainly more offensive. Both are completely wrong. That doesn’t stop some people from believing.
Here I am not discussing Bokovoy’s views. I am responding to the incredulity expressed on this thread.
"Petition wasn’t meant to start a witch hunt as I’ve said 6000 times." ~ Hanna Seariac, LDS apologist
I don't understand why people have to turn to the impossible for meaning. I find meaning in the real. I don't need to revere a text or a spook or a building or an artifact, I see those as THINGS, not manifestations of the divine. The divine itself is an invention.
Scripture often seems to me to be a hangover from the days of mass illiteracy, when ANY text, and any reader and interpreter of text, were seen as exceptional and wondrous. When I see the palpable transparent dreck that people can infuse with solemnity and depth, the power of human imagination is indeed inspiring. But it is even more inspiring when turned to more productive ends.
Finished the last of them. The very last part was the best, in my opinion. It's a very clear picture for why the Book of Mormon hasn't a prayer of being historical, but also from a positive rather than accusatory perspective. I hadn't noticed the repeating Isaiah 52 theme throughout.
Maksutov wrote:I don't understand why people have to turn to the impossible for meaning. I find meaning in the real. I don't need to revere a text or a spook or a building or an artifact, I see those as THINGS, not manifestations of the divine. The divine itself is an invention.
Scripture often seems to me to be a hangover from the days of mass illiteracy, when ANY text, and any reader and interpreter of text, were seen as exceptional and wondrous. When I see the palpable transparent dreck that people can infuse with solemnity and depth, the power of human imagination is indeed inspiring. But it is even more inspiring when turned to more productive ends.
I get what you are saying. I sometimes wonder why people do not find more mystery and awe in science and math. So much is there to inspire wonder. It may happen over time. I think, though, that stories are so fundamental to our nature, and our desire to make the stories meaningful to our lives, or to explain them, is so intrinsic to us that it would be difficult for many people to switch over to something else.
Frankly, I wish people were more curious about the texts. Instead, they read them very poorly. This is what Bokovoy's interviews are about, as much as they are about anything else. People are actually afraid to read the texts and prefer to have authority figures do it for them. They wait to be told which snippets to read, and then they wait to be told how to interpret them. That is because the community reading of a text is never really about the text. It is about using the text as a medium for the formation of a community.
"Petition wasn’t meant to start a witch hunt as I’ve said 6000 times." ~ Hanna Seariac, LDS apologist
Maksutov wrote:I don't understand why people have to turn to the impossible for meaning. I find meaning in the real. I don't need to revere a text or a spook or a building or an artifact, I see those as THINGS, not manifestations of the divine. The divine itself is an invention.
Scripture often seems to me to be a hangover from the days of mass illiteracy, when ANY text, and any reader and interpreter of text, were seen as exceptional and wondrous. When I see the palpable transparent dreck that people can infuse with solemnity and depth, the power of human imagination is indeed inspiring. But it is even more inspiring when turned to more productive ends.
I get what you are saying. I sometimes wonder why people do not find more mystery and awe in science and math. So much is there to inspire wonder. It may happen over time.
So, so true, guys. Thanks for threads like this!
kishkumen wrote: They wait to be told which snippets to read, and then they wait to be told how to interpret them. That is because the community reading of a text is never really about the text. It is about using the text as a medium for the formation of a community.
I think this explains so much, thank you kishkumen.
