Not to be taken literally? Now that's the problem with the whole religious mind set in the first place. What is literal and what is not? What is myth and what is historical fact? The thread Gumby was referring to started out with questions about the flood. Some rocket surgeon chimed in and said that the whole earth was not literally covered in water, only a small area around Turkey. Well, that was news to me, I always thought when the bible said the whole expanse of the earth was covered it meant the whole damn planet.
This literal not literal discussion is one of the many things about the old book of myth that makes me laugh. When a believer gets reasoned into a corner they jump up and say "it doesn't mean that, it means this." The absolute ludicrous things Christians expect you to believe are so ridiculous they have to tweak their own book of rules and myths to try and not look like what they are believing is something so incredibly outlandish they are looked upon as idiots.
Did Jesus walk on water or was it simply a mud puddle that he stepped over? Did he actually feed a multitude of people with a couple of fish and a few loaves of bread or have we misunderstood the word multitude all these years to only mean four people? When the myths become too hard to believe for those who believe them to be miracles what else are they going to change? The myth of walking on water and feeding multitudes of people was contrived by the Buddhist and Hindus about Buddha and Krishna hundreds of years before it was attributed to Jesus.
So the question rises who actually did it? Buddha, Krishna, or Jesus. Or is it all a myth and they themselves are all mythical beings contrived to get people to think that one particular way of religious theory is the only correct and factual one?
Are the rocks going to cry out? Well, if you believe in a talking snake you'll believe in anything. Religious stories are created to convince people of a specific religious philosophy. Take out the facts, dab in a few miracles, make people believe them, mix them all up in a bag and you end up with faith. Faith is the acceptance into ones thinking that a story and philosophy told to them is true without any way to factually prove it. Find a group of people that are likened to one of the stupidest animals on the planet "a sheep," call them meek, humble, and teachable and you end up with a religion.
Once you have convinced them of all that, you can tell them that rocks will indeed develop the ability to talk. I think that is where the phrase "getting stoned" came in.
Dave
Edited by - seven006 on 1 October 2002 21:20:36
Edited by - seven006 on 1 October 2002 23:42:12
