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The Trilogy of Stan
Once again, if you really don’t like this little exercise on the fringes of “who cares?” — please, skip over this post. On the other hand, if you’re one of those who (for whatever inexplicable reason) finds the whole thing just as bizarre and intriguing as I do, read on … because Stan has broken his silence.
2 Responses to “The Trilogy of Stan”
For me. my personal understanding of the Bible changed dramatically after studying the history of the New Testament. Basic tenets changed as the circumstances of the Christian communitey changed. For example, regarding converts, at first it was thought that they would need to convert to Judaism (circumsion) before becoming Christians. As the community moved further afield, with fewer Jews available, it progressively morphed into a non-Jewish religion and at one stage, as you know, was ill-disposed towards Jews. This made me believe that the Bible just reflects the beliefs of the time. Taken out of historical context, individual verses are not the basis of belief, but rather serve to validate what the reader is disposed to believe about the world and life in the first place.
Actually, people defining what God intends us to believe in specific terms rather diminish God, as they bring God down to our level; it makes Him one of us. like a professor. If God is transcendatal, and we are not, we are not equipped to be on His level of understanding. So, my approach is: believe or not, but always doubt your understanding.
Once again, domajot, you’ve hit the nail on the head. A commenter at CS also talked about the difficulty of being a Bible literalist if you don’t fluently read Hebrew, Greek, and Aramic. Add to each of those languages the adjective “ancient.”
One of the most fascinating (and frustrating) classes I took in college was a linguistics course, where we learned very quickly that even in our dear ole English language, what words and phrases mean now are much different, in many cases, than what they meant in Chaucer’s age, for instance. Go back further, and the language is even less decipherable through our modern lense. Sensibilities. Language. They all change, and that’s why we all, as you said, should “always doubt” our understanding.