Actually the whole "christmas " thing is a hoax. Jesus of Nazareth was historically more likely to have been born in Nazareth (where his father, Joseph, owned and ran a carpenter shop AND he was far more likely to have been born in April when Herod, who was the Governor for Rome, ordered all citizens to remain in their homes for thirty days, while taxes were collected This is factual and has many manuscripts to back it up.
The story of Bethlehem and December was made up years after the death of Jesus (who was actually a very wise and great oratorian) in order to convince the orthodox Jews that this was the promised messiah fulfilling the promises to David. Whatever it takes right? As I've said I am a non-theist - I have no god. But I do believe there have been many wise men and probably a few great wise women who have offered words of encouragement to people to live and spend their lives helping others to be better people making Planet Earth a better place to live for all.
Almost immediately, I am back at you and not to pitch my belief against your non-belief, but to meld the two together. In my recent post "God bless you", I said that, in order to say "God bless you", "You don’t even have to believe in God, because in that moment, what you say to the other party is, “If there be a God, I wish upon you His blessing.”
A correspondent wrote in response to that, "The idea that expressing a blessing requires no theology to be meaningful is something worth sitting with [to be honest]."
Wile-E-Coyote was one of the cartoon characters I loved when I was a youngster. His classic device was to set up road signs or distractions, so that the Road-Runner was misguided into his trap. And it always misfired. In order for such a trick to work, the Road-Runner had to know that such signs are common along the way. What they mean. And that he needed to heed them: they are integral to road safety.
But sometimes the sign indicated a path that led over a very high cliff. So, the Road-Runner needed to know that he might be tricked. It is knowing that you might be being tricked that makes you wary. But, if you are tricked every single time, you don't become wary, you become cynical.
There is no question that two direct opposites are both true: religion has the power to make a man a good man. And, when manipulated in the wrong hands, such as those of Wile-E-Coyote, religion has the power to make men into bad men.
The question with the strange aspects of the Bible (burning bushes, God's command to Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, walking on water, the star of Bethlehem, the Commandments on tablets of stone, in duplicate, etc. etc.) is that they are patently contrary to our understanding of what is likely or possible, but they are also imbued with huge symbolic relevance, and our question is: is that relevance intended to make us into believers, or blind believers?
It is not my wont to lie in these columns. There are details that you don't need to know, even as the friend that you are. But I am convinced that I have experienced the hand of God, the divine spirit on many occasions (probably more than I am conscious of), and so I recognise God's existence, albeit I don't know as what or where or how, as part of my life, guiding me, guiding my writings and my thoughts and, I hope to Him that I do his grace justice.
I am persuaded that you, Fay Reid, are also a fine, upstanding person worthy of honour and respect, and that is not the first time I say this and it is still no false flattery, for I have nothing to gain from flattery. You have found your way to grace other than with God's help - that is what you believe. And, by not following signs and messages that could, if you'd been a Road-Runner, have caused you to stumble and fall, you have perhaps stumbled and fallen less, less even that I have.
We tread a path together, hand in hand, and I sometimes wonder whether I would have been on this path had it not been for my belief. And I suspect that you perhaps wonder whether you would have been here if you had believed. Enough of these doubts. We are here, together, whether we have believed or not. And it is that that is important, not details from a 3,000-year-old book.
Actually the whole "christmas " thing is a hoax. Jesus of Nazareth was historically more likely to have been born in Nazareth (where his father, Joseph, owned and ran a carpenter shop AND he was far more likely to have been born in April when Herod, who was the Governor for Rome, ordered all citizens to remain in their homes for thirty days, while taxes were collected This is factual and has many manuscripts to back it up.
The story of Bethlehem and December was made up years after the death of Jesus (who was actually a very wise and great oratorian) in order to convince the orthodox Jews that this was the promised messiah fulfilling the promises to David. Whatever it takes right? As I've said I am a non-theist - I have no god. But I do believe there have been many wise men and probably a few great wise women who have offered words of encouragement to people to live and spend their lives helping others to be better people making Planet Earth a better place to live for all.
Almost immediately, I am back at you and not to pitch my belief against your non-belief, but to meld the two together. In my recent post "God bless you", I said that, in order to say "God bless you", "You don’t even have to believe in God, because in that moment, what you say to the other party is, “If there be a God, I wish upon you His blessing.”
A correspondent wrote in response to that, "The idea that expressing a blessing requires no theology to be meaningful is something worth sitting with [to be honest]."
Wile-E-Coyote was one of the cartoon characters I loved when I was a youngster. His classic device was to set up road signs or distractions, so that the Road-Runner was misguided into his trap. And it always misfired. In order for such a trick to work, the Road-Runner had to know that such signs are common along the way. What they mean. And that he needed to heed them: they are integral to road safety.
But sometimes the sign indicated a path that led over a very high cliff. So, the Road-Runner needed to know that he might be tricked. It is knowing that you might be being tricked that makes you wary. But, if you are tricked every single time, you don't become wary, you become cynical.
There is no question that two direct opposites are both true: religion has the power to make a man a good man. And, when manipulated in the wrong hands, such as those of Wile-E-Coyote, religion has the power to make men into bad men.
The question with the strange aspects of the Bible (burning bushes, God's command to Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, walking on water, the star of Bethlehem, the Commandments on tablets of stone, in duplicate, etc. etc.) is that they are patently contrary to our understanding of what is likely or possible, but they are also imbued with huge symbolic relevance, and our question is: is that relevance intended to make us into believers, or blind believers?
It is not my wont to lie in these columns. There are details that you don't need to know, even as the friend that you are. But I am convinced that I have experienced the hand of God, the divine spirit on many occasions (probably more than I am conscious of), and so I recognise God's existence, albeit I don't know as what or where or how, as part of my life, guiding me, guiding my writings and my thoughts and, I hope to Him that I do his grace justice.
I am persuaded that you, Fay Reid, are also a fine, upstanding person worthy of honour and respect, and that is not the first time I say this and it is still no false flattery, for I have nothing to gain from flattery. You have found your way to grace other than with God's help - that is what you believe. And, by not following signs and messages that could, if you'd been a Road-Runner, have caused you to stumble and fall, you have perhaps stumbled and fallen less, less even that I have.
We tread a path together, hand in hand, and I sometimes wonder whether I would have been on this path had it not been for my belief. And I suspect that you perhaps wonder whether you would have been here if you had believed. Enough of these doubts. We are here, together, whether we have believed or not. And it is that that is important, not details from a 3,000-year-old book.
Among whom you may count yourself. Thank you.