Message from @Abel
Discord ID: 488176639151439874
Think about it.
More than that, though
I think philosophy is at odds with nature.
Let's take the Abrahamic story
Why is god such a hypocrite?
The fact that we can have a civil discussion and not rip each other's throats out
And why have these stories stayed the same for thousands of years?
That's not natural, but I'd consider it as good.
Atleast that element of it
Religion is also a way of creating social codes and cohesion. A way of controlling people, and I don't mean that in a bad way, it was one that I think probably did a lot of good for our ancestors. Same way modern laws are a way of controlling people.
There is a small grain of truth to most religious stories, but those who written them down took a lot of creative liberties to them.
i think religion has a variety of good and bad aspects
The entire point of Religion is to put a person beholden to a consistent higher power.
I don't think religious stories were ever intended to be a way of understanding the world as we think of it
Because being beholden to your fellow man and your own legacy beyond your own life is a MUCH HARDER thing to ask.
I think they were designed to impart values that were easily impressed upon people through stories than complicated philosophy
Some were. Like Zeus throwing lightning bolts. "well how else could you explain that? No human could ever understand where those come from so it MUST be Zeus"
and yeah the fear of going to hell is a good way to get people to effectively police themselves, which is kind of important in a world with very primitive investigatory methods
Well, yes. But that explanation branches off of 'being beholden to a higher power'.
Especially during the times when most civilizations used word of mouth
I love the example of Hinduism. People mistake it for a pagan religion like the Greek and Roman religions
It's anything but that
I believe it can be said that Christianity makes for good policy, but bad politics.
I doubt it was ever meant as political advice
Mmm... I'd argue with you on that.
Like Islam was, for instance
The story of Jesus Christ was wrought with politics.
Commandments are just laws that come from a different place
The politics of the time.
@Schedrevka Are they laws, or morals?
The adoption of Catholicism was a political move.
They're literally what you're commanded to do. Hence the name.
The King James Bible came about from a political schism.
And then there's stuff like leviticus which is not only the rules but also the punishments, but there's some argument for that not being 'Christian'. Jesus was kind of inconsistent about whether he was there to replace the old laws or not
If you look at the Bible purely as a record of the life of Jesus, you're missing a lot of the background.
Or maybe the Bible is just inconsistent about what he said
Or, maybe, it was the root Church that interpreted it incorrectly.
i imagine the bible has been reinterpreted and rewritten enough that there isn't an intact original sentence in the whole thing
Catholicism got a bad read from the start.
Then there's the whole issue with the church deciding at different times what is and isn't canon.
I work on occasion with a Biblical Scholar.