thecosmicdance (![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} thecosmicdance) wrote,@ 2008-09-07 14:44:00 |
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No Narnia right now, it's Firefly time!
She pulls out some more pages as Book tries to stop her. Book tells her that you don't "fix" the Bible. River repeats that it's "broken." It doesn't make sense. Book explains that "it's not about making sense. It's about believing in something, and letting that belief be real enough to change your life. It's about faith. You don't fix faith. Faith fixes you." Wow, he's the most unconvincing preacher I've ever heard.
That’s the worst explanation ever.
Basically, this is the kind of explanation people give who know diddley about the Bible and don’t believe it anyway but are trying to figure out why it’s important to other people. So they settle on the “it doesn’t make sense but faith is about believing stuff that doesn’t make sense” reasoning.
No…faith is about believing in stuff you can’t prove, not stuff that doesn’t make sense. There is always a little bit of logic leaping involved in mythology but on the whole, your belief system should have some grounding in making internal sense at least. But anyway, that is a terrible, terrible argument in favor of the Bible. It’s probably the reason their parents or pastor used and that’s why they’re atheists now. It’s why people think The Flying Spaghetti Monster is just as valid as any other faith, because obviously faith is about believing any random collection of nonsensical stuff you can find or personally make up.
Only, you know, it’s not. Only people who have absolutely no idea how humans come to create belief systems or mythologies that don’t, on the surface, seem to make much sense think that way.
No, you explain the Bible this way: It’s old. It’s so old only a very small portion of people still speak the language it was originally written in. It’s been translated through about four other languages to get to the watered down, poorly translated modern English version you’re (most likely) looking at. Christians and Jews don’t use the same Bible entirely, and Catholics and Protestants don’t use the same Bible exactly. Then you’ve got stuff like the Koran, and the Book of Mormon and the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi too. Oh, and good grief, the Talmud. It’s a collection of a nation’s mythology, but it’s also a rulebook, and a ritual guide, and it’s poetry, and it’s life lessons, and biographies, and ancient battle reports, and family trees and secret codes and it’s got a few stories people just thought were interesting enough to write down. Every part, and every version of every part, was influenced by the politics of the person who wrote it. Oh yes, there are contradictions. There are supposed to be contradictions so, and this is the cool part (thanks, Jews, you’re awesome!) you can read the different accounts and compare the evidence to decide which story sounds the most authentic. The writers weren’t always sure so they included every version they could find (until you get to the NT where people started thinking about their projected image and the right kind of PR). You are not supposed to take the whole thing in as one lump of a story in which we pretend there are no contradictions. There may have been times when people were taught to, but they're not anymore.
And none of that has anything to do with faith. That’s archaeology, anthropology, linguistics, politics, science, history, mythology, and literary criticism. It’s a story about people. All the book is, is a record of what people thought about God at different times in history. You’re supposed to do what it says, but you’re not required to do *everything* it says (not even Orthodox Jews do). You can learn about which things different people think you have to do, but everyone knows that you can’t do all of it unless you a)have unlimited space and funds and nothing else to do all day, or b) are willing to go insane. All of that is mostly an intellectual exercise and most Christians or Jews who have had a good Christian or Jewish education will laugh at you if you try to argue with them while using a stance that the Bible should be taken entirely at face value (especially if you are brandishing your terrible translation as you say it).
Faith is the part where you believe that the God the people in the book keep talking about is real. The book can only help so much with that, so in that sense, no, it doesn’t matter whether it contradicts itself or not. But not for the reason Book said, either. It doesn’t matter because you’re supposed to be smart enough to figure out what to do, or be smart enough to try learning. I’m not saying that the key to belief is knowing this, but not knowing it is the second stupidest, most shallow excuse for not believing *ever*.
But this same TwoP recapper had a theory that Book isn’t a real preacher anyway. That this was his secret all along (his past was never revealed on the show, but he was awfully good at shooting people and got them in and out of an Alliance hospital by showing his ID to the guards. He also says an awful lot of stuff no real preacher would ever say).
She pulls out some more pages as Book tries to stop her. Book tells her that you don't "fix" the Bible. River repeats that it's "broken." It doesn't make sense. Book explains that "it's not about making sense. It's about believing in something, and letting that belief be real enough to change your life. It's about faith. You don't fix faith. Faith fixes you." Wow, he's the most unconvincing preacher I've ever heard.
That’s the worst explanation ever.
Basically, this is the kind of explanation people give who know diddley about the Bible and don’t believe it anyway but are trying to figure out why it’s important to other people. So they settle on the “it doesn’t make sense but faith is about believing stuff that doesn’t make sense” reasoning.
No…faith is about believing in stuff you can’t prove, not stuff that doesn’t make sense. There is always a little bit of logic leaping involved in mythology but on the whole, your belief system should have some grounding in making internal sense at least. But anyway, that is a terrible, terrible argument in favor of the Bible. It’s probably the reason their parents or pastor used and that’s why they’re atheists now. It’s why people think The Flying Spaghetti Monster is just as valid as any other faith, because obviously faith is about believing any random collection of nonsensical stuff you can find or personally make up.
Only, you know, it’s not. Only people who have absolutely no idea how humans come to create belief systems or mythologies that don’t, on the surface, seem to make much sense think that way.
No, you explain the Bible this way: It’s old. It’s so old only a very small portion of people still speak the language it was originally written in. It’s been translated through about four other languages to get to the watered down, poorly translated modern English version you’re (most likely) looking at. Christians and Jews don’t use the same Bible entirely, and Catholics and Protestants don’t use the same Bible exactly. Then you’ve got stuff like the Koran, and the Book of Mormon and the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi too. Oh, and good grief, the Talmud. It’s a collection of a nation’s mythology, but it’s also a rulebook, and a ritual guide, and it’s poetry, and it’s life lessons, and biographies, and ancient battle reports, and family trees and secret codes and it’s got a few stories people just thought were interesting enough to write down. Every part, and every version of every part, was influenced by the politics of the person who wrote it. Oh yes, there are contradictions. There are supposed to be contradictions so, and this is the cool part (thanks, Jews, you’re awesome!) you can read the different accounts and compare the evidence to decide which story sounds the most authentic. The writers weren’t always sure so they included every version they could find (until you get to the NT where people started thinking about their projected image and the right kind of PR). You are not supposed to take the whole thing in as one lump of a story in which we pretend there are no contradictions. There may have been times when people were taught to, but they're not anymore.
And none of that has anything to do with faith. That’s archaeology, anthropology, linguistics, politics, science, history, mythology, and literary criticism. It’s a story about people. All the book is, is a record of what people thought about God at different times in history. You’re supposed to do what it says, but you’re not required to do *everything* it says (not even Orthodox Jews do). You can learn about which things different people think you have to do, but everyone knows that you can’t do all of it unless you a)have unlimited space and funds and nothing else to do all day, or b) are willing to go insane. All of that is mostly an intellectual exercise and most Christians or Jews who have had a good Christian or Jewish education will laugh at you if you try to argue with them while using a stance that the Bible should be taken entirely at face value (especially if you are brandishing your terrible translation as you say it).
Faith is the part where you believe that the God the people in the book keep talking about is real. The book can only help so much with that, so in that sense, no, it doesn’t matter whether it contradicts itself or not. But not for the reason Book said, either. It doesn’t matter because you’re supposed to be smart enough to figure out what to do, or be smart enough to try learning. I’m not saying that the key to belief is knowing this, but not knowing it is the second stupidest, most shallow excuse for not believing *ever*.
But this same TwoP recapper had a theory that Book isn’t a real preacher anyway. That this was his secret all along (his past was never revealed on the show, but he was awfully good at shooting people and got them in and out of an Alliance hospital by showing his ID to the guards. He also says an awful lot of stuff no real preacher would ever say).