DiogenesofSinoppe

I agree that the Bible is metaphor, but religious doctrine developed around scripture is often taken literally. Religious organizations refer to the Bible in the literal sense, for the most part.

It was my intent to elucidate skepticism/inconsistency of religious doctrine(s).

K!D

maybe if they where perfect they would not inspire so many differrent people, in so many different ways!

Boro Nut

And the punishments don't add up. In English law I’m sure Adam and Eve would have only got community service at the most. Our courts would undoubtedly have viewed the serpent as the evil mastermind commissioning the crime. But that’s not how it pans out. I’m with Ricky Gervais on this one. I paraphrase:

“And God went mental. He punished Adam with having to toil for a living, and Eve with terrible pain in childbirth. And how did God punish the snake? He’s the one who caused it all remember. He commanded that he would have to crawl around on his belly. Not really a punishment for a snake is it?

I bet he was going “What? But I already…. I haven’t got any le… Oh no, right. No. Yeah. That‘s awful. Yeah. You got me there. Nice one. Oh. How does this go again? Oh yeah. Oh this is horrible. I wish I could fly like normal.“

Boro Nut

jonesg

The dogma of religion drives more people away from God than their concept of devil could. They are their own satan, I guess everyone is from time to time, dogma just seems to guarentee it's ...'all the time'.

DiogenesofSinoppe

Well, I'm particularly disconcerted by the Xians' doctrine of Original Sin -- that their god did not create the world and humanity the way these things are -- but that humanity is responsible for suffering, grief, pain, pleasure, death, etc.

I'm particularly disdainful of the Xians' doctrine of Original Sin which sets up the idea of a saviour who "saves" us from Original Sin.

The Xians' are very comical about this. First they claim that sin is the human condition, upon judgement from their god; then this god sent the humans' saviour to "die" for humans' sins; and the Xians have the gumption to claim that this is the most positive belief among all world religions, that it is indeed a POSITIVE belief.


...scary!

jonesg

Personally I could less what any religion thinks, its really for each person to sort out on their own.
Original sin , methinks, is just our animal roots which MAY or MAY NOT cause problems. It depends how our life is going.

But for those who do fall into serious trouble with their animal base self, those who are in bondage to self, Jesus did provide a solution.
Most Christians are not aware of how to use the spiritual tool kit Jesus left. Its fine if a person has never left the church, they can stay happy in ignorance.

But what about someone who drifts away and becomes an addict, the church can't help them, or converesly , AA is full of alkie priests who couldn't use their own religion to get free.

The solution Jesus provided is very difficult to sift out of the bible and I have NEVER heard a Christian enunciate it outside of an AA meeting.

I am a firm believer in God but have trouble communicating with Christians because they insist on their dogma, they are not capable of putting it into simple language which a non spiritual person could comprehend. They can't even define sin in simple terms.

jonesg

If it is metaphor, then the snake is temptation .
What is sin?
I see it as anything which seperates a person from God.
If it was not previously possible to be seperate from God until a break occured then thats when sin is introduced.
It was a spiritual break which mankind could not fix.
So God came, in Jesus form, and fixed the break.

But I think its all metaphor, most of genesis doesn't ring a bell for me , other than theres this source of strength, love and inspiration in people which can be tapped into, I call it God.

exile

On my reading of Genesis Adam and Eve were separate from God from the beginning. Their ability to sin was built-in and God provided the temptation, and showed little knowledge of the creatures he created by telling them not to sin.

badger3k

Of course, you can always argue that "he" did it on purpose, and deliberately set them up for it for some reason, the same way Judas "had" to betray that Jesus fellow, since if he hadn't he wouldn't have died, thus spoiling the whole scapegoat angle.