tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2573291692969554445.post1744175216456533180..comments2023-03-24T01:58:08.469-07:00Comments on Richard Cox's Blog: Let's Talk Religion!Richard Ian Coxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05638979489457491892noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2573291692969554445.post-65807806683680212332010-03-14T14:33:42.842-07:002010-03-14T14:33:42.842-07:00I cannot not agree with what you are saying. If on...I cannot not agree with what you are saying. If only more people could think just like you do...the world would be more peacefull.<br />Well, I do have big issues with religion, espacially catholic religion. Pretty much the same as yours : women's rights, gay's rights...etc. And I cannot stand to hear people saying they are right ans that their god is the only true one.<br />My father had been raised as a catholic and my mother began a protestant from the french liberal evangelic church a few years ago (she had been raised as a catholic too).<br />I...I've beensearching for a long, long, long (!!!) time an answer to my questions. <br />Finaly, I kind of gave up. I can say I tried pretty much all the religions but none of them suited me well enough.<br />So I guess I don't really fit in anything although I try to stay open to everything as much as I can.<br />I do have a lot of different frends, with different nationality, origins, sexual orientations et beliefs...and I find that pretty cool.<br />Yeah, I'm a lucky girl !<br />It was VERY nice to read you by the way.<br />Keep going. You rock !!!<br /><br />Nathanaëlle.Nathanaëllenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2573291692969554445.post-50398785914288320762009-06-18T12:46:18.468-07:002009-06-18T12:46:18.468-07:00I loved your blog entry, Richard. You're a re...I loved your blog entry, Richard. You're a really smart guy. Indeed, religion is a very touchy subject to many people, which is why I never talk about it because someone will get offended, especially if they pull your words out of context of what you were originally trying to say.<br /><br />I agree with the translation roadblock, things do get lost in translation and many times the context of the passage will change with translation due to words being changed (usually due to not having a word in the translated language that's in the original language) or words being changed around. We have to realize too that with English, the sentence structure is essentially backwards from that of all other languages, so translated sentences will be scrambled around to make sense in English. And with this scrambling of the translation in order for it to make sense in English, the context will be lost too.<br /><br />The times are different as well, certain words might have had different meanings back then, the culture is different as well, for all we know, they could have even included their version of pop-culture references.<br /><br />We also don't know how the books were written, if they were a collection of poems, letters, or stories of morality akin to Aesop's Fables (albeit with a darker tone). Hell, it could even be a collection of all of these things, but we don't know if the scriptures are/were meant to be taken literally or metaphorically since we don't know how they were written or meant to be read.<br /><br />Like with the first book of the Bible. The people who are really anti-science claim the first book is meant to be taken literally word for word, although only up until a certain point that only supports that part of their argument.<br /><br />I love science, it's fascinating and it saves lives. It helps us better understand the world around us, and if applied correctly, can help us actually use renewable resources for energy.<br /><br />And Pamela, I also read about the young girl who died from diabetes because her parents wouldn't seek medical attention for something that was so easily treatable. It's sad and stupid that they claimed their faith must not have been strong enough because God didn't heal their daughter even though they prayed. If they look at it from a different point of view, other than the view of the inside of their own ass, God could have saved their daughter had they brought her to the doctor. I thought one of the beliefs is supposed to be that God works through people, and if they actually, truly believed that, then they would have realized that doctors and medicine is there for a reason.Inunekohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15630023271078524563noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2573291692969554445.post-67843522523357846612009-06-01T20:13:30.704-07:002009-06-01T20:13:30.704-07:00I just wanted to add one more thing. Although ther...I just wanted to add one more thing. Although there might be some roadblocks in interpreting Scripture, an integral part of understanding the Bible as the Word of God is the Holy Spirit. Someone can read the Bible as just as a book with some great anthropological insights, but where the transformative power of the Bible comes into play and it shows itself to be the Word of God is when the reader allows him or herself to open up to the power and gentle nudges of the Holy Spirit as they are reading it, leaving all personal agendas and biases at the door. That is when the Holy Spirit can transform the human heart. Like I said, I believe in a BIG God, a God who has the power to bring people to Him, but we must let our guard down and be willing to hear Him. It is not about us becoming more perfect so that God will love us, it is about knowing that God loves us as we are even though we might not be perfect and allowing Him to change our hearts as an acknowledgement of His love and His lordship over our lives. :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2573291692969554445.post-1590353847155017542009-06-01T17:37:43.068-07:002009-06-01T17:37:43.068-07:00I find it interesting that, although you stated th...I find it interesting that, although you stated that you weren't going to talk much about your own beliefs, your post was filled with your own beliefs. It might have been implicit at times, but still your beliefs are there nonetheless. Just an observation. I don't think that it is possible to talk about religion without involving your own personal viewpoint, hence your beliefs. <br /><br />I also wanted to say that yes, sometimes Christians are bad examples of what Christianity is supposed to be, but if we were perfect and could make it to heaven on our own merit just by being good and perfect people, then we wouldn't need Jesus. And that is what many Christians forget. I believe in a BIG God who is fully capable of changing His creations' hearts and minds, but it is not my job to force what I think that should be down someone's throat. At the same time, it is my job as an evangelical Christian to spread the Gospel, but I also believe that each person is perfectly able to make their own decisions once they know the decision that they need to make. Regardless of what they choose, I will always still love them and respect them because ultimately that is between them and God. <br /><br />I will disagree with you that the biggest stumbling block to interpreting Scripture is language translation. Yes, you will find a bit of loss in the translation from the original language to another language, but I would argue that bigger roadblocks get in the way of interpreting Scripture. One major roadblock to interpreting Scripture is trying to understand the point of this literature that was written in a culture and time period completely unfamiliar to our paradigm. We may have the words right, but we might not understand the context of those words. For instance, it is easy for a woman living in 2009 to say that the Bible is sexist, but once you understand this ancient culture, then you will see that this story of God and Jesus' ministry is very counter-cultural when it comes to women in that culture and time period. This is also applicable to your example with the words kill vs. murder. People can argue which word is correct until they are blue in the face, but the most important questions is: What did these ancient Jewish people believe that commandment meant? We have to understand their culture then and what the words meant to that culture, BEFORE we can take what it has to say and incorporate it into our lives. The second major roadblack to interpreting Scripture is not understanding the ancient genre that it was written in. Is it Hebrew poetry? A narrative? A parable? A genealogy? Apocalyptic literature? Wisdom literature? A letter? A homily? Each of these genres have slightly different interpretation guidelines. For instance, apocalyptic literature (ie. Daniel, Revelation) was written in that time period as a way to give hope to the oppressed for a better future and much of it was not meant to be take literally, but metaphorically. Finally, the third major roadblock is personal bias (you touched on this in your examples). I firmly believe that you can make the Bible say anything that you want to by reading it out of its original context. Also, connected to this idea of context, is that it is important to note the differences between the Old Testament and the New Testament. God set up many different laws in the Old Testament in order set the Israelites apart from their pagan neighbours and keep His people from worshipping false gods, but with the death of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit many of those laws fell away. Hence, why it is no longer unclean to eat pork or shellfish. Again, it is all about context.<br /><br />I just want to close by saying that I very much loved what you had to say. I just wanted to add my own two cents. :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2573291692969554445.post-19757332300410015902009-03-06T19:51:00.000-08:002009-03-06T19:51:00.000-08:00Religion is such a touchy subject for a lot of rea...Religion is such a touchy subject for a lot of reasons. Personally, I have mixed feelings about it, mainly from all the negativity from it due to politics, but I know that if it isn't for that, well, life would be a little bit easier to manage. I grew up Catholic and went to church every single Sunday pretty much up until high school. I use to love having those one-on-one conversations with God. But then religion gets mixed up with politics and then it all hits the fan. Why are we using the argument of religion into our voting polls? Why are we using it as an excuse as to why homosexuals can't marry. It totally breaks my heart every time I see something like this on the news. I'd like to have a wife one day, but apparently according to our politicans, God doesn't approve, so I can't. I was taught as a little girl that God loves us all unconditionally, and the politicians don't agree.<BR/><BR/>Well that's my beef with it. You have a peace loving day!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16841352099396423483noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2573291692969554445.post-48377626224760000652009-03-04T22:01:00.000-08:002009-03-04T22:01:00.000-08:00Those faiths that totally disregard science bug me...Those faiths that totally disregard science bug me. I remember hearing a story about an 11 year old girl who died from complications of diabetes because her parents didn't believe in medicine and only relied on prayer. Now I'm open to other people's faiths but come on, common sense has to come into play somewhere.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2573291692969554445.post-23476527247110000952009-03-02T11:37:00.000-08:002009-03-02T11:37:00.000-08:00Dear Richard, It is with big pleasure that I read ...Dear Richard, <BR/><BR/>It is with big pleasure that I read your post on the religion. <BR/><BR/>Your papers printed by clear-sightedness and by sincerity give a proof of your human value.<BR/><BR/>I am one 50/50 (lol), Catholic by my birth and Protestant by the marriage. I respect faiths and I think that in every being there is of the check.<BR/><BR/>We live in a world where today the faiths base themselves the religions are in confrontation... <BR/><BR/>What inheritance shall leave we to our children? My children go to the catechism every month to the Reformed church of Lyon, where we teach them the Bible, the love of fellow man and the respect for the human values. <BR/><BR/>I give them the earth, free to them, later to make germinate seeds...<BR/><BR/>I shall like writing it to you more, if you feel like it, It is with pleasure that I shall share with you, our points of view, you the Canadian, me, the Frenchwoman..<BR/>a man and a woman, but above all husband, wife and parents of children, to whom we have to open the good doors and show the good road. <BR/><BR/>Thank you for this beautiful reading.<BR/><BR/>And I cannot finish without a big kiss to your daughters and an friendly thought of France to Rebecca and to you.<BR/><BR/>SandrineAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2573291692969554445.post-24131389616477356542009-03-01T14:42:00.000-08:002009-03-01T14:42:00.000-08:00Interesting Blog Richard.Although religion is one ...Interesting Blog Richard.Although religion is one of those sensitive subjects that people don't speak of publicily,I,for one enjoy talking about it,either on the Net or with my freinds.<BR/><BR/>I was raised Catholic in all my years at school and Mass.Like you, I was taught on about love,respect,and good will to people,but it wasn't until High School that I wanted to explore other faiths,but still held on to my Christian roots.<BR/><BR/>Although Catholics had a history with other religions,it didn't stop me from exploring others and knowing things that I wished I was taught of at school.Nowadays,I enjoy religion for the creativity(And somewhat factual)in their stories and I hope to write about all those religious stories soon,or,at least write something as similar to them.<BR/><BR/>I agree on your statements on how religion is used as an instrument for political advancement(Or degration depending on the senario)and since it is used for topics such as homosexuality,I remembered back on how religion was the political power.Many monarchs,politicians,scholars,even the popes themselves used religion for their own desires and lead to great schism's for almost anyone.Now,living in this century,religion does not have much of a devestating effect as of back then,but it is irritating to see people of relgious status influence politicians(Or politicians of strong religious belief)to hold back on things for the sake of securing Christianity...the irony being that the Bible they are quoting against something is the same Bible where I find several quotes on supporting it.The Bible has many things to say,considering that it is covering up early Jewish and Christian history in one book and I enjoy reading it as any other book,and,unlike most books,I am inspired about how many stories are told about the religion of God,and it will be here to stay.<BR/><BR/>As for Atheism,I did not grow up around them,but I am aquainted with one and I respect on his choice of not believing in a Divinity.I have my doubts on God's power time and again but I know that God is something we can prove and disprove.I do believe in science,and it coincide with religion;being able to explain things about God and at the same time,gives us an idea that God gives us the ability to find out that we humans are very limited to understanding the whole Universe.<BR/><BR/>Once again,i enjoy this Blog,and I hope you will continue more.Religion is a really enlightening topic to read/speak about.Cris Hernandezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01109356582548937819noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2573291692969554445.post-68847916305554587432009-03-01T12:01:00.000-08:002009-03-01T12:01:00.000-08:00Well, I'd wait 3 months for that. I'm a librarian,...Well, I'd wait 3 months for that. <BR/>I'm a librarian, and I select adult non-fiction in my library. A while back I came across a title called Losing Your Religion, Finding Your Faith. I haven't read it (so many books!), but I chose it because I loved the idea of realizing that faith is not encased within the parameters of religion. I'm a practicing Catholic, and I truly cherish the traditions and history associated with it, but while I will perhaps naively give Church fathers the benefit of the doubt with regard to the structures and policies they developed, and accept that they--many of them, anyway--truly felt they were carrying out the will of God, your observation that these are man-made, humanly-interpreted words and ideas resonates greatly. I look forward to June!(I'm teasing...really.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com