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Re:
Rock on Dude. I'm a fan, and an avid reader.
posted by
mousehop
on August 11, 2008 at 11:27 AM
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Perhaps because I've always remembered the storyline and not the exact dates in my History handbooks in school I've taken to a similar attitude regarding religious history. To my mind many Westerners accounts of history tends to get bogged down by details such as exact dates and verifiability of sources and in some instances this is probably useful whilst in other contexts it becomes a stumbling block. In contrast to that, much Eastern religious thought is much more open to the intent and meaning of scripture than the actual time-frame of its coming into being. Similarly, to me it matters much more that there is a story of being humane and forgiving and a guide to a fulfilling and meaningful life and warnings about the effects of placing dogma above compassion, in the scriptures, not only the scriptures of much that is labeled semitic derivatives today, but also from other sources worldwide. I've found that people who can recite scriptures like parrots are often not able to fit the contents into practical application in the real world. For me it doesn't even matter if there is any proof that there ever was a real person by the name Yeshua (or however you prefer to translate it) who was born on whatever date and in whatever place or not. The message that this history is trying to convey is much more important to me than it's factuality can ever be and is still valid today. If we really have to discard the message if the factual truth of the historic references are not provable beyond doubt by academics specializing in this field we'll have to throw it all away if we look at the mounting evidence to the contrary. Thoughts about life and meaningfulness are valid or not regardless of how many times the Earth have orbited the Sun and in which position it was in relation to the other heavenly bodies. Please let me know if you find my lengthy comments bothersome. I find your blog stimulating and once I get started I've got to consciously put the brakes on.
posted by
AardigeAfrikaner
on August 9, 2008 at 6:16 PM
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