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Is it fair to call belief in YHWH an illusion?
- Thread starter Mr Spinkles
- Start date
doppelganger
Through the Looking Glass
We must ask why? But that would probably lead us into a tangent...
And a lot of silly speculation as well . . . :yes:
doppelganger
Through the Looking Glass
That's doesn't answer my question, Victor.
doppelganger
Through the Looking Glass
You can see whatever you want to see.
doppelganger
Through the Looking Glass
Which makes the "discussion" rather silly . . . :areyoucra
Runt
Well-Known Member
It is this very question that led me, at the age of about 10, to argue myself into atheism. I began thinking of the various myths I'd been reading and laughing about in my giant Encyclopedia of Mythology. I found the stories extremely intriguing, the various deities as interesting and endearing as characters in my favorite fairy tales, and the supernatural explanations of natural phenomena which even I---a little kid---understood absolutely hilarious. I could not believe, for example, that people used to think that the sun was dragged across the sky by Apollo's chariot or Ra's boat. I mean really, I'd seen and read "The Magic School Bus" and it had told me everything I needed to know about the solar system! Everyone knew that the earth revolved around the sun; what were those silly ancient people thinking?!
Then it occurred to me: although for the most part people today regard these myths to be completely fictional and, indeed, often even amusing and foolish, there nevertheless are MILLIONS of people who believe other stories which seem equally fantastical. The Bible, the Vedas, the Koran... all of these are filled with such stories, and yet these stories are often regarded as solid fact despite their similarity to ancient myths and their condradiction of what I considered to be established scientific knowledge.
Were the stories really that different, I wondered? Icarus tried to ascend to heaven with makeshift wings and instead fell and drowned; the builders of the Tower of Babel tried to reach heaven and instead were scattered. Promethius gave humans fire and was chained to a rock and eaten by an eagle for eternity; the Serpent convinced humans to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and was forced to crawl on his belly and be stomped on the head by humans for eternity. How different, I wondered, were the stories of Hercules and David? Why, I wondered, was one set of mythologies regarded as foolish fiction and the other as sacred truth???
I decided that it was hypocritical to scoff at one religion's fantastical stories and believe another's. Better, I decided, to scoff at ALL myths and, indeed, at all religions.
Then I discovered the value of figurative interpretation, and everything changed... but that's another story.
doppelganger
Through the Looking Glass
Ummm . . . still not answering my question.
doppelganger
Through the Looking Glass
Now you're catching on . . .
doppelganger
Through the Looking Glass
Sounds more like an opinion than a fact.
I believe differently than they do, but I'm not about to go and insult them by telling them that their beliefs are "an illusion." They could say the same thing about mine, and where does that leave us?
Nothing is impossible, but I probably wouldn't use that line of reasoning with someone because I doubt that it would get me anywhere.
They shouldn't, unless you're saying "Your belief in Christ is as delusional as the Greeks belief in Zeus."
Huh? Are you assuming that those who believe in YHWH believe it is an illusion and are pretending to believe that it is true?
Oh, I'm not assuming anything on behalf of all "believers." Some no doubt, though, have a mystic's view on reality and still choose to participate in (not "pretend") the truth and the illusion. (It's kind of hard not to, shy of asceticizing yourself to death.)
Even illusion contains truth.