I'm asking you what YOU think it teaches. I don't find anything useful in the Bible, nor in any of the many diverse interpretations of the Bible.
Yet you find the same teachings of Jesus in the teachings of the Buddha and you seem to find value there. What explains that inconsistency?
What I find it teaches that is useful, is the same things you find in the Dharmic religions which you seem to find useful for yourself. It teaches the Way to live consistently and in harmony with others, with yourself, and with the world. I also draw from Taoism, and very much find a consistency of themes between that and the Way.
It's just that I can see it as merely a matter of language, ways to frame and talk about it, but in its application, is has the same Goal in mind. Perhaps it is your inability to understand that where you begin to assume I do not apply critical thinking to spiritual and religious matters as well?
I can assure you, I do not shut off my brain at any point when it comes to approaching or understanding these matters, even though in practice we must move beyond the reasoning mind, and simply rest in Stillness and Awareness, beyond thinking processes themselves. But you should know this already as a Buddhist, I would assume.
My point was that a literali interpretation of sin through the Garden myth, into the other OT stories, and into the story about Jesus, including his execution and gift of salvation, doesn't make any sense. It suggests a God that is cruel, or incompetent.
I completely agree. That is why I do not read it in that distorted way. That said however, I do find the story of the Fall and sin and the Garden myth to be an extraordinarily perceptive truth about our human nature, using that language of metaphors to speak of it. Read as metaphors, it's quite insightful. It's one of my favorite myths. As such, it simplifies talking about rather complex, abstract ideas. That's the true power of myth, after all.
What on earth do I mean? Am I shutting off my critical thinking at this juncture? No, of course not. I'll try to explain so you can see. Inherent in humans is this sense of original connection with the world and ourselves. We are born in an undifferentiated sense of self. There is no separation of this and that, self and other yet. We are connected with the Source, simply sensing being, and not rationally dissecting and separated it into disconnected parts.
The Tao that can be spoken of is not the eternal Tao,
The name that can be named is not the eternal name,
The nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth
The named is the mother of myriad things.
So inside of us, from birth, or from Existence herself, is this innate sense of unity with the Source of everything. As we "eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil", as we name things, as we begin to move into the world of the myriad things, or into the world of "maya" or illusion, we fall from Grace. This is what happens as we are taught and programmed by parents and culture to live in the systems of the world, or "things of the world" to use that metaphor properly.
We lose touch with that innate Source with in us, we Fall, and are separated from God in the Garden, and this lead to Dukkha, or the world of suffering, toiling in the weeds of the hard soil and knowing sorrow in our lives as we are cast out of the garden into the word of sin, or falling short of the Divine. And the rest is all about the return to Source, to reunite with God, to find 'salvation', to attain Enlightenment, and so forth.
Do you see how I used the language of Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, and Jewish and Christian metaphors that all say and point to the exact same human, existential reality? There are layers and layers of truths that can be pulled back in that one simple myth. That is the beginning of understand the power of what these are. How unlike a "lie" or simply 'bad science" that understanding of mythologies is!
Yes, reading Genesis a science and history is to destroy the symbolic language, pointing to a deep, existential human truth about the sense of self and the desire to reconnect with Source and find Peace in ourselves, with the world, and with others. All of it, the entire core of the Bible is all about that underlying theme. Same thing in Taoism. Same thing in Buddhism. Same thing in Hinduism.
Now, is that shutting off critical thinking to you?
Even heaven and hell make more sense if interpreted as states of being while alive versus places after death.
I completely agree. And when understood and read as such, you do find great truth in the things it says. "Judge not lest you be judged". What is that about really? Is it threats of being set on fire as a punishment for making God mad? That's maybe how a little child might think about it. But a mature adult would understand that when you judge others, when you point fingers and curse others, you are in fact doing harm to yourself by drinking the poison of hatred of others. That kills whatever spiritual peace you are seeking in your life.
"As you judge others, you do it to yourself". That is sage wisdom indeed. It's karma. You feed negativity in yourself, it gains power, and it poisons you. "Love your enemies" is for that same reason. That is in fact Wisdom speaking.
Again, no shutting off of my critical mind going on here, as you can see.
The literalists often seem to believe that their *** is saved, so they can behave any way they damn well please.
Yes, they are off the path, to say the least. They are decieiving themselves thinking because they say the right words, they understand the meaning of what things like "salvation" points to. In modern terms, they are engaging in spiritual bypassing, using religion to lie to themselves and escape self-examination and self-surrender to higher spiritual principles. They are in reality, "avoiding God", through claiming God.
These are just a couple small examples to answer your original question of what it is that I see in Christianity that speaks Truth. There is much more of course, and I can explain them in as much and more detail using rationality and critical thinking skill as I've just demonstrated.
Well that there is ANY bathwater is a huge failing of the religion.
Not at all true. That's like saying that the MAGA crowd proves Democracy doesn't work. All religions have bathwater, because people participate in it. In fact all systems of any kind, have bathwater because of people are not all at the highest levels of self-realization. You should know this.
I don't see critics saying mythologies are lies or falsehoods.
You'll see me use the less than gracious term of "so-called skeptics", or "so-called critical thinkers" to describe those who self describe as 'skeptics and freethinkers' where they clearly have no idea about these things. I encounter that all the time on forums by those who truly don't understand what myths are any more than than their Christian fundamentalist counterparts do.
The better educated understand that ancient lore was part of the basic thinking of these old cultures.
Yes indeed the better educated do understand that. Why then do I have to spend half my time explaining the basics all the time to the self-described skeptics then? I used to think they should know better if they are claiming reason and rationality as their true savior now in their ExChristian lives.
But you know, it goes to show that Atheism too has its own bathwater, doesn't it?
They didn't have the broad areas of knowledge that modern people take for granted. These ancients probably really thought gods directed nature, they had no other explanations. The question today is why modern peolpe believe similar things in the 21st century. There is no real data behind the healing power of crystals, but some have been attracted to the idea and believe. The popularity of many religious ideas adds social and peer pressure to adopt them. Accepting these religious assumptions without consideration of whther they are justified allows religious conclusions, and the code talk by other religious people will make sense because of the shared assumvtions. Critical thinkers are seeking truth, not belief, so the code talk is vague and doesn't make sense, and religious assumptions aren't accepted due to lacking foundation.
So there is a big difference between understanding lore and mythology to accepting and adopting religious assumptions. If a person assumes a god exists anyone else talking about their idea of god will resonate.
I have a different take on this, but this post is long enough as it is already.
As I have noted some show excellent ability at critical thinking, like
@PureX in politics, but where it comes to religion it's like dealing with a whole other person.
It's dealing with a whole other area of understanding that you probably aren't familiar with that may make you question. But clearly, my critical thinking doesn't stop at any point in understanding the basis for the things I say.
That said though, drinking in the sunset is not an activity of the critical thought. Yet doing so, is an entirely rational thing to do because we are human beings that are more than just our thoughts. And that is the very point of the spiritual path in human lives.
