UPSETTING THE LOCAL CLERGY
The previous piece I wrote, about the believability of The Bible got me into all sorts of trouble, including a very long, half page editorial in my local paper, and several letters from indignant churchgoers. Methinks they do protest too much.
I say that for those who believe, that is great, and if it makes them happier or better people, so much to the good, and I am very pleased for them, and would not criticise their beliefs, BUT, if they expect me to believe it, they must offer some proof, because they have an incredible story to tell, about God killing off the whole of humanity except for Noah and his family, of Immaculate Conception, and of Resurrection That is to put it mildly, an unlikely story.
If a man starts to arrive home from work too late for his dinner every night, he may tell his wife that he is working late at the office, and she may believe him. If he tells her that he is going drinking with his friends, she may believe him. If he tells her that he is having an affair with his secretary, she may well believe him. But if he tells her that he is regularly being abducted by aliens for a couple of hours, she is unlikely to believe him without a lot of evidence to back up his story, because it is an incredible story, as is Christianity. I am not saying it is false, just that it is so unlikely to be true that I need evidence before I can take it seriously.
Every day, we are preached at on the radio, the tv, in the papers and so on by men in dog collars who think they have moral authority over me. Well, some of them are men who deserve to be listened to, but some are merely fools hiding behind their status, and a fool in a dog collar is still a fool. There are good men in the Church, and there are good men not in the Church.
There is no Devil; both good and evil are aspects of mankind, and there is good and evil in all of us. God has nothing to do with it, but to take one example, a paedohile who hides his sins behind priestly clothes is the more evil, sin pretending to be saintliness, evil masquerading as holier than thou goodness.
Let me know what you think
Some people get so locked in to one beleve or another -- then become totaly closed minded---and totaly threatened by a few simple questions or new ideas. It\'s not that hard ---people.
As for the Noah story --- I think ( beleve ) God like any other parent was frustrated with the way things was getting out of hand. Mistake / right or wrong --- I think it was an instanious reaction to test humanity\'s beleves and devotion.
Yes I do beleve God tests us ---now as well as he did then ---to see if we\'re listening. The same as any good parent might test a small child to see if they learned what we\'re attempting to teach them.
I can be a good human, have morals and NOT belong to some form of \'institutionalised\' spirituality.
I enjoyed reading your blog!