Tuesday, July 6, 2010
The Anchor has been stowed, Captain!
Even taken figuratively, this sign's message is lacking in something, and that something is common sense. In the christian tongue, this simply means that one can find comfort simply by opening the bible to find enlightenment within its many pages. I've found a lot of enlightenment of my own within the bible, but it wasn't pretty. Starting with the Old Testament, one can find a lot of bloodshed, moral bankruptcy, and more human error than could be found in the first draft of one of Stephen King's novels. Okay, so I'm kidding about that last part, the part about Stephen King, at least. But truthfully, the bible does have a lot of enlightenment, if one can find where it is. For example, the bible's definition of faith is 'the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen'. If the bible is an anchor, it's catching a bed full of sand.
It's very interesting to note that many people can indeed turn to the bible for moral comfort and support based off of how they are taught to look at things, and one of those ways is not to question God's actions; that he as an omniscient being does things for a reason. For me, that's not good enough. If someone does something that I am opposed to and I know will affect me one way or the other, I demand a reason, and not simply the most 'FAIL' reason of them all, which is, 'because I said so'. Trying to lure people into the trap of 'because he's god' is one of the weakest ways to reassure people that things will be okay. Being taught not to question god's motives is the exact same as telling people not to question authority, just on a different level. Children challenge the authority of their parents constantly, just as we have the right to question god's authority over us, except in this example, our parents are very real and provide us with choices and consequences for our actions, whereas god provides an ultimatum; an eternal reward for submission to his will, or eternal punishment in the lake of fire, the perfect symbol of torture and grief.
The bible is -not- an anchor of any sort and has not yet been able to grapple onto anything solid. As long as people continue to debate its origin and legitimacy, the unholy book will always remain one of the least sturdy foundations on which to base one's life. Proof is evident that the bible isn't trusted, as it has been debated, twisted, rewritten, re-translated, debunked, and recreated so many times that no two versions are the exact same. What's worse is that now people are so desperate to defend it that they claim that some words in the book don't mean what they actually do. The bible is not the anchor in the storm, it is not the word of any god, and it will continue to be the subject of debate for many years to come.
In short, if ever there was any storm to overcome the strength of an anchor and its chain, one need only look on the internet for religious debates. An anchor is a sturdy object, capable of grounding an entire ship and everything it contains. The bible has failed to do this, as mankind still argues over how legitimate it really is. How long until it finally loses hold on humanity and we are finally free of its 'virtuous' shackles? Only time will tell.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment