Can people who embrace mythology (Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, etc., etc) ever truly have an open mind at the same time? Wont they be held back by dogma? Can someone who has chosen to believe that "god" chose a woman to give birth to his son or that millions of animals fit on a little boat, that a whale swallowed a man, he survived, then went on to save a plave called Ninevah, or that a prophet fell from the sky and had a series of revelations on the way down think rationally in other areas of their life? Has this been a problem that has prevented rational thought throughout history?
2006-06-21 08:38:06 · 3 answers · asked by Michael H 2 in Social Science ➔ Anthropology
Most all religions have one thing in common and that one thing is the concept of "faith". The belief in something which cannot be proven through science. People want to think they are part of a larger plan and have some future beyond death. They want to believe that they will one day see their loved ones again who have passed away. For this reason, they are susceptible to all manner of charlatans selling this dream in the form of religion. What you reference as mythology was really the religion of a society in the past. They believed in those gods just as strongly as present day Muslims and Christians. If humans survive another two thousand years, our current religions will probably be viewed as mythology. Noone knows the answer to the ultimate truth. The ultimate question is whether we are just another organism on an insignificant world or whether because we are self aware we are indeed part of a larger plan and play a significant part in this plan. Science is the best method for searching for the truth but even it lacks a means of delving into whether their is a purpose behind our existence and indeed the existence of everything else.
2006-06-22 02:10:06 · answer #1 · answered by spirus40 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Wow, someone posed a great question, and of course the first answer just babbles on about - what else? MYTHOLOGY!! "God" is a myth! It does not exist any more then Zeus or Apollo or Neptune. "Gods love" indeed! What about Zeus' love or Apollo's wrath?
I believe people ARE held back by mythology. Because closed minded myth thumpers want to cling to their belief in an afterlife that they are literally willing to believe ANYTHING!
Lets take gays for example. I hear it all the time: "I know its wrong but as long as they dont bother me I dont bother them." Well, only mythology tells them its "wrong." Science and psychotherapy and medicine tell us otherwise. I believe I'll stick with rational science on that one and let others believe that gays and shrimp and multi-fabric cloth, etc are all bad according to Leviticus.
Did the first reply actually talk about someone put into a fire twice who survived? Wow, what a great myth! And dont forget the myth about Ezekiel's wheels of light or people taken directly into heaven.
People who get wrapped up in these myths are too much! They are just stories!!!
2006-06-21 23:00:19 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Bible is about Gods love for humanity, not about peoples love. I feel rather slighted because you chose to ignore the story of the man who survived a furnace twice, however, it seems your intent on rediculing love rather than seeking understanding of life with love. Very communistic of you and closeminded. Could you accept the truth while you chose to find fault with love? Or is it possible that your the type without rational thought and have been the problem throughout history? The fly in the ointment, so to speak.
2006-06-21 16:54:06 · answer #3 · answered by Marcus R. 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋