Let's pretend for just one moment religion is a brand new concept to you...?

Question

Let's imagine you're an adult (if you're not one already) and you were to hypothetically make it this far without even once hearing about ANY god or gods or any insitution that even resembles religion. You still retain all your other knowledge though. Just imagine for a moment.

Now, someone hands you the Bible for the first time ever. This concept is so new to you that you have to ask this person what it's for and what "a god" is.

Knowing all you know now (except for what is mentioned above) you read the entire book and see all the things that happened that are supposedly scientifically impossible, so you ask this person for scientific evidence for these claims. He tells you there is no scientific evidence and you are just supposed to pray and listen to your heart. Not only that, he tells you that believing in it without any scientific evidence is a good thing. It's actually a virtue.

What would you do? What would honestly be your reaction to this if this actually happened?

Answer 1

Faith is unreasonable

The most significant problem with trying to justify any belief, philosophy, or religion on faith may be the fact that there is no good reason for only allowing a single religious group to use it. If Christianity offers it as a defense of a religious tradition, why can't Muslims/Hindus/Jews use it to defend an entirely different and incompatible religious tradition? Why can't a Deist/Pagans/Buddhist use it to defend an incompatible, secular philosophy?

Answer 2

Imagine if you had never seen a book at all either and someone tried to explain it to you in a language you didn't speak.

That happened to Atahuallpa, the ruler of the Inca Empire in 1532 when he first met the Conquistador Pizarro. Pizarro's priest came out to Atahuallpa with a bible and handed it to him. Atahuallpa had never seen a book before and disdainfully threw it aside. Pizarro used this moment to attack and killed an estimated 6,000 unarmed Quechua Indians and took the Inca Emperor captive, eventually killing him.

I think a person you are describing would have a similar reaction. "You're telling me to believe what?".

And for those of you that will write me telling me "Peru is a Catholic country now, you know". I would say that all the Catholics did was rename Incan deities after saints and switched some pictures around. I doubt the Pope things that the Quechua Indians are practicing proper Catholicism.

Answer 3

Its not hypothetical to me. I was raised in an atheist household. There was no mention of god, jesus, or satan or devil whatsoever. I grew up in an isolated area, and when I went to school, was called a hill billy, hick from the sticks or whatever. I knew what a bible was and had heard about god, but that's about all. After I was married, JWs came knocking at my door - after about four years - I sucummed and got baptized - well, they kept saying that the world was going to end and if I wasn't baptized . . . I found it very strange, having no bible study or knowledge all my growing life, that the "creator" was two men, father and son, who had intercourse and made human's. I eventually "divorced" them.
My reaction was that I found religion strange and foreign. I should have remembered my roots, thanks to my father, and I could have saved myself the aggravation. I also quit school in grade eight, so I wasn't up on my history or mythology, or I wouldn't have fell into the trap.

Answer 4

Me, I'd probably dismiss the book, and then think to myself that another in my position might find it to be a wonderful idea/philosophy/outlook and then adopt it. I would probably form my own faith with a basis in my own feelings and idea and in the world around me.

That's the thing with human beings... there is a predisposition towards having an opinion/belief about things. Some find that a belief and trust (aka faith) that no deity/"divine being" exists, Others believe in something else, and yet others believe there is something, but they can't decide what that something is for various reasons.

Answer 5

I'm from Missouri, so I'd be highly skeptical - just as I am of so-called "miracle diets" and "get-rich-quick" schemes. If somethings seems "too-good-to-be true" and can't be independently verified or documented, then there is a very high probability that it is just a CON.

Religion's greatest accomplishment is its ability to con people into believing in something that defies human logic/experience without proof. No that's quite a con indeed!

Answer 6

I would read this book as I do any other book...some are novels for leisure, others are texts/non fiction for learning...the Bible I would take to be fiction because none of the events that happen in there could possibly happen in real life.

people rising from the dead, someone in the sky talking to people, spirits...

Answer 7

i guess it depends of which part of the bible I read. If i read the gospels, chances are i'd have a better opinion than if I read Leviticus.

Then again, if I told you there were invisible particles that make up everything, you might react in a similar way.(assuming you never heard of atoms)

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but replace * with .

Answer 8

i would drop the book on the ground
laugh and walk away shaking my head.

Answer 9

throw the book in the trash or use it as kindling

Answer 10

I wrote this a year ago yesterday, and it's very similar to the question you're asking.

Consider the possibility that you were born somewhere without any religion, but were given the opportunity to read about them as a cultural education. You were also taught language, science, math, philosophy, and critical thinking skills.

Then one day, you were introduced to a Christian who, following the evangelizing call, said to you that he had a story about God and humanity that was wonderful and would change your life. The story was in his Bible, and he proceeded to lead you through it.

The first thing you heard was that you were condemned by God because of some actions taken by a pair of naive progenitors. Nothing you did caused it; you could not have prevented it. But God condemns you and everyone you know.

Then God decides to choose a particular group of people to rule over called the Jews; the story continues with the history of their bloody, unmerciful battles and their leaders of highly questionable ethics. The Jewish people are carted off to various slaveries from their homeland, which, by the way, they have violently stripped away from earlier residents.

Various messages from this God are transmitted through prophets, whose words are mystical, incomprehensible and frequently full of condemnation (unless the people are suffering, and then they promise some later relief to be brought about by God at some distant time). There are also songs that describe how great this Jewish God is, there are suggestions of how to live, there is a sexually charged poem, and eventually the first part of the book ends, not with a bang but a whimper.

Then, in the second part, suddenly there's a story that says that God has somehow changed his mind. He's going to give a loophole in his condemnation. He's going to send himself/his son to teach things to this nation he has chosen. But from the beginning, The Bible notes that this God-man will be killed and raised from the dead, and he promised to raise others, too. (Not a bad outcome. Death is pretty frightening.)

However, the stories of this man, Jesus, do not make him sound overly attractive. He's a little pissy sometimes (killing a fig tree because it happened to be barren, chastising his disciples when they don't understand his strange way of speaking, manipulatively refusing to answer questions directly). He continues passing out judgment and condemning people to hell, and although he teaches some elements of love, you know people in your own life who act more loving than he does. He supposedly performs miracles, but you know from your studies that miracles were ascribed to almost any hero in the ancient world.

Anyway, as you were told, the story of his death and resurrection are told 4 times. There are some contradictions before the death, but the story holds together pretty well. But after the reputed resurrection, the story flies apart. Suddenly there are loads of contradictory accounts. The man appears in locked rooms, which doesn't sound like life on this planet. The man is not recognized by close friends who walk with him on a road. He's no longer flesh and blood, but you can touch his wounds. Suddenly things take on a fairy tale quality. And then, rather than hang around, this once-dead-now-raised person skips town, leaving a few people who believe he's alive.

The rest of the book is a bit of history, but mostly letters between early believers, trying to keep the flock in line, and always promising an end to death. One prominent member of the group named Paul decides that God no longer just means to claim the Jews for his special friends, but opens the deal up to the entire human race. The last book then once again goes back to describe horrors perpetrated by God and others. It sounds like things are as they were, with God back to his condemning ways. (Except for those who believe in the resurrection of his son.)

So now you know the story. The deal, in summary, is this. You're still condemned. You can get away from being condemned if you believe in this miracle of resurrection. If you don't, no dice.

Your mouth is agape. The story sounds grizzly and intensely pessimistic, except for that never ending life part. But you've studied history, religions, language, science, math, etc. You know that we are flesh and blood, just like the animals that we kill and eat. You love justice and cannot see the sense in condemning someone because some distant forefather happened to nibble on fruit or learned to think for themselves. You do not believe that you, your family, and your world are condemned. (You know we all suffer on occasion, but pain and suffering effect everyone, regardless of whether or not they believe in any one religion.)

Studies have taught you that there are lots of religions, each offering their special access to the benefits of belief if you turn off your rational mind and replace it with faith. Most of these religions have faded, but enough remain. And in truth, there is nothing special in the story you have heard about God, the Jews, Jesus, Paul, and the rest. They are just stories, a way that a primitive people tried to make sense of the ambiguous and the incomprehensible.

When you shared these thoughts with your evangelizing visitor he accused you of being arrogant and closed minded. But having looked at the world through a wider lens, you cannot see this story as any less mythological than any other told to justify religion. The tale is designed to keep people in line ethically and to relieve their anxiety about dying. You are willing to listen to suggestions, but you already do well in making thoughtful, ethical decisions. And because you have already considered death, you readily acknowledge that it will come. Its stark reality makes life's moments all the more precious.

That is why I don't "believe the Bible." I respect parts of it: It contains some good literature that has effected western culture (for good and ill) for millennia, but in quality it is no better than has been produced by authors since. It has some great advice, but it has no monopoly on valuable wisdom. By and large, it is a cultural history and religion rule book, similar to other ancient texts. If you find it useful in other ways, I will not protest when you grasp it tightly. To me, taking it more seriously than I described neither fits my experience nor benefits my life.