Moose Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 ... Whoa, hold on a sec. Are you saying that Outcast's style of posting and her way of thinking make her *unchristian* somehow? Does she not *fit into the Christian mold*, Moose?Not meaning to avoid the question, there are thousands of people that would shock me if I discovered they were indeed Christian, but this is for another thread alpha, let's not get off topic. Link to post Share on other sites
Becoming Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 All religions seek to put into words something ineffable that is beyond words, Something that has the character of being a Someone, a force for love, good, justice, harmony, that is perceived as being what is ultimately real and the ultimate end of all the mess we find ourselves in as humans. Religion tries to express this in various images, analogies, stories of how this Force is perceived (which is different than scientific observation) and what it's like. We have to use figurative language to describe the indescribable. These stories, to literary critics, are called myths. Myths are different than news stories of what factually occurred because facts and truth are not always the same. Myths are more concerned with truth, the ultimate meaning of what they're trying to tell us which is more than what mere words can say. A connotation of the word myth, though, is that it's untrue. Just a nice story. Seems to me we have both definitions in play, as bab noted, which accounts for knickers that are apparently all wadded up now. (Ouch!) If this Force, which as a Christian I call God, is one that respects (even seems to revel in) difference (I mean, one flower would have been nice, but look at all the varieties! Wow!), then it seems that the godly thing to do is respect difference and seek to live in harmony with all the different lines of thought regarding this Force. Christians believe Christ is kinda important though, just as I'm sure Buddhists (however ya spell it:)) think Buddha is important, or Muslims that Mohammed is important, etc. So when we hear someone say all that's just a myth (interpreted as it's just a story like Cinderella), it's like insulting yo Mama to an African-American. Instead of picking on one another for our differences, it seems we might do better to appreciate the variety of ways to experience this lifeforce, however we define it, that holds all of us together on the planet, and focus instead on that which we have in common as fellow creatures--namely, that we're all pretty fragile and in need of care from one another (food, clothing, shelter, love). Link to post Share on other sites
blind_otter Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 I'm not getting into it again. But just because a word has a negative connotation to some doesn't mean it has that connotation to all. From Wikipedia.org: In the academic fields of mythology, mythography, and folkloristics a myth is a sacred story concerning the origins of the world or how the world and the creatures in it came to have their present form. The active beings in myths are generally gods and heroes. Myths take place before time, before history begins. In saying that a myth is a sacred narrative, what is meant is that a myth is believed to be true by people who attach religious or spiritual significance to it. Use of the term by scholars does not imply that the narrative is either true or false. See also legend and tale. popularly it may mean that something is false. That was not the way I was referring to the word. Shutting up again. Link to post Share on other sites
Author Geoffrey Posted February 2, 2006 Author Share Posted February 2, 2006 ....a dead saint, a dead agnostic, and a dead atheist all have in common....? They all know there IS a God! Link to post Share on other sites
Becoming Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 ....a dead saint, a dead agnostic, and a dead atheist all have in common....? They all know there IS a God! And . . . they're all dead. Even without God in the end, the fact that we're all gonna die ought to be enough to convince us to live the good life now without beating up on each other. We'll be dead soon enough! We need to realize that the good life looks different to us all depending on lots of different factors. As long as we can come together to create a common good life that doesn't hurt one another, which depends upon being able to expand our current definitions of things, as BOt suggests, and look at things from others' points of view, why not just share the way we see things, what works for us, and leave an open space for others to do what they want/need to. That's my Christian evangelism strategy, and it works much better than collaring folks and earnestly asking strangers inappropriate questions like, "If you died tonight, do you know whether or not you'll go to heaven?" Barf-o-matic! At least that's my take on it. Link to post Share on other sites
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