Jul 17 2008
“That is not what the bible says it is what it reads”
I was watching the documentary ‘for the BIBLE tells me so’ the other day. It was a very interesting film and although the focus was on homosexuality, what was the most interesting point to me was the underlying point focused on the correct way to read the bible (or religious texts for that matter).
When I speak to people of religion, spirituality, personal belief, or whatever you want to call it; I often am taken back by the blatant claims of these people who ‘know’ their religion.
My basic belief and personal assessment is that 95% of people that claim to be christian, buddhist, hindu, or of any sort of spiritual or religious belief aren’t. There is a basic teaching which I learned through my education which I think all religious practitioners should keep in mind is that you never take religious teachings out of context of time, and that you never rip individual lines out of the context of the base message.
There was an amazing line in the film by Reverend Dr. Laurence C. Keene. Keene said that when people came up to him saying “Listen I’ve read the bible I know what it means.” he has responded with the line “That is not what the bible says it is what it reads.”
This is an astronomically important point that the video below drives home (this excerpt was also in the film). Religious text is not suppose to be taken literally it requires individual translation and interpretation. Unfortunately this interpretation needs to be done by people who know how to do it.
The Two Golden Rules (of spiritual and religious text translation):
What all religious texts should have is these two basic axioms right at the beginning of the book. This would fix so many problems with misuse of religion straight of the bat.
Tomorrow I will continue with what I consider a basic flaw of how we ‘teach’ religious thought and practice in our nation.
You can find the documentary on youtube here.
