Maggie's Farm

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Monday, October 20. 2008

QQQ

If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.

Saint Augustine

Posted by Bird Dog in Quotidian Quotable Quote (QQQ) at 12:31 | Comments (10) | Trackbacks (0)

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I don't believe that for a nanosecond.
#1 vanderleun on 2008-10-20 13:26 (Reply)
"... it's not the gospel you believe, it's yourself."

And that's wrong because ...?

Marianne
#2 Marianne Matthews on 2008-10-20 14:07 (Reply)
Augy was such an absolutist...
#3 Jephnol (Link) on 2008-10-20 14:09 (Reply)
Or to quote Anne Lamont: "You know you've created God in your own image when he hates the same people you do."
#4 ExurbanKevin (Link) on 2008-10-20 14:11 (Reply)
Um.... If you don't believe yourself, how do you know that what you do or don't believe in the gospels is or isn't the right or wrong thing to believe?

If you don't believe yourself, how do you believe anything?
`
#5 Meta on 2008-10-20 14:34 (Reply)
Whoa, that's way metaphysical. You know, even if the filter of your mind is flawed it's the only portal you have to meaning beyond imagination. Bummer.

If I were to accept the notion that the bible was the inspired and inerrant word of God, would misinterpretation of a fundamental tenent of the text undermine the significance of the whole work? Bias, the psyche and intellectual error are part of a believer's relationship to the bible; and faith accordingly is partial--it is fragmented and inchoate. By omission or commission truths are slough off by the process of modelling reality... This is why believers need to renew their minds by thesis, antithesis, and synthesis, as does any who seek to understand.

Coming to God (whatever that means) is a process for which I imagine God has more patience than men who teach religion. At least I hope God has more patience than Augustine.
#5.1 Jephnol (Link) on 2008-10-20 15:06 (Reply)
I'll take leg of Jesus, but no, I'll pass on arm. Seriously, got to keep my figure somehow.
#6 RiverC (Link) on 2008-10-20 14:45 (Reply)
I just read the quote again and I overlooked something. He speaking about a worldview crafted by preference: What you like and what you don't like. All right, I can see his perspective. Just as liking or disliking illness and death has no part in crafting metaphysics, liking or disliking a tenent of faith has no part in crafting a theology based on the bible.

Apologies to Augy. My bad....
#7 Jephnol (Link) on 2008-10-20 17:20 (Reply)
Jephnol,

"You know, even if the filter of your mind is flawed it's the only portal you have to meaning beyond imagination."

The key is what 'flaws' the mind. Your only true free will is to think or not. To open that 'filter' is to believe in your ability to think unfettered by imaginings and bias. Objective reality. It's almost impossible to get there and stay there, but you have to live believing in yourself before you can trust believing in something else. If you have doubt, question why you believe. That works out the flaws.

I don't mean this to address the Bible singularly. It's a way of life. I believe you can't love unless you love yourself first. If you love out of need or lust... time to question yourself, or someone else who claims they love you. Another way to put it is having faith in your good intent. Without that, what is there in your life that is truth?

St. Augustine had this one wrong, I believe.
`
#7.1 Meta on 2008-10-20 20:22 (Reply)
I believe what St A is saying is that the Bible is objective and absolute truth. It is what it is. Believe it or don't believe it. Those who pick and choose subjectively are useing it for their own purposes much like liberal christians do today. They take out the miracles and turn Jesus into a good teacher to emulate. They turn God into a roll model. A postmodern Jesus. This is fine, but it is your own relativistic religion, not the authentic revelation from God.
#8 sean on 2008-10-20 22:31 (Reply)

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