You don’t need to consider the hypothetical existence of God to be a true fact in order to be a good Christian.
Other than the fact that according to the Bible you need a personal relationship with God in order to be a Christian and spend eternity with God.
The main idea of Christianity is that earthly life is essentially an entrance exam for the next, true life. You live your life as best you can, then you’re judged afterwards, and if you pass - you go to heaven, which is supposedly a paradise free of evil.
See above, according to the Bible, no one will be judged good enough based on how they lived their life and the only hope of getting to heaven is a personal relationship with God, by which Jesus’s death in the cross can pay the outstanding debt owed from your life that you yourself cannot pay.
This is an extreme oversimplification, and a literal interpretation of obviously symbolic and allegorical texts.
Just like ‘giants’ doesn’t refer to literal giant people, ‘relationship with God’ can mean several dozen different things, depending on the context.
Allegories and symbols are very common in religious texts. To treat them literally misses the point.
These texts also tend to repeat the same points multiple times, or overwrite them altogether (countless occurrences in the Bible), with broader context in entirely different sections of the texts, if at all present.
Annotations usually help with this, but it depends on the translation and version of the Bible you’re reading.
Keep in mind I’m by no means advocating for or defending Christianity or any other religion. This is purely about theology, as well as reading and understanding religious texts. It’s a fairly complex topic, regardless of if you’re religious or not.
This is an extreme oversimplification, and a literal interpretation of obviously symbolic and allegorical texts.
Just like ‘giants’ doesn’t refer to literal giant people, ‘relationship with God’ can mean several dozen different things, depending on the context.
Allegories and symbols are very common in religious texts. To treat them literally misses the point.
Which texts? I’m going to disagree with most examples, so please give examples so we can hash it out. “Obviously symbolic and allegorical” is going to depends heavily on the plausibility structure you start with before reading them, I’d like to see evidence for that statement.
These texts also tend to repeat the same points multiple times, or overwrite them altogether (countless occurrences in the Bible), with broader context in entirely different sections of the texts, if at all present.
More examples please.
Annotations usually help with this, but it depends on the translation and version of the Bible you’re reading.
What do you mean by annotations? Comparing various translations can help to get a better understanding of the original text, I don’t take a single translation as the only correct one.
Other than the fact that according to the Bible you need a personal relationship with God in order to be a Christian and spend eternity with God.
See above, according to the Bible, no one will be judged good enough based on how they lived their life and the only hope of getting to heaven is a personal relationship with God, by which Jesus’s death in the cross can pay the outstanding debt owed from your life that you yourself cannot pay.
This is an extreme oversimplification, and a literal interpretation of obviously symbolic and allegorical texts.
Just like ‘giants’ doesn’t refer to literal giant people, ‘relationship with God’ can mean several dozen different things, depending on the context.
Allegories and symbols are very common in religious texts. To treat them literally misses the point.
These texts also tend to repeat the same points multiple times, or overwrite them altogether (countless occurrences in the Bible), with broader context in entirely different sections of the texts, if at all present.
Annotations usually help with this, but it depends on the translation and version of the Bible you’re reading.
Keep in mind I’m by no means advocating for or defending Christianity or any other religion. This is purely about theology, as well as reading and understanding religious texts. It’s a fairly complex topic, regardless of if you’re religious or not.
Which texts? I’m going to disagree with most examples, so please give examples so we can hash it out. “Obviously symbolic and allegorical” is going to depends heavily on the plausibility structure you start with before reading them, I’d like to see evidence for that statement.
More examples please.
What do you mean by annotations? Comparing various translations can help to get a better understanding of the original text, I don’t take a single translation as the only correct one.