Encyclopædia Christianica

Awesome bumper sticker I saw on the weekend, pasted in the lower left corner of the rear window of a pickup truck I passed:

The Big Book Says It
I Believe It
That Settles It

I laughed.  I didn't know what else to do.

Comments

[Moksha Gren]

Sounds like a charming fellow to invite over for a friendly discussion group. I'm sure he'd have lots of in-depth and original thoughts to share about analysis of religious texts.

[Marc]

While I do believe that "the Big Book" is inspired, that kind thinking always makes me uncomfortable.

There's a children's song on one of my kids' videos with the lyric "God said it/ I believe it/ It's all that faith demands". That makes me even more uncomfortable, because it's a simplistic and skewed view of faith and the Bible.

Anyway...hooray for bumper stickers!

[Simon]

Moksha, the bumper sticker reminded me of a comic I'd seen recently where a robot had been built to withstand the circular reasoning inherent in the arguments put forth by fundamentalists, and at the end the robot's head exploded.

Marc, I too think that the bible is an inspired text. There is SO much to be gleaned from what it has to say, but to take it strictly at face value as an instruction book on how to live life seems, to me, to be a huge mistake. And I'm also left to wonder how many of its strongest proponents have actually read any significant portion of it.

[Mark]

The church I grew up in taught us to always ask questions, especially concerning the "big book." Of course, it also believed it was the only church with the right answers, but that's for another day.

The "big book" definitely has some amazing parts that can inspire us to be wonderful human beings.

Somehow, it seems like the ones who ignore those parts are those who get all the attention.

[Émilie B]

Not to mention, the "big book" also reveals how to achieve financial freedom - apparently - and provide for 17 kids. *wink*

[fv]

The yellow pages never did much for me.

[Marc]

I once heard someone preach a sermon in which he said, "All the answers to life's questions are in the Bible."

I didn't believe it. That concerned me at the time, but now I've dealt with it.