h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Insight: That's a lot to take in all at once. I'll try to address some of the things you mentioned...

God did create the world in six days, but six days isn't necessarily 144 hours. The Bible itself points that out *goes searching* 2 Peter 3:8 (...'with the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like a day.'). It's in relation to the "soon" that Christ said about the end of the word, but it can be used in relation to creation as well.

<"When Christ said we should be like doves, I doubt he meant for us to sprout wings and lay eggs.">
Although if you're referring to the bit I'm thinking of, and I *think* you are, he actually just told us to be 'innocent as doves', that is, not appear to have any hostile intent. Which can be taken fairly literally, really. To be honest, I can't remember which Lewis book that quote approximation is from, but my purpose was to use another example as to when "common sense" takes over when there is a question as to whether things should be taken literally or figuratively.

The bit about believers going to hell - much of what you've quoted is from the old testement (except for Revelation, of course), and the "hell" referenced is supposedly a sort of limbo (something in the backwaters of my memory calls this the "bosom of Abraham") where the God-fearing went before Christ died and rose. (which sort of makes sense: there was no way for people to go to a Heaven before they could be seen as blameless *unless* they were plucked from earth as was and taken to heaven that way.) This idea was adopted by the early catholic church (or maybe first by Dante and *then* the catholic church) and turned into Limbo, where righteous non-believers go. *can't remember exactly* The "hades" refered to in Revelation may well refer to a similar place, as those released from it are to be judged by their *works* rather than by their belief. According to the amplified version of the Bible, Hades means a "state of death or disembodied existence" which opens up some interesting interpretational possibilities.

But I digress.

And now I've totally forgotten what the other thing I was going to reply was... ...

Common sense: it does seem that for events in "the mundane sphere" (for want of a better phrase) that common sense will *usually* be sufficient to sort the literal from the figurative with only a residue of problemmatic cases to be decided. For the works of prophecy, particularly those in the apocalyptic literary tradition, such common sense agreement seems much less likely - and even less likely is agreement on what any symbolisms actually mean.

Noggin

Amy: It's not purgatory you're thinking of is it?

purgatory isnt in the bible..

it is a mistake to take the 66 books of the bible, written over the course of about 4000 years, to be coherent. in one place, there is one thing, in another, another. jesus is by no means the lamb of god in all four gospels. each evangelist has his own christology which revolve on different aspects of how they perceived him.

bear in mind that the canon has changed over the years. we have letters from the 2nd century which specifically state that all of pauls letters (the bits at the end of the new testament) were NOT part of the canon.

http://www.beliefnet.com/section/quiz/index.asp?sectionID=&surveyID=27

Here is a belief quiz. It will point out how much you share in common with different belief systems. It is interetsing if you do not fit into one system neatly (as with myself) it does include atheist & pagan beliefs.
It was fun!

Paganism does seem to be the "Don't Know Box" of religion.

It was an interesting quiz, it pegged me pretty accurately. I came up as a Spiritual Straddler – One foot in traditional religion, one foot in free-form spirituality. Does this mean I'm totally messed up in religious matters or just undecided as usual? It's a bit of both on that one I think.

Uncle Heavy, the Bible wasn't written over the course of 4000 years. It may *describe* events that took place over 4000 years, but most of it was written in the period following the 'Exile in Babylon'. This event is historically verifiable and took place in the 6th century BC (or BCE, if you're politically correct). So the men who wrote the Old Testament had no experience of the events they were writing about, and lived long after the people whose lives and actions they described. Although some of the events they wrote about *can* be verified (if you know where to look) much of it, IMHO, must be taken with a large grain of salt.

Even the people who wrote about Jesus were writing long after his death, and it is doubtful whether any of the authors actually knew him. I think the Gospel that is closest to Christ's lifetime was written about 50 years after he died. In fact, some of the Epistles are older than the Gospels.

I did the quiz and came out as 'Spiritual Dabbler -- Open to spiritual matters but far from impressed'. My score was close to 'Hardcore Skeptic', though. I think what pushed me into the 'Dabbler' group was my attitude to the beliefs of others. Rather than saying that believers are misguided or wrong, or that children should be guided towards secular philosophy, I said that all beliefs are valid and that children should be introduced to a variety of beliefs and allowed to make up their own mind. I feel that just because I am an atheist, it doesn't mean that people who believe something else are wrong. Everybody should be free to believe as they wish to believe, and to interpret their religion's books as they see fit.

It wouldn't give me a score because I wouldn't answer some of the questions--they assumed the existance of a god and had no answer that did not imply the existance of one. I did another quiz there that claimed I was a "liberal christian", odd since I don't believe in any supernatural beings.


By the way, if Jesus is a literal sheep, is he a literal sheperd as well?

"Everybody should be free to believe as they wish to believe, and to interpret their religion's books as they see fit"

Absolutely!

The quiz changes a lot depending on whether u do moderate or not. I did moderate through out and got closer to what I am .(in my mind).
When I started doing low or strong I came up quite odd

I had the hubby do it. He is more conservative and it reflected that. We had the same religions but in an opposite order! It is not perfection in quizes but sort of interesting

I redid it, answering everything and got a 26, the second lowest score (Skeptic gave you hhe lowest score). I think the one that wasn't considered skeptical is that I said all beliefs are equally valid.

The first question in the quiz is do you believe in God ?
R. Daneel Olivaw. You were unable to go further due to that answer? Well ,I did not try it from that perspective!

I always thought Jesus was seen as a shepherd(symbol) not a sheep.

Simulpost!

As far as I can see, most people will take as much of their religious text literally as they can. They only admit things to be figurative when they decide they are to rediculous to believe.

I guess the closest thing to a human sheep would be an albino with an afro

Among others, number 25. It did not give me the option of saying that I didn't have a "spiritual quest", I had to sya what fomr of it was most meaningful. I didn't try to be that literal.

Another dabbler here...I did find it all a bit odd, it was very obviously written by someone who doesn't know much about us tolerant athiests

Lets give credit where due then.
There are indeed ,tolerant atheists lurking about!
*liberal dabbler*

At least it wasn't put this way:

Please choose one of the options below
1. I believe in God
2. I hold black masses every full moon where I sacrifice babies in the name of satan