I know Christians who claim that truth is as simple as the fact that 2+2=4. But in truth, it is Christians who are arguing that 2+2=5, and all because their Bible says so - and for no other reason.
For Christians, the Bible is the literal word of God. This is something they admit they simply "choose to believe." They believe this, they say, because doing so is the only way that there can be any basis for any standard of morals whatsoever. In truth, however, believing in the Bible is exactly the opposite of establishing a basis for any morality whatsoever.
Ya see, the entire basis for Christianity and Christian morality is actually based on nothing but a "holy trinity" of assumptions.
The first assumption in this trinity is that the Bible is the literal word of God. But there is no evidence or way to prove such a claim. Instead, such an idea is simply "believed" to be true, mostly because so many others have believed it to be true (many of whom have either died for that belief or gone to war to defend it, or even felt comforted by the notion it must be true when forced to go to war for others), but also because it makes us feel better to"believe" that it must be true. Without this "belief," in other words, everything would feel meaningless.
So, to ward off the evil emptiness that we feel from our inability to author our own meaning to life, we find ourselves NEEDING to believe we come from God, and we accept the narrative that so many others accept to be true. The benefit being, of course, that we also get to assimilate into a whole society of people who, as incapable of authoring any meaning for their own lives as ourselves, simply accepts the narratives of their time and place. We become "sheep," in other words, and follow the lamb of God.
The second assumption is that, by accepting the first assumption (and for many it is ONLY by accepting this first assumption), we now have the ability to know and decide ALL questions about moral truth. We can determine every question of right and wrong, in other words, simply because we have accepted the first assumption. Hence, if the question of same sex marriage or "just war" theory ever comes up, we can know the answer automatically without ever having had to read any other book, or having had to learn a single thing about absolutely anything other than the Bible itself.
And the third assumption in this trinity is that the first two assumptions must be true, because human beings are so clearly God's supreme achievement, the apex and focal point for having created the universe and everything in it.
These three assumptions constitute the trinity of assumptions that Christians rely on as "proof" that their faith is equal to supreme absolute objective truth. Each assumption is used as evidence to prove the others, which is why any conversation with a Christian about the obvious nature of just how unfounded each of these assumptions actually is ends up feeling like you're engaged in the verbal equivalent of a three card monty.
And in such a religion, if you're told that 2+2=5, you're considered a saint to the extent that you can figure out why this must necessarily be true, even to the point of being willing to die for it, and a sinner to the extent you refuse to accept this "truth" as valid, even if you're burned at the stake for questioning it.
For Christians, the Bible is the literal word of God. This is something they admit they simply "choose to believe." They believe this, they say, because doing so is the only way that there can be any basis for any standard of morals whatsoever. In truth, however, believing in the Bible is exactly the opposite of establishing a basis for any morality whatsoever.
Ya see, the entire basis for Christianity and Christian morality is actually based on nothing but a "holy trinity" of assumptions.
The first assumption in this trinity is that the Bible is the literal word of God. But there is no evidence or way to prove such a claim. Instead, such an idea is simply "believed" to be true, mostly because so many others have believed it to be true (many of whom have either died for that belief or gone to war to defend it, or even felt comforted by the notion it must be true when forced to go to war for others), but also because it makes us feel better to"believe" that it must be true. Without this "belief," in other words, everything would feel meaningless.
So, to ward off the evil emptiness that we feel from our inability to author our own meaning to life, we find ourselves NEEDING to believe we come from God, and we accept the narrative that so many others accept to be true. The benefit being, of course, that we also get to assimilate into a whole society of people who, as incapable of authoring any meaning for their own lives as ourselves, simply accepts the narratives of their time and place. We become "sheep," in other words, and follow the lamb of God.
The second assumption is that, by accepting the first assumption (and for many it is ONLY by accepting this first assumption), we now have the ability to know and decide ALL questions about moral truth. We can determine every question of right and wrong, in other words, simply because we have accepted the first assumption. Hence, if the question of same sex marriage or "just war" theory ever comes up, we can know the answer automatically without ever having had to read any other book, or having had to learn a single thing about absolutely anything other than the Bible itself.
And the third assumption in this trinity is that the first two assumptions must be true, because human beings are so clearly God's supreme achievement, the apex and focal point for having created the universe and everything in it.
These three assumptions constitute the trinity of assumptions that Christians rely on as "proof" that their faith is equal to supreme absolute objective truth. Each assumption is used as evidence to prove the others, which is why any conversation with a Christian about the obvious nature of just how unfounded each of these assumptions actually is ends up feeling like you're engaged in the verbal equivalent of a three card monty.
And in such a religion, if you're told that 2+2=5, you're considered a saint to the extent that you can figure out why this must necessarily be true, even to the point of being willing to die for it, and a sinner to the extent you refuse to accept this "truth" as valid, even if you're burned at the stake for questioning it.
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