This topic contains 15 replies, has 5 voices, and was last updated by 
Wade 1 year, 7 months ago.
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I re-shared an image on FaceBook yesterday. It was this:
And now one of my church friends has gotten all “aboriginal myths are false” on it.
I want to tear him a new one, but that would be exceedingly counterproductive. Especially because I want to swear at his fucking holier-than-thou attitude. The original point of the picture was that calling another people’s belief “myths” and your own “faith” is demeaning and insulting. That’s why I re-shared it.
And it’s Bible Study tonight. At his place. :-/
Wade.
Wade, Oh those RASCALLY-Bible-Study-holier-than-thou types can really bring me down sometimes. But, the good news is this… WE LIKE YOU !! and We get it! And if we don’t get it, we still like you!!! Sometimes people act like fuckers. It is what it is. ESPECIALLY on facebook… omg it brings out the shittiest comments. I should post the on-fire-I-think-your-the-worst-person-ever message I got the other day from just such a person so you know that you are not alone. I too sat through Bible studies with these people. I finally had enough. I kicked out our home group. We’ll do some sort of small group again someday I think… but the RASCALLY-Bible-Study-holier-than-thou will not be invited. ever. period. get out. don’t let the door hit you on the way out. done.
A mutual friend pointed out he’s also a PK (Pastor’s Kid). And he’s normally pretty intelligent. It’s just that he has a bit of a penchant for inflicting his opinion on people. :-/ I’ve received his criticisms about my actions several times but calling him out on it seems very difficult.
I eventually posted a nice calm response pointing the original reason I shared the pic. If he wants to continue looking like a dumbass in public, I’m not going to stop him.
Wade.
I think you have a great attitude!
And now he’s trying to have the last word…
Okay, the Bible Study went as well as could be expected. The post wasn’t mentioned and since he’s “had the last word”, he’s unlikely to raise it again.
I still think he looked like a biased yokel.
Wade.
Wade, I appreciate that you let him have the last word. Good job. I find it’s a great to disengage. Well done!
Wade – I’d be interested to know what you think about ‘Broken Myths‘. Does this relate in any way to what you have been talking about?
Hi @Old-Pete, yes I think your post about Broken Myths is on the money. It’s not the term I would have come up with, but meaning is right.
Modern, Western secular society gets a little obsessed with “truth”. This makes it difficult for stories to be told that teach the why without having to be scrupulously correct as to the how. This leads to (amongst other things!) an obsession with either proving or disproving The Bible with predictable results. Peoples in societies past could and did live with myths and stories that just didn’t have to be true the same way we expect them to be. I get the impression that the concept just doesn’t work on those myths. Intentionally.
Wade.
I really like myths. I like the story of the emperor’s new clothes. Its a story about how a lot of people can want to believe something is true and the belief is sustained by fear and social pressure. It only takes an honest child who hasn’t been taught to fear, to point out the obvious.
The other myth I really like is the Wizard of Oz the movie. I like the scene where the big smoking god like wizard head is scaring everyone and the supposedly least intelligent creature in the room, (Toto the dog) pays attention to his instincts and pulls back the curtain. I love the line the con man gives, “Pay no attention to the MAN behind the curtain.” To me this is a clear reference to the man behind all gods.
AnonymousAnd he’s normally pretty intelligent.
It’s much easier to subject other people’s beliefs to skepticism than your own.
I’m finding it difficult to express my thoughts. Young children are taught using stories that have very little direct relationship to reality – because they are not ready for reality – there is much for them to learn first – and it takes time. Teenage is a time when the kids reject what they have been taught and build their own pictures of reality.
I like the story of the 24 year old who says to his father, “You know Dad, your thinking really has matured over the last two or three years”.
When teaching children we can only build on what they already understand. One of the problems that churches face is that children are told the stories but that’s all they ever hear. They walk away with a ‘childish’ understanding – and then we wonder why they reject what they had been taught.
I’ve been corresponding with hundreds of people on the internet over the last ten years who used to be referred to as ‘the out of church Christians’. I sense that one of the major lessons I have learned is the way in which people believe what they believe, often as a result of divisive, denominational theology. Am I right in thinking that there just isn’t room for the myths that give meaning to those aspects of life that are beyond human comprehension.
Young children are taught using stories that have very little direct relationship to reality – because they are not ready for reality
I have seen this concept described as “Lies to Children”. It is, as you correctly say, a way of teaching that matches the recipients level of understanding. Some concepts may take several cycles of “you were taught this, which is actually wrong; here is how it really is”. A good example is Einsteinian physics, but it is a lot more complicated than Newtonian physics.
The difficulty is that the church doesn’t do that sort of teaching cycle well, partly because there is always going to be people in the congregation who need the ‘simpler’ version as well as those ready for the fuller version. And then it gets more complicated when you realize that sometimes the simpler models work in many situations. For example, Newtonian physics is enough for most purposes.
How do myths fit in here? Like I said, they teach the why. Put another way, they give a basis for how a society thinks. For example, the book Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett is a fine piece of writing – but it is based on a whole heap of Christian mythology that if you don’t know, then the novel makes much less sense.
Wade.
Am I right in thinking that Wade is indicating by his ears that he is playing ‘devil’s advocate?
That’s a great analogy, but let’s take it further. There will always be people in the congregation who need the simpler version. These are the people who want to be told what to believe, and they are the ones who are happy to accept the ‘party’ line – the denominational teaching! By and large those who teach are those who do not question what the church is teaching. I’m old enough to recognise that for the majority of my generation (long before computers and the internet) they recognised that the preachers were the only one’s who had studied the Bible – and it seemed to be accepted that preachers were generally six feet above contradiction and you don’t ask questions .
Who are those now who are ready for the fuller version? They are in general I would suggest, those who are questioning what they have been taught; recognise that the church does not have satisfactory answers to at least some of their questions; and want to go deeper. Then we get to one of the real problems. How can any denomination take people beyond the limits of their own traditions and denominational teaching?
I really became aware of the emerging / emergent church movement some ten years ago. I found myself learning a lot while still reluctantly attending church (because my wife still attends). But three years ago I reached the point where I had to say ‘No’ (I still take her because she doesn’t drive). Since then my understanding of the differences between the Christian RELIGION and the Christian FAITH have grown out of all recognition. But at the same time I recognise that the majority of older people (like my wife) just want the certainty that goes with the traditional teachings.
As congregations get older, how long will it be before the cost of maintaining church buildings becomes unbearable to those who remain?
I think we can teach children using stories quite successfully without them believing that the stories are real. I could have quite easily appreciated the story of Samson without believing there was a real strong man who had his hair cut. One particular story that would have been helpful to know wasn’t real was the story of Abraham’s attempted sacrifice of his son Isaac. I think the real hero of the story was his wife Sarah. She was the only sane one since she would have put a stop to it before God did. Only in my tradition Sarah was bad because she wasn’t willing to obey god to the extent that Abraham was. I think of all the time I wasted trying to make sense of Abraham sacrificing his son.
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