...is, as I see it, the end result of clinging to absolutism and fundamentalism. You end up with a belief system that at first looks very impressive but suddenly crumbles to the ground whenever the harsh breeze of reality blows against it.
Always remember, that whatever your religion is, you are following the teachings of Men. This calls for humility, whatever your belief system is. If you are a Christian, you are not following Jesus' teachings, you are in fact following other men's teachings who are claiming to relay what Jesus' teachings were.
The first Gospels were written decades after Jesus was crucified -- they didn't bother to write stuff down at first, of course, because he promised to come back before they died. As the years wore on, they had to face the fact that, gee, maybe he's not coming back, so maybe better write some of this down before we kick the bucket, so they jotted down the few bits of speeches they could remember remember anymore by that time.
This is only an example, but always remember -- whatever holy book you follow, never forget that you are relying entirely on the integrity of the author -- who is human.
So be careful in judging those of competing religions. Your prophets too may be true or false. They may have been inspired by God or they may have been inspired by hallucinogenic drugs. You don't know, because YOU WEREN'T THERE.
To my knowledge we do not yet have a book actually written by a deity. All religious doctrines are thus subject to human fallibility on three fronts, the fallibility of the author, the fallibility of those deciding what makes it into the final canonized work, and the fallibity of the end reader interpreting the meaning. The degree of correctness of your particular religion, whatever it is, is impossible to judge. All that can be said with any certainty is that they're all undoubtedly wrong to a considerable degree.
Always remember, that whatever your religion is, you are following the teachings of Men. This calls for humility, whatever your belief system is. If you are a Christian, you are not following Jesus' teachings, you are in fact following other men's teachings who are claiming to relay what Jesus' teachings were.
The first Gospels were written decades after Jesus was crucified -- they didn't bother to write stuff down at first, of course, because he promised to come back before they died. As the years wore on, they had to face the fact that, gee, maybe he's not coming back, so maybe better write some of this down before we kick the bucket, so they jotted down the few bits of speeches they could remember remember anymore by that time.
This is only an example, but always remember -- whatever holy book you follow, never forget that you are relying entirely on the integrity of the author -- who is human.
So be careful in judging those of competing religions. Your prophets too may be true or false. They may have been inspired by God or they may have been inspired by hallucinogenic drugs. You don't know, because YOU WEREN'T THERE.
To my knowledge we do not yet have a book actually written by a deity. All religious doctrines are thus subject to human fallibility on three fronts, the fallibility of the author, the fallibility of those deciding what makes it into the final canonized work, and the fallibity of the end reader interpreting the meaning. The degree of correctness of your particular religion, whatever it is, is impossible to judge. All that can be said with any certainty is that they're all undoubtedly wrong to a considerable degree.