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| Bible Contradictions. I think I found the original source |
Other lies along these lines are that scholars all agree that the bible is factual, there is historical evidence for the miracles in the bible, and that there are plenty of good proofs that God exists. When I was a kid I heard these types of lies a lot, and I believed them because people whom I trusted brought me this information. I think that is why these types of statements really drive me crazy, part of me is embarrassed that I fell for them when I was younger, and I am angered that I believed a lie for so long. I don't want anyone else to experience the same thing, and it pisses me off when I see people spreading misinformation.
The real question becomes whether or not the people perpetuating these lies believe it themselves, or if they realize it is false but they spread it anyway because it is good for spreading their religion. Although we can never know for sure, my suspicion is that most people spreading these lies believe them, they have just never thought about it critically or looked into the claims themselves with any depth. Of course there had to be someone who started the lie, who had no evidence but just claimed it was there (fuck that guy), but I bet most people just trusted the word of someone else and perpetuated the lie on accident.
How much does faith play into this? I think that the idea that believing things without evidence definitely has a hand in how easy it is to perpetuate these types of lies. Anytime I hear a new claim, one of the first things I want to know if how they got to that claim. Depending on how much I care and how much time I have, I may or may not ask them for their evidence, but it is way up high on my list of standard follow up questions. I don't think this is true for people who are used to operating on faith. If your standard operating procedure is to accept things with no good reason, you are much less likely to ask how someone else reached their conclusions. As far as I'm concerned, faith is mental poison.
"Other lies along these lines are that scholars all agree that the bible is factual, there is historical evidence for the miracles in the bible, and that there are plenty of good proofs that God exists."
ReplyDeleteThey actually said that? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
You wondered if the people promoting these beliefs actually believe their propaganda, or know that it's incorrect but promote it anyway. I wonder if it's somewhere in the middle. Perhaps in the backs of their minds, they harbor doubts, but beat these doubts down through flawed apologetics?
I think it's very possible that they really believe it, but only because they want to, if you see what I mean. People are incredibly good at convincing themselves that they're right about one thing or another. If they currently believe it, if they have a lot invested in it, or if it would be problematic to disbelieve it, the odds are that they're not assessing evidence in a rational or balanced way.
DeleteAhab: Oh yeah, I hear these lies still, but I heard them a lot growing up. The thing is, I never went to outside sources, and even today with the internet, people work hard to stay in their bubble. Further, they say that people who disagree with all of that are evil. I get so worked up about these kinds of lies because I fell for them as a kid. They are so obviously false, and yet if you repeat them enough and ensure that people won't hear a counterpoint they will believe it.
DeleteAnd I think you are right that it is somewhere in the middle. Speaking from personal experience, I believed the propaganda in general, but would sometimes have doubts. When they came up I would work my ass off to explain them away. As recoveringagnostic says, people are very good at convincing themselves of things, and as with most things you get even better with practice.
The other thing, as you point out recoveringagnostic, disbelieving can be quite problematic, not only do people fail to view things in a rational, balanced way, but they will also lash out. I used to get angry at people who challenged my beliefs, and I see people do the same all the time.
People for many milleniums before us had no choice but to accept what they were taught from the Bible...just as so many Muslims still have no choice in whether they want to believe in the very similar Koran today, especially women.
ReplyDeleteWhether they really believe it, or just accept it as a way to keep "peace," I wonder about. It's only been in recent years that more and more folks began to point out how ridiculous those ancient fables are and I think it's going to take a long time before the masses are convinced they have been "divinely" duped by those they trusted to tell them the truth.
That's a really good point, I think restricting information is a huge part of how religions can get away with a lot of the stuff they say. With the internet, accomplishing that is more and more difficult. I'd like to think this is something they won't be able to get away with much longer.
DeleteOf course we can see with evolution in america that it is not so easy as having the information available and everyone will stop believing nonsense from their religion. But I like to think that with the information out there, people who have doubts about what they hear in church will be able to do some research on their own from home. And I think more people will be able to get away from the lies of the church than would otherwise.