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Bible literalism is the greatest source of modern atheism
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Bible literalism is the greatest source of modern atheism
Bible literalism is sort of like the small minded child who no longer believes in his Father. Why? Because he heard him say that he was " the apple of his eyes" (something the boys knows to be a dirty lie, as no apple grows inside the eye! ].
And something similar happens when a man stops believing in his heavenly father because he reads that the Bible says God repents, or is jealous, or gets angry, or is vengeful.... He simply cannot understand that none of it is literal, as God is no man [but rather an immortal Spirit] and therefore isn't liable to flawed human passions and emotions.
The fact is that, all of what the Bible says about God is just a metaphorical way of speaking about something that is incredibly difficult to explain in straight human terms (so God chooses to phrase it in over simplified terms, so that the general public can grasp the basic idea).
Take for example the case of Bible's punishments and rewards. Most people thing there is a future judgment, and a literal heaven or hell awaiting for us. But the truth of the matter is that The Supreme Power of the Universe (God) won't personally judge nor condemn anybody. The truth of the matter is that His judgment was already issued since before the beginning of time, and will consists of letting each person reap the same " heaven" (goodness) or " hell" (evil) he has freely and willingly bestowed upon his needy fellow creature (in other words, the eternal law of " sowing and reaping", or " action and reaction" )
What we do with " the truth" we have at hand is much important that whether or not what we have at hand is the actual truth. " Sow" goodness with whatever " truth" you have at hand, and you'll be just fine
The problem with modern atheists is their belief in such thing as “absolute truth” (scientific truth, evolutionary truth, mathematical truth, political truth, racial truth, etc). But the fact is that such attitude is in itself the hallmark of any old fashion religious leader, as all of the former have claimed to possess absolute truth [something any common sense individual would reject right from the start]. As is written:
“Jesus replied. 'I was born for this... to testify to THE TRUTH. Everyone who is of THE TRUTH listens to my voice... ', '[And] What is truth? ' said Pilate”- John 18: 37-37.
The fact is that Human beings have no means to ascertain absolute truth. In other words, our senses will only allow us to perceive “relative truth”; afterward, we are just expected to do the best we can with the relative truth we have grasped.
And maybe that's the reason why the Hebrew Bible never records any Hebrew prophet, king, or priest ever asking any non Hebrew person to embrace the Hebrew religion. Rather, it portrays them exhorting non Hebrew people to do good [practicing justice, mercy, and humility] within the constraints of the [relative] religious truth they already have.
And from whence do we get that He who we perceive as “the Creator” just ask us to do the best we can within the constraints of the relative truth we've perceived? We know it from the Hebrew prophet Daniel, who while advising king Nebuchadnezzar never asked him to abandon his pagan religion, but rather do good within it. As is written: “Therefore, your majesty, may my advice be acceptable to you: Stop your sinning, do what’s right, and put a stop to your wickedness by showing kindness to the oppressed... ”- Daniel 4: 27 (International Standard Version)
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Show respect to all men, but never show any love nor admiration for the evil of the wicked (arrogance, theft, deception, immorality, injustice, cruelty, atheism, paganism, etc), as the latter brings Divine wrath upon mankind. As it is said: «Then Jehu son of the seer Hanani went out to confront him, and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Do you help the wicked (Ahab) and love those who hate the Lord (Jezebel)? Because of this, the Lord’s wrath is on you”»- 2 Chronicles 19: 2, Christian Standard Bible
The demise of our impulse to do evil
In the future, the Holy One (blessed be He) will bring the impulse to do evil and kill it in the presence of both the righteous and the wicked. To the righteous, the urge to do evil will seem as strong and big as a huge mountain; But, to the wicked, it will appear to be as weak [and small] as a hair of the beard.
They will both cry; the righteous (those who believe in obeying God’s commandments) will cry saying, “How were we able to bend such a great and powerful mountain? ”; While the wicked will cry saying, “How were we unable to bend something as weak and worthless as a single hairstrand? ”
Your see, most of God’s commandments begin with the Hebrew letter “Lamed” (ל ), a letter that curiously seem to have the shape of a beard's hairstrand. But the letter “Lamed” is also the first letter of the Hebrew word “Lo”, which we normally translate into English as “No”. So, all that the wicked needed to do in order to overcome their urge to do evil, was to say “Lo! ” (“No! ”) to wickedness.
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