Hurray for Greta Christina

[ciphergoth]

Hurray for Greta Christina!

[...] I remember how easily I would slip back and forth between thinking of my beliefs as literal, and thinking of them as metaphorical. Mostly, they would slip back and forth depending on how hard they were being questioned. When I was with someone who was more skeptical, I'd lean toward the "useful metaphor" end of the spectrum; when I was with other believers, I'd lean toward the, "Wow, isn't this freaky, something weird must really be going on here!" side.

Comments

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this - useful and interesting stuff.

[booklectica]

I like that a lot.

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

Her blog's great, actually. I've just sent the link to everyone at my work because there's so much good and useful stuff in it.

Sex-positive too, as an aside.

Wish I could get this as a Livejournal feed.

[akicif.livejournal.com]

Um? greta_christina works....

[meico.livejournal.com]

That was very well written, in fact it was so well written that it may even be compelling to believers... Thanks for posting the link, I will definitely be passing it along. :)

[mskala.livejournal.com]

in fact it was so well written that it may even be compelling to believers

Unlikely. She lost that audience the first time she used the word "woo" - which was in the very title of the piece.

[meico.livejournal.com]

I should have specified... I certainly don't think any bible thumper is going to read this (past the first line) and be swayed in the least, however for certain people who belive but also use the "metaphor" excuse I think it would be. My mum is one such person; she even uses the word "woo" herself!

[lizw.livejournal.com]

It's not compelling to me, but then I don't think of God as a metaphor, so I guess it's not targeted at me. I used to find it helpful to think in that way, but I've since come to agree with Aquinas' view that God is the only reality and it's everything else that we understand only by metaphor and analogy. It's kind of the mirror image of the approach Greta Christina is discussing.

[meico.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Hmm, that sounds like the beginning of a very long and involved conversation to me as I don't think I understand some distinction you are making; if "God" is the only reality, then what use is the idea "God" beyond being a synonym for "reality"?

[lizw.livejournal.com]

I think of "God" as a personal name than as a label for an idea.