More interested in knowing about the nature of religion than the scripture?

[sidetrack]

Something I’ve realized about myself and my postings is that I can sure ask a lot about the fundamental nature of religion more than I idea about scripture.I’s not that I’m I’m uninterested in scripture but by inclination I’m so much more COMPELLED to know about the fundamental nature of religion than the Bible.I’m not saying that I’m totally uninterested in it but I feel that the next “level up” in cultivating my faith will be to heavily study the Bible *after * getting the fundamentals of religion through to me,though.Also to be honest for the most part I’ve ussually havn’t experienced moral crisises that strongly depend on the Bible to resolve…yet…I think.I’d just like to hear from others what they think of this and if it’s alright.

 

[Mintaka]

Studying the Seven Liberal Arts (including Grammar and Rhetoric, which included poetry and literature info, like the details of Greek and Roman pagan religion) was generally regarded by our Catholic ancestors as the perfect prologue to Scripture study, because they teach you to think, argue, and pick up subtleties.

There’s a lot to be said for studying mythology, world religions, et al. Most people go through a stage of studying up in about 2nd or 3rd grade, about 5th or 6th grade, sometime in high school, and/or sometime in college. It’s a data-gathering thing.

However, a lot of comparative religion books, etc., are hooey and confusing. And if somebody who doesn’t know much about Christianity or Soggyboggyism is drawing parallels between Soggyboggyism’s holidays and Christianity’s, you’ve got to read what they say with a lot of skepticism.

(The Golden Bough, for example, is pretty much totally hooey with footnotes for decoration. It doesn’t teach you about paganism or universal religious impulses. It does teach you about progressive Victorians with grudges, and the lengths they were prepared to go.)

Most people, except Scripture scholars, are more interested in something than they’re interested in Scripture. But if you believe that Scripture is truly God’s Word, and thus an important part of God’s revelation of Himself to us, you should keep checking in periodically with the Scriptures. You may like ice cream better than vitamins, but you keep ingesting vitamins as part of your life.

 

[COPLAND_3]

Here is a great quote by John Henry Cardinal Newman, I would read this and remember this as well as possible.

Now, the phenomenon, admitted on all hands, is this:—that great portion of what is generally received as Christian truth, is in its rudiments or in its separate parts to be found in heathen philosophies and religions. For instance, the doctrine of a Trinity is found both in the East and in the West; so is the ceremony of washing; so is the rite of sacrifice. The doctrine of the Divine Word is Platonic; the doctrine of the Incarnation is Indian; of a divine kingdom is Judaic; of Angels and demons is Magian; the connection of sin with the body is Gnostic; celibacy is known to Bonze and Talapoin; a sacerdotal order is Egyptian; the idea of a new birth is Chinese and Eleusinian; belief in sacramental virtue is Pythagorean; and honours to the dead are a polytheism. Such is the general nature of the fact before us; Mr. Milman argues from it,—“These things are in heathenism, therefore they are not Christian:” we, on the contrary, prefer to say, “these things are in Christianity, therefore they are not heathen.” That is, we prefer to say, and we think that Scripture bears us out in saying, that from the beginning the Moral Governor of the world has scattered the seeds of truth far and wide over its extent; that these have variously taken root, and grown up as in the wilderness, wild plants indeed but living; and hence that, as the inferior animals have {232} tokens of an immaterial principle in them, yet have not souls, so the philosophies and religions of men have their life in certain true ideas, though they are not directly divine. [Milman’s View on Christianity 9]

 

[AlanFromWichita]

… by inclination I’m so much more COMPELLED to know about the fundamental nature of religion than the Bible.I’m not saying that I’m totally uninterested in it but I feel that the next “level up” in cultivating my faith will be to heavily study the Bible *after * getting the fundamentals of religion through to me,though.Also to be honest for the most part I’ve ussually havn’t experienced moral crisises that strongly depend on the Bible to resolve…yet…I think.I’d just like to hear from others what they think of this and if it’s alright.

I totally sympathize with you. You sound like you want to take a “top down” approach to religious study. That has helped me a lot, not just top down, but bottom up, inside out, and sideways.

Maybe you can start by studying mysticism, such as: “Mystical Theology: the Science of Love” by William Johnston. That’s one I’m reading now.

Read St. Teresa. St. John of the Cross – Dark Night of the Soul. Get involved in a Lectio Divina (divine reading) or other contemplative-focused prayer group if you can find one. This brings you into mystery with Christ and into more intimate relations with the Scripture than just its surface meaning, but allows all the embedded love to be released directly to your heart without your mind interfering.

So it’s good to study top down. But also from bottom up, and in contemplative thinking, from nowhere you can see! The big trick I see is to learn how to self-efface (like Jesus said you must deny yourselves to follow Him) and in contemplative practices actually let your mind not think of anything particular at all, in silent prayer. Then the Holy Spirit has an open invitation to come in and give you healing that can be subconscious, but you may start to notice that outside of prayer you see things differently.

Out of all the things I wrote, I suggest trying to find Lectio Divina the most, and then access resources on mysticism.

Alan

 

[TimothyH]

But if you believe that Scripture is truly God’s Word, and thus an important part of God’s revelation of Himself to us, you should keep checking in periodically with the Scriptures. You may like ice cream better than vitamins, but you keep ingesting vitamins as part of your life.

Scripture is the written word of God. Scripture is the creator of the universe speaking to his creation.

I’m at a loss to understand why anyone would not want to immediately open it up and read what it has to say.

-Tim-

 

[sidetrack]

Scripture is the written word of God. Scripture is the creator of the universe speaking to his creation.

I’m at a loss to understand why anyone would not want to immediately open it up and read what it has to say.

-Tim-

I do open it up and read it sometimes but I have more of a desire to explore about the nature of religion first.Kind of like if I studies about different operating systems instead of going to use a Windows computer so often,I guess.

 

[AlanFromWichita]

I do open it up and read it sometimes but I have more of a desire to explore about the nature of religion first.Kind of like if I studies about different operating systems instead of going to use a Windows computer so often,I guess.

That’s why I say go mystical. Mystical theology for the head, Lectio Divina for the heart. When they start to collide, you will begin to understand the mysteries of the kingdom Jesus talks about, in a way much more basic than the literal meaning of scripture. There’s a little more to it, such as self-effacing, but that’s part of the process.

The reason you are not satisfied with Scripture is that it is very sterile on its literal sense. There are deeper senses. I forgot their names … the allegorical sense, a couple others. Ultimately you get into contemplation. These deeper levels of intimacy have been sought and found through Lectio Divina (divine reading) for centuries. Once you get to that level of scripture intimacy, your whole life becomes alive with the word, and prayer unto itself at any given moment.

Alan