I was hanging out with some friends recently when the topic drifted to deeper religious subjects. Two people got in a little back and forth about a certain topic. It started with one of them saying “well, I used to believe that, but now I have come to the revelation that…” After they went around a few times, I pointed out to them that they were actually saying basically the same thing and disagreeing over semantics.
At some point in life, most people get to a point where they re-shape their beliefs on something. This typically happens in the “twenty-somethings” age, but could happen later or earlier depending on how much people evaluate themselves. When I was in my 20s, I quite often said “I used to think that way, but…”
Then I got into my late thirty’s and realized that I had been through a good five or six different “I used to think this, but…” on most topics. It dawned on me that our beliefs on many things are constantly evolving, so we should never look down on someone that thinks something we have moved on from. You never know if you might come back to that same belief once you figure out how silly your current one is.
Add to this that you can pretty much logically support any belief in the world, depending on what information you decide is not truth.
The article on Ojo Taylor is an example of this. He states that there is not archeological evidence for the Exodus. But even a simple Google search will turn up thousands of examples of what people claim is archaeological evidence. Some of them sound crazy. But I also remember reading a very scholarly article by an Atheist detailing archeological evidence for many Biblical events, including the Exodus and Noah’s flood. Some people say it is there, others say it isn’t – you just have to weigh the two opinions and decide which one you think is accurate. Ojo came to one conclusion on that, one that I disagree with. But that is his choice.
There are other issues too – like certain epistles being forgeries for example – that are controversial. There is evidence for both sides. I tend to disregard anyone that automatically labels the other side as “stupid” or “ignorant.” That’s never the case – they just came to a different conclusion than you. The whole Creationism vs. Evolution debate is one of those that are really hard to follow, because most people on both sides disrespect the other. There is scientific evidence for both sides on that one – I have seen evidence for and against Creationism and evidence for and against Evolution with my own eyes. The only people I have found worth listening to in this particular debate are those that respect the scientific credibility of the other side, even if they disagree with the interpretation of the evidence.
Because really, that is all it comes down to is interpretation of evidence. But I would also say to not let the bad examples on either side of an issue influence your decision. Either the Exodus did happen or it didn’t. But don’t decide that it didn’t happen because some Christian was a jerk to you about something in the past.
The same goes for your beliefs about God. If there is a God, and if He is real – then how some jerk hypocritical Christian treats you is not going to change that fact. Don’t let idiots influence your beliefs on such important matters. Author Anne Rice is a famous example of this recently. She had this to say:
“Gandhi famously said: ‘I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.’ When does a word (Christian) become unusable? When does it become so burdened with history and horror that it cannot be evoked without destructive controversy?”
Words only become unusable when we let circumstances control us, instead of us controlling circumstances. “Love” is a word that has been cheapened a million more times so than “Christian” by modern media, so much more so burdened by history and horror… but do we stop using it because others have misused it so badly?
(this article was also published in the July 2010 issue)
