Recently I have been wrestling with the tendency of people of faith to quote their books to people who don't share their faith. In this post I don't want to argue against faith or the revelatory sources thereof. I do want to submit a perspective that has been developing in my mind on this issue however. I find that if one believes they have the inside track on truth via revelation then that individual should be anxious to demonstrate and explain the practicalities of this truth. Instead I find people who have appear to have no interest in why this truth matters.
Truth matters.
This is an adaption of a post for a class full of bible quoters:
I want to take an opportunity to interject something I think may be beneficial as a perspective with regard to the bible/scripture/authoritative writings. If it is not helpful please disregard, but I am compelled since we have a few bible quoters in the class.
I find that truth cannot contradict itself, A cannot be equal to not A. If this is accurate then those who believe in a particular source of revelation/insight should not need to quote their particular book as any actual truths therein would resonate with the truth we find in our existence. Meaning this; one could argue that murder is bad on account of the bible which the speaker believes to be true or one could argue that murder is bad on account of the many accessible, actual, apparent reasons why murder is bad. This is not an invalidation of a revelatory source, in fact it is a validation. As thinkers we must choose whether we will argue "murder is bad because my book says so" or "the truth is that murder is bad and my book agrees." (if you must mention the book at all)
So I say let your books point you toward the truth but find that truth manifest in reality and resonate there in expressing such things. This allows for faith and a credible contribution to any dialogue on any subject.
As I said earlier, if this is not helpful let it slide on by, these are simply my thoughts on a recurring issue.
MN - Ryan
Ryan, great to find your blog! I'm going to be in D-Town soon if you want a free beer. Thanks for the link.
Posted by: Michael Foster | February 28, 2007 at 09:45 PM