Has literal reading of scriptures been profitable for us in seeking or finding God? What of loss of life?
I think it has distracted us from finding God. Jesus and others of the spiritual intelligentsia have said to seek God.
In the case of Jesus, showing clearly that he did not think of himself as God, and we have not sought to replace his (for our times), immoral edicts with better ones.
True idol worship that all can recognize in all religions. I also think that literalism is what caused early believers to decimate those who began my religion. They won the war on free thought. That being the case, I do not favor literalism at all.
Regardless of the religion, if literal reading of scriptures has not been profitable for us in seeking or finding God, —and has caused the huge amount of hell on earth that it has, — why do we tolerate or teach literal reading of what Gnostic Christians and many others see as myths?
All religions know the history of harm that the literal reading right wings of religions are culpable for. All due to literal reading, that your religion teaches, if you are a believer.
Gnostic Christians recognize that all who believe in any way will see all but their own tradition as false. But remember that all the other traditions are looking at you the same way.
“First they came for the Jews, but I did nothing because I’m not a Jew. Then they came for the socialists, but I did nothing because I’m not a socialist. Then they came for the Catholics, but I did nothing because I’m not a Catholic. Finally, they came for me, but by then there was no one left to help me.” – Pastor Father Niemoller (1946)”
Should we continue literal interpretations of ancient documents in our modern world, as if they were relevant, when we do not really know what was originally meant in any exacting way?
Has literal reading distracted religion from seeking and finding our new Jesus?
Has literal reading been worth the lives?
Regards
DL