Exploring the Social Imagination

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

The Legitmacy of the Bible ~ The Word of God!

Ever since man thought of himself first, the Bible 'as the Word of God' has come in second or not at all. In recent news, there again is the ongoing discussion among scholars, scientists, and lay men about whether or not the Bible is the Word of God.  I can tell you without a doubt that men believe what they want. In fact, God designed it to be that way.  I blogged about choice. You have to choose to believe in the Creator of Heaven and Lord, of all things and unseen.

Speaking as a sociologist and social psychologist, people all over the world believe in something or that something is good vs. bad, in a certain man/woman, or in a system, in a location over another location, in a kind of diet over another kind... they will believe what they read if the choose to believe it.

I can also tell you as a scholar of social thought/behavior, that when we write, we make sure we write about what we know to be true and what we know to be true is only what we agree to be true and that is even a matter of belief, believing that what we know is true. We also don't write things down unless we have a passion to do so, a motivation, a will to do it. Even with 'science', there is a will to do it. A will or desire to know the truth about who we are and a means to justify what we believe in. Freedom and justice for all, if not because we believe in that, then what for.


The powerful and wealthy would and could just take over. We usually don't write things to scare people or cause harm. We usually write about lofty ideas about who we are and where we came from. Our ideas don't just pop up out of thin air. Ideas are socially constructed based on what a group believes to be true, or what is likely a best practice regarding the long term. Overall, we write what we believe to be true; good, bad and or ugly.

If there were a Creator, and I absolutely believe there is, our ideas would come from Him and from nowhere else. We would write them down, and they would be ours. I don't think that people would write a book as the Word of God if there were no Creator to put the idea in them. People believe in what makes sense to them. For Christians, the Bible is the Word of God and this makes perfect sense.

Some argue that where you are born determines what you believe. But, what still remains is that people choose to believe in their life in that place as true for them; and in this instance, the question of God or not as part of that equation is not necessary. That principle is that people believe what they either experience or are told by their peers within their social hierarchy.  Just because people live in different places does not negate believing in a Creator. Such a belief does not go away even if we say science tells us this and that.What is funny for me about science is that people including scientists will believe that the sun is a star, not because it is. But, because either they organized methodically a theory, or that someone they esteem told them and or they simply choose to believe it when ironically they themselves did not or could not do the 'science' they applaud out of choice and nothing more.

In order to really know that the sun is a star, one would have to be able to reach up and touch the sun in order to know that it is a star.  Everyone even scholars have to use the word believe because that is what we do as humans. No other creature as far as I know believes in anything like we do. We believe that our President is a good man, that the sun will come up in the morning and that everything will work out, it always does.Why? Because, we believe it will even when the odds are against us.

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