Holy Books and Unholy Wars
Since I don't believe in 'You scatch my back, I scratch yours'. You'll neither find me linking to my friends (and others) blogs for frivolous reasons or to secondate every post of theirs nor any blog pointing to mine. It's okay both ways.
To find a mention, the blog really has to influence me hard. Given the yard-stick, Animesh has won two mentions back to back. After Vadodara, I find it hard to keep the temptation to comment on his Doda killings post. No, my intent is not to critize him, who posted these in good faith and per his belief/opinion. It just raised some interesting questions.
The trouble with the almighty is that He/She chooses to reveal his/her scriptures in either long-dead [for practical purposes] like Sanskrit, Latin and Aramaic. Or in languages lacking basic vowels like Hebrew and Arabic. Given the lost knowledge of these languages and lack of vowels in others, Holy books can be interpreted in several different ways.
As an example, the name of god in ancient Hebrew is YHWH, which can be YaHWeH or YeHoWaH (and other permutations and combinations). The same verse that means 'Keep away from the non-belivers' to one, can mean 'keep away the non-believers' to another! As we can see, the interpretation of YHWH doesn't kill people. Some others might. Now which one do we take as the right interpretation? What shall be the religious grounds to do so?
It doesn't matter what the Holy books contain or preach. The question that should be asked - Is it morally and ethically right to do so? If the Book, in some verse, says 'kill non-believers' it is futile to argue if the verse is in-context or taken out-of-context as 'kill' means 'kill' either way. Ethics, Humanity, Righteousness and Compassion should be used to judge what the scriptures say. We should follow whatever is 'just' and ethically correct. If there is something that goes against humanity, be the hell with it, whatever the almighty meant with it. [ who knows if the almighty actually preached it in the first place?]
While some religions/cultures keep themselves open to such liberal interpretations, unfortunately there are others, that don't. By terming their book as 'Word of God', they keep it out of the purview of human interpretation and criticism. I've read both Hindu scriptures and the 'Word of God' books. Trust me, they aren't any better than our own. They're also full of myths and legends like our Puranas. I couldn't find anything 'Godly' or 'Otherwordly' in them, which I didn't read else where! Mostly the 'Word of God' is a dogma to prevent any sane, rational discussion about these books.
Since no discussions, altenate viewpoints and interpretations are allowed, may be the almighty only knows what he/she revealed in those books. And to make the matters worse he/she speaks in tongues that are hard to comprehend.
To find a mention, the blog really has to influence me hard. Given the yard-stick, Animesh has won two mentions back to back. After Vadodara, I find it hard to keep the temptation to comment on his Doda killings post. No, my intent is not to critize him, who posted these in good faith and per his belief/opinion. It just raised some interesting questions.
"I wonder what it takes to brainwash youth to believe that killing innocent
people is holy? Maybe if they were educated, they would read the holy books
themselves and realize that this is not what the almighty asked them to do."
The trouble with the almighty is that He/She chooses to reveal his/her scriptures in either long-dead [for practical purposes] like Sanskrit, Latin and Aramaic. Or in languages lacking basic vowels like Hebrew and Arabic. Given the lost knowledge of these languages and lack of vowels in others, Holy books can be interpreted in several different ways.
As an example, the name of god in ancient Hebrew is YHWH, which can be YaHWeH or YeHoWaH (and other permutations and combinations). The same verse that means 'Keep away from the non-belivers' to one, can mean 'keep away the non-believers' to another! As we can see, the interpretation of YHWH doesn't kill people. Some others might. Now which one do we take as the right interpretation? What shall be the religious grounds to do so?
It doesn't matter what the Holy books contain or preach. The question that should be asked - Is it morally and ethically right to do so? If the Book, in some verse, says 'kill non-believers' it is futile to argue if the verse is in-context or taken out-of-context as 'kill' means 'kill' either way. Ethics, Humanity, Righteousness and Compassion should be used to judge what the scriptures say. We should follow whatever is 'just' and ethically correct. If there is something that goes against humanity, be the hell with it, whatever the almighty meant with it. [ who knows if the almighty actually preached it in the first place?]
While some religions/cultures keep themselves open to such liberal interpretations, unfortunately there are others, that don't. By terming their book as 'Word of God', they keep it out of the purview of human interpretation and criticism. I've read both Hindu scriptures and the 'Word of God' books. Trust me, they aren't any better than our own. They're also full of myths and legends like our Puranas. I couldn't find anything 'Godly' or 'Otherwordly' in them, which I didn't read else where! Mostly the 'Word of God' is a dogma to prevent any sane, rational discussion about these books.
Since no discussions, altenate viewpoints and interpretations are allowed, may be the almighty only knows what he/she revealed in those books. And to make the matters worse he/she speaks in tongues that are hard to comprehend.
posted by Vivek at 11:08 AM
8 Comments:
I think the biggest problems with religious scriptures were the ambiguous language they were written in - they are almost as ambiguos as "Terms of Services" or "Privacy Policy" of a company (Ahem! who knows they were actually TOS of God himself?) - and as you say its open to interpretations.
I think some religions are better at reading it wrong and killing ppl than others. Its sad that when this happens, religion does not question itself and see where its going wrong - instead ppl chose to take even more wierder steps and kill again!
Suyog
I love this article buddy. Really well written.
Word of God is a great thing.
You always use it to suit yourself. It suits the terror masterminds when they use it as a tool for their objectives. It also suits the other crowd when they try and preach how God did NOT mean what everyone thought he (sorry feminists) meant.
One thing is certain. There are two kinds of people. Ones ready to be brainwashed and ones claiming to know the real Word of God. Well.. there's probably a third kind too. One's who watch from a distance.. cant always stay that way though!
jEDI
p.s. You need to come back to the groups man. Its pretty sad without you :)
Hi... came here after reading your comment on Suyog's blog. I really appreciate your clarity of thought and they way you present things. I think, at the end of the day, all religious scriptures teach us how to live life... to live and let live. And I thoroughly agree with your 'Word of God' concept. That perhaps explains a lot of things around us. Well said!
very well written. but we must understand that the people who wrote the scriptures didn't use the ambigious words deliberately. long ago, when they were written, that language was common. now the language has changed and we need to understand what they really meant.
I find it quite sad to see how the general public see and follow how the leaders interpret those scriptures. They don't take the time and effort to read for themselves and to make up their minds on their own. This allows the leaders to exploit them however they want for political and personal benefits.
Some leaders are always attempting to steer the public's attention away from how they are performing as a leader. Finding a common enemy for their nation/religion has been a strategy used by the leaders all over the world and through out the history, so no one questions them about their shortcomings.
We humans really are like the sheep.
Hi,
well written article. Keep it up. Looking forward for future postings.
Anil
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