All the major and probably most of the minor world religions have narratives about the interaction of God(s) and mankind, the creation of the world, the existence of spiritual worlds that are not directly observable, and things like that. These narratives help form our worldviews and cultures, but are they true or are they just myths?
First of all, does it matter? We may be very satisfied with our religion and culture; but if our religious narrative is false about God and about our existence after death, then we are being dangerously misled. Giving up a worldview is tough. We are not certain what is true for a time. Giving up a culture can be tougher. Not only do we lose a definition of ourselves, but we might lose family and friends. Still, if eternal life is truly dependent on truth, then losing these others things is both necessary and worth it.
Here is another tough part. We might be born into a culture with a true narrative of the world or we might not. We will necessarily have a bias towards what we were raised to believe. I do.
The secular/atheist worldview is not to be excluded from this conversation. It may not have gods, but it does have a narrative that either has or lacks sufficient proof. People can be biased toward this as well.
We are all handicapped in that we cannot travel back in time and observe what happened. Similarly, we cannot move outside of universe to see if there is one God or many. We cannot observe Heaven, Nirvana, Valhalla, or whatever by choice. Our handicap will probably make absolute proof impossible and there will be some measure of faith required. That said, I don’t feel that we should take the route that these things are unknowable so just plow ahead blindly. Too much is possibly at stake for that approach.
Can a religion be entirely or partially mythic but still “true”? In other words, can the stories about gods be fictional and yet have a parabolic aspect in that it accurately teaches you what needs to be known to advance your existence beyond your death? While in theory I would have to say it is possible, I would still be concerned about such a religion. Human imagination or outright deception can easily come into play. I don’t think imagination is necessarily insight into truth.
For instance, the Navaho Indian creation narrative has a spider-woman weaving a web of stars. It may be a beloved story, but there is nothing is support such a view as truth.
I am not familiar enough with all the religious narratives of the world to evaluate them. If you, the reader, are from a different world religion than Islam-Judaism-Christianity, then I encourage you to take a hard, objective look at what you have come to believe. Please consider, however, some of the points of evaluation shared here.
Islam, Judaism and Christianity share a significant amount of narrative. Some important details differ, but the root is the same. So how can we evaluate it?
First, does it correspond to what is known from archeology? While not every biblical site has been identified, many have and the dates seem to fit. The deeper in the past you go, the tougher it is nail down; but archeology does not negate the Bible’s narrative.
Are key events connected to a time and place or are they “once upon a time”? The Bible is often super-specific, identifying month, day and even hour. Are there eyewitnesses? There are for everything save the events in Genesis. There may even be for part of Genesis, because we don’t know how Moses received the information. There may have been eye-witness records that preceded the recording of Genesis. Eventually, we need to be dependent on divine revelation because the events are so old and not likely to leave evidence.
For me, the acceptance of Genesis depends on Jesus’ acceptance of it. I have ample evidence that Jesus existed. There are eye-witness records that can be verified to come from within a lifetime of when Jesus walked the Earth. There are specific times and places that also match with archeology. There are prophecies that can be shown to pre-date Jesus. There is the clear emergence of Christianity just following the life of Jesus.
The division between Christianity and Judaism is to whether Jesus satisfies all of the prophecies about a Messiah. Jesus ticks off these boxes: lineage, birth city, circumstances of birth, area of ministry, time of ministry, circumstances of death. His mission differs from what was expected. He did something better than expected. His mission was eternal life won by fulfillment of God’s Law and His self-sacrifice as opposed to just establishing an earthly kingdom. Peace on Earth is something still promised. This can be explained by a misinterpretation of prophecy. No better match for the Messiah has arrived in 2000 years.
The division of Islam and Christianity comes down to the experience of Mohammed. Did he encounter a true, angelic messenger in the cave above Mecca? His own first conclusion was that he did not. He was treated so poorly. His wife convinced him that the messenger was from God. Did it happen? I think so. Who was right?
The forthcoming message negates the plan of God as expressed in the New Testament and claims to be a correction of the errors of Jesus’ disciples. It comes without prophetic anticipation. The way of salvation within Islam does not align with Isaiah 53, which should be noted by Muslims and Jews alike.
Perhaps it is all imaginary rubbish because ancient writings can’t be trusted. Using our own powers of investigation, we can conclude that the universe happened because of the laws of physics and that life appeared and evolved on this planet because of luck and the power of natural selection. Frankly, this view takes the most faith of all. The universe is strangely fine-tuned for life on this planet. Why? Life seems too complex to happen by chance in the first place. Natural selection needs something to select. Random mutations can’t seem to create the information that we find in all living things. This narrative may set you free from God, but it cannot claim to have proof and logic on its side.
Evidence alone will not convince anyone. We are very biased and very blind. God has to break through this blindness without nullifying our free-will entirely. But I do think some of us are able to be honest with ourselves and identify that our religious narrative is fictional. This may be what it takes for God to get through to you.
Giving Christ 