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Religious Speculations & Criticisms
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| Yes | 63% | 237 votes | Total: 376 votes | |
| No | 37% | 139 votes |
Yes
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Add to FavoritesSomething that is important to all students of religion is the notion that throughout history, many religious adherants did not have a written system of language with which to transcribe their traditions, faith, rituals, etcetera. As a result many religions have also died out in history when those practicing are all dispersed or perish.
What makes written text so important is that by putting your faith in writting, you are doing a couple of things. For one, you are now subjecting it to scrutiny and establishing a basis with which to say, this is right and this is what we believe; everything else is wrong. Writing is also important to a religion because it makes it more preservable. If the culture dies, the documents may not and still survive for another to read.
A familiar religion with which this was quite true was that of the Jews. Throughout the history of Jewish diaspora the Jewish people have maintianed their identity by taking the oral tradition of the elders and writing them down on paper, giving us the scriptures that we have today. A popular event to recall in history was the Babylonian captivity of the Jewish people from Jerusalem. Having been taken from their homeland, the many oral traditions of the elders were potentially at risk for being influenced by the cosmopolitan culture of the Babylonians. To preserve their culture, many of the earliest manuscripts we have left were written.
A familiar religion that did NOT have a written religious code were the religions of the American Indians. Their religions survived for thousands of years and still do to this day because of oral tradition and community. Within each tribe there is a well defined system and code of religious belief and ethics. These have always survived because of such things.
Perhaps a more accurate question would have been, "Are sacred texts required of a religion?" The answer to this question has been demonstrated to be not, as even with the development of religion from an evolutionary stance, there was not always written language until the earliest cuneiform that we know of created by the Sumerians around 3000 BCE. Prior to such a means to record the doctrines of one's faith whether it had been ethics, a creation story or a collection of rituals, many had to rely on oral tradition passed on by a culture's elders to its youth and so on, infinitum.
I had to side on the "yes" side of this argument out of the default logic of "Texts are written down. Sacred texts are texts. Therefore sacred texts must be written down."
Learn more about this author, Stephen Harris.
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No
Sacred texts do not have to be written but written they are nevertheless. But how can sacred texts be sacred when they are written by human hands? Who decides how sacred a text is once written? Are not all human beings fallible, including those who author presumed sacred texts? Since human beings by nature are fallible, we must conclude that sacred texts are, by extension, fallible as well? Does this not explain why some rather controversial sacred books have been published? Do we forget that all proclaimed sacred books are derived from the human experience and perspective, which we know are neither perfect nor sacred?
Let's not forget that presumed sacred books were written by human minds, who were (or are) as susceptible to the common vices in life as anyone else. after all, we all live in the same world. We all see the same things, and we are all exposed to the same conditions, and those who wrote or write sacred texts are in not excluded from such exposure. One must wonder then how sacred can such texts really be?
I have heard that some,if not all, sacred books were divinely inspired. How can we be sure of this, however? How can anyone say with complete certainty that a book was truly inspired by divine providence? We can't. And this is why it is so risky to read or believe what is written in presumed sacred books. There's no telling how adversely such texts can affect a person. But, to each his own. I say: read at your own risk.
The path to God is best found via your own mind, and not via some presumed sacred text, which was written by somebody else. If it is God which you seek to encounter in a sacred text, then, do not rely on a book written by somebody else to have that special encounter. You take the long way to God when you do that. Instead, write your own sacred text to yourself, for this is the shortest path to God and enlightenment.
What kind of text am I talking about? I'm talking about you writing your own sacred text to yourself about God, and to God. It is a text in which you write directly to God. How do you do this?
Get yourself a journal and start writing. But write nothing else in this journal except for your personal conversations, beliefs, and thoughts about (or to) God. Consider this journal your own personal sacred text about God. Soon, you will find that this is the quickest way to begin discovering the true nature of God. In his book, "How To Know God," author Deepak Chopra reveals that, by nature, we are all hardwired to know God. In keeping a sacred text (or journal) of your own, you will uncover truths about God, yourself, and life that you would otherwise not uncover by reading any other sacred text. The reason for this is, as Chopra says, you were hardwired to know God from the beginning. Maybe you just didn't know that. Until now.
And now that you know, the rest is up to you.
Learn more about this author, Roman Del Bosque.
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