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The 66 religious texts in the Bible are all incredibly different from each other, yet share vital common ground. They are written in different langauges, by authors who were kings, scholars, doctors and shepherds. Some consist of poetry, others of history, wisdom, genealogical records, laws, visions, letters... How different could you get?
By the same token, there is more common ground between the religious texts of different traditions that you might expect. Many believers emphasise the differences in an enthusiastic attempt to show that their own faith is better than the others. That's okay, as long as it doesn't stop us all from communicating effectively as human beings and respectign each other on that much more basic level.

Many believers also like to overlook the differences between the texts in their own religious traditions. It is very difficult, for example, to reconcile the Psalmist's desire to smash the skulls of his enemies' little children against the rocks with Jesus' command to love your enemies and do good to those who persecute you. For a Christian, what Jesus commands directly has more authority than the emotional turmoil of an exiled Isrealite, fortunately. The point, though, is that believers make these decisions about what they really believe, despite the differences inherent in their own texts. If you can do this with your own text, there's no need to get upset about what you disagree with in someone else's book. Find the common ground and be a peacemaker.

Learn more about this author, Matt Carmichael.
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