(July 2, 2015 at 2:40 pm)robvalue Wrote: You can call yourself Christian just fine as far as I'm concerned. I strongly believe that if Christianity is to survive at all, it's going to have to become far more liberal and non-literal, so I see your stance as the right direction. It just so happens to be the direction I personally like too, because of the lack of fundamental ridiculousness and bigotry that goes along with it.
No one gets to say who is and isn't Christian. It's become so diverse that it means virtually anything now. You seem to be able to separate yourself from your beliefs and not take it all personally, which is something a lot of theists struggle with.
But without a fairly literal interpretation, how is there any more meaning or truth (defined as congruence with reality) than a Harry Potter novel? Without the Tall Tales of the Bible, what does a Christian of any stripe have? There are moral lessons in Oliver Twist without the need for any appeals to the supernatural realms.
It's all well and good to not be a bigoted, magical-thinking believer, but ultimately either one wants to strive toward knowing what is real or they don't. It's an epistemic problem. You either have a way of knowing or you don't.
