Religious Background

[TheBeardedDude]

A literal reading of the Bible left me with a callous, flawed, vengeful, and mean-spirited god. This didn't mesh with my views of a loving God (my views at the time). So I looked for a way of finding what I meant by god and what that god's qualities were. Started off within Christianity (basically I just left southern baptism first) in order to find a more interpretative view of the Bible, only to realize that if the Bible required interpretation then there was no way of discerning objective truth from it since anyone can interpret the Bible differently (including literally), regardless of their status (considered an authority or not). With no objective standard to compare my interpretation to (since even a cursory glance at the facts refute a literal interpretation), I realized the Bible was indistinguishable from fiction. Then I realized that's what it effectively is (mythology).

Cheers
TheBeardedDude

If everything you read requires interpretation and therefore can't be trusted, your reasoning would be an infinite regress, and nothing could ever be known.

Regardless, what do you mean by interpretation? Do you think that the plan of salvation outlined in the NT and the subsequent instructions for Christian living is open to different meanings?  This is the definition of being a Christian and is pretty easy to find in the NT. It seems you have extrapolated your feeling on certain passages in the OT to the NT. What justified that conclusion?

I never said everything requires interpretation. What I said is there are 2 options for the Bible:
1) literal (and that can't be true based on what we know about the universe, earth, and life)
2) interpretation, but with no objective standard to weigh one's interpretation against (and no evidence to substantiate your interpretation) you're left with a series of unverifiable beliefs that are indistinguishable from fiction/mythology. Considering how other mythologies work, Christianity fit it to the lowercase t (that's a crucifixion pun)


Cheers
TheBeardedDude