(May 26, 2022 at 12:25 am)Fake Messiah Wrote:(May 25, 2022 at 11:19 am)TheJefe817 Wrote: So my question is - does anyone have suggetions on where to look on the theist side for something honest?
Honest? It's like asking is there some honest ufologist who has some honest books about aliens and flying saucers.
Perhaps both ufologists and theologians feel like they are being honest but when you look in their books you see that it is very dishonest because they are delusional.
Point taken. "Honest" is probably not the correct/precise word I was trying to get to there. Obviously at this point I question the honesty of the underlying beliefs/material. I'm not sure how to characterize it, but more along the lines of less of a sales pitch feeling, with acknowledgement of areas which garner further discussion.
For instance, I was explaining this to someone recently: I have never, until very recently, been aware of many of the textual issues of the Bible (Johannine comma, for instance). I'm pretty well-read, but perhaps some of that was my own self-editing in terms of what I was consuming and also what of those sources I was filtering out, but I also just have a deep feeling that many of these things - well known to any person who ever went to seminary - are at best glossed over and at worst intentionally hidden. I admire it more when areas of ambiguity are put up for an honest (there's that word again) discussion - ie: the aforementioned comma, or - to take it from the other side - the science of consciousness and implications of such.
But then, I'm a newbie in deep water, so I may also just be naive at this point. Just sponging it all in.