All Religions Are DIY

[Raven]

Well, even the Scriptures themselves are DIY. With various missionaries preaching divergent messages in Christianity's early days, the Council of Nicea was formed in the early 4th Century to standardize the Bible once and for all. Any books that didn't fit their agenda were omitted. So is it that different that individuals will in turn pick and choose from the Bible that which only concurs with their own secular morality?

I've confronted my family with the various negative Jesus quotes, such as his commandments to hate your family and to kill all those who don't want to worship him, and of course "I bring not peace, but the sword". Their response is simply to assert that Jesus didn't really say any of that and only said the good stuff...which to me is further evidence that faith is nothing more than arbitrarily deciding that whatever you want to be true, is. So good people will only see the things like love thy neighbor and help the poor (heck, my sister donated to food banks and other charities even when she was herself unemployed, and not out of a desire for Divine brownie points), and bigots will only see the endorsement of slavery and condemnation of homosexuals and various other justifications for their hatred.

You're right. All the writers of both the canonical and non-canonical texts were possessed of an agenda when they wrote the scriptures. It's only human nature. And people just gloss over what isn't agreeable to them just the way you mentioned. Again, human nature. For whatever it may be worth, I've come to the conclusion that for many people the idea of a supreme being watching over us is just too comforting to them in a cold and crazy world and that they will perform whatever mental gymnastics they must in order to keep the faith. Personally I find that sad. But I also believe (maybe because it's something I need ) that humankind will evolve past such a need. Who knows?