THE MYTH

Words that are written down are often misunderstood and all words have there limitations.  It is extremely impossible to put God into words.  Even with this said theology and especially the Christian faith is very wordy.  I have now come to see that scripture is composed of both mythos and logos.  Logos can also be referred to as reason.  Logos would correspond accurately to external reality but it had it's limitations.  Myths have been called a primitive form of psychology.

When Freud and Jung began to chart their scientific search for their soul, they instinctively turned to these ancient myths.  A myth was never intended as an accurate account of historical event but described human nature and discover deeper truth about the capacity of the heart and mind.

We read in Genesis about two brothers who disagreed over religion and that is very common in our day too.  Two brothers have just now writen two very different books about religion. Peter Hitchens has just come out with a book that totally disagrees with his atheist brother Christopher Hitchens. Peter's book is called "The Rage Against God" how atheism led me to faith.

The works of Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hichens have focused their attach on fundamentalism which has become popular and stresses that the Bible must be taken literally.  I agree with some of their criticisms but I disagree with their refusal to dialogue with the more liberal religious thinking.

The issues that people have today are with -scripture interpretation, creation, miracles, historical accuracy and contradictions within scripture.  These are all themes that need to be examined if we are going to have a faith that changes people from the inside and at the same time deepens our compassion for others.

I think that it is important to discover what people are basing their faith on and how they then live out this faith.  God would be a faceless god to me if it where not for the words and the life of Jesus.  Religion is complex and the faith that flows out of belief  has had a great affect on us all. 

"Myth could tell us something true about our humanity, showing us how to cope with our morality and how to creatively endure suffering that is inevitable in this life."

"Our scientifically oriented knowledge seeks to master reason, explain it and bring it under the control of reason, But a delight in Unknowing has also been apart of the human experience".

There are things that bring tears to our eyes and other things bring joy to our hearts that we do not always understand why.  Music has the power to lift us out of ourselves and is a very powerful means to capture the heart in worship.  I think that we have too often focused on what we believe in stead of how we act.  I would be lost without my faith but I realize that I still have much to learn.