Hello ,
Hi Jason
An example of "dynamic right dharma" in religion might be the current shift by fundamentalist Christianity away from a belief that The Holy Bible is to be taken literally in all cases. Many Christians don't feel quite right about the notion that creation only goes back ten thousand years or so. These Christians tend to see much of Genesis as *representational* of what really went on between God, man and all the rest of creation.
The more static members of Christianity don't like this because it ruins the intellectual integrity of The Holy Bible for them. It's like changing a key line of a computer program and expecting the program to work.
>From my standpoint I'd have to ask, does it matter? If the point of religion is to practice a set of religious rites that brings one in tune with peace and love and truth, what difference does it make whether The Holy Bible is 100% literal? From the standpoint of a mystic (or one trying to poke his head through the subtle mist), either position provides the necessary intellectual scaffolding to get at that peace, love and understanding.
An intellectual concerned with historical accuracy would care very much since a ten-thousand year life span of creation would cause a thousand other intellectual patterns of value to collapse. But once again, from the standpoint of a person just looking for peace, love and understanding, the intellectual truth about historical accuracy of The Holy Bible is a secondary issue. Just how much peace and love does that understanding bring?
If there is a higher level between the intellectual level and pure DQ, it might look something like this:
>From Paul to the Hebrews in chapter 11; "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by this, the ancients obtained a good report. By faith we understand that the world was framed by the word of God: that from invisible things visible thing might be made." This quote sounds pretty misty to me, but as it can bring one to peace, love and understanding, then its valuable.
Thanx 4 sharing Jason,
Bill
Best regards,
elg14 mailto:elg14@earthlink.net
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