ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

God – Fact, Fiction or Rumour?

Updated on March 5, 2014

In the times of Jesus Christ

I would say that practically all of us - apart from the Muslim world - know the story of Jesus Christ, from his birth in a stable to his death by crucifixion. The tragedy is that so many accept it as truth without question. A sound basic method of arriving at the likely truth is to pose simple questions and consider all possible answers. In this age of technology, television and information media in general we have a great deal of information and illustration to help us pose questions and find answers in order to put the biblical stories in context.
The parents of Jesus were simple people, and surely living in a stable was far from unheard of, even a hundred years ago, let alone two thousand years ago. Three wise men might have been shepherds, and the star of Bethlehem might simply have been a real astronomical event.

Questioning the Bible

A great deal of the New Testament was written fifty years or more after the death of Jesus Christ. If a history were written even as recently as 1900AD of an ordinary person who had died fifty years previously then practically everything written would likely be seen as supposition or conjecture. Nearly everybody of that period of whom a great deal is known were of major significance in some way – royalty, politicians, inventors or businessmen. If people of the status of Jesus or his parents had lived in the nineteenth or even early twentieth century then little might be known of them beyond their recorded details of birth, marriage and death.
Even stories told of Jesus in his lifetime could have arisen from rumour and exaggeration. If we were to read that a man had lived, performed such miracles, and died fifty years ago it would be treated with extreme scepticism. Why then are these fables still purveyed and accepted?

Science or religion?

Amazon: books, materials and equipment available

Why do the biblical stories persist?

Most of us, I believe, learned in school about stories of God and Jesus Christ. Thus, the ideas and stories specific to God and Christ are embedded in our minds.
Why are these myths perpetuated as fact when we have the enlightenment and education to help us see the truth? Why cannot people worship simply the idea of Jesus and God? Have they no faith?

Do the teachings of the Bible promote peace and harmony? Wars are fought in the name of God. If the idea of God was to vanish from people’s consciousness then the world could fairly quickly become a more peaceful place.

Why does the Church continue to exhort us to worship God? The answer to this, presumably, is simply that this is what the Church does. I find the actions of the Roman Catholic Church in ordering its followers not to use condoms especially inexplicable and unacceptable. This is specially so in countries where those people are poverty-stricken, and unwanted childbirth adds to their burden. Surely the purpose of the church's instruction should be to enhance people's lives.

I would say the Ten Commandments are almost without exception one of the cornerstones of modern civilisation. That apart, the Bible should be seen and taught as a history book and the beliefs of a simple people.

A better God

I think we could do well to replace the idea of Jesus Christ and God with worship of this great rock – planet Earth - that we all live on. It seems to me to be pretty impressive; it rolls around in space, it gave birth to our species and countless others, and provides a home and sustenance for us. All we have to do is live on it and obey its laws. The Ten Commandments might be pertinent here. Whenever we decide to interfere with planet Earth, we should remind ourselves of just whom we really are – a species of tool-making ape that learned to speak.

© 2012 Peter Ray

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)