Dangerous Thinking

August 3, 2011 3 Comments

Recent travel has afforded me quite an extensive opportunity to listen to some audio books. At the top of my list has been the works of Bart Ehrman, evangelical Biblical scholar turned agnostic.

While listening my way through his book, God’s Problem, Ehrman told a story of a Cambodian refugee family with whom he became acquainted. I was fascinated by the tale of survival  that was shared as the father in the story described to Ehrman how he had destroyed his own eye glasses to avoid appearing educated to the brutal regime of Pol Pot, which was determine to destroy any threat to it’s dictatorial movement.

Destroy those who appear educated.

They are the greatest threat to dictatorial control.

Don’t ask questions. Don’t appear to be a thinker. Don’t challenge the status quo.

Education can be a dangerous thing.

More recent reading has led me to another of Ehrman’s works entitled Jesus Interrupted. In this work, the Biblical scholar shares both historical evidence and Biblical contradictions that are well known to seminary students, yet almost unheard of in the layity.

Could it be that the information and education vacuum that exists within the Christian community is a self-perpetuating beast? My faith history tends to shun (or at least regard as suspect) educational materials that are not created or generated from within its own faith community. They are serious educators, but only with their own brand of religious dogma. It wasn’t until I began to educate myself with materials from the “outside” world that I realized a more historically accurate truth.

When I did that, I became dangerous.

I became so dangerous that it was necessary to redirect me and keep me from contaminating those who might be easily influenced by my questioning. It happens all the time all over the world and has been going on for centuries.

Education is dangerous.

Rational, critical thinking is dangerous.

Poverty, ignorance, fear, and survival mode are religion’s best friend.

What are you doing to educate yourself on the facts?

3 thoughts on “Dangerous Thinking”

  1. Great books you listened to there. Now head to “Lost Christianities”, and “Lost Scriptures”. You will find great diversity in the early Christian movement that you’ve never heard of in any mainline church. It will become apparent why “the church” had to fight for control if they wanted to unite all under its thumb.

  2. Glad you’ve found Ehrman. His Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet might just send you “over the edge.”

    I just read somewhere that inherent in the Bible is the reasoning that faith and reason do not mix.

    Interesting thought. Jesus did say we should be like children, and Paul, well, he basically said we were fools if we didn’t believe.

    Interesting, don’t you think?

Leave a Reply to Don Rogers Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *