#6 "-isms" Post 4

I love your previous post because it  articulates  difficulties many share regarding the Bible but few come out and say. My schedule the next few days is not going to allow me to give this the response time needed so be patient. I would like to make one brief clarification and extend my point in one area. 

You did a good job summarizing my main points. I would like to reshape #4 a bit.#4 Schisms and their establishment and maintenance are the major force behind inquisition, genocide, racism, and other family favorites, throughout history.

My view is that schisms are often the means by which evil things have been done, but they are not the primary cause of these deeds. The point I was attempting to make, and am now trying to clarify, is that at times both schisms and the evil done by those who have participated in schisms have a common root - lust for power and selfishness.

An argument I often hear goes something like this: Religious people do bad things therefore religion is bad. I struggle with the validity of this line of thinking because 1) Religious people do good things therefore religion is good; 2) Nonreligious people do bad things therefore being nonreligious is bad. The whole thing goes in circles like a hamster wheel.

I think the flaw in the whole argument is that humans tend to do bad things whether they're religious or not. Religion just seems to provide an especially effective and easily accessible tool bad people can use to do bad things. All any of this demonstrates is a need for a savior. No one needs salvation more than the religious, that's for sure. Jesus may have been cryptic about some things, but he was fairly overt about that.

None of this answers your questions about the Bible. If I understand your overall argument about schisms, it goes like this. Religious people do bad things because of schisms. Schisms exist because of the Bible does not provide clarity of doctrine or moral instruction. Am I understanding that right?

More from me next week...