Posted by:
Senoritalamanita
(
)
Date: July 03, 2013 03:13PM
In a previous thread about atheism and debate, Rational guy wrote:
"I guess you're saying you can gain value from religious ideas the same as you do from fiction like Shakespeare or Star Wars. If so, I do agree. I just don't know any religious people who do it that way. Even if they don't literalize, they still imbue the stories with some sort of mojo that came from GOD. That's a different way of looking at it compared to other literature. But then I only really know Mormons, so....
I do, in fact, use Mormon scriptures in my life. I use them as something to react against."
Rational guy - yes, just like the stories in Shakespeare, Star Wars, or Superman, the mythology and symbolism in the Book of Mormon and other scriptures can be used as a catalyst for change ... or "something to react against."
As Raptor Jesus pointed out in the previous thread, "You don't have to believe in superman to understand the symbols and metaphors his stories can represent."
In fact, George Lucas credits Joseph Campbell's writings for shaping the movie "Star Wars."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_CampbellWe all tend to take the universal stories and symbols in our lives and, as you say, "imbue it with some sort of mojo." That's only natural.
I agree with you when you say that Mormons imbue it with powerful God mojo, and go to the extreme.
To me, stories from Shakespeare, Star Wars, Nathaniel Hawthorne, carry equal weight as biblical stories or folklore from other religions. They are all stories made up by man.
You can use the stories to justify making war on others, marginalizing them, or murdering them.
Or you can take these myths and use them to do good.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/2013 03:58PM by Senoritalamanita.