Discussion questions for Religion Course
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week_9_religion_discussion.docxQuestion 1
What final thoughts and comments about religion and life would you like to leave the class with?
Question 2
Hi Class,
My hope is that we all realize who much information is out there and how little we know. Even if we studied one topic our entire lives, we would never know everything there is to know on that one topic! I think we leave bad impressions on others when we come to the conversation table with everything to say and nothing to learn. It becomes apparent rather quickly if a monologue or a dialogue is taking place.
When individuals, Christian or otherwise, feel that they possess the absolute truth, God's truth in its purest form, they tend to not be open to the possibility of being in error. Really, any person who views a book as infallibly communicating ultimate truth about the universe can run into this problem. When individuals believe that an ancient collection of documents are God's word (which isn't even what most biblical authors intended), there is the tendency and temptation to feel overly certain about matters that are often highly complex and sometimes even out of our intellectual reach. There is no need to ever believe anything without sufficient evidence, (typically seen as "having faith"). I maintain that a decent deity would never want his creations to disregard their rational faculties.
What do you think?
Question 3
Hi Class,
A few days ago through a conversation with a scholarly friend, I learned that there is an extremely high likelihood that the bone box of Jesus of Nazareth has been discovered along with various family members and possibly a wife and son. It is being referred to as the Jesus Family Tomb. Second Temple Period burial included placing the bones of Jews who died (after decomposition) in a limestone box or what are referred to as ossuaries. The original excavation took place in 1980 in a city called Talpiot which is just southeast of Jerusalem. A separate discovery of an ossuary inscribed James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus, which has been deemed authentic had been previously linked through tests which demonstrate that the patina (a chemical film encrustation on the box) matches the patina from the other ossuaries in the Talpiot tomb. However, very recently, even more extensive tests were done. Apparently, limestone ossuaries over time absorb the soil and chemical environs of the tomb they are placed in. Each tomb has a characteristic chemical profile unique to its environment. Well, through samples from inside and outside the James ossuary, its geo-chemical fingerprint matches the other ossuaries within the Jesus Family Tomb. This makes the likelihood that this is actually Jesus' bone box astronomically high even though the names inscribed are common names. It's just too improbable that there would be two families all with the same associated names buried together in the same place and time in history. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIG_0bX46TE
I'm shocked that I didn't know about this sooner! What are your thoughts?
Question 4
Hi Class,
I want to say something about communicating with people of different beliefs. I think bad impressions are left when religionists, whether Christian, Islamic or otherwise, over-simplify disagreements into black and white, God's view vs. Satan's; the idea that I am on God's team and those who disagree with me are not. When labels are applied such as false prophet, apostate and heretic, nothing is added to the discussion. It is a form of Christian (religious) name calling that is deemed acceptable. For instance, if a disagreement occurs between a Christian and I, I am often faced with the danger of being written off as evil, or satanic. No one enjoys conditional friendships and having lost a number of my closest friends, I know that this is a real threat with some people.
Do you know what I'm getting at here? Do you agree or disagree?
All my best,
Daniel
