How can religious people know so damned little about their religion? (Short & lame)

[gobear]

@Reloy3

I know this seems to be a pile on the religious folks thread, but two points:

1. How do you know the folks visiting were religious. Many people who are not active members of a faith may be visiting and asking dumb questions.

The Op said the people were wearing religious medallions and identified as church groups from eavesdropping.

2. I put the blame as much as the poor history teachers if anything (and I used to be one). I used to work summers as a tour guide at various historical sites, and the people who would travel to these places, and presumably have a sufficient interest in history to visit such a site, would ask questions that would rival or better your examples. No religion (usually) involved.

True enough. I remember when I worked in Yellowstone and Grand Canyon National Parks being asked extremely stupid questions by tourists:

“When do the deer turn into elk?”

“Who mows the grass?”

“What time does the volcano erupt?”

“Where are the presidents’ faces?”

“Are there any undiscovered geysers?”

“Where can I pet the bears?” And so on. So ignorance is not limited to the overtly religious.

It seems to me people are just woefully undereducated about history - religious or not. You may as well ask “How can _______ people know so damned little about their country’s history.”

[/quote]

But as the OP put it so eloquently:

I would think that if my entire eternal life depended on how I viewed a man who lived 2000 years ago that I would want to become a walking encyclopedia on the customs and the politics and the geography and every other piece of information about his times so that I could feel as close to him and as knowledgable about him as possible. I’d want to read everything he read, eat the foods he’d have eaten, know exactly who the Zadokkim and the Pharisees were and how they interacted and… but they seem supremely unconcerned.

[eleanorigby]

So…when DO the deer turn into elk?

Enquiring minds want to know!

:eek:

[Sampiro]

@eleanorigby

So…when DO the deer turn into elk?

Only during solar eclipses. They remain elk until the next lunar eclipse, when they become bison.

[Miller]

@Reloy3

I put the blame as much as the poor history teachers if anything (and I used to be one).

You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself. I’m sure you were a perfectly fine history teacher.

[Dangerosa]

@gobear

What’s a Masada?

Duh…Its a car! I used to drive a blue one.

[gobear]

@Dangerosa

[Quote=gobear
What’s a Masada?

Duh…Its a car! I used to drive a blue one.

[/quote]

But it kept driving itself into walls!

[Qadgop_the_Mercotan]

@eleanorigby

So…when DO the deer turn into elk?

And where do they keep all the animals at night?

[Yeticus_Rex]

A great and relevant rant Sampiro, not lame in the least.

[eleanorigby]

@Sampiro

Only during solar eclipses. They remain elk until the next lunar eclipse, when they become bison.

I am so glad that I am here to eradicate my ignorance!

Thankee kindly, sir!

QtM --is that like asking where were you when the lights went out?

[Sampiro]

@gobear

But it kept driving itself into walls!

And slashing its own tires whenever an Italian sports car came near.

I’ve often wondered if the reason Maccabee is the name of the national beer of Israel is because you drink one bottle and whiz for 8 days.

[Tracy_Lord]

I’m so glad my pastor at home is very well-educated, very bright, and not just willing but eager to answer/discuss theological questions (and not push his own interpretation). Viva la liberal Christianity, baby!

[smiling_bandit]

No, not really plausibel. As has been explained to you, Greek, not Egyptian, was the major language spoken in the region.

Greek was the Lingua Franca of the region, yes, but so what? The idea was that anyone who thought that people who went to Egypt probably knew or learned Egyption. That is perfectly plausible and not exactly illogical.

It doesn’t suggest a perfect sense of the philological complexities of the Early Imperial eastern Mediteranian region, but so what? That’s getting pretty deep even for scholarly types. Why would this suggest that anyone who believes it is an idiot or somehow hasn’t learned enough about his religion?

My point is that it’s a rational, believeable idea for reasonably bright people. There are Christians who don’t learn enough, I agree. However, I also suggest that this is taking your standards a little too high.

BTW, I am SOOOOOO going to flame the next person who suggest that I read and “Idiot’s Guide”.

[Scott_Plaid]

::Whistling, Scott wonders into the room, not having read any of this thread.::
Hey guy, I just finished reading the "Idiot’s Guide to OS/2."It’s really fascinating to read about a product with such potential. Do you know the basic ideas have be put into Yellow Tab linux? Boy howdy, I bet everyone interested in technology would love to read this book. (Please don’t flame me, I just trying to disarm the thread with a little humor )

[Zoe]

lorinada: And that’s what churches are doing - keeping their members ignorant, becuase if they dared study on their own they may do what I do - leave the church altogether when they realize their pastors can’t answer their questions.

Hunter Hawk: So then why don’t the churches teach more details about their religion?

Many churches go to quite a bit of expense to educate their members through Sunday school materials in particular. I used to work for the United Methodist Publishing House and one of our best issues was on the top of the Dead Sea Scrolls. I learned more from helping to put it together that I had learned prior to that time. (This was in the late 1960’s and I was in my twenties.)

gobear: gobear: And here we have one of the folks the OP is talking about. There was no need for Jospeh and Mary to speak Egyptian. There had been a large Jewish community in Egypt for centuries, so they could have gotten by in Hebrew. Since Alexander’s conquest…

<snip>

After Octavian (who was to become Augustus, the first emperor) beat Marc Antony and Cleropatra at the Battle of Actium…

.

It must be really gratifying to know so much about the history of the period and I’m sure that it is a pleasure to be able to put things into perspective for some. Knowledge, like beauty, is its own excuse for being. And it’s better to know than not to know.

But even the perspective of history is not the most important part. The teachings on faith and practice are. A great knowledge of history doesn’t give counsel on how to handle one’s anger at the world.

[gobear]

@Zoe

But even the perspective of history is not the most important part. The teachings on faith and practice are. A great knowledge of history doesn’t give counsel on how to handle one’s anger at the world.

And neither does believing in the existence of invisible superbeings. But I’ll be happy to discuss the reasons why atheism is more valid than faith in another thread. Sampiro din’t open this thread to criticize religion, but to rant about the ignorance with which some Christians uncritically approach their faith. And as I’ve pointed out in this thread, this uncritical attitude is not unique to religion. Most people don’t bother to stretch their minds to educate themselves about the world. Just listen to talk radio sometime.

[serious_lark]

@Sampiro

I’m far from a biblical scholar or an expert on this period of history, but if I know these things and I’m an atheist then how in hell can people who base their entire belief systems NOT know them? I would think that if my entire eternal life depended on how I viewed a man who lived 2000 years ago that I would want to become a walking encyclopedia on the customs and the politics and the geography and every other piece of information about his times so that I could feel as close to him and as knowledgable about him as possible. I’d want to read everything he read, eat the foods he’d have eaten, know exactly who the Zadokkim and the Pharisees were and how they interacted and… but they seem supremely unconcerned. I have no doubts that had these people been born Tibetan Buddhists they’d have stayed that way their entire lives and unquestioningly accepted the divinity of the Dalai Lamas with the unquestioning allegiance they now give Jesus.

I share some of your irritation with this sort of ignorant sheep. In our Bible study group a few years ago, we had a couple of born-again Christians who kept insisting that all our problems as Canadians would be solved if we became a Christian theocracy! It did not matter how many times others in the group pointed out that theocracies have not been successful experiments historically.

I strongly agree that most people accept the religion that was handed to them by geography and family for no better reason.

Faith is believing in something that cannot be proven. It therefore does not surprise me that many who are capable of faith do not feel any need to buttress ther belief with learning more about Jesus and getting closer to Jesus. Why risk rocking the boat?