Religion since it's inception, has been the one constant factor in the lives of human beings. Technology, countries, and governments come a go, but we still retain our view of religion as the most important factor in our lives. For some the Bible is an absolute truth, the word of God, given to man through the chosen writers. Others view it as a work of fiction. Yet either way you choose to look at the Bible, you should always remember one thing. That is that the Bible, is a fantastic resource for everyone on ways to live their life for the betterment of themselves and others.
A recent peek over at the Gameinformer Online forums, stirred this blog. The conversation between two users offered a glance at the misconceptions of the Bible, as well as hypocrisy by those who follow the book as God's word. An argument broke about between atheists and Christians, and in the end I was just disgusted. I understand each sides' arguments, I even understand the desire to want to establish your belief as right, but whatever happened to "love thy neighbor." Which brings me to this.
If you take the religious implications of the Bible away from the conversation, you are left with a fantastic book. A book that ultimately tells a great story of how one Man learned to love Humanity over himself, and as such gave the only thing he could offer, his life. That is the story of the Bible if you strictly take away all religious implications. And that is ultimately the point, the Bible is book that all should study. It provides a great guideline for many different everyday situations, as well as a look into what can happen through self sacrifice, appreciation, and respect.
The stories all provide a moral at the end that teaches what is an appropriate way to treat others. Love thy neighbor is only one of these. Loving your neighbor consists of more than tolerance. Love involves respect, love involves compassion, and love includes involvement in a person's life to help them. I've chosen to be agnostic, not because I didn't believe in the teaching of the Bible, I became an agnostic because I find religions to be so concerned about being right, instead of actually respecting other religions. Religions are pushy, religion is just a collection of people who believe in the same thing, and I don't necessarily think any one religion has it right.
I feel each religion has a different thing to offer to each other. Whether it's the devotion of time and sacrifice of Islam, or the traditions of Judaism. Each religion brings a separate piece of the puzzle to the table, and through respect, and love for our neighbors, we will find a great truth. But we can't do that if we don't first learn to respect each other.
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