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I don’t understand how people can believe anything in that book. No one alive today or back when humans got put on this earth can tell anyone where we go when we die. We will all find out when we actually go ourselves. Now is the Bible good for people to have something to believe in and do good things on this planet??? Yes absolutely. But to believe stories from a book written not long ago and we have been here for millions of years is ridiculous. Thus the title. And again no one knows how we came about except me....please like this post and I will reveal our true beginnings!!!
Never discuss religion!
Just kidding. I don't take anything word-for-word in that book either. One might as well believe that stories of Superman are fact and that Clark Kent is actually "God" in disguise!
What I am getting at there, is the fact that people love myth and fantasy. None of that is going away. We read comic books, J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, H.G. Wells, etc.
Now, of course, sane people know what fiction is. And as you say, the Bible in itself is not a bad book; it is that people take it as fact that is the problem. Now, Samson can be seen as a kind of superhero- his story could make a good graphic novel, when you think about it! Still, I do not take the story as "fact." No one should. Nonetheless, a good story is a good story, as you say, how seriously can people take it before they go nuts? Some people just do. Their brains may be wired that way. In what way? To follow culture, and the Bible is tied to culture. (Of course, Christmas is a secular holiday, like it or not).
Another point I want to make is, of course, is that in the past, people needed to make up stories to explain why lightning exists (Zeus) why wine exists (Bacchus) why people fall in love (Venus and Cupid) because they had no idea and wanted to give themselves assurance. It is psychological. So, in that sense, religion/myth in itself- or making up weird reasons for things we cannot explain- is not a bad thing (note- I did not say "is a good thing"). It is when people refuse to accept the truth when scientists, investigators, etc. find it that religion can become tricky.
So religion was a way for people to give themselves assurance for things they COULD NOT explain. Plus, life was a LOT harder back then. Nowadays, almost everything, if not everything, IS explicable! So why do we hang on to religion?
As early as the 1700s, people thought religion would eventually be dead in a hundred years or so. Thomas Paine believed that the age of reason would make religion disappear; he was accused of being an atheist himself (he considered himself agnostic). I think people hang on to religion in some form because humanity has been following myth for thousands of years. We can not throw it away overnight. It is sort of like super-feminists suddenly deciding they want a kid in their late thirties. Humanity can not throw these things away. I believe both wanting a child (I know not every human wants to be a parent) and a ludicrous following of some mythical being are wired within us somehow.
Another major factor, though, is culture. Culture, especially the majority culture, will always play a major part in this- what people believe- like it or not. I read, a while ago, that, due to the migrant crisis, some white Europeans started going to church again. Not because they believe in some mythical, man-made deity, but due to cultural heritage and roots. They wanted to feel "secure." Culture will always play a role in shaping our minds, and religion is traditional in a way, and traditions are linked back to culture, like it or not. Some may remember their "roots" for a day and get married in a church and then remain atheists the rest of their lives. They do it because they know that is what their parents did; they can not escape the impact that culture has on them.
Back to the Bible itself, and its attachment to human history and thought, it is a great work of fiction. We were taught to believe by authority figures, and humans are sort of programmed to listen to some sort of authority (see the Milgram study; also, think of why people listened to Hitler and commited genocide. He was an authority figure). The bible was taught to us via "authority figures"- ministers, parents, schoolteachers. We ultimately say "yes sir" in one form or another and some people just hang on to the bible and take it as truth because of 1) authority figures and 2) culture. Not because we cannot explain where lightning comes from.
You're welcome,
njitalia,
Sociology/psychology Tutor, City University of New York (P.S. Really, that is what I am).