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When I was at the University and until recently, I was often confronted with rather heated differences of opinion concerning the interpretation of the thoughts of different authors who were studied in class. We were faced, collectively, with the analysis of rather broad texts or currents of thought and it was very interesting. One thing that often struck me was that several individuals, reading the same text and trying to decipher the substance of the authors' thoughts, would sometimes come to radically different conclusions. The conclusions were sometimes the opposite from one student to another.
If this questioning was essentially about philosophical or political currents, it can also very well be transposed to religious currents. This leads to a deeper reflection that I would like to submit to the believers of the abrahamic religions:
Why did God/Allah/YHWH decide to communicate or let his communication (transcribed by the human hand) through a written transmission? Indeed, writing is an interesting way of transmitting information but it is also enormously subject to subjective interpretation of reality. Some people understand the written word literally, while others will interpret it in a second degree or metaphorically. We can see this through the various interpretations that have emerged over the years, notably through the creation of different sub-branches of Christianity (Catholicism, Protestantism,...). The same is true for the other two religions (and others, probably).
These sub-branches, whether they are linked to Christianity or not, share totally different interpretations of what seems to belong to common original texts. The very idea that God/Allah/YHWH gave us the word by which to live, then seems to indicate an intended meaning.
These elements then lead to questions about the nature of God/Allah/YHWH:
1) Is God really omnipotent? If so, why does he not seem to have taken into account the fact that there can be such a wide variety of interpretations of his word and that the conclusions reached by human beings can differ so substantially? Humans, by their very nature and meaning, seem to be the most subject to subjective interpretations and therefore, often unable to understand in a collectively objective way the real meaning of certain messages.
2) Is God omniscient? If so, why doesn't he seem to have taken into account that multiple interpretations would lead to as many conflicts and wars, as we know them today.
3) If he is omnipotent and omniscient, how could he be omni-benevolent, knowing that he knew in advance that both the means of communication and the interpretation would be subject to misleading or distorted interpretations because of the very nature of the people he was creating?
Curious to get your thoughts about this.
If this questioning was essentially about philosophical or political currents, it can also very well be transposed to religious currents. This leads to a deeper reflection that I would like to submit to the believers of the abrahamic religions:
Why did God/Allah/YHWH decide to communicate or let his communication (transcribed by the human hand) through a written transmission? Indeed, writing is an interesting way of transmitting information but it is also enormously subject to subjective interpretation of reality. Some people understand the written word literally, while others will interpret it in a second degree or metaphorically. We can see this through the various interpretations that have emerged over the years, notably through the creation of different sub-branches of Christianity (Catholicism, Protestantism,...). The same is true for the other two religions (and others, probably).
These sub-branches, whether they are linked to Christianity or not, share totally different interpretations of what seems to belong to common original texts. The very idea that God/Allah/YHWH gave us the word by which to live, then seems to indicate an intended meaning.
These elements then lead to questions about the nature of God/Allah/YHWH:
1) Is God really omnipotent? If so, why does he not seem to have taken into account the fact that there can be such a wide variety of interpretations of his word and that the conclusions reached by human beings can differ so substantially? Humans, by their very nature and meaning, seem to be the most subject to subjective interpretations and therefore, often unable to understand in a collectively objective way the real meaning of certain messages.
2) Is God omniscient? If so, why doesn't he seem to have taken into account that multiple interpretations would lead to as many conflicts and wars, as we know them today.
3) If he is omnipotent and omniscient, how could he be omni-benevolent, knowing that he knew in advance that both the means of communication and the interpretation would be subject to misleading or distorted interpretations because of the very nature of the people he was creating?
Curious to get your thoughts about this.