|
|
 |
|
| | |
| | Religion, Technology and You Tube | | | Saturday, June 7, 2008 (12:17 AM)
(I'm feeling high) | | What effect does current technology, communications and scientific discovery have on religion and the beliefs spawned by those religions? Of course it is easy to look back to past dates and see ignorance in relation to what is currently known. For example, taking a tour an 18th century medical museum clearly shows great advances in medical understanding and treatment. It s easy to conclude that many practices were “primitive,” even inhumane, yet people of the 18th century people could also say the same of medieval practices, and on back through time. It is also easy to see that certain periods throughout history show accelerated advances in all areas of human knowledge and understanding, especially when compared to periods of seemingly little or no advance. Though it is too early to know—a general fault of all humankind is seeing narrowly through eyes half closed—our rate of advance will grow exponentially, partly based on pure numbers of those involved in pushing forward. For example, the number of scientists studying all aspects of a field of study, grows with population, so it follows that amount of knowledge will grow in proportion. Further, as our general understanding grows, it pushes the quest for discovery outward into realms yet undiscovered, or even unimagined without our current discoveries. It would be interesting to see how universal geniuses like Aristotle or di Vinci would apply current knowledge and technology to their quest for understanding.
**note: about 3500 BC was advent of writing, recording history; so all before this time has been passed down as legend, myth, in general “a story”.
The first time a “historical event” was recorded owes much to the writer of the historical record, their perspective, their intention, especially when written with the purpose of imparting a specific effect on it’s target audience. If something that we read as historical record or simply a factual account of a past event was intended originally to inspire fervor, or fear, or hatred, what value should we impart upon its relevance to our current understanding of history. By the same virtue of the exponential growth of general knowledge, from the beginning of writing 5,500 years ago to the present, the amount of what has been written down has grown proportionally. Also, early in the advent of writing, very few people wrote, or read for that matter, so the weight or significance we endow on early documents is disproportionately great when compared to the knowledge and understanding they bring, or the accuracy in which they describe history. What I am getting at here is that this holds true of written religious doctrine as well. Look at the example of Jesus. At the time the apostles were writing what would become the “2nd half” of the Bible, The New Testament, very few people were literate. Jesus and the apostles were literate, and not only had they read the Jewish prophesies of the Bible, what Christians know as the First Testament, they were able to write, and to essentially argue that their man, Jesus, fulfilled the prophesies as passed down. The fact that four very close friends of Jesus, Mathew, Mark, Luke and John—the gospel writers-- were able to write and did write, endowed the Jesus story with uncommon import, if by nothing else than sheer amount written about a specific individual during this time. It’s not hard to see that the intention of the apostles writing was a doctrine for pursuance of Jesus’ status as the savior of the Jews. There are blatant attempts at drawing parallels between Jesus and Moses, to raise Jesus to the status of Moses. What would Jesus’ status in history be if the apostle’s had been illiterate, and nothing was ever written about Jesus? The quip by John Lennon about the Beatles being more popular than Jesus was true, in sheer numbers, and probably in fervor, and certainly now that “we all” read and write, there are many people who are certainly more documented than Jesus, even inconsequential people like politicians, movie actors and popular YouTubers may more documented and exploited than Jesus. In sheer numbers you might be more popular than Jesus, but nobody is declaring you their savior. There are so damn many blogs, and vlogs, and channels, and nobody really knows a damn thing, but they are telling you anyway. | | | 91 Views | 0  Thumbs Up | 0 Comments |  |
|
|
| | |
| |
|
|
|
