We all do it as humans. It's what religion is. Do this because I(tm) said so.
True, that is what Religion is. Fortunately, the Bible is full of examples of God telling people to quit trying to be "religious" and mindlessly following all the "rules". It says that what's most important is not traditions you scrupulously obey, for the sake of just doing them because you're supposed to, but that you seek to know and be in right relationship with God personally. After that, you'll actually WANT to try to make changes to your life that consequently end up falling in line with the rules of the Bible, not because someone told you to do it. Unfortunately many Religious institutions and followers miss that.
The Orthodox rabbis I've spoken find it amazingly amusing that people take the creation story as literal truth, rather then a story about YHWH's power.
If God is as powerful as these stories talk about, then why would anyone have to fabricate a story to express it? If God is all powerful, isn't he capable to do all of those things that stories talk about?
It is true that every leader or member of a particular group or belief, be it a Rabbi, a preacher, or even your everyday follower of that particular religion, is not always going to accurately portray what the religion is about.
Like anything in life, if you want to know the facts about Judaism or Christianity, you can go straight to the source by reading them first-hand in the Bible.
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....I think I see the primate partiality!
We all do it as humans. It's what religion is. Do this because I(tm) said so.
True, that is what Religion is. Fortunately, the Bible is full of examples of God telling people to quit trying to be "religious" and mindlessly following all the "rules". It says that what's most important is not traditions you scrupulously obey, for the sake of just doing them because you're supposed to, but that you seek to know and be in right relationship with God personally. After that, you'll actually WANT to try to make changes to your life that consequently end up falling in line with the rules of the Bible, not because someone told you to do it. Unfortunately many Religious institutions and followers miss that.
The Orthodox rabbis I've spoken find it amazingly amusing that people take the creation story as literal truth, rather then a story about YHWH's power. If God is as powerful as these stories talk about, then why would anyone have to fabricate a story to express it? If God is all powerful, isn't he capable to do all of those things that stories talk about? It is true that every leader or member of a particular group or belief, be it a Rabbi, a preacher, or even your everyday follower of that particular religion, is not always going to accurately portray what the religion is about. Like anything in life, if you want to know the facts about Judaism or Christianity, you can go straight to the source by reading them first-hand in the Bible.