[Sonart]

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Outstanding analysis, Isherwood. Hope you don't mind, I filed it away for future reference and plagiarism. :)

Quote by: Milton Bradley Is the seeming megalomania that God allegedly speaks with in the bible just an example of the potential for power to corrupt people, and absolute power to corrupt absolutely?

As you may know, I believe that human beings are gentically hardwired for spiritual belief, a sense of oneness with the universe that can be achieved through liturgic ritual and meditation... prayer. This state of oneness provides heightened access to our other instincts that we might define as a sense of morality -- how to conduct ourselves in way that insures cooperation and harmony within the social group in order to ensure survival of our species. Unfortunately man is incapable of undestanding this instict completely and thus manifests it in the only way that makes sense to us... the existance of an omniscient, supernatural authority.

So my answer is that the claim that God speaks through the Bible is simply the earnest attempt of a group of strong-minded men - leaders - to interpret what they perceive as the will of God in concrete form, and inform the rest of society what they were convinced was the truth.

Quote by: Milton Bradley Is it possible that the authors of the books that attempt to speak for God are exposing themselves by being unable to hide the seeming psychological problems from which they suffered?

That's a fairly presumptious question, don't you think?

No, I think they were simply people endowed with a heightened genetic access to their spiritual instincts who were perfectly sincere in trying to interpret their perceptions, no different than the spectrum of spiritual leaders today.

Quote by: Milton Bradley It seems to me that in attempting to write for an all seeing, all knowing, perfect Creator went to the authors head, and just the thought of that much power corrupted the thought process, and is evident in the texts they attempt to attribute to God.

Entirely possible, I suppose. Most human alpha types -- leaders -- have a fairly inflated sense of themselves and a confidence that they're right. Ambition and willfulness can certainly be corrupted.

Quote by: Milton Bradley I always percieved that the passages in the bible are those of somebody experiencing a major bout of megalomania, and therefore, by definition, not the words of perfect God?

Combine the sense that you understand the will of an all powerful, omnipotent being with one's own, human self-confidence and strong will, and yeah, I suspect you arrive at the definition of megalomania. And since I don't believe in an all powerful, omnipotent being, then yeah, the Bible is rife with the dilllusions of megalomania among it's authors.

Quote by: Milton Bradley ]Could one realistically attempt psychoanalyze passages in the bible for obvious indications of the mental health of the author?

You thinking of doing it? Yes, I suppose one could realistically do that. Whether is serves any positive purpose is another question. I have no desire to undermine anyone's spiritual beliefs... I just want them not to try to impose theirs on me or anyone else.

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