The other day something interesting came in the mail. One of the local Jehovah’s Witnesses decided to get around Covid restrictions on door to door bullshitting, he would have to send out mailers to probably every address in the city. We got ours! The top of the front of the pamphlet included with his personalized letter was titled, “How do you view the Bible?” Under that, it gave these options: “Would you say it is… a book of human wisdom? A book of myths and legends? The word of God?” Well, I am sure glad it asked!
First of all, there are more options than just what are listed. However, if I were to keep to the options given, then let’s start with number one. shall we? If it is human wisdom, then surely it has the ability to be updated and added to, however, I have never found any subscriber of the Bible ready and willing to start slapping in new books, which itself negates it as human wisdom, because surely it would need to be updated every few years. In fact, the repulsive reaction of anyone to whom it is suggested that it needs to be updated suggests that ‘human wisdom’ is completely out of the question. I can leave this one here.
So let’s go to a book of myths and legends. Well, it starts out with a couple called Adam and Eve, who are meant to be the first two people on Earth. They have two sons. Those two sons marry. WHO??? Alright, myth and legend is starting to sound like a winner. It carries on with tales of people who live for centuries, and it tells of a worldwide flood for which there is no evidence. It talks about the guy who created the entire universe waging over how much he can torture a man before he will give up on him, and it talks about a fella who is meant to gut his own son to prove his love for this great creator. Well, that puts it along the lines of a fairy tale, because anyone who obeys the voices in their head and splits their child open should first off, be put away to die very old in a prison, and more importantly, should have refused any such voice to begin with. I am going to go with myth and legend over fairy tales, since there are no obvious morals in some of the tales, and only obvious morals in other tales, e.g.: treat others as you would want to be treated.
As for it being the word of God, see the paragraph above for the answer to that. Furthermore, there is no reason to start with the idea that there is a God to begin with. Any child born is taught about God from its parents, and those who are not do not come to the conclusion that there is one. We know this because children tend to ‘find’ the God that is prevalent in their own society. The options are normally limited, and the God they will find is seldom left to chance. Children are indoctrinated at the least, and often forced to believe in a certain view of deity.
One of the hard things to do within many modern societies is to take all the indoctrination and throw it all out and begin to look at the world anew. It often comes with layers of guilt, followed by heaps of shame. Habits are also hard to break. Even years after leaving a childhood religion, a person may find themselves singing a hymn, and their religious family or friends will be there to tell them that it is because they are longing for God, rather than remembering an old habit.
So, the closest answer I can come to is “A Book of Myths and Legends.” Mother Goose was never co-opted and bashed over people’s heads and told that it is the absolute truth and has the absolute morality by which people should live. If it were, I would easily say they are the absolute equivalent.
“Take the risk of thinking for yourself. Much more happiness, truth, beauty, and wisdom will come to you that way.” -Christopher Hitchens
The Bible’s virtues can be surmised in the heap of differing religions it has, all competing to be the “true” one, and the differing beliefs they hold, and the parts of the Bible they each ignore. As it is said, ‘a book that tells you how to treat your slaves is not a moral guide. It needs to be thrown away.’