There are other ways of looking at it. Mythologies are subconscious emissions.
They have to be unraveled through that lens. Like dreams.

@skado Liberal Christianity is somewhat capable of treating Christian myth AS myth, and some folks enjoy that view. I haven't personally had much contact with it, coming as I do from out of fundamentalism. I have only come to partially understand it, courtesy of contact with a local Episcopalian church where my wife volunteered for a time in their food kitchen. I cannot endure their liturgical extravaganzas (at least not on a regular basis), probably because I don't understand them. But I admire the genuine effort they've made to be truly inclusive and accepting of diversity.

@mordant That’s good to hear. I had figured there might be threads of Christianity or at least some individual Christians who took that view, but it’s nice to hear specific accounts. Thanks.
I haven’t found myself wanting to participate in any group practice, but I enjoy picking it apart from the cerebral comfort of my recliner.

It appears to me to be readable at more than one level. The level of ‘belief without question’ is for the majority, who are more likely to relate to it experientially, and only need comfort from their trials and some general guidance in how to navigate life peacefully.

I think an esoteric level exists for those who want to spend more time learning the deeper disciplines. This is the part that is mostly hidden (maybe deliberately?) in metaphor. It appears to be a training course in cognitive development that could help people permanently transcend their psychological “demons”. There seem to be similar traces in all major world religions.

Right you are.

I would suspect tht with Abrahamic religions there would not be much left Kind of like hwo George Carlin reduced the 10 commandments down through logical reasoning. Apply rationality to religion and not much will be left.

I remember reading a lot of Earnest Holmes, who founded the Church of Religious Science, which tried to look for commonalities in religions. I think his error was in keeping teh supernatural stuff in. Still, the similarities between religious teaching of many ancient religions, does all validae the points you made.

@snytiger6 I agree with you about Holmes’ good and bad aspects.

Yeah, it occurred to me tht instead of life manual to avoid suffering like you woudl ge with Buddhism, with the Abrahamic religions you may end up with something more similar to "The Prince" by Machiavelli... well maybe not that blatant,but still a way to manipulate people to do one's bidding.

I think somewhere in the back of my mind I thought ti would be beneficial far more for believers than for atheists or agnostics.

@snytiger6 - It is impossible to reason with unreasonable people. Waste of time.

worked for me

@skado Cool.

I think it would depend on the person.

I sometimes look at religion as having simple philosophies, which are overly complicated because church leaders (and so called prophets of old) want to justify their positions.Kind fo like complicated bureaucracies to provide simple functions. They ar complicated more to justify the need for the department and organization when the work can be more easily done without all the confusing red tape.

I agree the sexist ideas would need to purged alogn with god and the supernatural stuff.

I think it can be done, but after you strip away god and all the supernatural mumbo jumbo, it would be a very thin volume. Kind o flike how Strunk and White managed to strip all the variable of English grammar and punctuation into their very thin volume of "Elements of Style".

Jesus was a genocidal maniac. I'll be steering clear of you.

Is this the same Jesus that told slaves to 'obey their masters, even the cruel ones'?

@Silverwhisper Thank you for your comments. Have I never thought it odd? I've never really given it much consideration. As one who doesn't attribute divinity to Jesus, it's irrelevant to me whether or not he existed. What I find guidance in is indeed the stories. Love your neighbor. Turn the other cheek. Blessed are the peacemakers, the meek. Etc. Love your enemy. As you point out, these are universal truths. One of my professors years ago once explained to us that Palestine in the early first cetury would have been an international place with influences of Hinduism, Buddhism, and many other philosophies and "isms". Those who wrote the Jesus stories undoubtedly were influenced by them. Many of Jesus' teachings are valuable for practice regardless of whether or not Jesus himself actually existed in history. Thanks again for your comments.

@Silverwhisper years ago I read a book titled "When Jesus Became God". I wish I could remember it but I was reading a lot of alternative stuff at the time and it seem to have slipped out of my mind. Much of what I read at that time led to my move away from a "life of faith". Even when I was clergy I wasn't a fan of Paul, and i stopped believing in the resurrection in seminary, oddly enough. once again, thank you for your interest in dialog. I hope we can continue our conversation.

@DuchessNyx YES!!!!!YOU GET IT COMPLETLY!!!! Thank you for your comment!

I think the so called "golden rule" of "do unto others a you would have them do unto you" is one aspect of philosophy which works tihout all the supernatural stuff.

Also, "The love of money is ht eroot of all evil", which i always took to mean that to love money and the accumulation of wealth mor ethan your fellow beings causes peopel to commit acts of "evil."

So, you can take some philosophical bits out and leave god and the supernatural behind. I think it is those few bits of universal human truths buried in all the bullshit that is wht peopel really look for when turning to religion. Too many buy into all the god, and supernatural crap that does with it though.

I like Geroge Carlkin's bit about the Ten commandments, showing how most aren't really needed.

@snytiger6 I was just using the Ten Commandments as an example. I have seen George Carlin's bit on it before. I love Carlin. A man after my own heart. I love how he was unapologetic when dealing with corrupt politicians and the system...and religion.

@snytiger6 The golden rule doesn't work with paedophiles, murderers or rapists.

I mean looking for an underlying philosophy for living that is based on universal human truths rather than on arbritray dictates from a supernatural being or supposed prophet of such a being. Much like Buddhist philosophy can be lived without any religious beliefs.

From the reponses I read so far, perhaps it would only be possible with Buddhism.

@snytiger6 I honestly doubt there are many religions (I agree Bhuddism may be an exception)wherein you can separate the chaff from the wheat, to put it in biblical terms. I tend to believe virtually all church doctrine derives from skydaddy, if you go back far enough. There may still be vestiges derived from some ancient pagan practices, but they've likely been integrated so deeply into the dogma, that most would seem to have by now been the product of "divine inspiration."