So - for my last Top Post on KFS, I'd like to discuss two of my favorite subjects - Einstein and the Bible.

A letter by Albert Einstein, written the year before his death (1954) to philosopher Eric Gutkind., is being auctioned off by Bloomsbury Auctions on Thursday and dismisses our concept of God as the product of human weakness and describes the Bible as "pretty childish." That is not to say that Einstein did not believe in "God" - just not the God that is depicted in the Bible.

In the letter, Einstein writes "the word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish."

Throughout his life, Einstein expressed complex and arguably contradictory views on faith, perceiving a universe suffused with spirituality while rejecting organized religion. In later life, he expressed a sense of wonder at the universe and its mysteries — what he called a "cosmic religious feeling" — and famously said: "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."

He also sais - "I do not believe in the God of theology who rewards good and punishes evil. My God created laws that take care of that. His universe is not ruled by wishful thinking, but by immutable laws."

d;-)

Fascinating post, thanks denny!

Dave c[_]~~~

KFDR

for creating KFDR. Those were the days, my friend . .

C[_]

d;-)

Wow! Talk about a drawn out swan song. Hey, but one last parting shot at your favorite bitch subject. I was feeling a little sorry for you, but you've dragged this out all freaking day.

Yeah, you are really leaving?! What? Not enough begging for you to stay?

denny:

for creating KFDR. Those were the days, my friend . .

C[_]

d;-)

As long as we're at it, I want to thank Joey and Chandler becuse they created "fireball".

Funny, I just saw that article and was about to post about it.

I have to agree with Einstein, here. It's not just that I think the Bible is bunk. I think it's childish bunk. As a work of literature, it strikes me as hugely inferior to roughly contemporaneous works in the Greek mythos. Try reading the Bible for an hour or two, then switch over to a good translation of the Odyssey or the Iliad. The Bible will seem very childish, indeed, by comparison.

The Greek myths are so much more psychologically interesting, dramatically well-structured, morally engaging, narratively consistent, and just downright readable. The Bible comes across as alternating between nursery-school didacticism, mind-numbing lists of rules and genealogies, and wildly gratuitous violence. Take some Biblical figure like Moses or Abraham, and you have little more than the kind of simplistic character you'd see in any child's Saturday morning cartoon. Take Achilles or Odysseus, and you've got a character with the layers and plausible internal life of a real human being.

I like Einstein's spirituality -- or Spinoza's, for that matter. I can see the wonder in a "God" that is a poetic sense of the structure and purpose of the material world. But I find a Biblical God to be hopelessly childish -- a kind of creepy caricature of the angry daddy.

Who are Joey and Chandler? I know who the ,"Three Stooges ," are. They are running for office this year.

My experience was, and yours likely will be, that I didn't really understand the Bible until I was saved. Then reading it became easy, enthralling and extraordinary in the way it spoke directly to my heart.

Maybe your day hasn't come, but for your soul, I hope it does.

TickleBob:

My experience was, and yours likely will be, that I didn't really understand the Bible until I was saved. Then reading it became easy, enthralling and extraordinary in the way it spoke directly to my heart.

Maybe your day hasn't come, but for your soul, I hope it does.

You like "Batman" comics too?

When I was a little boy, the Bible seemed interesting -- at least the simplified and rationalized versions of the "greatest hits" stories that kids tend to be exposed to. But the older I got, and the more time I spent reading and thinking about the book, the less appealing it was for me. In that sense, I have been saved. I've been saved from the dreariness and immorality and ugliness of the Bible.

So, if you're SAVED, when are you going to start doing unto others,,,or are you going to keep up your personal attacks on other posters?

He only said it's his last TOP post. Must be planning to stay and chat but not TOP post.

I'd like to learn more of his thoughts, the universe, exploding then imploding? in an eternal cycle? what is the bigger picture?

Dave

I take it that that's humour, Dave?