Let me know if you have a link to that. I'm curious. I did a little research and yikes, what vague, undefined blather.

Here are comparisons to see what I mean.

[earlychristianwritings.com]

[www2.kenyon.edu]

@racocn8 Nice piece of research! Well done! My source for the quote was a lecture Joseph Cambell gave at Eselin Institute in 1969. The context that you have provided does not change my loose interpretation. I still think it tends to downplay supernaturalism in favor of a more Earthly meaning. At least I don't see anything here to directly contradict that.

I was reminded of how readily experts disagree on an interpretation of something vague and poorly defined. How reasonable is it to imagine that such content would represent the thinking of an all wise and loving diety? Instead, the opportunities for confusion bring Satan to mind far before God. Or, just some asshole churning out drivel to hypnotize the masses. Kinda like Deepak Chopra.

Jesus said: If those who lead you say to you: See, the kingdom is in heaven, then the birds of the heaven will go before you; if they say to you: It is in the sea, then the fish will go before you. But the kingdom is within you, and it is outside of you. When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will know that you are the sons of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you are in poverty, and you are poverty.

The interpretation then goes on claim it means seeking to know oneself. But, how can one know oneself while turning a blind eye to knowledge and truth? Do Christians know themselves? Or try to? Or do Christian exhort believers to be gullible and incurious?

@racocn8 I think it depends on which Christian you are talking to. They are a diverse bunch.

Douglas Adams, "I will not prove my existence, says god, because proof denies faith and without faith I am nothing."
"Gosh," says man, "Then by your own argument you don't exist."
"How so?" Asks god.
"Well, that Babel Fish is such a useful creature that it couldn't have evolved by pure chance. Therefore, it proves your existence."
"Gosh," says god, "I hadn't thought of that" and disappears in a puff of logic.

Religion claims that it tells the truth about reality. Yet NOT ONE RELIGION embraces any science nor any scientific discoveries (much less evolution). Also, we have so many religions that disregard the discovery that their beliefs are wrong. Where is the Jewish temple that admits Moses didn't exist? Not even one??? So much for exalting truth....

@racocn8 It would be problematic for a Jew to think Moses didn't exist as the entirety of Jewish philosophy begins with him.

@rainmanjr If a religion exhorts the divinity of Truth, the historicity of it's beliefs should not be essential. Many Christians claim their early stories to be allegorical to deflect criticism that they can only have been myths. However, my understanding of Judaism was slanted to emphasize the Reform perspective. Only recently did I learn that the Conservative and Orthodox sects embrace the same absolutist and bigoted attitudes as Evangelical and Catholic Christians. For the majority, the Conservative and Orthodox Jews, yes, it is problematic. Shame on them for their hypocrisy and for lying to themselves.

@racocn8 I don't follow Judaism closely but The Torah is the book of Moses. The Old Testament. So I can't imagine a Jew thinking Moses was fictitious. I no longer count myself as Jewish because I read that it is essential for a Jew to believe in one god. I now say that I'm ethnically Jewish. I think Moses existed, even that he freed slaves in Egypt and led them across the desert (becoming the first organized Jewish movement), but the man's legend got exaggerated after that.

@rainmanjr It is my understanding that no credible archeologists nor Egyptologists give credence to the story because of the complete lack of evidence. Egyptians were very good about documenting their kings and what happened during their reigns. They did try to erase rulers and events that became politically incorrect. But, it's not an easy thing to erase what has been set in stone, which is why we do know about them.