Greetings from Tralfamadore.
Just kidding. Let me start over.
Greetings. I'm Beth, and I'm a Christian Bright (apologies for the use of the word "bright," but I didn't get a vote--more on that below.) I have a post graduate degree--a doctorate in law from a top 10 university--am a former columnist for The New York Times Syndicate, founder of the philosophical system of Christian Objectivism (book soon to be published), founder and former CEO of a 501(c)(3) corporation, former New York model, author of 3 books, wife of a University Professor of English, mother of two Objectivists, and a firm believer in John 3:16 and all that is appurtenant thereunto.
While we regret that "Brights" was the name chosen by its founders to refer to this "community of reason"--regret it in the sense that the term stereotypes rational people as being elitist (I'd say arrogant, but some Brights deserve to be proud of being bright, while others wouldn't so qualify)--nonetheless, the name is set by its founders.
In case you are new to the idea of Brights--and I doubt you would be here if you were new to it--Brights (to let you know) need not be atheist, humanist, apatheist, agnostics, skeptics, etc. There is, thankfully, no such tight definition of who qualifies to be a Bright.
To be a Bright, you must be a naturalist, a person who believes in what is real, and who does not subscribe to the unreal, where "unreal" is called "the supernatural." You must be a person for whom reason is the interface with reality. You must be a person who is intelligent enough to have researched the ancient Greek and found out that the word "pistis" means to believe based on evidence--and that that word "pistis" was most sadly translated into two different English words--faith and belief--with NO reason for breaking it into two different words. And you must also have discovered--or are discovering as you read this--that "faith" as the translation of "pistis" actually means believing BASED ON EVIDENCE.
Most of all, you must have realized, or realize now, that the term "blind faith" is ridiculous. It is virtually impossible to believe something for which there is no evidence. Furthermore, it is the highest insult to Jesus for you to allege that you believe in him and his teachings by "blind faith"--meaning that you believe "for no reason whatsoever."
And how is the name "Christian Bright" not an oxymoron?
Like this: If you are a Christian who believes that the essential foundation of what Jesus taught was strictly reality, and that he referred solely to things that were real--quick test: Can you say, "I believe that what Jesus taught was strictly real, and strictly concerned actual reality, and that he was real, and that everything he talked about fell into the category of 'real'?"--then you are not a believer in the idea that there are some parts of Christianity that are NOT real. Therefore, since you believe only in Christianity as being real, and based on strict reality, then you are a Christian naturalist, and you can be a Christian Bright.
Methodological naturalism: check.
Ontological naturalism: check.
Metaphysical naturalism: check. And I don't care who tells you that makes you an atheist. If anyone alleges that, they are simply wrong, and need to do their homework.
Quick test again: True or false? "Some parts of Christianity aren't real."
If you said false, then you're a metaphysical naturalist, an ontological naturalist, and a Christian naturalist, and--you win: you're a Christian Bright.
Good thing, too. Because if you think you're a Christian, and you also think that a bunch of its teachings aren't real or have nothing to do with reality, then you've got bigger problems than figuring out what is a Bright and whether you are one.
And so it goes.
Come back, soon!
1 comment:
John 20:29
Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
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