thank you for being the only person to answer my question instead of downvoting me.

Yes. Every society has their own origin stories, and that's what this is

Rome had Remus and Romulus. America has Christopher Columbus and the founding fathers

They're a mix of actual events, myth, and the morals we aspire to as a society. Even very recently formed countries reframe their history this way

Actual history, when you study it academically, is mostly petty people making personal decisions that work out. It's messy compromises and opportunities falling into people's laps. Sometimes there's ideals, but it's mostly compromises

But that's not what we generally teach... We always frame the story in a way to highlight the values we believe define us as a society. Even when we change the story - what we teach to children is always a reflection of the values we aspire to

I understand that... But imagine you have all these star wars fans who love dressing up like storm troopers and doing crackdowns. They're even in government, screaming "for the empire!" as they bomb random people in the middle east

And obviously, a lot of people are going to think Star wars is evil

But reading the Bible without commentary is like a vaccine for the mind virus. Especially the gospels, they're short and based as hell

The mental gymnastics required to replace mutual aid with magic is truly extraordinary. That's why they explain the Bible to kids, sentence by sentence, to make sure they don't accidentally understand it

It's literally a curse against their enemies. Like it's that simple

Psalms are prayers to God, it's all just a book of poetry. They're not laws, they're not divine commands, they're literally just feelings in flowery words

That's nonsense. For one, Jewish people exist, and for two you can just read it for the ideas

I've read lots of religious texts. Lots of mythology and creation myths too. It's not take it or leave it... They're ideas and stories. Ancient wisdom, universal aspects of the human experience, philosophy and manifestos for the perfect society

You can just read it, they're not killing people for interpreting it "wrong" anymore

Old or new testament doesn’t matter, believe in one then you have to believe in the other.

Have you ever met a jewish person? jfc.

What is a god? The Bible speaks about many gods, different kinds even. Are the Creator and the god of the Israelites the same?

What are they referring to here? The will of the people, the mandate of heaven, the super organism created by the abstractions of a group of humans - he didn't follow it as king. He was supposed to be executor of the will of the people, and he didn't deliver the "justice" they demanded

I'm not the one saying the sky daddy is whispering in people's ears. That's not how it ever works, does it? It's always people going off to meditate, and coming back with sometimes inconvenient moments of enlightenment

Oh, and let's not forget when the god of the Israelites changes their mind... It happens kind of a lot

Of course my takes are heretical. I actually read the source material

The Roman Catholic Church was created by Constantine to blend the Roman religion with the trappings of the early church, which they massacred but couldn't eradicate. It was spreading through the legions and threatening Roman rule, so he stole Jesus's name. Then, for a thousand years, they killed anyone who read the book and came to inconvenient conclusions

Jesus was born in July, and he was a philosopher and a revolutionary. A based as hell guy. Had a lot of good ideas that are very relevant today