Skylara’s Comments (group member since Apr 10, 2012)

Skylara’s comments from the Q&A with Jeffrey Small group.

From your discussion list:
"Brady, Jennings, and Tim each quote the Bible to justify their actions. What are the dangers of doing so, and why might it not be appropriate?"

You have so many thought-provoking questions, but I thought I would start with this one. This is a particular issue that I often find myself bristling over.

The danger with quoting the Bible in such a way is that the passages can be taken out of context and used in a way that has absolutely nothing to do with the true spirit of them. Or people can fall prey to "cafeteria Christianity" in which they pick and choose which sections of the Bible to follow and preach, yet ignore others.

The entire period of slavery in the US is rife with examples of Christians using the Bible in such ways as to say "See? Slavery is okay by God, so it's okay by me." Certainly, many people used the Bible to argue the opposite point, that slavery was not condoned by the Bible.

The problem on both sides is that people were using a historical text that to this day is still open to interpretation to provide "hard facts" as to why something should be done in such a way, and completely forgetting that this text is being read in translation and as such (in my opinion, at least) is prone to error in translation and meaning.

Instead of quoting scripture to make an argument, I believe that people would do better to refer to the spirit of the Bible, which I don't believe was lost in translation, and which is fairly explicit (in the New Testament, which Christianity is actually based on) about compassion and love - two tenets that Buddhism also expounds.

On a personal note, a relative just told me on Easter that "You should have your son start reading the Bible, but have him ignore the Old Testament, because he'd get confused since we don't follow everything in it. Pretty much just the Ten Commandments and maybe a couple of other things." Cafeteria Christianity at work right there, and like your characters, she is a person who would pick and choose lines of Scripture to make arguments with, often taking them completely out of context.

One prime example which happened last fall: It was a gearing up to be a glorious weekend and I asked said relative if she wanted to go camping with me. She refused stating that she could not miss church. I responded with, "But you can take time out on Sunday to have your own time to worship, right in his nice forest-y garden." She came back with, "From Matthew 18:20: 'For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.' See? I have to go to church since you aren't Christian any more."

Her argument was obviously a ploy to try to get me back to Christianity, so the quote was used irresponsibly there, but additionally, the quote itself, when taking in context with the Matthew 18:15-20, is that this is about sin in the church, not whether or not she should go in the first place.

Okay, I think I'm finished rambling. I'm an English double major (Literature and Creative Writing), not a Comparative Religions major, but I still have this fascination with the world's religions and how they are often misused for personal reasons.

Additional personal note: I'm a former Christian-turned Buddhist, which is why the premise of your novel so fascinated me.