【讀書】劣書免睇 : 楊牧谷 – 以色列復國的神蹟
I came across this little book on the ‘miracle’ of Israel as a justificationof the Christian faith in God, written by a famous (at least I know his name)priest. I skimmed through it at the bookstore and found it really not comprehensible.
There are 2 main points in it.
1) If there is no God, there can be no better explanation for the success ofthe Israeli.
2) The negative image of Israeli army – repression, homicide and all otherviolence done to the Palestinians – is only, as least to a large extent,illusion created by prejudicial reports of the western media. (He even asked theChristians to ‘pray’ for them!)
Granted that 1) is true, (which is in fact fallacious in a number of ways –otherwise all criminals who manage to run away may be said to justify theexistence of whatever being you want to), 2) is obviously false and unfair. Rememberit is the Palestinians who were driven out of their HOMELAND. If the Israelisucceed because they are chosen and backed up by the God, the most sensibleconclusion that should be drawn, contrary to the view of a Christian like theauthor, is that there is something incoherent in the very faith in this ‘God’,omnipotent and benevolent.
I don’t know how the Christians would respond to one of the greatest tragedyin human history directly fostered by their religious faith, but I would beextremely sad if they really think the Palestinians deserve what they aresuffering, or if they give response like ‘well, I pray for them too, but, they shouldn’tfight against the Israeli at the first place. It is the PROMISED LAND GIVENBY THE GOD TO THE ISRAELI anyway.’
I once gave a comprehension exercise, which talks about Darwin and his theoryof evolution, to my F3 class. When a student who, I think, is fond of myteaching,came to me after the lesson, shaking his head with a regretful sigh, said tome ‘But it’s WRONG’, I was, and am still, deeply worried. Science is noReligion, but so is Religion not Science. The Bible may give ones hope andpeace of mind (if it is read in a certain way selective and flexible enough),but it surely gives no true and satisfactory explanation to most of the facts,scientific and political alike, we encounter in our everyday life.Hope not to offend my dear Christian friends, who I suppose are enlightenedenough to accept different points of view and sufficiently devoted to theirbelief to see persuading non-believers as their lifelong mission.
12-4-2001
There are 2 main points in it.
1) If there is no God, there can be no better explanation for the success ofthe Israeli.
2) The negative image of Israeli army – repression, homicide and all otherviolence done to the Palestinians – is only, as least to a large extent,illusion created by prejudicial reports of the western media. (He even asked theChristians to ‘pray’ for them!)
Granted that 1) is true, (which is in fact fallacious in a number of ways –otherwise all criminals who manage to run away may be said to justify theexistence of whatever being you want to), 2) is obviously false and unfair. Rememberit is the Palestinians who were driven out of their HOMELAND. If the Israelisucceed because they are chosen and backed up by the God, the most sensibleconclusion that should be drawn, contrary to the view of a Christian like theauthor, is that there is something incoherent in the very faith in this ‘God’,omnipotent and benevolent.
I don’t know how the Christians would respond to one of the greatest tragedyin human history directly fostered by their religious faith, but I would beextremely sad if they really think the Palestinians deserve what they aresuffering, or if they give response like ‘well, I pray for them too, but, they shouldn’tfight against the Israeli at the first place. It is the PROMISED LAND GIVENBY THE GOD TO THE ISRAELI anyway.’
I once gave a comprehension exercise, which talks about Darwin and his theoryof evolution, to my F3 class. When a student who, I think, is fond of myteaching,came to me after the lesson, shaking his head with a regretful sigh, said tome ‘But it’s WRONG’, I was, and am still, deeply worried. Science is noReligion, but so is Religion not Science. The Bible may give ones hope andpeace of mind (if it is read in a certain way selective and flexible enough),but it surely gives no true and satisfactory explanation to most of the facts,scientific and political alike, we encounter in our everyday life.Hope not to offend my dear Christian friends, who I suppose are enlightenedenough to accept different points of view and sufficiently devoted to theirbelief to see persuading non-believers as their lifelong mission.
12-4-2001
posted by Roger at 3:46 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home