Pete,
You mentioned two very important ideas. One is forgiveness and the other is simplicity.
In the things I have read in Objectivism on forgiveness, there is generally very little use for the concept. It is tied in more with sanctioning evil than with starting over. The moral and the emotional get all mixed up.
I believe that this is a mistake and should be studied further. I have had great personal experience with self-forgiveness and starting over. I can attest that it was far preferable to forgive myself and start over with changes than putting a bullet in my brain or wallow in guilt until I lost all capacity for joy.
The second thing is that all religious books are written in plain language, but are usually a bit archaic to make them sound learned. This makes them easily comprehensible. All levels of people can access the core ideas. The religious say that God inspired these works that way to be able to speak to all people.
Philosophy started to become simple in that manner with Rand's novels. But philosophical discussions generally avoid simple language. I try to cultivate it for complex concepts. It's a hard task, but rewarding.
Michael
Edit to James Valliant - This is off topic, but I wanted to get it in before Solo closes. Do you know the work of Earl Doherty? He has a fascinating theory that the need for an actual historical Jesus only became necessary when the big shots (like emperor and nobility) converted. Up to that time, the stories of the Son of God occurred in the minds of the Hebrew people much in the same manner that the events of Greek and Roman gods did, i.e., in some imaginary realm. The following is a standard paragraph I have used for addressing sporadic Christians who have popped up on Solo over time:
As far as apologetic evidence goes, I presume you are referring to the word apologetic in the sense of the writings of early Jews and Christians, i.e. the Bible. Despite the following not being Objectivist, I personally have found the work of Earl Doherty to be extremely useful in understanding why an historical Jesus is so hard to document and is probably a myth. And there is an amazing book called Dare To Think For Yourself: A Journey from Faith to Reason by Betty J. Brogaard, which recounts her journey from Christianity to atheism. You can find it at PublishAmerica. There (and in Mr. Doherty's work), you will find discussions of how the Bible was written and copied, prophesies, faith, doublets (evidencing multiple authors of the same books in the Bible) and a host of other points.
(Edited by Michael Stuart Kelly on 11/29, 9:55pm)
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