The Bible God’s word or man’s?

This is another book I recently read, sent to me by a new friend after we had a few discussions on religious topics. It’s not the first time, and probably won’t be the last, that someone kindly recommends a book like this to me. I truly appreciate their good intentions. However, it’s not easy—or rather, it’s nearly impossible—to change my mindset just by reading books of this kind.

I respect and agree with the fundamental values, principles, and most of the moral teachings in the Bible. The key difference between my view and that of others is that I don’t believe the stories in the Bible need to be factually true. There’s absolutely no need for that. Whether they are based on real events or not doesn’t matter as much to me. What matters most is the value system and the natural order it reflects about the world and humanity. A fake gun can still give you a sense of protection and confidence—so long as you don’t realize it’s fake and never have to use it.

This is, of course, a sensitive topic today. But in short, after many years of reading and reflection, I’ve become increasingly confident in my own philosophical understanding of the world and human life.

In the beginning, there was nothing—zero (0). Then, for some reason, that zero broke into +1 and -1. Perhaps the +1 represents goodness and the -1 represents suffering. My hypothesis is that the total of all good and all bad in the universe is perfectly balanced. I hope to one day be able to prove it.