An Honest Reaction to Reading "Honest to God"
Originally I said in my last blog post that I liked this book, but I have sort of changed my mind. It is not that I hate it or anything, it is just weird and I don’t really agree with what John Robinson is saying most of the time. I appreciate that he is trying to write something different and new, but my problem is that some of the ideas are just a little too radical for my taste, and I disagree with him a lot. In the seventh and last chapter of the book, Robinson himself acknowledges his radicalness and writes about how he knows that this type of thought on religion is controversial. He goes on to write how all great thinkers were seen as controversial when they first started and says, “Every new religious truth comes as the destroyer of some other god”. To further prove this point, he uses the example of how Socrates was condemned as an atheist for not believing in multiple gods, and while it is true that Socrates was a great philosopher who was not seen as so when he was alive, I don’t know if I would say that Robinson is the misunderstood Socrates of modern times. I mean who knows, I could be entirely wrong and it turns out Robinson is completely correct.... I just highly doubt that.
The one thing that really annoys me more than anything is the ending. He basically says that he is not trying to change anything but is just trying to “be honest”. This aggravates me not because he actually is trying to change something, but because he says that he IS NOT trying to change something when he definitely IS! Like if you aren’t trying to provoke some new thoughts on God, religion, and start something, then what was the point of this book!? Again, I am not mad about him trying to start a new way of thinking about God and religion (even though I disagree with his way), I am just mad that he says that he isn’t when he is!
Anyways, I am sorry about the ranting, I was just mad. Thanks for reading my random somewhat disorderly thoughts and I will see you tomorrow.
“He says he isn’t when he is.” We should rename this book “Deceptive to God.”
ReplyDeleteIf you take the Bible and try to make something “different and new” or gleam a “new religious truth,” even if it’s just new a little bit, it’s already too radical. God’s word hasn’t changed in the past two thousand years—the last time He wanted to effect a change in the worship and lifestyle of His people, He came in the flesh to make sure we knew He was serious. The Bible is truth. The Bible doesn’t change. Therefore anything “new and different” from the Bible is automatically wrong.
In the first reading I thought he was just trying to dispel some misconceptions that two thousand years of imperfect man’s teachings have brought about. But no, this is the opposite of a return to Biblical roots.
Yeah, the whole time I was confused about him saying he wasn't trying to change anything because he totally was. He was also trying to compare himself to people who made bold statements...however, it's like he forgot that most of those people were either heretics or killed...
ReplyDeleteI am with you on the frustration, and the ranting. He tries to hard to adapt to modern day philosophy, when Christianity has its own!!!!!! We are not called to change doctrine based on the world!
ReplyDeleteheresy
Yes, heresy is really small, because Im not confident that I can call it that... Also this is a double comment, but I really should've just put it in the other one. But yes, he frustrates me.
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