"Can one justify the non-Christian religions whilst still accepting the non-literal facbrications of lore, as Tillich allows for Christianity?".

Yes Oliver. I believe you can.

normally..i would be right/with the topic...Is God the cause of the world?

instead..i find few things/..i would comment on..

no one is talking/..about how god/
the topic..is..not who/how..why..god made the world...
only asking if god is cause...this really dosnt seem..to be replied

i hold that..god is the cause...life..is his affect

we live because god lives...our best evidence..for the higher living cause..is the witness of our very/own..living...live/..comes from life...for this science..has..revealed..

we have heard/how god did breath-life...into the clay...science..has not ever made life...

..it has never evolved...nor recorded a change of genus...for such would need to occur..were the THEORY..of evolution/..to have science validity

science..cant do the natural/things...

one of the clever scam,s..is science claiming nature..[god]...in the deception of...'natural'..selection...a buzz-word...

as natural...is not science method

natural selection is a missnomer...implying chance..rather that godly design...natural...is our body..doing the/..automatic things...

science cannot claim..nature...

how natural..is this...'natural selection'...when we see how/nature selects to extreems...longer tails...like the peacock...

combine all the peacocks...noting..every one of them was/is..in the peacock/genus...allways was allways will...

yes..they ..selected..the best mate..
[naturally...but science..sure as heck..had nothing/to do with/it

i have checked..the evidence for no god...and there is no science/no/proof..one way or the other...

science cant heal bones...they can set them..while god fixes it naturally

we get hints..as to gods breath..but i have talked about that/on the athiest thread..i sort of feel..the main summation...[intro line]...makes a destraction..to the main question

<<<Belief does not rest on evidence>>

my belief does...i see gods hand/..in everything
know your creators still quiet voice..[of good/conscience]...

know that gods is ALLWAYS good...
allways helping life..

once we see life inherantly as better than non life...
you soon see how amasing..the hand of god..in creating..it

..the natural...and realise the man/made...science..is simply/..a poor copy

<<belief; it is a different way of knowing>>>
belief is not knowing...its faith..
trusting..your teachers didnt lie to you/

../well guess what...they all have....

god gives grace/mercy..to all...

the god of love assures....MORE SHALL BE GIVEN....
more of whatever we love...know this...

so be carfull for what you ask...god has freewill...too

relda,

So the justification of religions globally is permitted even if the fabricated stories and lore are non-literal and the stories of Pandora and Eve have equal worth. Do you see such acceptance as being allowably imperfect yet a true manifestation of a real god(s)? Or, historically humans have developed fabrications underlying invented theologies and human created gods?

Can the acceptance of a non-literal theistic story have value in supporting all/many religions without there being any god? That Tillick was right about the importance of non-literal stories, even without a god(s). AS such, Tillich, produced a workable sociological model, albeit, his Christian god is as much a fiction as the fiction he protects

Peter Sellick, you certainly have an interesting background.

Apologies as just a Mature Age student, your interests studies remind me so much of Thomas Aquinas, which is said to have often given him a troubled mind.

However as also a philosopher he saw the need for Christian progress on earth to use Hellenistic Reasoning to get Christianity out of the Dark Ages.

Further, it seems that very few of our OLO's seem conscious of the Donation of Constantine.

Which indeed, was not donated by Constantine himself, but illegally drawn up by the Roman Church long after Constantine's death in order for the Church to declare war, the like of which was never suggested as lawful by Jesus.

It is interesting that even during the Dark Ages, it seems that Christian monastries were active in Germanic areas with suprisingly little harm.

Also the same apparently went on at around the same time in Ireland.

Dear Grim,

Thank you. I enjoyed our interchange on the moneychangers, learned and have a different outlook.

Oliver,

At first glance, the two myths you mention (Eve and Pandora) show woman as the "beautiful evil" that has shaped the perception of the female sex throughout history. The parallels between Eve and Pandora are overwhelmingly obvious. These stories have laid the grounds for a patriarchal world view. Inevitably uncovered, are the thoughts underlying the ancient Greek social structure in both myths i.e.,a patriarchal one, where the female component cannot be viewed but as a potential source of chaos in a previously all-male world order. An added but positive dimension of the ‘Eve story’ is that her creation by God was meant as a supportive companion to man, despite her temptress like nature. Pandora’s creation by Zeus brought evil in human life, and mirrored how woman was to be viewed and what the very early concept of evil was - all women are the same by the fact of their very nature (since birth); woman as evil in humankind was a continual theme.

The Greek theme of women as universally and inherently alluring but disastrous, infiltrated Jewish thought when Palestine came under Hellenistic influence. The Pandora motif was transferred to the Eve myth in Jewish writing after the era of the Hebrew Bible and before the Christian era. In Christianity, from the second century onward, women were viewed as more responsible than men for the debilitating evil that permeates life. Thomas Aquinas reflected this attitude in much of his thought.

Both Eve and Pandora show women as morally inferior to men. The biblical myth, in particular, has evolved significantly – albeit, not in all areas ecclesiastical but certainly in a secular west. Had the Hellenistic influence prevailed and the ‘sociological model’ been retained, patriarchy quite arguably would have remained deeply entrenched. Some existing cultures continue to appear, in some way referent, to this myth – e.g. as found within Fundamentalist and conservative Christianity, Orthodox Judaism and mainstream Islam.

As to which ‘fiction’ has merged with the west to find a better ‘reality’, I’ll let you be the judge.