Here’s my problem with holding up ancient tomes as gospel:
Things change. People today quote from the Bible or the Koran or the teachings
of Buddha as if they were written at the peak of humanity and human
understanding. The same with the Constitution of the United States of America:
What did the Founding Fathers intend?
Did Jesus or Mohammed or Buddha know how to drive a car? Did
George Washington? Nope, nope, nope and nope. None of them knew how to do
something the average sixteen year old knows how to do today. Does that make
them stupid? Of course not. But it does show just how much they didn’t know.
Change is scary. Change can be dangerous or harmful. But not
changing can be harmful, too. There is a certain safety in thinking that laws
are immutable, like gravity (so far, so good). But when it comes to human
beings, that assurance will never be guaranteed.
We live on an ever-changing planet in an ever-changing
universe. To believe that we have it all figured out is just foolish. We need
to embrace the foundations of the past and build on them for the future.
Today is July 26th, 4,540,002,013.
