The Mythology of Scripture

Churches throughout the world's developed nations are losing members in droves.As a result parishes are downsizing or consolidating to remain intact-- in manycases to just survive. There must be a reason and this author opines that antiquatedChurch doctrines are no longer relevant to 21st century minds. If religionsare to remain viable entities in our rapidly accelerating world they must bewilling to re-examine their outdated doctrinal systems to better resonate with aneducated populace.Primitive man created his gods and goddesses-and fi nally God-- in his own imagebelieving that these entities manipulated the forces of nature that were beyond hisown ability to control. In doing so he imbued his divine creations with his ownbest-and worst-attributes because they were what he witnessed around andabout himself. His gods like their mythological counterparts were often powerfultyrannical and self-aggrandizing beings demanding praise worship and bloodsacrifi ce; gods who would wrathfully smite those who would not bow down inworship to them. But that was then and this is now.Instead of rigid religious rules and antiquated beliefs our psyches crave an innerdirected experience of the Divine from which we can derive a sense of value purposeand meaning for the lives we live. This book hopes to sound a wake-up call to theworld's major religions before they fi nd themselves placed on dusty libraryshelves among other quaint and curious volumes of forgotten lore. i Unless this reconstructioncan happen religion as it has existed for millennia cannot help butwither and die.