15. Sacred Texts

Let’s start with the premise: sacred texts are books that claim divine origin or at least divine endorsement. They’re often said to be:

1. Inspired by God(s)
2. Written by prophets, disciples, or holy ghostwriters
3. Infallible, eternal, and Not Up For Debate

Whether it’s the Bible, the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita, the Torah, or ancient African oral epics passed down through generations—these texts are more than just literature. They’re life manuals, moral codes, historical accounts, and celestial hotlines… depending on who you ask.

The Holy Whispers

Now let’s be honest: these texts didn’t just fall from the sky on golden parchment with a divine “signed, sealed, delivered.” Most of them were:

1. Written over centuries
2. Edited, translated, re-translated, and sometimes accidentally mistranslated
3. Filtered through the culture, politics, propaganda and prejudices of the time

And yet, people will still say:

“It’s the exact word of God. Don’t question it.”

Mate. If you’ve ever played broken telephone at a party, you know how dodgy one sentence can get in just three minutes. Now imagine 2,000 years, a few empires, several language changes, and a couple of crusades in the mix.

Literal vs Metaphorical: The Eternal Fight Club

Some folks read sacred texts like a divine TV Sales and Home appliance manual: follow it exactly, or your spiritual bookshelf will collapse. These are the literalists. For them, if the book says the earth was made in six days, then pack your science degree and go.

Others? They read it like poetry. Symbolism, allegory, metaphors on metaphors.

Like, maybe Jonah wasn’t literally swallowed by a fish… maybe that’s a story about being overwhelmed by life and needing to sit with your emotions (inside a metaphorical whale, obviously).

So who’s right?

Well, that depends on who’s yelling louder and who brought the incense.

Can a Book Be Sacred and Human?

Here’s a wild thought: what if these texts were written by humans sincerely trying to capture deep truths about existence, morality, suffering, and joy?

What if they were working with what they knew at the time—stars, sheep, plagues, family drama—and trying to put the ineffable into words?

And maybe… just maybe… they got some things right about love, justice, community, and compassion—even if they also had a few side quests about not mixing fabrics or stoning your neighbor for working on the Sabbath.

The Double-Edged Scroll

Sacred texts have inspired profound good—art, music, resistance movements, charity, reconciliation.

They’ve also been used to justify war, slavery, oppression, and really terrible Twitter theology.

Why? Because people don’t just read sacred texts.

They interpret them.

And interpretation = power.

So who gets to say what God really meant? The priest? The pastor? Your uncle with the YouTube channel? Or the voice in your head that sounds suspiciously like Morgan Freeman?

You Can Respect Without Worshipping

It’s okay to see sacred texts as important without believing they’re infallible.

It’s okay to read them like ancient literature with timeless insights… and some wildly outdated ideas.

It’s okay to admire the poetry without signing up for the prophecy.

Because at the end of the day, these texts were written by people trying to make sense of their world.

And guess what?

So are you.