Mindset- A hindrance to knowledge

Scenario 1:

Two friends watching television while having dinner, me and he. I had the remote in my hand and was surfing channels in ascending order.
I came across "GOD" channel which is a christian faith channel on which are aired christian music, programmes, commentaries and stage lectures.
One such lecture was being shown on it and I stopped for a while to listen.
He: Move on, change the channel.
Me: Few mins, let me listen what is he saying.
He: Change it man!
Me: Few mins dude.
He: They will be going on speaking something, you change it.
Me: Let me listen...you know everything I dont. (sarcastic)
He: Nope, change it quickly...(he understood the sarcasm :) )
Me: Aah, whats the use, you are not letting me listen, what do you know about christianity man?
He: I know one thing, you sin as you wish, then confess on a sunday and you are sinless again, thats christianity.
Me: Oh yeah, what else? (sarcastic again)
He: Nothing else and I dont want to know more...
Me: Well you should then.

I changed the channel as I knew I can watch it later. (GOD is a 24 hour channel)

Scenario 2:

We all had our dinner and just talking and were about to go to sleep. Me, He and They.
Me: Think I will go to sleep now.
They: We too.
He: I am not feeling like sleeping. Do you have any thing to read, any novel?
Me: We have one, "Tell me your dreams" , Sidney Sheldon's.
He: Oh, I have already read that. Anything else, feeling like starting one now.
Me: We have ebooks..."Time Machine" I think....
He: No ebooks, I like to read it from a paperback...
Me: Hmm, I have a copy of Quran in my cupboard, you can take it from there...
He: Oh, Quran? Thats in arabic rt?
Me: I have an english translation and transliteration too...
He: Oh, ok, aanh but no, not Quran..
Me: Thats what we have now then, its good, you can read...
He: No, I was thinking of reading a story..I think Quran will have all the stuff like dont tell lies, dont do bad things, etc...
Me: Quran is like a story, although poetic, but you can understand it nicely...
He: Aanh, Someother time... if nothing else is there think I should go to sleep...
Me: Nothing else, ok.

Scenario 3:

I was reading the first chapter of Bhagwad Gita where I came across the name "Sanjay", reminded me of a friend. I was readinng an ebook on my friends laptop. Me and He.
Me: Hey you also have a audio file right, for Bhagwad Gita.
He: Yes, but thats in pure Sanskrit, we will not understand.
Me: Ohk, tell me one thing, the whole Mahabharata's fight is told by Sanjay to the king? How does he see it?
He: That is like supernatural, he could see the battlefield through some mantras while sitting in the court, he had that virtue.
Me: Ohk.
He: And Bhagwad Gita is only a part of Mahabharata, it contains all the teachings of Krishna to Arjuna when Arjuna withdraws to fight with his brothers.
Me: Ohk.
He: After the teachings, Arjuna fights with his brothers and thus Mahabharata ends. Only the teaching part is Bhagwad Gita, remaining story is in Mahabharata book.
Me: Ohk, so you are telling that Bhagwad Gita basically teaches why you should fight with your brothers.
He: Nope, its not like that.
Me: But you just said so... you know it right, its your religion...
He: o, I didnt tell you completely, Arjuna's brothers were Kauravas, the evil ones...
Me: I know that, I know the story of Mahabharata, every Indian knows, B.R.Chopra gets the credit...
He: Then how can you say so...
Me: I just wanted to tell you one thing... since I am not from your religion, and so I hear stories from people who belong to your religion. They are not well read in it, so they tell me in bits and pieces and I create a mindset of mine and thus "misconceptions" start from here. When I said that Bhagwad Gita teaches why should you fight with your brother, that's a misconception in my mind, and this misconception will hinder me from further researching in your religion. I will think "Oh yours is a bad religion, why should I even bother to read about it". This is the reason why you don't want to read about Christianity or Islam. Some misconception stops you. Or thoughts like "its the same old thing in all religions so whats the use in reading it" stops you. So my suggestion, if you have any idea, may be right or wrong, you should not move away from getting knowledge...
He: Whats the use in today's world? It will not fetch me a job...
Me: Atleast you will know it, so that tomorrow if someone wants to create a riot by telling something about other religion you will know who is right and who is wrong and not take part in such riots...
He: Aah, ok. May be slowly I will know about all religions...I know mine for sure.
Me: Yes ofcourse, you will know slowly, I am only telling that dont move away because of any pre-conceived idea when you have a chance to learn. You know yours, hmm, may be, can you tell me how many gods are you supposed to worship mainly as a Hindu?
He: 3, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.
Me: You sure, it is not 300 or 33 crores?
He: Yes sure.
Me: Well I think your answer is wrong.

Angels and Demons

When I started writing this I thought I will write a movie review but my mind, as always, dragged me towards a broader, more appropriate approach in presenting, rather questioning what was showed in the movie, or the book as a matter of fact.
I think the story apart from depicting the fight between science and religion, church and the Illuminati, Langdon and the mysteries also raises a subtle question.
"Did such things happen before? Was there someone like Camerlengo Patrick McKenna (Ewan McGregor's Character in the movie) before who tried to make-up a story of faith in order to strengthen the faith of the followers, to stop people from turning away from their religion? If not a single man(or woman) then a group of people. Or simply does our faith today stand on the foundation of falsity?"
If the answer is NO, the question is "Are you sure?"
If the answer is YES, then "Uh-oh!"

Every person,today, is emotionally attached to their religion, and their religion could be "Atheism". They cannot tolerate a word said against their belief even if the question is posed to them in the most respectable and beautiful language and the words dipped in honey. But unfortunately only a handful are "knowledgebly" and "logically" attached to their system of belief. Nobody reads the scriptures of their own religion leave apart reading that of others.

Anyways, my question was whether the scriptures or related works we have read or will read are not just another "made-up" story. A question very difficult to answer but not impossible. There is always a logical and mathematical approach to truth and truth is never illogical. Logic should never be kept in the cupboard while learning religion. Sooner or later we will be able to relate the events and logic. One example that I can suggest is worshipping more than one God. Was one God not sufficient or was it necessary that God takes so many forms so that humans can imagine better. Is it not another made-up story by different people around the world, at different times and places for material and social profits? Polytheism seems illogical to me.

Another way of ensuring that we dont fall for a false story would be comparision. Comparision between two statements made on the same topic would tell us if there are any contradiction and a contradiction always points towards human intervention. To err is human, remember. But the statements should be chosen wisely, in context, for comparision. You cannot compare a monotheist religion and polythiest religion on the number of Gods they pray and say that they are opposite and so both are errors. You should compare points within the same belief. Simlarly you cannot quote out of context and say that Krishna in Bhagwad Gita persuades Arjuna to kill his brothers. As I said, a wise decision should be made while comparing.

Another way of approaching would be using probability. If you dont understand a point of view it is not always necessary that it is illogical or made up. Say if eight of the ten points made seems logical to you and remaining two points doesnot make sense then probability would suggest that the remaining two points are also 80% logical. But again wise decisions should be made in choosing the points. Also a probablity is a "probable" entity. Wisdom will help here.

Scientific developments and historical dates are another tools that can be used.

But again I will come back to my first point... to relate the verses logically, to compare them or to apply probability have we read or learnt enough?