What is the Bible?

TO some extent, yes. There were early meetings of the church, where it was clear, that the early church leaders held all 'scripture' to be holy and true. Which lead to some confusion, and also to some of the letters that are in the Bible.

Well, yes and no. The Christians pretty much all agree, even the Catholics, in the general layout of the Bible. Even the Mormons agree to that.

And has even changed in the last thirty years. When I was a wee lad, in Catholic school, I distinctly recall reading the Gospel of Mary, and also a Gospel that dealt with Christ's teen years in more detail. They have both since been removed, with no fanfare, from the Catholic Bible. The most significant difference between the modern Christian Bible, and the Catholic one, is in the Catholic one John 3:7 says that 'unless a man be born again of water', which differs with the NIV (the most popular modern version), which says 'You must be born again.'. I'm sure there are other verses that differ, but that is the one that causes the most strain between the Catholics and the Protestants.

Which is part of the problem.

If he wrote any of it at all. Some would argue he did not write it, but his followers did. It would explain some the inconsistencies with his writings in particular.

'None' is a strong word. More then likely, some, if not a large, portion is not 100% accurate. As I have said, I believe 30-40% of the Bible is accurate, and for a book that is, at the very least, 2000 years old, that is remarkable. And given how it was handed down, and translated, that is indeed, remarkable.

I do not know, 2000 years ago is pretty ancient to me. And if you can even conceive of the fact that the 'old' testament was being handed down long before that, in the time of the Pharaohs and all, it really is a ancient book.

 

Agreed to part of that; however, I am not sure I want a lifestyle where we are taught to hate, and to hold some truths higher then others, and also to kill those who disagree with us...

 

Amen!

 

Well, I can read it to some extent. Not perfect, but not too bad.

 

Well, I am not 100% but I am better. Thanks Daniel for an interesting thread.

 

Is there any point to the Bible anymore? Since it was written, thousands if not millions of better scholarly works have been written on morality, ethics and science. I would suggest treating the Bible as mere historical curiosity with an entertaining history.

For true knowledge that will improve your understanding of the world there is The Origin of the Species along with the Voyage of the Beagle. Both still read very well. Also Bertrand Russell, Hobbes and Paine for ethics and morality. Finally, any modern science book. Any of these would serve your time better than a manual on how to keep a tribe alive in the desert followed by internally inconsistent stories of life under Roman rule.

 

That is just your opinion.

 

Why is his opinion any less valid than yours?

 

The thing which I find amazing, is that whenever you point out all the wars, killings, discrimination, and abuse that has been perpetrated over the centuries by those called "christian", the response one gets now is something like:
"Oh, but those weren't really REAL christians", or "But, the bible shows us NOW how to live holy lives filled with love", or "That was all old testament (love this one, since I'm talking about "the church" here)".

Any serious study of history will show that anyone in power can use religious writings to justify any action, no matter how heinous. Is the answer to get rid of religious writings? No. But it would be nice to see "the faithful" be encouraged to use their reasoning powers, rather than to blindly follow whomever spouts the most scripture to back up their viewpoints.

So, is the fault with the bible, the churches, or with the followers themselves? Personally, I would say that each and every person has to answer for their own attitudes and actions, and that using the excuse of "but, the bible told me so" or "but, my priest/minister/rabbi/pastor said this is true" is going to profit them nothing.

Every religious book has truths in it. Buried in all the myths, the poetry, the stories, the heroics and the tragedies. The secret is discovering the truths without taking the wrappings too seriously. The really amazing part, is virtually all religions have the same basic truths in their writings. All the religious writings in the world have just that goal... to open your eyes to those common truths.

 

Well that's 2 hours I'll never see again.
A good movie of conspiracy and who knows it may well all be true. Like the bible and those who quote it the makers of the film have shown history to show what they want.
Now I need to go buy a gun to protect my withering rights.

Good thing I'm not religious, I believe in me and my family, you are all made up.