Rewrite the Bible?

I was scrolling through Facebook the other day when an article caught my eye.

"New York Times Wants Christians to Rewrite the Bible"

And I thought What a great idea! before I realized the poster was very upset over the idea. But it got me thinking...

Just for background on me, I grew up in a Christian household and went to Sunday School and church nearly every Sunday since I can remember until I joined the military. It seemed to me that half of the time when a sermon was based off of a story in the Bible, a good bit of explanation was involved in history and culture in order to really understand it.

So...why not rewrite it? At least the New Testament. Get the guys in who have studied the language, time period, the history, the culture, and the faith behind the stories and write it for the modern era? Keep the spirit of the message and make it more understandable for the people of today?

What stories would you like to see reborn? Do you have an idea on how to rewrite them?

For some reason the tax collector comes to mind for me. I never understood why it was such a big deal that Jesus gave this guy his love and attention. He was just doing is job right? It wasn't until one of the services explained what a tax collector of the times did and was that it came to make sense. But what if he was a drug dealer instead? Or maybe a loan shark? I wonder if that would spur the kind of reactions in people that a tax collector use to.

The article that was posted was spurred by this original article: Bigotry, the Bible and the Lessons of Indiana

I'm not really sure what to do with the rules. It seems like a lot of people like to cherry-pick the rules that are ok and those that aren't. And I haven't read all of the bible so I can't really say how much in the way of the rules are listed and where and how to draw them.

Something like that could only either go very, very right, or very, very wrong. And, knowing people...

But, if one adapted Jesus' style of teaching, in parable, to the whole of the Bible, it would be a lot easier to digest. But that's what many modern Christian pastors do anyhow, and people still don't quite latch on.

It would be an interesting undertaking. There are new editions of the New Testament written every few years, but an honest-to-goodness re-imagining might be powerful if done well.

For what it's worth, with regard to the second point on biblical law, might I reccommend a book called The Year of Living Biblically . It's kind of light-hearted, but very sincere. The lightness means that some have mistaken it as the author poking fun, but I found it to be a very thoughtful book. I don't recall any great moral pronouncement at the end, just his attempt to make the whole thing work.

I think it would be an interesting endevour. I agree with Steam that it could go very right or very wrong. Although, I think it'd be more likely to do both. Like almost anything there would be people who loved it and people who hate it.

Personally, I think it would be interesting to read the stories re-done for the modern age in the same way that I love watching Sherlock. It's not a replacement for the original, but it sure is fun.

Well if they do hopefully they'll clear up some ambiguities:



Interestingly most Christians misunderstand the Bible by calling it "the word of God". The Bible is not the word of God. Jesus is the word of God, the Bible is the witness to the word of God. Similarly a Christian is a witness to God's work through Christ, if one felt compelled to share what they've witnessed by writing a series of moral parables then they should do it.

steamboat28 wrote: Something like that could only either go very, very right, or very, very wrong. And, knowing people...

I know...I was just trying to be optimistic :silly: silly me.

But, if one adapted Jesus' style of teaching, in parable, to the whole of the Bible, it would be a lot easier to digest. But that's what many modern Christian pastors do anyhow, and people still don't quite latch on.

I was in an old-school church, they didn't really do this.

Why rewrite it? Just add to it. How old is the last entry?

Depends on if you count the Book of Mormon.

Connor L. wrote: Depends on if you count the Book of Mormon.

Why not. I never thought of that one. What would be before that?

the bible gets rewritten all the time
in a way, it always has

imo the REALLY important thing id for people to "rewrite" the way we look at the bible and the way we relate to it, and the social persona which is developed as a result of these things

AletheaThompson posted something on this topic in a way with her 'christian relationships" thread where she mentions basically that its more important for christians (and this basic lesson applies to us all regardless of religious affiliation or lack therof) to internalize their morality as being something which they are sponsible for living and not so much responsible for imposing

THAT is what needs to be addressed imo

also the more you rewrite something the greater the risk that you change it at a fundamental level
so that it no longer is what it was intended to be

this may not be a bad thing - but then again it may

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edit

i personally do not consider the book of mormon to be an addition to the bible

edit partie duex

Cabur Senaar wrote: It would be an interesting undertaking. There are new editions of the New Testament written every few years, but an honest-to-goodness re-imagining might be powerful if done well.

For what it's worth, with regard to the second point on biblical law, might I reccommend a book called The Year of Living Biblically . It's kind of light-hearted, but very sincere. The lightness means that some have mistaken it as the author poking fun, but I found it to be a very thoughtful book. I don't recall any great moral pronouncement at the end, just his attempt to make the whole thing work.

this looks awesome in the extreme - thank you