the bible..............*sighs*

Br. John wrote: http://www.thesatanicbiblefree.com/

This has quick references to some main points as well as the entire text.

I learned a lot from that book. Some things I learned from his text verbatim... some I learned were things I HAD been doing that I shouldn't do anymore, because I now realize more completely about them.

Connor Lidell wrote:

Br. John wrote: http://www.thesatanicbiblefree.com/

This has quick references to some main points as well as the entire text.

I learned a lot from that book. Some things I learned from his text verbatim... some I learned were things I HAD been doing that I shouldn't do anymore, because I now realize more completely about them.

I agree with you, his views were far from correct at times

but never the less, his insight is welcome

It is interesting.

Just in reference to that the bible has no answers. To a point I would agree. However; what you get from a story, or a collection of stories is dependent on the attitude of the reader. Any bible is just that, a collection of stories. Stories have, through our history, been used to teach morals, values, and other lessons. While there are some lessons in every book that don't apply, I think there is some very good lessons, in the book.

That being said, the bible half the time makes my brain hurt. It is monotonous and frustrating at times. The questions it inspires in my brain makes me cringe at times. However, I have this question to pose....

What is life without questions to answer? We humans, even lazy ones, get curious....

Im glad the whole text was posted, Kudos to John. I enjoy, to be honest, reading different points of view and different beliefs.

Just my tired two cents worth.

MTFBWYAAF

trying to seperate myself from the previous frustration of impatience that I had when I posted the original post here, the bible is mainly a story book (Old testament), a book with great poetry and symbolism, with beautiful stories and lessons to be learnt, when it isn't a story, it is an abstract form of philosophy or meaning that is supposed to teach you a lesson every time you read it.

I am not arguing against the bible, but like philosophy, I was arguing against the reactions of:
- Claiming the Bible is pure divine text ( sometimes the claim of "only divine text")
- Taking every single word of the Bible as truth or literal meaning

both reactions don't hold true to the original meaning or motivation of the Bible.

I once heard a minister say, "I believe that the Bible is the word of God. I do not believe that the Bible is the words of God." By that he meant that the underlying messages are what God wants us to learn, but it should not be taken literally and there are parts of it that just aren't true or don't make sense. It is the moral lessons that we should take from it, but not necessarily follow every last minute detail of the book. That is how I tend to regard the Bible as well.

While the underlying moral concepts and moral values of the bible are wonderful delving too far into your explanation is dangerous. You get people who say they believe in the bible, and that parts of it are literal, and other parts metaphorical or symbolic. This allows you to make the bible whatever you want it to be creates a new interpretation of the bible for each person that reads it. The Bible simply becomes a joke after that. I could say that any given passage means whatever I want it to mean and through metaphor and symbolism I could prove any point fairly easily. To those that believe in the Bible, that's awesome for them. They have something to follow and something to believe in that they can work towards, namely making it into heaven. But to those out there that are choosing to believe in the Bible's God, but they try to fit the Bible into their own beliefs, I would urge those people to really question their faith. If they find that they really do believe in the Bible then that would be wonderful, but if they find that they don't believe in the bible and they have been forcing it on themselves they could easily improve their quality of life by trying to find their own religion that suits them. I dislike the christian excuse that the bible is symbolic and that you can take whatever you want from it. To me, you have to believe in the bible and its teachings, all of them not just the ones that benefit you, to truly be a christian. Otherwise I would say you aren't quite christian and more exploration is needed to find your religion.

I'm sorry if I ranted a bit there and please keep in mind that this post is in no way anti-christian. I respect true Christians a great deal and simply am urging some to realize that they don't need to squeeze into someone else's religion to fit in and they definitely shouldn't take a religion and twist it until it benefits them so they can still "relate" to a religion. If anyone disagree's with what I have to say I would love to hear from you and if you have made it this far I congratulate you as I can be hard to follow sometimes. Thanx for reading.

May the Force be with you,
Rai

Rai,

I would say that I agree with you to a point. I think that if you are going to believe the Bible is symbolic, then you must believe it is all symbolic. None of it is literal. Maybe the people really existed, but the stories they told served as lessons. However, if you believe the Bible is literal, then you must follow all of its teachings. I would not say that you should pick and choose which parts are convenient for you. I think that is the point we agree most on.

Just a little note on this topic.

Many years ago I learned a very valuable lesson when it comes to discussing the Bible and/or Christianity.

first, interpretation is never the same by the same person, it's more like a History lesson of how this particular religious belief is and grew. It's not verbatim. But it's beginning to head towards the future...

Neaj Pa Bol wrote: But it's beginning to head towards the future...

Could you elaborate on this? I'm not sure I understand what you mean.

I feel that the Bible can be quite useful if it is taken for what it honestly is: a collection of myths, histories, and pseudo-histories. If you can dredge through the hagiography, embellishments, and poetic license there are some good ideas. Usually these are found in the New Testament.