.

[Exile]

yeah the Pentateuch was written by four different groups of people JEPR or JEPDR (if you include Deuteronomy which was found later)

its why they contradict themselves so heavily. Noah goes from taking 2 of every animal to taking 15 birds 12 beavers and no snakes.

King David is wise and amazing written by the south part of israel but the northern part of israel he was a lustful warmonger who sends a soldier to his death to be with his wife.

Genesis does the origin story, then the origin story, then the origin story.

And the entire In the beginning stuff was written i think in like 850 AD or somewhere around there

[RAHTHPEWA]

Many people could see it as so many contradictions within the Bible.

But you also have to think about it this way also when it comes to the Bible….

What I mean by that think of it this way when a crime happen not everyone is going to have the same view about things. They will see things that happen in that crime differently then others and also notice things that different then others or see things different.

Or

Writers today have many different styles of writing that just like everyone here when it comes to their Role Plays. Everyone write different. Everyone see things different then others would and show it different in their role plays.

When it comes to the Books of Matthew, Mark,  Luke and John I put that view into my mind.

They all were followers and disciples of Jesus they would all have different view or notice certain things different then the other person might have. Like in Mark and John they talked about how Jesus was wearing a purple garment at his death but in Matthew he talked about how the garment was scarlet.  Or on the night of Jesus Betrayal Mark talked about how there was  scantily clad young man who fled on the night of Jesus’ betrayal. Mark was the only one that mention this so Mark could happen to be that young man that fled that night.

Then I also think about some of the writers background because they could have more inside of knowledge on certain things then others. Matthew was a tax collator so he knew more about the laws around that time then Luke who was a doctor. If you notice in Luke there are many doctor medical terms in there and he the only one that use them.

Now when it comes to the account in the begin of the Bible like for the there no way no way to establish definitely that some of the histories mentioned in the book of Genesis were committed to writing before the Flood, and the Bible contains no references to pre-Flood writing but you have to think about some of the things that Archaeologists had found from around that time or how a scientist believe it was possible the Red Sea had parted because of an experiment he had done.


That why I believe when you read certain things in the Bible you also have to use reasoning and logic.

[RAHTHPEWA]

but yea people will always see thing and feel about the Bible different.     

[Exile]

hey if people wanna take the bible and say, ya know these are good ways to live your life. This is what is important for us, morally, to feel like we need to do. I have no problem with that. I celebrate that and your ability to do that and not to demean but I would celebrate the same way if someone came to me with one of aesops fables and said, ya know that grasshopper was too busy fuckin around and didnt do his work and now hes dead. Maybe theres a moral to that too. Im going to take that into account on how i live my life. Hey, thats great. These are things that make people better human beings. Game on.

HOWEVER, the problem comes when A) people interpret the bible literally which just makes little to no sense at all to me. Like at all. And if you DO attend seminary classes and functions you realize that the leading people in this field dont do that either.

B) When they use it to white wash their own or others actions or prejudice, I find that inexcusable. You aren't a christian. You're just an asshole. I see very little difference from the people holding up the God Hates Fags signs, to the people picketing Abortion clinics, to the people who fight against gay marriage. Its NOT what the bible says, its NOT what the bible tells you what to do and if you DO think that its telling you to do that then you have great company with that nut job from Norway who just killed a slew of people and Timothy McVeigh.

The bible, like anything else, is in what you do with it. You can use it as a guideline to live your life or a way to twist your own perversions into fact. Thats true for the Quran, the Torah, or Catcher in the Rye.

[Black Death]

Its like reading a long form version of the second transformers movie.

It starts off with some promise, decent action scenes despite some early WTF moments, settles down for a bit and gets a little bogged down with its own weight and exposition of telling the same thing over and over again and finally ends with something that people had to have just said well we have to give them something right?

IVe read it cover to cover debated heavily about going into the seminary and becoming a pastor in my early 20s. Ill stick with transformers now.

QFT

[J Vega]

I'll start off by saying I was raised Roman Catholic, but I personally don't believe the bible,or Christianity religion. I also don't believe any major religion or book either. I'm not Atheist, I do believe in a god, but just not how Christianity, Islam, or Judaism would like me to. I respect that other people wish to believe and that's fine by me. Most of the books have the same overall message and a code to living and I personally think thats what it should be about. I think a lot of hypocrites take it out of context though, from radical Muslims with the Koran and the group who protest funerals what ever sect they are.

The bible as literature though I really can't complain about, and even though I'm not a believer I do find it interesting and well written. 

[! JDM The Professional !]

hey if people wanna take the bible and say, ya know these are good ways to live your life. This is what is important for us, morally, to feel like we need to do. I have no problem with that. I celebrate that and your ability to do that and not to demean but I would celebrate the same way if someone came to me with one of aesops fables and said, ya know that grasshopper was too busy fuckin around and didnt do his work and now hes dead. Maybe theres a moral to that too. Im going to take that into account on how i live my life. Hey, thats great. These are things that make people better human beings. Game on.

HOWEVER, the problem comes when A) people interpret the bible literally which just makes little to no sense at all to me. Like at all. And if you DO attend seminary classes and functions you realize that the leading people in this field dont do that either.

B) When they use it to white wash their own or others actions or prejudice, I find that inexcusable. You aren't a christian. You're just an asshole. I see very little difference from the people holding up the God Hates Fags signs, to the people picketing Abortion clinics, to the people who fight against gay marriage. Its NOT what the bible says, its NOT what the bible tells you what to do and if you DO think that its telling you to do that then you have great company with that nut job from Norway who just killed a slew of people and Timothy McVeigh.

The bible, like anything else, is in what you do with it. You can use it as a guideline to live your life or a way to twist your own perversions into fact. Thats true for the Quran, the Torah, or Catcher in the Rye.

Well said mate, well said.


I am Christian, I believe in God and Jesus etc. What I'll never understand is how people can take the bible literally. Its a storybook for the most part, made to teach us new meanings on a peaceful way of life.

I think the catholic leaders have totally fucked up the religion over the years though (I'm technically catholic) look at what they've done out of greed. You know, if it wasn't for Martin Luther, the bible would still be in Latin. Why? because they wanted to pull an animal farm and control what people perceived as truth.

I could rant and rant about how messy the catholic religion is, but I don't want to bore the shit out of everyone lol.

All in all, the bible is a book of stories to help teach and guide us to be good human beings. Religion should get back to basics. lol

[Chris Shields]

I'll start off in the same way as a lot of people, and say that I am a Christian, I believe in God, believe in Jesus, believe in the resurrection, and all of that stuff. My biggest problem is the people who try to make the bible say what they want it to say. The people who pick and choose verses, and use those to justify their hate. Those people are not representative of the true Christian faith. The people who take a few random verses and use those to condemn people, are worse then the people they are condemning. I actually go to church regularly, and I'm even involved in the music and media and all of that stuff. We're going through the book of Timothy right now, and I really think this verse is a wonderful summation of what the bible is meant to teach, and what Christians are meant to do. It's 1st Timothy 1:5 from the ESV translation.

"The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith."

That's what it is all about. It's about love, not fear, not shame, not blame, and certainly not hate. You can say that it's hippy talk or it's soft or whatever, but that's what the bible is really meant to teach. That's what Jesus' teachings are all about. It's not about telling people how terrible they are, because guess what, you're terrible as well. I'm terrible, but it's okay. The pastor at my church, actually made me look at one specific verse in a completely different light today. Genesis 3:11, after Adam tells God he hid from him because he was naked and ashamed. God just says "Who Told you that you were naked?" A lot of times we look at that, and see an angry parent or something like that, but it's concern, it's compassion, it's that fatherly instinct. God didn't tell Adam he was naked. It was his own shame that caused Adam to hide. God did not care about his nakedness, he accepted him, and loved him.

When it all comes down to it, (and you can call me crazy and whacked out of my mind all you want for this) The Bible is a love story. It is all about God's love for his children.

[Toast]

I went to a private school from third grade until my senior year. I was even all set for seminary, until my first semester at Dallas Theological. I've always had doubts about the validity of religion and the Bible, but DTS really pushed me in that direction. There were things in the Bible that I found to be a little too similar to other religions, especially Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, a few aboriginal religions and others. In addition, there are some shocking similarities with creation myths dating back thousands of years prior to Christ. However with that said, I'm not judging or bashing anyone's religious beliefs or anything like that, I'm just stating my own thoughts.

Now with that said, my favorite book in the Bible is Song of Solomon, which is some heavy, damn near pornographic love verses. Reading that stuff while in church got me in trouble many times for laughing as a kid. In terms of the Bible being a love letter from God, I could see the New Testament being that, until you hit Revelation, but the Old Testament is more about retribution and vengeance, as every book, including some Song of Solomon, are pretty brutal either from God or the people in it.

However, King David is the kind of e-wrestling character that needs to happen. He goes from a lowly worker, to a warrior, to a King, to getting another dude's wife killed so he can bang her, then going insane, returning back to his throne and becoming a great ruler before kicking the bucket. Now THAT is character development.