Biblical Imperfections? (tradition, contradiction, followers, translation, Revelation)

[Saint Tigeress]

I totally agree. Thank You for articulating my thoughts for me . That is part of what I was having difficulty with ya know. This is exactly why it bothers me when people cite specific parts of the bible, and regard it as a command, with complete disregard for their own discretion.

This is just a personal experience. In high school I really liked this guy, and I found out later that he liked me too. He gave me rides home every day and we talked all the time. Everything went to heck the moment we got on the subject of church, and he found out I was mormon. At that moment he began trying to "save my soul," he said, "I just want to make sure you know... what is the one true way to heaven?" I replied, "faith and good works." He said, "nope, faith and faith alone." You can imagine what happened after that. But I promised him I could prove him wrong as soon as I got a bible. I pointed him to a chapter in James. I think Chapter 2. He said he'd ask his pastor and get back to me. Well, he just never got back to me, literally. Ever since then I've questioned the contradictions inside the bible, and more so questioned peoples inability to look at the thing as a whole, not like rules one by one down the line.

[Super Universe]

I'm sorry that happened to you.

I've been to about 45 U.S. states and fourteen foreign countries, most of them many, many, times. One thing I've learned is that it is very easy to see differences in other people's language, food, songs, dances, and traditions. To some people these differences are what matters most. They think that way because they want to be a part of something, their church, their family, their country. Sometimes these people think less of others who are different, it makes them feel better about themselves.

But really there are no significant differences. We're all human, just human...

[Saint Tigeress]

Originally Posted by Super Universe

I'm sorry that happened to you.

Aww thank you for being sweet! I didn't mean to make that sound dramatic or anything. I more or less was astonished at how stupid the whole thing was.

[Francine]

Originally Posted by angellous_evangellous

Possibly some examples may be original engravings on stone that were never corrupted by weather, but I don't know of any such examples.

My brother says he won't get married because he's waiting for the perfect woman. And he himself is an alcoholic. God spoke to us through the agency of men who wrote in books, and those men were not perfect. And people who are looking for perfection in the scriptures are missing the whole point of grace (which we can discern even through the imperfections) which is where God says, "Happy Birthday, have a bite of the Tree of Life" and he overlooks the fact that you are not perfect.

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by Saint Tigeress

This is something that has always bounced around in my head, but I have not really been able to find answers or ideas about it. When something involves imperfect beings, imperfections inevitably happen right? Even if the works of the Bible began as perfect, through so much translation and time and people it could have something like the telephone effect couldn't it? Not to mention sometimes people disagree on the exact translation from one language to another. Then there are people's own agenda's, thier inherant ability to make mistakes unknowingly. Theres the saying: "If God wanted us to be perfect there wouldn't be erasers on the back of pencils." What do ya'll think? Could the Bible, and/or other ancient writings like that have been manipulated, corrupted, or mistranslated through time? thank you for your ideas in advance.

Yes, absolutely. We have not one single solitary original manuscript today to back up what's in the Bible. What we have is copies of copies of copies of copies. It's completely unreasonable to believe that the Bible we have today is exactly as the ancient prophets and apostles wrote it. That doesn't mean it's not a wonderful book. It just means that it's not perfect. Whenever human beings are involved, you're not going to get perfection.