Why Study The Bible?

[Earthling]

I think the bible was worth reading, for all that I
would say it is the most overstudied piece of writing
ever!

Bob Dylan was asked what book he thought was the most underrated and he answered the Bible, the same reporter asked him what he thought was the most overrated book and he gave the same answer.

A lot of it is as dull as ditch water.

Yes. The chronology, but you see, that was legal recordings for establishing the messiah. Thousands of years of legal documentation which pointed to only 1 person who ever lived, and unchallenged by his most ardent critics.

Where people go wrong with it is taking it
and themselves too seriously.

I suppose that's a fair estimate, but you see, coming from someone as vocal as you are in dismissing it the criticism can hardly be taken seriously itself. Lets say, for example, that you read in the Bible, and heard it confirmed all of your life that Jehovah created the universe and everything in it in a 144 hour period. 6 literal days, 6 thousand years ago then of course you are going to dismiss it, but if you were to look closer at it, as in study it's original language, you could be shown where it doesn't say that at all. So you see, you opinion is slightly skewered.

Lots of people on this forum think they are
gifted (of) god, with the infallible power
of right readin'. THEY know the true meaning
of chapter and verse; other readings are wrong.

You see us all as spotting Jesus in every dollop of jam on toast or mold on the patio, or hearing God tell us terribly important secrets from the voices in our heads? There are lots of those folks, and I feel sorry for them. Pretty easy to spot. There are also very in formed scholars who cling to tradition and make a handsome salary, there are fakes and phonies on T.V. making even more money than those, there are honest well meaning people who want to help others. Theology and Science are not so different because they are both products of an imperfect people.

I'd say that those of us who read it for what it
is have a far better and more nuanced appreciation
for it than those who think all the magic realism
is,you know, real.

Oh, well, then, carry on being almost completely ignorant of it while maintaining that smug, self righteous sort of condescending false sense of an intellectual superiority?

 

[Audie]

Seriously?

In court, or in a research paper you get in a lot
of trouble for assertion of facts not in evidence.

It is one of the appeals of godism; you can just
say things. And if asked for evidence from the bible,
you can freely interpret ye book to mean whatever you like.
AND, then you have god in your corner!
Your claim is, as someone here said, "already
established" Great system, no?

 

[Subduction Zone]

Like those literalists who think that there really is a god?

I will disagree with them on that claim. I will disagree more strongly on those that deny the sciences, and very vehemently that advocate death for non-believers.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

There is value in the Bible, my problem is with literalists more than anything else.

Mine as well.

 

[Earthling]

Seriously?

Yes. Seriously.

 

[Rival]

and very vehemently that advocate death for non-believers.

Err, who here has done this?

 

[Earthling]

I will disagree with them on that claim. I will disagree more strongly on those that deny the sciences, and very vehemently that advocate death for non-believers.

Are not the science subject to the same corruption as any other endeavor of mankind?

Haven't you seen Adam Ruins Everything?

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Secular histories, after all, not only can't compare to the Bible due to sheer volume of manuscripts available in comparison to secular histories, ...

Seriously?

In court, or in a research paper you get in a lot
of trouble for assertion of facts not in evidence.

It is one of the appeals of godism; you can just
say things. And if asked for evidence from the bible,
you can freely interpret ye book to mean whatever you like.
AND, then you have god in your corner!
Your claim is, as someone here said, "already
established" Great system, no?

True, but it also seems painfully apparent that the OP's author has never stumbled into the history section of any decent library. The claim was silly at best.

 

[Audie]

Bob Dylan was asked what book he thought was the most underrated and he answered the Bible, the same reporter asked him what he thought was the most overrated book and he gave the same answer.



Yes. The chronology, but you see, that was legal recordings for establishing the messiah. Thousands of years of legal documentation which pointed to only 1 person who ever lived, and unchallenged by his most ardent critics.



I suppose that's a fair estimate, but you see, coming from someone as vocal as you are in dismissing it the criticism can hardly be taken seriously itself. Lets say, for example, that you read in the Bible, and heard it confirmed all of your life that Jehovah created the universe and everything in it in a 144 hour period. 6 literal days, 6 thousand years ago then of course you are going to dismiss it, but if you were to look closer at it, as in study it's original language, you could be shown where it doesn't say that at all. So you see, you opinion is slightly skewered.



You see us all as spotting Jesus in every dollop of jam on toast or mold on the patio, or hearing God tell us terribly important secrets from the voices in our heads? There are lots of those folks, and I feel sorry for them. Pretty easy to spot. There are also very in formed scholars who cling to tradition and make a handsome salary, there are fakes and phonies on T.V. making even more money than those, there are honest well meaning people who want to help others. Theology and Science are not so different because they are both products of an imperfect people.



Oh, well, then, carry on being almost completely ignorant of it while maintaining that smug, self righteous sort of condescending false sense of an intellectual superiority?

Yes, quote a pop singer being facetious, that is wisdom.

as vocal as you are in dismissing it

Dismissing what? "It"?
Wrong, as usual, on both counts in that.
I "dismiss" nothing, and, if by "it" you mean
the whole bible, I just got through saying I dont.

Reading comprehension, friend. Try it.

On "what the bible really says", you guys all have
your own take, as I pointed out.

You see us all as spotting Jesus in every dollop of jam on toast

You are quite the character, making things up the way
you do. One of the funniest things about Christians
is the way they have so many different versions of
the Truth. Another is the way t hey make things up.
Try to resist. False witness? You know? Isnt there
a rule about that?

Oh, well, then, carry on being almost completely ignorant of it while maintaining that smug, self righteous sort of condescending false sense of an intellectual superiority?

I dont need to have read it through more than twice
to detect the fact that some of what it talks about is
just mythology. A person who cant see that is, as inyour
case, making yourself more ignorant the more you read it.

You think not? How solidly is this "flood" nonsense
fixed in your mind by now?

The "smug. self righteous" stuff is just you trying to be
insulting, and making things up as you dont have
anything real to say.

As for intellectual superiority, to achieve that status
is picking some mighty low hanging fruit, in this case.
Its far from something to be smug about.

The fundys with their "flood" and all are really kind of
pathetic.

 

[Audie]

Are not the science subject to the same corruption as any other endeavor of mankind?

Haven't you seen Adam Ruins Everything?

"are not the science"?

 

[Earthling]

I'm not a Christian and the Christian texts make up no part of my Bible.

What difference does that make?

 

[sojourner]

Eternally begotten? What in the world is that supposed to mean?

Revelation 3:14 / Proverbs 8:22-31

It means that it’s an event that stands outside time. The Son is always being begotten.

 

[Audie]

True, but it also seems painfully apparent that the OP's author has never stumbled into the history section of any decent library. The claim was silly at best.

Sorry-ah, there was this stick, and the horse uh,
might not have been dead?

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Yes. The chronology, but you see, that was legal recordings for establishing the messiah. Thousands of years of legal documentation which pointed to only 1 person who ever lived, and unchallenged by his most ardent critics.

Rubbish.

 

[Audie]

Err, who here has done this?

Nobody here, but I did one time have someone
tell me he was just waiting for "god" to give the
word, for him to start shooting the atheists.

 

[Subduction Zone]

Are not the science subject to the same corruption as any other endeavor of mankind?

Haven't you seen Adam Ruins Everything?

The sciences are not perfect, but they are demonstrably more reliable than the Bible.

You appear to be trying to use a Tu Quoque fallacy.

 

[Subduction Zone]

Err, who here has done this?

No one here, but if one takes the Bible literally that is what one is supposed to do.

 

[Rival]

What difference does that make?

It means that your statements are unsupported.

 

[Earthling]

The bible is poetic.

There is poetry in the Bible, there is history, there is the literal, the figurative, the metaphorical, etc.

 

[Earthling]

No one here, but if one takes the Bible literally that is what one is supposed to do.

That would depend upon whether or not it was meant to be taken literally. Take the skeptical interpretation of the average skeptic when it comes to the Bible's figurative use of stars, the sun, and moon. Typically the skeptic will take them literal, i.e., in reference to celestial events that have never occurred, when in fact, a little research would clearly indicate the application is figurative reference to political and social upheaval. For example, many of the references in Revelation that seem impossible if taken literally already happened in ancient Israel.