Is the Bible Good For Us?

[nPeace]

Is the Bible Good For Us?

Consider, the most deprived area's of the US are in the bible belt, highest areas for drug use per local population are in the bible belt, highest instance of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases... guess where.

When comparing religious (and non religious) populations there are more christians in prison than any other faith.

If cherry picking one instance is good for you how about choosing from any of the above...


I would say it certainly hasn't been good.

Cherry picking one instance? You mean like saying that science is good because "look you are using the computer."
I haven't done that. Please read the OP again.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

The question - Is the Bible good for us?
The answer - Yes.
The proof - People find hope in the Bible which leads to them avoiding vices and living better lives.

The OP has not denied any other helpful entity, nor has the OP made any comparisons.
It is simply a matter of answering the question. ...which was done.
Any objections would be to prove that the Bible is not good for us. Thank you.

Amd yet I demonstrated it's not as good as claimed. Especially as it's not impressive when so many things claim that. Even trendy fad diets make the same short sighted claims.
And we can take another route, and discuss all the homeless LBGT youth who are that way because the Bible was so horrible for their parents that it poisoned their mind into kicking out their own children and disowning them.

 

[nPeace]

It's good for those interested and use it to find meaning and healthy purpose in their lives.

Since this is in the debate section, no, not for "us." What the bible says has both negative (and more so) that positive thoughts and general motive. Many have been killed in it's name. So, it doesn't do good...when done people read it they leave the Christian faith. When I read it, analogy or literal I just couldn't find any healthy message on death, punishment, and literal sacrifice. It's like falling in love with the person and assuming her abuse doesn't matter because of you guys love each other. "It's okay. It doesn't define our relationship."

But it has saved many people. Just not "us."

I appreciate your honesty here.
It reminds me of the situation we have in real life experiences.
The parents tell the child, "Eat your vegetables. They are good for you. The give you vitamins that's good for a healthy body... etc."
The child makes a face. "Ugh! They are yucky. I hate 'em. I don't want 'em. You eat 'em."

The vegetables are good. Tried and proven.
The child just has not come to appreciate that fact.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Honestly i have nothing bad to say about the bible or christianity.

How can you not? "Happy is he who dashes your little ones against the rocks" is one of the most heinous things I've ever read. As is the command to kill men who sleep with men, claiming their blood is on their hands. Amd, of course, slavery is something very few today do not see as morally bankrupt. But the Bible permits it.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

No. Putting all your eggs in a vauge collection of books is not going to improve anything.

Putting all of anything into one pot is generally something to be avoided.
And, yes, it is especially so and cranked up and amplified when what is being invested in is so self contradictory we can't even objectively state what the punishment for non believers is. It works so well that a song from the Celtic folk-metal band used a part of the book of revelation to refer to a figure from Celtic lore who was said to have oppresses the Celts.

 

[nPeace]

Anybody with huge problems would basically swallow anything you throw at them, if that gives them hope. No matter how implausible that is. That is mainly why people believe in supernatural agents taking care of them. And why places where there is a lower density of people with problems, tend to become atheistic.

Ciao

- viole

I guess that depends on whom you hang around too.
I think that can be gleaned from the video. Those people don't know much about the Bible, if anything. so it's not surprising to me.

I do agree too that bad association does spoil useful habits, as the Bible says, so some people who hang around the "wrong crowd" or unwholesome influences, do take anything thrown at them.
That's what makes their lives worst than at the start.

What you are trying to assert, though, is false, and is just your way of living in the box you created for yourself and feel comfortable in.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

This is how vague the Bible is. A part of the Bible, used in a Celtic context, and because the Bible is so vague and ambiguous it works.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

I appreciate your honesty here.
It reminds me of the situation we have in real life experiences.
The parents tell the child, "Eat your vegetables. They are good for you. The give you vitamins that's good for a healthy body... etc."
The child makes a face. "Ugh! They are yucky. I hate 'em. I don't want 'em. You eat 'em."

The vegetables are good. Tried and proven.
The child just has not come to appreciate that fact.

I found out why, actually. Vegetables don't trigger the brain to process dopamine for us. So the reward system in our brain doesn't click (as it does sugar) that "this is good." That's why children and some adults don't find veggies delicious (without the butter, salt, next to a fine dish) because it doesn't hit the spot.

Relate that to the bible. Say the bible (in your example) are the veggies. Some people like veggies and some don't....but the dopamine doesn't come into affect for some non-christians because they don't have experiences (salt, butter, etc) and interconnection with those experiences to make
the bible worth while. Maybe the veggies they care for is the Quran or maybe they rather practice experiencing god by Hindu tradition than reading about it. Some like corn. Some like broccoli.

So, it's not that children won't eat their veggies. Parents can present veggies with other food that makes the sacrifice worth taking. It's the default brain position. So, if one is an atheist (which is the default), they wouldn't be interested believing any god-scripture because to them there is no dopamine spike since god doesn't exist. If they're not indoctrinated, they would no nothing about god. They can either eat corn instead of green beans or find another nutrient that does just as much.

My question is why do many christians don't see alternatives of getting the same nutrition somewhere else? We can't blame the brain from doing its job and children for not liking corn... it really depends on the parents and what the brain is attracted to salt or no salt at all.

(That was a fun write)

 

[nPeace]

There have been those who justified slavery via the Bible. Also justified many many bad things using the Bible as a tool.

But, that does not mean the Bible as you rightly said "Undeniably a good thing". Yes. It's undeniable.

So many tools are used in the wrong way, and for the wrong purpose. 2 Peter 3:16
People will take an ax to someone's head, instead of a tree.

 

[Windwalker]

The question - Is the Bible good for us?
The answer - Yes.
The proof - People find hope in the Bible which leads to them avoiding vices and living better lives.

People find hope in other religions too. Are you supportive of and extol the virtues of following those as well, because they are good for those who practice them? If the being good for you is the measure of the truth of something, then certainly you must believe in them as well?

 

[firedragon]

So many tools are used in the wrong way, and for the wrong purpose. 2 Peter 3:16
People will take an ax to someone's head, instead of a tree.

I absolutely agree.

 

[nPeace]

The Bible causes hundreds of millions of people to believe that God tortures people in hell for ever.

The Bible caused that?
So how is it that the other hundreds of millions don't believe it.
Evidently, because believing a lie has nothing to do with the Bible.

Recall Jim Jones and David Koresh, Did the Bible cause them to lead people to their deaths, and people to follow?
No. Thinking that would be absurd.
Just because someone tries to excuse their wicked, and treacherous motives, by "hiding" behind something, does not make that something responsible.

There are over a billion Catholics alone who believe that. It's the most disgusting depressing thing I ever bought.

What... the hellfire torment teaching, or the Bible?

I became far more hopeful when I stopped believing in the Bible.

Okay. Sounds interesting. I'm glad you are hopeful. Whatever it is giving you hope, must not be a bad thing... or is it?

 

[Spirit of Light]

How can you not? "Happy is he who dashes your little ones against the rocks" is one of the most heinous things I've ever read. As is the command to kill men who sleep with men, claiming their blood is on their hands. Amd, of course, slavery is something very few today do not see as morally bankrupt. But the Bible permits it.

Because i am not a Christian, i have nothing to say bad about those who hold different religious belief then i do. Nor do i know the full text of the bible good enough. Actually i have enough with learning and understanding every teaching within sufism

 

[firedragon]

People find hope in other religions too. Are you supportive of and extol the virtues of following those as well, because they are good for those who practice them? If the being good for you is the measure of the truth of something, then certainly you must believe in them as well?

Thats not fair mate. This guy is asking about the Bible, so I believe you should not bring in a slippery slope fallacy and deviate from his point. If you disagree with the OP you should state your case, but its not fair to ask this question about "since you believe in yours, why dont you believe in others" which is a comparative religion topic and is absolutely irrelevant.

Well, I do hope you understand this but lets see.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Because i am not a Christian, i have nothing to say bad about those who hold different religious belief then i do. Nor do i know the full text of the bible good enough. Actually i have enough with learning and understanding every teaching within sufism

Your horse is in that race. Islam is a different religion, true, but Christianity and Islam are basically the children of Judaism who took that and reinvented it.
When the OT gets criticized, that is, by default, a criticism that trickles down to the other religions using it. Of course each claims the others are misusing it, but everyone claims the Prophets, and they claim the God of Abraham as theirs. And there have been Christians who have conducted war and genocide much like it's done in the OT, and there are even Muslims, such as ISIS, who storm through the land and committing all manner of atrocities that read just like the Jews going on warpath as featured in the OT.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Here is another point on how weak of a claim the OP is.
Is the Bible good for people? Lots of people certainly say so, so it must be true.
Is the People's Temple good for people? Well, Jim Jones did smash the racial expectations and racist norms of his day (he was the first white person in Indiana to a adopt a black child), and indeed many of Jones' followers insisted and fully believed the People's Temple was great for them, so it must be true.

 

[Spirit of Light]

Your horse is in that race. Islam is a different religion, true, but Christianity and Islam are basically the children of Judaism who took that and reinvented it.
When the OT gets criticized, that is, by default, a criticism that trickles down to the other religions using it. Of course each claims the others are misusing it, but everyone claims the Prophets, and they claim the God of Abraham as theirs. And there have been Christians who have conducted war and genocide much like it's done in the OT, and there are even Muslims, such as ISIS, who storm through the land and committing all manner of atrocities that read just like the Jews going on warpath as featured in the OT.

Personally i do not agree with anyone who harm other, no matter if it is a religious or non religious person.
Religion in my understanding is to develop from within one self, and not tell others what is right or wrong to them just because i would have a different view of something than them.
I am very aware that i have in the past made some critique of other people and religions, but i realized it is not leading to any good. So it is better to watch my own back, and be careful in what i Do, say or think about my self and others.

 

[nPeace]

When one uses proper controls, which includes controlling for other lifestyle factors, then statistical results regarding the benefits of exercise are unambiguos. See below,
Health benefits of physical activity: the evidence
I do not know if there are such good statistical analysis of the claims of your OP. If there are not, then there is very little justification for believing in them.

I'll give you just one of many.
https://www.researchgate.net/public...le_Students_in_Jamnagar_City_of_Gujarat_India
Youth in Crisis
The Bible gives practical guidelines about family life, and many other areas of life, including drug abuse, which helps millions who apply those principles to give clear proof of its benefits.

 

[sojourner]

As the saying goes, "The proof is in the pudding."
That's what I am interested in - proof.
So if you have any, let's have it.

The saying actually goes: the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Which proves your point wrong. “The Bible” is neither a good or bad thing. It’s just a thing. It’s the way in which it’s used — either responsibly or irresponsibly — that counts. The Bible was never meant to replace sound counseling, love and support shown by neighbors and qualified care providers — and it cannot replace them. It’s not magic, and it’s not a nostrum. It’s a collection of some ancient writings. The “proof” isn’t in the Bible itself. The “proof” is in how it’s consumed.

 

[ChristineM]

Cherry picking one instance? You mean like saying that science is good because "look you are using the computer."
I haven't done that. Please read the OP again.

You cherry picked "joe" you wrote it, i am sure you are aware of what you wrote