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Changing the Bible

U

Unveiled Artist

Veteran Member
I guess this is geared to anyone who isn't Christian or sees the full bible as inspired in one way or another. That said.

What would you take out of the bible and put in the bible to make it a better example for people (not just Christians) to follow as a religious text?​

1. Many religious texts have killings in it. A lot of stories around killings by "god(s)" etc are supposed to teach morals of some sort. Since we also die in life, taking out killing in the Bible wouldn't change people anymore than taking out murder is against the law. It goes beyond killings.

2. Slavery in America, at least, is not present as it was years ago in another country. With that, in the past slaves were not people torn and whipped. They are usually convicted persons as you see those cleaning trash off the street doing their "time" or employees doing work for their bosses. It was regular place back them. We can't put today's morals on yesterdays standards.

3. Many religious texts have a concept of hell whether it be called a type of consequence for ones actions, a punishment, or an actual place. Nichiren Shonin says The Buddha taught hell is in our hearts and minds. Not all Christianity teaches hell as a place. Hell is just a consequence of the worse sin: rejecting god. If you reject your mother's love, why would you expect to receive it at the same time. And if the mother's love was actually good, wouldn't not having it mean you lost something you could have had to your benefit? (Outside of choice), if there is no light, there is darkness. No details just simple logic.

4. Most religions have some sort of bias and discrimination. Christianity is no exclusion.

People don't define the Bible. So instead of going off of what Christians define the bible as, from what you know of the Bible and to some of you have studied, what things would you take out of the bible and what would you put in to make people (not just Christians) better?

​
 
Kelly of the Phoenix

Kelly of the Phoenix

Well-Known Member
Carlita said:
I guess this is geared to anyone who isn't Christian or sees the full bible as inspired in one way or another. That said.

What would you take out of the bible and put in the bible to make it a better example for people (not just Christians) to follow as a religious text?​

1. Many religious texts have killings in it. A lot of stories around killings by "god(s)" etc are supposed to teach morals of some sort. Since we also die in life, taking out killing in the Bible wouldn't change people anymore than taking out murder is against the law. It goes beyond killings.
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I would take out the hypocritical stuff. If you read something like the Mahabharata, there's a ton of killing in it too, but there are hardly any loose ends. Everyone from gods to humans to demons have to deal with the consequences of their behavior. The bible loves to play favorites and characters, especially God, never seem to get their comeuppance for being dicks. It just became abundantly clear to me that "BibleGod's" morality is absurdly arbitrary and self- or plot-serving. "Because I said so" is not a rational thing to tell a child when parenting. In age-appropriate language, children should be made to understand WHY you should or shouldn't do something.

2. Slavery in America, at least, is not present as it was years ago in another country. With that, in the past slaves were not people torn and whipped. They are usually convicted persons as you see those cleaning trash off the street doing their "time" or employees doing work for their bosses. It was regular place back them. We can't put today's morals on yesterdays standards.
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If it didn't happen in the ancient world, you wouldn't see references to it and you do. I understand that many "slaves" were probably what we would just call "employees" today, but the fact remains that there are parables in the bible such as the one where slaves/servants/employees are just outright killed because they dared to complain about their treatment.

3. Many religious texts have a concept of hell whether it be called a type of consequence for ones actions, a punishment, or an actual place. Nichiren Shonin says The Buddha taught hell is in our hearts and minds. Not all Christianity teaches hell as a place. Hell is just a consequence of the worse sin: rejecting god. If you reject your mother's love, why would you expect to receive it at the same time. And if the mother's love was actually good, wouldn't not having it mean you lost something you could have had to your benefit? (Outside of choice), if there is no light, there is darkness. No details just simple logic.
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As noted above, though, rejection can be valid. Even if the mother's love was truly loving and not just because she was psychotic and said her abuse was love, a child can still reject it for other valid purposes. An ADULT must learn to let go. To reject rejection, especially with violence, proves the parent is just as immature, no?

4. Most religions have some sort of bias and discrimination. Christianity is no exclusion.

People don't define the Bible. So instead of going off of what Christians define the bible as, from what you know of the Bible and to some of you have studied, what things would you take out of the bible and what would you put in to make people (not just Christians) better?​
Click to expand...

I would add more rational explanations and more follow up. People claim Jesus must be God because of all those people he healed, but after we meet those characters, do we ever hear from them again? How do we know they didn't just die of their illnesses the next day? At least in Dharmic religions, I would expect such characters to have a relevant point in the plot. These people are just miracle fodder with no real purpose. Instead of showing that saving What's His Face allowed him to shelter homeless kids later on or something, all are just written off as "to show God's glory", which is unbelievably crass and should have no existence in a rational discussion of ethics.​
 
wizanda

wizanda

One Accepts All Religious Texts
Premium Member
Carlita said:
what would you put in to make people (not just Christians) better?
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In the current state, the Bible is perfect for catching out the workers of iniquity who could follow it....

Yet if you were wanting a book to actually teach ethics, philosophy, Oneness and the things leading to enlightenment, then we'd need to get rid of lots of it....

Yeshua's message is fine, gospels are not, some of the proverbs are insightful; yet really lots of it teaches darkness, and claims to be light....

We could simplify it loads, as really something so large is so much greater misunderstood, and contains more contradictions.

bible.jpg


P.s I should point out, i fulfilled Revelation 10 two years before reading it, and other places; so it isn't like i don't accept the Bible; I'm just aware there are far superior ways to teach people about Oneness. :innocent:
 
Crypto2015

Crypto2015

Active Member
What you people need to change is not the Bible, but your evil hearts. If your hearts weren't full of lust, murder, hatred, adultery, robbery, and incest, you wouldn't feel the need to change the Bible.
 
Kemosloby

Kemosloby

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Take out Jesus on the cross and let all you suckers burn. Kidding. Take out the wine part and substitute beer.
 
T

Tony Arthur

New Member
I wouldn't bother changing the bible; I'd prefer to get people to understand it as a cultural artefact, an attempt by people in an age of ignorance to come up with something that explained the world, perpetuated and augmented by people who wanted to acquire the power which ensues from being the ones who are able to arbitrarily define "what God wants", kill anyone who comes up with a different approach, and give human greed and lust for power the socially acceptable sheen of being "God's Will" - to quote the "lost" verse of the hymn All Things Bright And Beautiful, "the rich man in his castle, the poor man at his gate; God made them high and lowly, and ordered their estate".

I would like to see us as a human race reject dogma, and find a more consensual and pluralistic means of arriving at a common morality, and to reject the idea that there is any kind of one "holy book" that alone possesses the answers.

If we do that, it won't matter that the Bible is full of ridiculous things that make one reject the very concept of God; it will just be part of the waft and weave by which we as humans try to make things better for ourselves, without this childish need for a big brother looking over our shoulders.
 
Quintessence

Quintessence

Consults with Trees
Staff member
Premium Member
I'll be up front and state I have never read the Bible (old or new testament) in its entirety. But from what this one has read, I'll state that sometimes works reach a point that they are simply not salvageable. I consider the Bible to be on that list, especially since there are plenty of contemporary works already written that serve as superior examples of things I consider to be important life lessons (such as "Healing Gaia" by James Lovelock or Connie Barlow's "Green Space, Green Time").
 
David T

David T

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
fantome profane said:
I don't want to take anything out or add anything to the Bible, I just want people to start reading it in a thoughtful critical (even sceptical) way.[/QUOTE
Isn't a sceptical approach just more theologicalism? Isnt biblical skeptisism just that You disagree You disagree that an unlimited number of angels can dance on the head of a pin, while those "stupid" believers believe it's infinite? I have zero idea why anyone would even converse on religion at all unless they have had some experience. Maybe you can inform me as to why you even care are even aware the bible exists?
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Rapha

Rapha

Active Member
Expand on Justice like when Yahweh throws a hissy fit at the peasant who buried his single talent in the sand.

Expand it so that all central banksters who crush economies and bury millions of talents get lightning bolted on the spot.

Oh wait, the Banksters are doing what Yahweh wants them to do because they are all in the same team. Otherwise, Yahweh would have buried all banksters after the Lehman collapse in 2008 if he really gave a crap for peasants.
 
metis

metis

aged ecumenical anthropologist
I'm not in favor of changing what is written, so I'm much more in favor of recognizing that these are very human documents even if there is some "divine inspiration" involved. For example, if one wants to cherry-pick the Bible, one can just about justify any atrocity that we can think of, even including genocide.
 
U

Unveiled Artist

Veteran Member
Crypto2015 said:
What you people need to change is not the Bible, but your evil hearts. If your hearts weren't full of lust, murder, hatred, adultery, robbery, and incest, you wouldn't feel the need to change the Bible.
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I don't know how long you've been on RF, but not everyone has evil in their hearts that want to change the Bible (or Steven King's Pet Cemetery, or Harry Potter's Sorcerer's stone, etc). I wish I can change a lot of books, and it's nice to wonder what things I'd take out and what I'd put it. The Bible is no exception.

On that note, why would you think any of us have "If lust, murder, hatred, adultery, robbery, and incest"? I've gone passed my teenage days, I would be in jail if I murdered, hatred is not in my vocabulary since birth, stealing was in the olden' days, and incest I'd be in jail and loose my apartment.

We have common sense a lot of times and the Bible doesn't always give us the common sense life itself gives us on its own.

Plus, as a Christian, of course you wouldn't change the Bible hence why I put the disclaimer up to on my OP.

Do you have something positive and productive to add?

Does Christianity and the Bible make you talk this way about people you don't know?
 
Jainarayan

Jainarayan

ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय
Staff member
Premium Member
I'd keep Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, and the gospels in the form Thomas Jefferson reworked them in the Jefferson Bible. He took out all references to divinity and miracles, leaving only what Jesus said and taught. All the rest of the Old Testament is to be removed and kept separately as a history of a by-gone era, with no application for today's Christians. The epistles and Revelation would be right out.
 
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