It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
Irenaeus cites from most of the New Testament canon, as well as the noncanonical works 1 Clement and The Shepherd of Hermas; however, he makes no references to Philemon, 2 Peter, 3 John or Jude - four of the shortest epistles.
However, by God's sovereing hand, He called a few brave men to preserve and restore the Bible to the people. John Wycliffe, the brilliant 14th century Oxford scholar, translated the Bible from Latin into English in order to enlighten the masses oppressed through ignorance. His work was so despised by the established church, that Pope Martin V ordered Wycliffe's bones to be dug up and burned. Martin Luther was one of the few who challenged church authority in the 16th century and lived to tell the tale. In exposing the folly of indulgences (paying money to the church in order to obtain favor with God), he revealed what had always been written in scripture, that justification was through faith.
Originally posted by IX-777
Like the poster above me mentions, the "Bible" is a mixmash of different religious beliefs and stories from around other places and times, converted , changed and altered some here and there, and put together in a big book of hogwash.
Originally posted by IX-777
That is my main argument.
Originally posted by IX-777
the second is that the people who created the Bible were intentionally altering and changing things to fit their beliefs, NOT the word of any God, but mere personal ideas, beliefs and ideologies to fit their own personal agendas.
The early Christian Church used the Septuagint, the oldest Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, as its religious text until at least the mid-fourth century. Until that time Greek was a major language of Roman Empire and the language of the Church. Also, the Church Fathers tended to accept Philo's account of the Septuagint's miraculous and inspired origin[citation needed], and Christ and the Apostles in the New Testament quoted extensively from the text.
When Jerome undertook the revision of the Old Latin translations of the Septuagint in about 400 AD, he checked the Septuagint against the Hebrew text that was then available. He came to believe that the Hebrew text better testified to Christ than the Septuagint. He broke with church tradition and translated most of the Old Testament of his Vulgate from Hebrew rather than Greek. His choice was severely criticized by Augustine, his contemporary, and others who regarded Jerome as a forger. But with the passage of time, acceptance of Jerome's version gradually increased until it displaced the Old Latin translations of the Septuagint.
Originally posted by IX-777
And today, the Church and Vatican, Christianity and Catholicism are all lead at top levels by people who know the deeper spiritual truths but want to keep that to themselves and rather let the sheeple have at it with the Book of Lies (and some truths here and there).
Originally posted by IX-777
Christians who base their belief on the Bible base their belief on a bunch of other religions, as most of it goes further back to other places and times, as mentioned before God was originally plural as well and describing several Creator deities, not one, among many many things.
Originally posted by IX-777
The same principles exist all over the world in all cultures where a bible have never even been heard of, even atheists follow these principles.
Originally posted by IX-777
The spiritual side is lacking completely, I can't see how you will progress or evolve by studying the bible and only relying on it as The Truth and Real Word of God - as a matter of fact, I will go as far and say that will lead to personal and spiritual devolution.