The Story of how the Bible came about, in 3 minutes

Originally posted by borntowatch

 

I think your premise is based on limited human knowledge, not just yours but every ones.
Some things we just dont understand

This is not a strong argument to support your belief in a biblical God. But it is consistent with how, in ancient times, everything unexplainable was attributed to a God or his "moods".

I believe that I understand the things you say you (and everyone) do not understand. I humbly believe that my premise is correct, and that you misjudged it because you did not have sufficient opportunity to examine my premise. By the way, what do you think is my premise?

reply to post by ThinkingHuman


Dear ThinkingHuman,

You did not cross any line, that was not what I meant. When I read people say that God is mean and this and that, it is often because something happened in their life that they felt was unfair.

But let me have you ponder the question first for yourself. Trying to impress God? Your family? Because God is in that church? Because God would not approve of you if you didn't go? Why do you go (I mean this seriously)?

Fair enough. I attend because people have questions and want to have a better understanding. I preach at church. As for going to church, it is not necessary for salvation and it doesn't make someone a Christian. We are also told that we should have fellowship with other believers and church is a convenient place for that. What most people call church is a building, the word actually refers to the body of believers, not a building.

Of course you are free to go to church if you wish to be there. I have met many people who felt pressured to be there and I tell them they shouldn't. What gives me that right, well, I think I have the right to tell people who attend our services that they don't have to if they don't want to. I don't want to see members of our congregation pressuring people into going and I want them to know that.

define "good". I try to use words according to its definition, plain and simple. It would make it easier if the Bible did so, too. You said, there are many metaphors and parables. Anybody can interpret those however it's convenient. In other words, the Bible means whatever people want it to mean.

What do you think it's plain definition is? The bible uses it in one way, it says there is none good but God. It uses it to say that only God is perfect or completeness. As we lack perfection and completeness, we are not "good".

The bible does use metaphors and parables. Jesus used parables to explain things because they work and then he would explain what the parable meant. Revelations is full of imagery meant to represent many things. The bible describes "the beast" with imagery. Most of the images can be interpreted as they were used in other books of the bible and explained at the earlier times.

"You complain that God controlling the world in the future would be tyranny yet, you wish him to take control now and make everyone nice and stop all pain." Again, I have come to disbelieve in a Christian God. So, No, I do not complain about God doing anything. But I am wary about those who claim to know what is "God's will", or what God did, or would do, or should do.

I certainly did not claim to know God's will; but, I can read the bible to get a better understanding. Still, why did you use the word tyranny in relationship to what the world would be like if God ruled the world. Perhaps you meant if people ruled the world in a theocracy.

I am not cutting and pasting well so I will retype something you said. I said a universal sentience was God and you asked me if the bible says that. It does. " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." The name of God is "I am". Isn't that what we were saying when we were talking about sentience.

So how long did it take? Or does it not matter? Do any facts matter or are they too inconvenient to analyze?

How could we possibly know how long it took if we don't know how long a day was prior to the earth being created? How long was it before we had the big bang? Can that be measured? Assuming the bible has a purpose and the purpose is to help people understand that they are spiritual in nature. What does it matter? The book of Genesis gives us very little information, it certainly does not go into a lot of detail. Honestly, I watch some Christians become irrationally obsessed with "creationism" as if that was how we were to spend our time. Look at the order of things in the creation, same as what science says. Planets formed, waters came, sea life, land life, animals. In quantum science we see things that contradict what we would expect, it doesn't mean what we are observing didn't happen, it means we have figured out how they fit together.

I believe religion is the ONLY thing that would have allowed one person, or a small group of smart people, to gain control over many others. They created the biblical myth and it worked. (My intent for this threat was to make it about the conspiracy behind the Bible, notsemantics, "good, I am, day, etc)

The argument that was brought up earlier, that this civilization could not have been smart enough back then does not hold water, if the same people also claim that its population was smart enough to build pyramids and other megalithic monuments.

The Greeks have undisputably created a much more intricate set of myths, centuries earlier.

Even some modern entrepreneurs figured out that creating a church is a good business. TV Evangelists are just one example of those who figured out how to pull those greenbacks out of people's pockets.

Once the power structure was established, it would have been continued to be used by those it provided power to, in particular to build a military force, and to subdue those who oppose it.

Just think of India, where the casts make priests the most powerful, and has done so for millenia. The general population believes in it because their holy book says so, and because that is what they are being taught. Not because "God wants it that way".

The Bible is a means to provide power to a few over the many, the shepards over the sheep.

reply to post by ThinkingHuman


I agrree - religion is money and power.
The bible changes to follow the soceity that use it, for example in the middleage we burned people for being witches in the name of God - no God told anybody to burn anyone, another example is gay marriage what did God said about gays a 100 years ago? hmmm today he apperently embace it. the history is filled with examples that Gods will changes to please the soceity - to get the money out if it.
The religion is gone, all there left is a bunch of people who think they know what god is

Originally posted by Shiloh7
reply to post by Murgatroid

 

I wonder before you label people and their books, have you actually read Blavatsky?

You will find a great deal of wisdom in her books and, like everyone else you don't necessarily agree with all that is written.

Witch is simply a word that meant wise woman. Name throwing is very childish.

Dear Shiloh7,

Blavatsky, lol. I have not bothered reading most of this thread as I was dealing with the OP directly. Let me ask you a question, who is less important than you? Blavatsky thought everyone was less important that her.

Originally posted by Minus

 

I agree - religion is money and power.

Isn't it amazing that in the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church was the greatest land owner in the world? If it was really about 'faith', how did that happen? Maybe because faith makes you willing to pay - blindly, for nothing in return. If the authors were very smart that would certainly explain why they managed to accumulate so much wealth.