Could the bible be prone to mistakes?

[Lethal G]

Well, it is my belief that everything regarding spirituality in the Bible needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Here is why: there are many different passages scattered throughout that completely contradict each other in both the Old and New Testaments. This means that someone within the history of the Bible must have been writing something false. In essence, the bible does indeed lie, or stretch the truth. For those conservative christians who still aren't sure, take the first four books of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John). All four accounts tell something different about the life of Jesus, and at times contradict each other, and are even believed to be written hundreds of years after Jesus's death. There are a lot of theories on how they came to be written, but this is irrelevant to the point I am trying to make. It is fact that there are mistakes present in the bible.

I am not trying however to say that the bible is completely false. I do believe it holds certain morals and lessons that help us in certain situations. Maybe it should be looked at more as a guideline versus the absolute truth to everything as some look at it.

Personally, on the issue of religion, I believe in a deeper understanding for humanity and our purpose, as well as death being nothing for anyone to fear regardless of religion. I believe in an all powerful, all knowing God who watches over all of us and all of his creatures. I also believe that everyone is in essence saved from eternal damnation due to this God's mercy for humans no matter how they have lived their lives. I think his love for us is much deeper than what the Christians make it out. Since no one can really know the absolute truth towards religion, I think we all eventually live in paradise upon death.

I welcome any thoughts/arguments to these ideas.

Lethal G Reviewed by Lethal G on 07-18-2006. Could the bible be prone to mistakes? Well, it is my belief that everything regarding spirituality in the Bible needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Here is why: there are many different passages scattered throughout that completely contradict each other in both the Old and New Testaments. This means that someone within the history of the Bible must have been writing something false. In essence, the bible does indeed lie, or stretch the truth. For those conservative christians who still aren't sure, take the first four books of Rating: 5

[braddog10]

Holy Spirit....."The Letter of the word kills, But the spirit of the word brings Life".

I'll explain what this means later, I beleive it will help many come to peace with this.

Braddog

[beachguy in thongs]

Who says that you can't contradict yourself?

The spirit of the word can kill, and the letter can bring Life.

[braddog10]

Who says that you can't contradict yourself?

The spirit of the word can kill, and the letter can bring Life.

Beach, you are wired uniquely.

Lethal,.....an interesting view .........after your own image. ......Oooops, that sounds familar. ummmm

He's a big boy, He can watch after His book,

[beachguy in thongs]

Beach, you are wired uniquely.

Heh. They changed my wires. It's weird.

Seriously, though, I've lived two very different lives.

One thing in common, music.

[Oneironaut]

In my reading of the Bible, I haven't really found a whole lot of good morals, and I don't see the point in communicating morals via myths made up by ancient agricultural societies. The Bible is openly racist (Yahweh has a "chosen people" and orders them to indiscriminately kill off "sinful peoples"), sexist (tells wives to submit unquestioningly to their husbands), pro-slavery (try reading Exodus 21, the chapter after the Ten Commandments that Biblical moralists love to trot around), and homophobic (tells us to stone the gays).

We can see, from our modern perspectives, why things like slavery and stoning gays is wrong, which proves that we don't need religion to look for moral advice. We can use basic ideas like equality, sympathy and cooperation to determine how we should act toward others. We should not judge the righteousness of an action by whether or not it is a "sin" which somehow offends a magical sky wizard; we should judge the righteousness of an action by what the consequences of those actions are for others. Morality is constructed by societies of people who want to get along with each other and cooperate to protect each other from threats to their lives and liberties; we can stop pretending that it is imposed on us by some "higher power" who only bothered to tell us about it in some dubious ancient texts that we don't have the originals of.

[braddog10]

In my reading of the Bible, I haven't really found a whole lot of good morals, and I don't see the point in communicating morals via myths made up by ancient agricultural societies. The Bible is openly racist (Yahweh has a "chosen people" and orders them to indiscriminately kill off "sinful peoples"), sexist (tells wives to submit unquestioningly to their husbands), pro-slavery (try reading Exodus 21, the chapter after the Ten Commandments that Biblical moralists love to trot around), and homophobic (tells us to stone the gays).

We can see, from our modern perspectives, why things like slavery and stoning gays is wrong, which proves that we don't need religion to look for moral advice. We can use basic ideas like equality, sympathy and cooperation to determine how we should act toward others. We should not judge the righteousness of an action by whether or not it is a "sin" which somehow offends a magical sky wizard; we should judge the righteousness of an action by what the consequences of those actions are for others. Morality is constructed by societies of people who want to get along with each other and cooperate to protect each other from threats to their lives and liberties; we can stop pretending that it is imposed on us by some "higher power" who only bothered to tell us about it in some dubious ancient texts that we don't have the originals of.

Come on,oneironaut. This looks like itâ??s right off of Atheist .....Religious pamphlets. Reading the Bible, you would have noted why those societies were taken out. Your religious pamphlets have convenient omissions.

Read "The Book" ..You will find good morals and love ........It's in all of the gospels, all of the wisdom books, What is fascinating is to listen to Ecclesiastes on CD. Or proverbs...absolutely incredible. Their was a time I couldn't wait to get in my car to listen. The book of Ruth.... full of His acceptance and Love. Ruth was a moabite. The instructions were to not intermarry with them. Some scream contradiction!!! He was already revealing his Grace and mercy.

King David saw this,...... The Lord Called David.. "a man after ~ My Own ~ Heart". David took the wife of one of his most faithful Generals, one evening while her husband was on tour. She got pregnant, He had her Husband killed. David and Bathsheba both would be stoned by the law. David saw "Grace in the eyes of God". He asked for forgiveness. The fruit of their sin died. The baby did not live. But of his many, many wives, the two of them had Solomon, God anointed as the next king, who He also blessed with tremendous wisdom,... wrote Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. Grace and mercy. Bringing Good from much pain and harm

Gods law is perfect,.....strangely..... He uses it to reveal His Loving kindnesses and forgiveness. If He had any less of a standard,
He would proportionately be less honorable, and loving....... Fascinating paradox. Think about it......In spite of His tight Law.....Gods' offers Love, mercy and forgiveness...........His sweetness is magnified...Contradictions?? Look at it..... It's beautiful. .....Both represent Him.

The book Ruth is full of Ruth's love for her mother in law, The Love of God for Her. The favor of God poured out on Her. God placed Her right in the middle of the blood line of Jesus. . . this is just one thread of the Fabric of his love woven thru the scriptures. The Harlot in Jericho. Jesus lineage right thru her.... clear to Him. Do you think that was by accident? The Lord wastes nothing........ A prostitute. He chose to be one of Christâ??s ancestral mothers. I do not know ~ better morals and love.
Proverbs......It is the Glory of God to conceal a matter. It is the Glory of Kings to search them out. God's covering and love continue to adorably flow thru the entire book.

The Gospels man, get a bible with ~ The Lords words in red. The heart of God comes thru
Don't read your propaganda..... also, I don't buy it...... Rat poison kills at 5% strength. This crap is undilute.

Lets see these contradictions your talking about. You disregard so much, What you are trying to hang onto has no handle, I noticed you deny the scriptures except for the passage about seed bearing plants. Now thatâ??s convenient.

Pull your pants up. Your duplicity is showing.

[Oneironaut]

Oh my God, you have provided me with sufficient evidence that Christianity is true, Yahweh exists (but he's hiding somewhere and he only bothered to reveal himself to ancient agricultural slave-owners thousands of years ago), Yahweh sacrificed himself to himself so he could change the rules of morality for some reason, and I can do whatever evil things I want as long as I get on my knees and beg Yahweh for forgiveness. Guess I have to convert to Christianity now, and only read those passages of the Bible that agree with what I already think is being nice, conveniently ignoring those ones that advocate absolutism, murder, rape, slavery, and sexism, which I will still publish and give to children however. I will now follow Jesus and will be passive, turn the other cheek, and won't fight for justice here on earth because I will get it in the eternal afterlife, of which there is no proof of course. I just have to take it on faith. Isn't it oh so logical?

[Oneironaut]

Read "The Book" ..You will find good morals and love ........

Even Leviticus and Deuteronomy? Hahahaha. Try reading Exodus 21 sometime and tell me how good Biblical morality is.

It's in all of the gospels, all of the wisdom books, What is fascinating is to listen to Ecclesiastes on CD. Or proverbs...absolutely incredible. Their was a time I couldn't wait to get in my car to listen. The book of Ruth.... full of His acceptance and Love. Ruth was a moabite. The instructions were to not intermarry with them. Some scream contradiction!!! He was already revealing his Grace and mercy.

Why was God outlawing interracial marriage in the first place? He's a fucking racist!

King David saw this,...... The Lord Called David.. "a man after ~ My Own ~ Heart". David took the wife of one of his most faithful Generals, one evening while her husband was on tour. She got pregnant, He had her Husband killed. David and Bathsheba both would be stoned by the law.

Whose law? Oh that's right, the one Yahweh gave Moses.

David saw "Grace in the eyes of God". He asked for forgiveness. The fruit of their sin died. The baby did not live. But of his many, many wives, the two of them had Solomon, God anointed as the next king, who He also blessed with tremendous wisdom,... wrote Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. Grace and mercy. Bringing Good from much pain and harm

Bullshit. God punishes people for the crimes of their PARENTS, and that's somehow considered "just". Like the story of Ham. Or how the Amalekites had to be slaughtered because some of their ancestors had got in the way of the Israelites hundreds of years before.

Gods law is perfect,.....strangely..... He uses it to reveal His Loving kindnesses and forgiveness. If He had any less of a standard,
He would proportionately be less honorable, and loving....... Fascinating paradox. Think about it......In spite of His tight Law.....Gods' offers Love, mercy and forgiveness...........His sweetness is magnified...Contradictions?? Look at it..... It's beautiful. .....Both represent Him.

Wow, absolute fascistic control over the entire cosmos. How beautiful.

The book Ruth is full of Ruth's love for her mother in law, The Love of God for Her. The favor of God poured out on Her. God placed Her right in the middle of the blood line of Jesus. . . this is just one thread of the Fabric of his love woven thru the scriptures. The Harlot in Jericho. Jesus lineage right thru her.... clear to Him. Do you think that was by accident? The Lord wastes nothing........ A prostitute. He chose to be one of Christ’s ancestral mothers. I do not know ~ better morals and love.*

What the hell are you trying to say? God was nice to a few people so therefore he's perfect and it makes up for all the suffering he causes?

Proverbs......It is the Glory of God to conceal a matter. It is the Glory of Kings to search them out. God's covering and love continue to adorably flow thru the entire book.

The Gospels man, get a bible with ~ The Lords words in red. The heart of God comes thru

Don't read your propaganda..... also, I don't buy it...... Rat poison kills at 5% strength. This crap is undilute.

WTF? Rat poison? Dude, what are you smoking?

Lets see these contradictions your talking about.

I never said anything about contradictions...you can pretty much twist any verse you want into whatever meaning you want with enough rationalization and linguistic tricks, so I don't see the point in debating about contradictions.

You disregard so much, What you are trying to hang onto has no handle, I noticed you deny the scriptures except for the passage about seed bearing plants. Now that’s convenient.

Pull your pants up. Your duplicity is showing.

Dude, I am an ATHEIST. I do not believe the Bible is accurate. I was just trying to show the hypocrisy of Christians who think marijuana smoking is a sin. For someone who is accusing me of not interpreting something correctly, you might try to read what I wrote again.

Ugh...Christians. It's rather sad the damage that religion does to the logical and critical thinking part of the believer's mind.

[LordSmaug]

Atheism = Intellectual Suicide.

To me at least, but to each his own. We won't know for SURE until we're dead. But that's why it's called Faith right?