Quote Originally Posted by JunkYard
You're versed, eh?

Can I ask you something? Do you think a person can discern the spirit of truth and the spirit of error in the Bible, or are you the type that says "All or nothing"?
Well, the Bible is a complicated book, but mostly it looks to be a collaboration of Jewish mythology which was used by their leaders to justify their territorial conquests, and appended to that is the story of a first-century Judaean man who may or may not have existed who like many others of the period claimed he was the messiah and performed some magic tricks and spoke a whole bunch of rhetoric about how we should act, which of course was heavily influenced by the cultural traditions of first-century Judaeans. An interesting historical document, but I'm afraid it doesn't seem to have any more validity than Homer's Odyssey.
Jesus was a cool cat, man. At least, I think so. The Old testament God was made out to be a jealous, angry brute, but I think this is simply due to mankind putting our own err.. qualities on him. (You know what I mean)
Why wouldn't God make a better holy book that portrays him as he truly is?
I doubt God wanted anything to do with all the violence attributed to him in the Old Testament. Mankind created the Bible, and mankind created much of the Bible God, imo. I'm not a Christian, but I like reading the Bible, and sift through the BS, so I can get to what's real...or what I believe to be real.

Theres good stuff in there...

Much Love,
I haven't really found a whole lot of good stuff. I mean, there are some common sense ethical things, like be nice and try not to hurt people or steal their stuff, but anybody could come up with that. Everybody knows stealing and killing and stuff is wrong, even people who have never even heard of the Bible. And there's a whole bunch of nonsense (There are three different spirits that are actually the same single spirit? Jesus becomes wine and bread that we drink and eat? Huh?) And then there's just complete crap, like the idea of giving up all self-defense, or gouging out my eyes if I commit a sin with them.

If you ask me, there are plenty of better philosophers out there with more detailed and logical ethical philosophies. Jesus, if he existed, was a product of his time, and he failed to condemn things like slavery and sexism and homophobia because in his time they were unquestioned traditions. We have transcended the ethics of first-century Judaea, and we can build for ourselves a better morality suited to our own modern society. We don't need ancient books to tell us what's right and what's wrong. It's much easier to figure it out for ourselves with trial and error, and rigorous thought. Ancient books are interesting to study, but they shouldn't be guides to our modern lives.
Oneironaut Reviewed by Oneironaut on . Hardest "Christian" thing to do? What is the number one teaching of Christianity that is the hardest for youto follow? I believe heavily in the teachings of Christ, but like every other human being in the world I "walk the line" like a drunk with a blindfold on. Atheists and agnostics please post your opinions, too; what do you think is the most demanding and spritually testing? Do you think the world would be a better place if more people followed it, or about the same? For me, personally: Love thy enemy. Rating: 5