It's been kind of a strange couple weeks for me, which is why I haven't been posting as much as I usually have. A few days ago I was in a car accident that nearly killed my girlfriend, my friend, and I. We tumbled four or five times down a steep hill. It was really a miracle that we made it out alive. We were upside down and I had to help my friend Laura out of the car because she was stuck in the backseat and couldn't get unbuckled. It was quite the crazy experience. It did make me question things. I mean, people around the scene were so shocked that we walked away from it. We were very lucky. I'm not sure if it has made me lean towards one side more. Like...me believing it was the power of God that did it, but I'm not sure. I'm going to probably continue on looking from the same point I left off, although this has stirred new questions in my head.
At the very least, the Bible is an incredible work of literature that while at times very old-fashioned in its beliefs, has extremely good values that you cannot deny have also helped out the needy and have done great things for this world. I think Christianity should focus on this rather than following blind Dogma at the sake of others. But of course for the people in power control is much easier when people have blind faith in something...
To say that the Bible was manipulated through word of mouth is completely and utterly false, because you see, the books that compose it were written down. They were also copied by scribes. If there was any discrepency between the new and old copy of the manuscript, it could be checked by looking at both. Oh, and for the record, the translations that you see today (New Living, New American Standard, King James, New King James, etc.) were all translated from the Greek and Hebrew manuscripts. Please, for the sake of the topic, do a bit of research.
It's what slightly frustrates me about some of the Mormons I speak with. They all want to say that the warnings for Mormonism in the Bible is because of the discrepency because of King James altering the Bible. I tell them exactly as Cameron said, and they choose not to listen. Not that I try to convert Mormons to anything(considering I don't believe in anything firmly at the moment), I just like to debate the Mormons with their own Bibles. They believe in the Bible and their new testament from Joseph Smith, so when I point out their most obvious contradictions they have a hard time backing their side up.
My take: I do not believe in God (although he deserves to have a capital G since God is a name). I do not believe in sinning or heaven or hell or religion. I do not think religion itself is evil, but too many people are exploiting it to their selfish benefit and to express their idiotic discriminatory racist, sexist, and anti-semetic remarks. If religion is your thing and gives you value, spirituality, life, motivation, peace, or anything good, then continue it and enjoy it. Just don't use the "word of god" to discriminate against anyone. Everyone is equal. God didn't say everyone is equal except blacks or jews. nope. God would have said everyone is equal since he loves everyone. Sinning does not exist. Believe it or not, physical things happen without any emotional or spiritual boundaries that God is placing upon you. The only rules one can follow are laws because if you break them, then people physically take you to a cold metal place. If you have sex before marriage, there is no prison for that. It's only in your mind. Be free of thoughts that certain actions are sinful and live life happily.
yes i'm not saying that the bible was passed through word of mouth till the 20th centurey.But at the same time Jesus didn't have a PA to write down every word that he said.you do some research too
Umm. You're forgetting that he had disciples. Matthew, the tax collector, is attributed to writing the first book found in the New Testament. John, another disciple, offered his own view on the events of Jesus' ministry after verifying the events of Mark and Luke's gospels.