| Subject: Things Biff hates about the Bible |
Author:
Biff
|
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: 08/ 2/02 2:48pm
In reply to:
Ben
's message, "A quick point about slavery and the like" on 08/ 1/02 5:52pm
>As I think I've said before, if God wrote this book, I
>would think he could make it transcend cultural
>boundaries. If men wrote it, then of course it would
>be inextricably bound to the culture(s) in which it
>was written.
I think I do remember you saying that before, so forgive me if I'm regurgitating a response. Sure, the Bible could have been written to transcend cultural or even chronological boundaries. In fact, cultures could have been eliminated altogether. We could all talk the same language with the same dialect and vocabulary, wear the same clothes, live in the same climate, have the same color hair. In fact, why make two different genders, we could even reproduce assexually. The world would be so much more simple, and so much less interesting.
Yes the Bible came from God. But it was put down by men like you and me. It was transcribed and retranscribed, though meticulously, by men like you and me. It was translated and retranslated, though meticulously, by men like you and me, working in the context of their own period of history and their own culture. To expect the Bible to transcend those boundaries is unreasonable.
It often seems to me that the Bible is
>like silly putty... it can be shaped into anything
>people want it to be. It's God's perfect message to
>mankind until it says something that a given person
>doesn't like, after which that part of the Bible
>becomes "cultural" or "symbolic."
Yes, that happens at times. On one hand it bothers me that people use the Bible to support some outrageous arguments. On the other hand, I often think it's great that God has given us a document that brings about so much fascinating discussion. Speaking personally, I know that the Bible says several things that I don't like, yet I accept, whether or not I understand them, because it's a book that has repeatedly demonstrated it's validity. Here's a list that's probably not complete.
My complaints about the Bible:
1)The concept of Hell. To my mind it seems extreme, and I have difficulty defending it, yet I will.
2) Grace. Does it seem just that after a lifetime of unspeakable evil, Jeffrey Dahmer is in heaven right now because the last few months of his life were spent as a Christian?
3)It's a long, dry read. Do we really need all those begats?
4) Why, for several thousand years, did God choose to reveal himself to only one race of people?
5) Adultery is supposed to be a sin, yet David, the "man after God's own heart", had several wives and several hundred concubines.
These are things I wish I could dismiss, but I can't. I accept them because I accept that the Bible is reliable.
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
| |
Feedback: 