bible

[Miss Hepburn]

Originally Posted by inspirit

Neither.
Fact implies that everything it says is true and literal, which it is not.
Fiction implies that it was all made up, which it is not.
Nor is it the word of God.
However the teachings it contains, especially the accounts of Jesus's life, are very true and worth your consideration.

Excellent deduction.
I'm with you.

Cheers

Originally Posted by psychoslice

The Bible is a Metaphor just like all scriptures, to argue over them being true or not is completely missing the whole point.

Ha! Perfectly said Senor Psychoslice.

i don't believe the bible is all fiction & yes i think it is a great history read along with being a guide on how to live your life. i know alot of what is written is fact as i'm interested in archeology & am aware of scrolls & scriptures discovered that verify alot of what is written but there are stories in the bible that are surely so far fetched they cannot be true. but in saying that.....through personal experience, anything is possible, even seemingly impossible things!! i'm not wanting to argue the point of fact or fiction, i was just wondering what others believed as to what is written.
also, there is alot of violence in the bible but as i see it, it was written to depict everyday events & there has been violence & horror throughout man's existence. i let my daughter read it as she is interested in religion & although, like i've said in previous posts, i don't believe in god as such i'm still fascinated by the concept of religion.

My view which could change as my deeper understanding and intuition may change over time but currently I'm thinking its likely partly recorded history and partly fiction - mostly barrowed from older cultures and revised by modern cultures (current at time) to suit the authorities.

Most of the included books/stories (both old and new testament) seem to have roots or at minimum startling similarities of older writings/stories from different cultures but have some different twists and/or emphasis. I don’t buy that believing in copying parts of other cultures is trickery from the devil to deceive and pull those people away from God (or any particular sects specific beliefs). In fact, based on my own studies, guidance, understanding and sense of reason, the common institutionalized accepted interpretations seem to actually emphasize separation from God, and lack of free will, at least in practice. If faith is not meant to be questioned then where is the free will? What is the purpose of hiding other early Christian views and/or keeping us in ignorance of our potential? Why did authorities order most or all banned books destroyed after the estabishment of the official imperial religion in the 4th century, like the ones discovered recently (in modern times) after 1600 years of bannishment? What can we glean from these sources and others from other cultures, especially after one has studied the history and roots of Christianity?

I realize there are a number of versus that tend to get handpicked in support of certain common/accepted Christian beliefs. However, I find great value in looking at many versus and stories in an open context and open to all possibilities. Because all the included stories in the bible were written, copied, interpolated by humans I hold most other sacred texts in the same regard, including the dead sea scrolls, Nag Hammadi library, Sumerian texts/tablets, Hindi, etc.

[Miss Hepburn]

Originally Posted by debbie.b

i don't believe the bible is all fiction & yes i think it is a great history read along with being a guide on how to live your life. i know alot of what is written is fact as i'm interested in archeology & am aware of scrolls & scriptures discovered that verify alot of what is written but there are stories in the bible that are surely so far fetched they cannot be true. but in saying that.....through personal experience, anything is possible, even seemingly impossible things!! i'm not wanting to argue the point of fact or fiction, i was just wondering what others believed as to what is written.
also, there is alot of violence in the bible but as i see it, it was written to depict everyday events & there has been violence & horror throughout man's existence. i let my daughter read it as she is interested in religion & although, like i've said in previous posts, i don't believe in god as such i'm still fascinated by the concept of religion.

I do believe in events that happened and on the History Channel they are coming up with archeological proof of things like the walls of Jericho that fell down and things like that.
But, the blaming of all this on God and some imaginery wrath - amounts to saying---
"Ooo, Sky God angry. Must sacrifice goat..."

Man is jealous and angry and so he made a God in his image ---my opinion.
Early primitive man did the best he could around those campfires.
Most paved roads and passes in my area were trails the Indians used long ago.

Miss Hepburn

I think there's many metaphorical things in it - mixed in with some historical things...sprinkled with some things that just are really whacked out (Revelations for example).

Originally Posted by inspirit

Neither. Fact implies that everything it says is true and literal, which it is not. Fiction implies that it was all made up, which it is not. Nor is it the word of God. However the teachings it contains, especially the accounts of Jesus's life, are very true and worth your consideration. That's just my two cents.

How does that work exactly?
Bible=false yet Jesus(described in Bible attesting to scriptures as God breathed)= true.
I think two cents is overcharging maybe..

The Bible was written by a Roman called Constantine, who convened the Council of Nycea on 325 AD. His idea was that if you controlled religion you controlled the people, so he got all the religious leaders together and wrote the Bible between them. Much of it is historically correct and incorporated many myths, legends and other diverse beliefs of the area, it had to be for the ordinary people to accept otherwise they would probably never buy it. After that, murder and genocide were both used on people who didn't adopt Christianity. Christianity is pretty much a cobble-together of all different religions but mostly based on Mithraism, which the Christian Romans systematically (along with a few others) tried to wipe out. After the Council of Nycea the Roman soldiers practised Mithraism in secret and under pain of death it found out. All religion in that part of the world has its roots in Sumeria.

Jesus wasn't a Christian, he was a Nazorean Essene - a sect the Roman Catholic Church also saw as a threat and wiped out, their last stand being in Renne-le-Chateau in the south of France. Essene teaching is very different from Christian teaching. They also took umbrage with the Aesir, the people that Kapitan Prien talks about sometimes - the ones that 'founded' Asatru. If I remember rightly, the Roman Catholic Church sent Charlemanges army to wipe them out in 1200 and something.

Christians teach God Without - as in the guy with the grey beard sitting in Heaven. Essene teaching taught God Within - as in inside ourselves. Perhaps this might be something to consider in the next "Who or What Is God"-type thread.

"There was when He was not"

Originally Posted by Shim

"There was when He was not"

There still is.