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Kevin M · 2010-06-11, 04:18 PM

There are some very clear instances of hypocrisy and contradiction going on in the Bible. An eye for an eye vs. turn the other cheek is the most commonly cited. There are some clear issues with the contents that any "real scholarship" makes quite clear. A lot of it can be explained away by subscribing to the idea that Jesus' life and death fulfilled the contract of the Old Testament and essentially made it moot. The New Testament is way more friendly to the conduct of a free society.

Still, even if I were quite Christian, believing in God, Jesus, the resurrection etc., I would obviously not believe that anything recorded in the Bible should be taken literally, for the most part. In particular the idea that the Bible ever has accurately described anything remotely scientific or involving the natural universe is laughable. The Old Testament explicitly contradicts what we've discovered and theorized in all of science. Like Scott said, it's never once gotten it right. Viewing the writings in the Bible as flawed products of a flawed species is far, far preferable to me than having to reject the entire thing as a complete fabrication loosed upon the world by a vast conspiracy of the churches of the faith.

The problem then is, once you don't feel that the Bible directly represents God but rather our understanding of him, it really sucks as a guide to social behavior. The constant and never-disputed affirmation of slavery, bigotry, sexism, violence and servitude to the church are horrifying to me. That led to my personal view of the writings in the Bible to be a fairly decent code of personal conduct- Jesus never said that any one of us should act in a way I would not condone- but a terrible one for guiding how we apply the law to other people.

So that is my severely abbreviated and mediocre explanation of why I don't attend church. I'm comfortable with the idea of an all-knowing, all-powerful God who created the universe. I'm okay with the idea that Jesus could be his one true prophet and the messiah. But past that, I've never found a set of views that I, as the creature that God may or may not have destined me to be, am comfortable embracing in its entirety.

---

My first post in this thread is a quote from Ghandi- "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ." I first read that long after I had figured out where I stood on the subject, and it summed me up perfectly. It's just so disappointing to me when people try to use the Bible to justify evil behavior. Slavery, sexism, war, etc. etc. are explicitly approved by scripture.

Here's the problem I have with people who want to apply the Bible (or the teachings of any other organized religion) to secular law and secular society. Why is it that Christians want to prevent people from being gay because of scripture, but they conveniently leave out so much? I have to wonder how many of the people who voted yes on Prop 8 a couple years ago are aware that the actual punishment prescribed for homosexuality is death? Have they ever read Deuteronomy 21:18 which explicitly states that disobedient children are to be stoned as well? Or Exodus 31:15 which clearly says that anyone who works on the Sabbath should be put to death? Do they know that there are 39 more capital crimes specified in the Bible?

At least Jesus was consistent, and more importantly loving and compassionate.

2010-06-11, 04:18 PM	#112
Kevin M EJ22T Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Reno Posts: 9,445 Car: '93/'01 GF6, mostly red Class: 19 FP	There are some very clear instances of hypocrisy and contradiction going on in the Bible. An eye for an eye vs. turn the other cheek is the most commonly cited. There are some clear issues with the contents that any "real scholarship" makes quite clear. A lot of it can be explained away by subscribing to the idea that Jesus' life and death fulfilled the contract of the Old Testament and essentially made it moot. The New Testament is way more friendly to the conduct of a free society. Still, even if I were quite Christian, believing in God, Jesus, the resurrection etc., I would obviously not believe that anything recorded in the Bible should be taken literally, for the most part. In particular the idea that the Bible ever has accurately described anything remotely scientific or involving the natural universe is laughable. The Old Testament explicitly contradicts what we've discovered and theorized in all of science. Like Scott said, it's never once gotten it right. Viewing the writings in the Bible as flawed products of a flawed species is far, far preferable to me than having to reject the entire thing as a complete fabrication loosed upon the world by a vast conspiracy of the churches of the faith. The problem then is, once you don't feel that the Bible directly represents God but rather our understanding of him, it really sucks as a guide to social behavior. The constant and never-disputed affirmation of slavery, bigotry, sexism, violence and servitude to the church are horrifying to me. That led to my personal view of the writings in the Bible to be a fairly decent code of personal conduct- Jesus never said that any one of us should act in a way I would not condone- but a terrible one for guiding how we apply the law to other people. So that is my severely abbreviated and mediocre explanation of why I don't attend church. I'm comfortable with the idea of an all-knowing, all-powerful God who created the universe. I'm okay with the idea that Jesus could be his one true prophet and the messiah. But past that, I've never found a set of views that I, as the creature that God may or may not have destined me to be, am comfortable embracing in its entirety. --- My first post in this thread is a quote from Ghandi- "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ." I first read that long after I had figured out where I stood on the subject, and it summed me up perfectly. It's just so disappointing to me when people try to use the Bible to justify evil behavior. Slavery, sexism, war, etc. etc. are explicitly approved by scripture. Here's the problem I have with people who want to apply the Bible (or the teachings of any other organized religion) to secular law and secular society. Why is it that Christians want to prevent people from being gay because of scripture, but they conveniently leave out so much? I have to wonder how many of the people who voted yes on Prop 8 a couple years ago are aware that the actual punishment prescribed for homosexuality is death? Have they ever read Deuteronomy 21:18 which explicitly states that disobedient children are to be stoned as well? Or Exodus 31:15 which clearly says that anyone who works on the Sabbath should be put to death? Do they know that there are 39 more capital crimes specified in the Bible? At least Jesus was consistent, and more importantly loving and compassionate. __________________ FWD is the new AWD Last edited by Kevin M; 2010-06-11 at 04:25 PM.