ladyinred
03-31-2007, 11:51 PM
These are my comments and these are not meant to attack or criticize people who study the bible... but it is my feeling after reading the bible , though not cover to cover and reading about alternate spirituality and even on the history of the bible, my conclusion is the bible is not the infallible ,inerrant word of God... Yes it contains inspiration, beauty, and certain truths in many passages but we must not overlook the parts of the bible which inspired violence among other things...(usually in the old testament) When we are dealing with the historical perspective of the bible , we are dealing with just that ,a historical perspective... we know the ancient hebrews had certain customs and practices we would not adhere to today.Why? Because it would not make sense today... It is said that in the old testament that God approved of the ancient hebrews taking slaves...stoning children if they did not obey their parents... why wouldn't we follow these customs today because they would not make sense today from our now understanding of things.. many of the rituals and ideas of the old new testament had to do with human consciousness at the time, the culture, the times , the customs,civilization and other factors.. they were less evolved in their understanding.
But the problem and danger is that people believe that the bible is the absolute truth and authority on all matters... and when a new spiritual teaching or alternatives comes along , they automatically discredit it because their belief is firmly tied to the bible and it's explanations.
Again, the bible has been translated many times and in many languages, and it is possible that much of the original meanings may have been lost in the translations.. A word two thousand years ago , may have meant something totally different than it does today. The danger also is that too many times people have interpreted the bible to justify their prejudices , fears and hatred of others.. we've seem this in past history in the inquisitions, witch burnings among other things... we must also understand as well, that even in the bible people have changed their minds about certain ideas and thinking that was stated in previous scripture, for example, the sins of the fathers shall be visited on the children and future generations, changed to ,everyone is responsible for their own sin.... so in the bible there had been a progression of change and reform of older ideals and thinking..and belief systems
Let's take the old testaments views on the sabbath, that people who worked on the sabbath would be stoned to death... and to the teachings of Jesus , who often broke the old sabbath rules... another progressive change from the old to the new...can this still be going on today, yes, because we are more advanced in our understanding of things, than those of ancient history who followed certain superstitions and tribal mentality... we are a progress in work... can there be new revelations, yes, because God is constantly reaching out toward man to help him .
Should we evolve, if we don't then we are stuck in the old mentalities of the past which do not pertain to the present moment or present day civilzation...Think about it, would you follow old tribal customs and mandates like the ones above that I mentioned? Stone your children? Put to death people who didn't work on the sabbath. If these were the irrefutable absolute ideas and mandates of God then why would they have changed through other means.. If God really meant to have people stoned to death on the sabbath, why then would this had not pertained to Jesus who was often criticized by the pharisees for doing just that... He and his disciples were harvesting grain on the sabbath day and were criticized by the pharisees for "working" on the sabbath" Jesus quoted the scripture about David and his men and said he the son of man was even Lord over the sabbath
Were these old laws and ordinances moral absolutes, obviously not, otherwise Jesus would have held to the letter of the law without deviation... something to think about.... As I said we also see how the new testament contrasts with the old testament.. why is there this contrast, the evolution of the consciousness of man.. Paul even said when he was a child he spoke and thought as a child but now that he was a man , he put away those childish things... It's like saying we are not on the same level of understanding that we were when we were kids, we no longer think in the same ways we used to. WE are no longer in kindergarten , or first grade, we moved on to hopefully to more maturity and a better understanding of things then when we were children.. the same applies to the bible.
But the problem and danger is that people believe that the bible is the absolute truth and authority on all matters... and when a new spiritual teaching or alternatives comes along , they automatically discredit it because their belief is firmly tied to the bible and it's explanations.
Again, the bible has been translated many times and in many languages, and it is possible that much of the original meanings may have been lost in the translations.. A word two thousand years ago , may have meant something totally different than it does today. The danger also is that too many times people have interpreted the bible to justify their prejudices , fears and hatred of others.. we've seem this in past history in the inquisitions, witch burnings among other things... we must also understand as well, that even in the bible people have changed their minds about certain ideas and thinking that was stated in previous scripture, for example, the sins of the fathers shall be visited on the children and future generations, changed to ,everyone is responsible for their own sin.... so in the bible there had been a progression of change and reform of older ideals and thinking..and belief systems
Let's take the old testaments views on the sabbath, that people who worked on the sabbath would be stoned to death... and to the teachings of Jesus , who often broke the old sabbath rules... another progressive change from the old to the new...can this still be going on today, yes, because we are more advanced in our understanding of things, than those of ancient history who followed certain superstitions and tribal mentality... we are a progress in work... can there be new revelations, yes, because God is constantly reaching out toward man to help him .
Should we evolve, if we don't then we are stuck in the old mentalities of the past which do not pertain to the present moment or present day civilzation...Think about it, would you follow old tribal customs and mandates like the ones above that I mentioned? Stone your children? Put to death people who didn't work on the sabbath. If these were the irrefutable absolute ideas and mandates of God then why would they have changed through other means.. If God really meant to have people stoned to death on the sabbath, why then would this had not pertained to Jesus who was often criticized by the pharisees for doing just that... He and his disciples were harvesting grain on the sabbath day and were criticized by the pharisees for "working" on the sabbath" Jesus quoted the scripture about David and his men and said he the son of man was even Lord over the sabbath
Were these old laws and ordinances moral absolutes, obviously not, otherwise Jesus would have held to the letter of the law without deviation... something to think about.... As I said we also see how the new testament contrasts with the old testament.. why is there this contrast, the evolution of the consciousness of man.. Paul even said when he was a child he spoke and thought as a child but now that he was a man , he put away those childish things... It's like saying we are not on the same level of understanding that we were when we were kids, we no longer think in the same ways we used to. WE are no longer in kindergarten , or first grade, we moved on to hopefully to more maturity and a better understanding of things then when we were children.. the same applies to the bible.