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Originally Posted by photosynthesis
yeah, I'm all for reading the Bible for what it actually says, and not twisting words around for what we want it to say.
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We can certainly read it as it is, but we have to consider what it is we're actually reading.
If it's the King James Version, we're reading a text that was translated several hundred years ago into English from ancient greek & hebrew texts.
That is a very watered down picture of the translation process, but even so, to say the bible is "in-errant" and shouldn't be re-evaluated for today's world lacks integrity and denies the the truth of our ever expanding knowledge base.
For example, the catholic church threatened Galileo with excommunication unless he recanted his theory that the earth revolves around the sun. According to the church's interpretation of a certain text in the Old Testament where God was said to stop the sun in the sky so a battle could be won, they believed the earth was the center of the universe.
But our scientific knowledge today has clearly shown otherwise.
Another point to consider is that people have always twisted the bible to back their various viewpoints. Using "proof-texts" they have justified slavery, subjectification of women, sexual orientation discrimination, etc.