Wise is the bible

The Core RPGC Main Forum
1

I’m not religious. Maybe people think, mainly for things I’ve said, that I have some prejudice against those who are. But I don’t. As much as I disagree with religious people, I still see the sacred books as great philosophical, moral & historical guides & records.

I have the sacred books of five religions at home and every once in a while I read some part of them. Yesterday was Bible’s turn. I just opened it at random and came up with a message. I read it and said, “hey man, that’s it! People should see this.”. I was in anguish, and now I am back to normality thanks to it.

If anyone cares, get your bibles and read Proverbs 31, 6

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Proverbs 31:6? thinks Give strong drink to him who is perishing, and wine to those who are bitter of heart.

(for those lazy ones)

3

Give drugs to those who suffer. Nice 8P.

I would agree there’s some philosophy in religious texts, but most religious people don’t abide by that philosophy. If they were truly religious, they would understand the true message Jesus (fr christianity) was passing along.

Also, I disagree about the historical accuracy of the bible. It is not a history book. Esp not since its been rewritten quite a few times.

4

When I was in college I took a class on the New Testament. My professor was an ordained minister, but he didn’t teach the class like it was Sunday school. We discussed the NT as both a literary and a historical document.

The trick with the Bible (I don’t know about some other holy books) is the translation. (I feel like it’s more translation than rewriting) We also got into that a whole lot, since the translation is vital to the reading and interpretation. Going from Aramaic to Greek to I don’t know what to various forms of English and maintaining the proper spirit and context of anything isn’t easy, and it’s probably gotten a bit screwy over time. I’ve been to church where people have at least three different English versions of the Bible, and many of the same passages in each of them can be interpreted differently because of their wording.

Anyway, you can pull a lot of good things from religious texts. It’s funny how a lot of them say a lot of the same things in different words.

5

There is a lot of wise things in the bible; like there is in all religions, the problem is when it comes to the frame around the wise things.

6

Heh…actually, I’m currently teaching a New Testament class (surprise surprise). The St. James version is supposed to be the most correctly translated version of the bible. Joseph Smith (the first prophet of the Mormon religion) also did some remarkable translations that made certain sections of the bible clear, for instance the part where Lot supposedly offered his daughters to the Soddomites. The translation indicates that the Soddomites demanded the two men AND the daughters, rather than Lot offering them in exchange. Which makes more sense. :slight_smile: But enough rambling from me!

7

Originally posted by Faetan
The St. James version is supposed to be the most correctly translated version of the bible.

Do you mean the King James version? I have never heard of a St. James version.

Originally posted by Sinistral
Also, I disagree about the historical accuracy of the bible. It is not a history book. Esp not since its been rewritten quite a few times.

…by editors of different worldviews and ethnicities, who may easily have had their own agendas when producing new versions and translations.

8

The king james sounds better because that was the (most) edited version I think.

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Originally posted by Sinistral
[b]Give drugs to those who suffer. Nice 8P.

I would agree there’s some philosophy in religious texts, but most religious people don’t abide by that philosophy. If they were truly religious, they would understand the true message Jesus (fr christianity) was passing along.

Also, I disagree about the historical accuracy of the bible. It is not a history book. Esp not since its been rewritten quite a few times. [/b]

Jesus was like the ancient Hebrew equivlent to a hippy. Well think about it: he promoted universal love, and he was against the establishment. eh? eh? :wink:

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And he had the long hair and beard (jk)

Trillian’s got the right idea, however amusingly put.

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(Please don’t flame me for anything I say here ;.:wink:

The KJV I believe was one of the most accurate bible versions, as opposed to the catholics, who were adding a lot (e.g. the Apocrypha). Apparently King James strived to make it as true to the original scripture as possible. I also believe Billy Graham’s organization released what they claim is a direct translation of the hebrew NT; it may be interesting to compare the two.

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The King James is, I guess, the most accurately translated version of the New Testament, but there are far more accurate Old Testament translations done in Israel from the old Hebrew of the oldest available versions of the Bible.

13

I don’t know if this is relevant, but I heard somewhere that some crazed Trekkies translated the Bible into Klingon. @_@
And no, I’m not a trekkie.

14

It’s true. Actually, in a way it makes sense; Kahless was just another incarnation of Jesus, I mean, he was some legendary guy who died and his followers await his rebirth.

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I’ll stick with the original Hebrew meself, if you don’t mind. :sunglasses:

16

Oh, don’t be such a wuss. A little bat’leth melee never hurt anyone.

…well, except for the loser, but, y’know.

17

While I do not believe it warrants a religion, most of the teachings of Jesus found in the four gospels is extremely sweet. It is however the fucked up ways people have interpreted the entire bible (which besides some proverbs, psalms, and that rad David shounen-ai part, i think is complete BS) that makes me dislike Christianity. Also, I don’t see or experience anything the bible says relating to Godckt.

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Bible = good.

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Shounen-ai? - I hope you were kidding.

ok, while I grant that a lot of Christians do misinterpret a lotta stuff in the Bible, I’d say it’s the people who aren’t Christians that really get it wrong.

You can’t just pick and choose. It’s all or nothing. If you just skim around and don’t understand or take the time to be willing to understand, it will always come across as messed up.

Ok, for example, when the Bible says that God is the Lion of Judah, are they saying that he is actually a four legged beast? Heck no! they’re saying he’s Judah’s protector, and will defeat those who oppose.

When the Bible says that God is a lamb, does it then mean that he’s some small white fluffy thing that tastes good with mint sauce? No! It’s obvious, you just read th Bible and you understand stuff. He’s our sacrifice, innocent, and pure.

“So if He’s a lamb and a lion, isn’t that a contradiction? Just like the rest of the Bible (suppsedly) is?”

No, again. God is the God of the impossible, it’s called a hypostatic union. It’s where something is 100% one thing AND 100% something else. In the same way, Jesus became 100% fully God, and 100% fully man.

People say that Christians are close-minded, and granted that many are. But I think many MORE people become close minded to the Bible just because they had a few bad experiences in the past. (or even a lot.) Read the Bible with a 100% open mind.

Some say, “I agree with the philosophies, just not the framework, so I won’t follow it.”
So, read more about the framework (with said open mind) and it’ll actually make sense. If you aren’t the praying types, at least try this one prayer, ask God to illuminate the Bible to you. He’ll reveal more than what meets the eye, and allow you to see the truth.

All that Jesus called us to do is follow Him, and let others know about Him. EVERYTHING else is secondary. If Jesus was such a good example and you dislike everything else, then just start out by following Jesus. It gets a lot harder to go wrong there.

20

Some people are just unwilling, you can’t force either arguement on them…the way i see it is, just let people believe what they want to believe.When dealing with religion, basically everyone will try and contridict and prove you wrong, regardless of whatever belief you support. I try to see the wisdom out of every religion or culture or frame of mind.