what do you know about the bible?

This one is a little different than the other question I asked about reading the bible..cause sometimes reading and understanding are not necessarily the same.
Just talk about the different parts of the bible you like and maybe even parts you do not like..

as for me, as of late..

I have been reading the different accounts of Jesus last few days before he was executed. His demeanor was very cool and collective, none at that time could stump him and he was ready and willing to give an answer to all questions..

and of course, Revelations, the inspired signs are cool to study and meditate on..

please share

 

Read Gethsemane again. Hardly "cool and collected". Sure, he did not sin and still submitted himself to God (as a man), but the text describes his sweat like "drops of blood". Thick heavy sweat. He was emotionally tortured at this point. Also, depending on which Gospel you read (the Synoptics versus St John's) the Cleansing of the Temple comes right before Holy Week and Jesus could hardly be described as collected.

A side note: It is Revelation, not Revelations.

My piece of advice for you is make sure you have a good guide with you. The Scriptures are not always plainly understood. Scripture itself even supports this. History supports this. Luckily, Jesus himself gave us the the Holy Spirit, his apostles, and his successors in the Church to assist and guide us through the Scriptures.

 

Jesus gave us the holy spirit. His apostles and successors presented themselves and it is where we are gathered together in his name that he is present.

 

I believe the bible is a work of fiction. As Isaac Asimov stated, "Properly read, the bible is the most potent force of atheism ever conceived".

 

It is certainly not about proof. Seek and you shall find is a very biblical term indeed but not about finding proof either. I find your post very typical and unwise.

 

The results of its messages are ubiquitous.

 

Typical in the sense of quaint. You claim to agree you have to got some insight in the bible before rejecting it but every insightful person, religious or not, knows it's not a scientific work where you look for proof. Instead it deals about matters of faith and religion which is apparent to most people even those that who don't have faith in it/have adapted that faith. But you still choose to focus on it from the angle of proof and lies. This seems typical and kind of unwise for a person who claims to be insightful.

 

Just as children outgrow the uselessness of Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy, so too should religion fail to be of any use to an intelligent society.

 

Your opinion is obvious. Let me just say this thread is about what we ourselves know about the bible and not the religion in general or your opinion of it.

 

I know that Job was a very faithful man and did not give up his integrity to God, regardless of the circumstance. Gotta respect that

 

My parents used to take me to Bible studies, seminars, sermons, Sunday school classes, etc. Back then, I could have told you a lot about what the Bible says about Job. But I couldn't tell you for sure if any such person ever lived. I can't tell you who wrote that book of the Bible, or for what reason it was written. I don't know how many times it's been re-copied, with or without edits, or what kind of people did these things. Therefore, I'm not sure that I know anything about Job.

I do know that there are a lot of different versions of the various books floating around, that they passed through a lot of hands, and that everything was written down a long time after all the characters died. I don't get the point of studying a book and trying to artificially separate its contents from its background. How is that valid?

Every Bible study I ever went to started out with an assumption that the accuracy of the original language text was not to be questioned. If I went home afterward and started asking too many hard questions, I got responses like, "Good little girls don't question such things. God punishes those who don't have faith." In other words, "Shut up, and believe whatever you're told." Probably, the most trouble I ever got in for asking Bible questions was when I said, "When people say that they hear God talking to them and telling them to do stuff, everybody says they're crazy. They get locked up. Why was it different back in the Bible days?"

Anybody can write a book and put in it, "This book was inspired by God, and anyone who doesn't believe it is going to hell." That doesn't mean a word of it is true. The next line could be, "I am a purple unicorn." This is the big flaw in circular logic.

In practical usage, words like "believe" and "faith" seems to be very similar in meaning to "assume" and "assumption". I don't think it's smart to assume anything, any time, anywhere. Therefore, in spite of having spent thousands of hours studying the Bible all through my youth, I'm not convinced that I know anything about it, except that it has made a great impact on the world.

 

One of the things I've always enjoyed was the statement made to Neb‧u‧chad‧nez′zar by the three Hebrews when facing certain death.

“O Neb‧u‧chad‧nez′zar, we are under no necessity in this regard to say back a word to you. If it is to be, our God whom we are serving is able to rescue us. Out of the burning fiery furnace and out of your hand, O king, he will rescue [us]. But if not, let it become known to you, O king, that your gods are not the ones we are serving, and the image of gold that you have set up we will not worship.”

 

I would tell anyone who has never read the bible before to start with the gospels. There are 4 gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They are the first 4 books of the New Testament. This is where you will meet Jesus. It's the gospels that contain the story of His life from His birth to His resurrection from the dead. It also contains all of His teachings. Get a bible (or, buy a New Testament) that is NOT written in old english (no "thee" and "thou") It will be easier to understand.

A person can't love someone they don't know. And a person can't know someone unless they have spent time with them. People reject Jesus who have never spent any time with Him. In other words, people reject Jesus who don't know Him. If you read the 4 gospels, you will get to know Jesus. Then you can decide whether to reject Him or not.

Also, in case you don't know...The New Testament is just the last 1/3 of the bible. The Old Testament is everything that happened before Jesus' birth. And the New Testament is everything that happened after Jesus was born. If you are going to purchase a bible, they make several that are just The New Testament, with the Psalms and Proverbs. (The last 2 mentioned are from the Old Testament). Most people read and reread the New Testament because there is so much wisdom in it. You will be amazed. All the answers to life's questions are in the bible.

 

You are right. Jesus was cool and collected during His passion and death. When He was in the garden of Geseminie he was frightened. So frightened about the torture He was about to go through that He cried and sweat drops of blood. However, once He accepted His fate, he handled Himself beautifully. People beat Him, spit on Him, called Him names and accused Him of being a sorcerer. But He never said a word in reply. He said nothing. He knew that these people would stand before God the Father after they died and they would be punished for what they were doing to Him. He was the perfect example for us.

 

I know that it didn't exist a million years ago. Nor did much science. Or much language. Things change. Except hubris.

 

Karen J said -" Anybody can write a book and put in it, "This book was inspired by God, and anyone who doesn't believe it is going to hell." That doesn't mean a word of it is true. The next line could be, "I am a purple unicorn." This is the big flaw in circular logic."

First of all, no where in the bible does it say that anyone who doesn't believe in the bible is going to hell. You don't have to read the bible to get to heaven. And you are right, anyone can say, "This book is inspired by God." But the truth is, that claim has never been made about any of the other holy book in the world. It does say through out the bible that, "Holy men wrote as the Holy Spirit inspired them." That is why Luke could write in detail about the life of Christ, even though he never met Jesus. I believe that the bible is divinely inspired because I have taken scriptures and stood on them in faith and seen them come to pass more times than I can count. Also, in the bible it says, "The word of God is alive and powerful." Read any book out there written by a priest who is also an exorcist and you will find that when the words of bible, and ONLY the words of the bible, are spoken by the priest to a man or woman that is demon possessed, that person goes wild. It is like throwing acid on them. They can read ANY words from the bible and that happens. In fact, the way that they exorcise a demon out of somebody is to constantly speak God's word to them. And to command, in the name of Jesus, for the demon to come out. Why do they command the demon to come out in the name of Jesus? Because the bible says to do that when a person is demon possessed. Further proof of the fact that the bible is divinely inspired.

Just something to consider

 

What are next week's lottery numbers?

 

It was the bible that turned me away from christianity. If you read the thing in it's entirety, and not piecemeal as so many people do, you will see that it is mostly bunk. Yes, it has some good philosophy in it, things that can help people to live better lives, but you have to get past the supernatural aspects of it AND have a basic understanding of the natural world.
I saw a few posts here about Job. Does anyone realize that the Hebrews (Jews), whose book, the Tanakh, it falls in, regard it as nothing more than a parable, to be used for teaching? Meaning it was not real? It did not happen? This from a rabbi (he runs the Mesora web site) I spent 4 years discussing the so called "Old Testament" with. Very few christians understand that the books that make up the "Old Testament" comprise the entire Hebrew bible. It was written by Hebrews, for the Hebrew people, and has nothing to do with the rest of us. It is a history and a guide about and for them.
If people really took the time to read and understand what it says, they could clearly see the inconsistencies and out right wrong statements found in it. If you obtained a copy of the Hebrew bible and read it side by side with the christian version, it is easy to see how it has been misunderstood, and rewritten into something that it was not intended to be. I did exactly that, and it became very clear to me that christianity is a made up religion. I don't agree with the Hebrew version either, since it also has claims in it that we know to be untrue. If a supposed "book inspired by god" is wrong, how can the deity it supports be considered real? Errors in the "holy book" means errors by a supposedly infallible deity. Is that possible?
That is what I know about the bible.