Religion Poll

You've made sense, in a pointless sort of way that is

I think your right though. The only difference between atheism and other religions is, it hasn't been institutionalised, there is not yet a church for the profoundly disbeliever. I think there should be.

Something in the vein of "Nationalists of all countries unite" or would that be an oxymoron.

maani wrote: As an aside to threefates, it is historically incorrect to state that "the Bible was written by men, other than the 10 Commandmnets which were written by God."  You seem to be relying on the movie "The Ten Commandments" rather than scholarly theology.  As any Old or New Testament scholar can tell you, when God "gave the law" to Moses, He did not simply give him the 10 Commandments.  After all, it would not have taken God forty days (which is how long Moses was on Mount Sinai) to do so.  Rather, God "wrote" (actually, had Moses transcribe) the entire "Pentatuch" (Torah) - the first five books of the Bible, including all the laws (moral, dietary, etc.).

Uhh.. as someone who worked at the American Bible Society for 14 years and worked with quite a few Biblical scholars (including Barclay Newman) on "The Good News Bible" and the "Contemporary English Version"... where does it say in your Bible that this is indeed true.  This reasoning is speculation, as is half the translation of the Bible from the Greek/Hebrew text for that matter.

maani wrote: In addition, to state that "the Bible was written by men" negates the fact that, according to Judeo-Christian belief, every man (and, yes, woman) who "contributed" to the Old and New Testaments was "divinely inspired"; i.e., although it might not have been "written by God," it was, nonetheless, "given" by God through "revelation" or otherwise.

Yes I remember reading in quite a few spots of the Old Testament where many of the sages or seers would do some of that smokey stuff and start quoting speeches as visions from God...also lots of weird incense being burned in the temples.... I had a lot of friends in the early 70s that smoked some stuff and had conversations with God also... That doesn't mean I have to accept it as Gospel.  Also quite a few books in the Old Testament were written by man... whose's to say truthfully that it all wasn't.

maani wrote: This is not meant to be proselytizing or "arguing," but merely informational re the history of the Bible itself. Peace.

History in the sense that one might plot the history of Batman and his exploits.
One could say that Peter Jackson's interpretation of "The Lord Of The Rings" is far closer to the spirit of Tolkien's books than the New Testament is to the spirit of Christ's life on Earth.
And as relevant....

Although I am a Christian (essentially Protestant) minister, I reject mainstream, heirarchical, "organized" Christianity (both Catholic and Protestant), since, as JrKASperov infers, the vast majority of it is apostate, if not heretical.  I practice (and preach and teach) what has been referred to as "primitive" Christianity; i.e., Jesus' ministry (the four Gospels) and the first 60 years following (i.e., the remainder of the New Testament).

As an aside to threefates, it is historically incorrect to state that "the Bible was written by men, other than the 10 Commandmnets which were written by God."  You seem to be relying on the movie "The Ten Commandments" rather than scholarly theology.  As any Old or New Testament scholar can tell you, when God "gave the law" to Moses, He did not simply give him the 10 Commandments.  After all, it would not have taken God forty days (which is how long Moses was on Mount Sinai) to do so.  Rather, God "wrote" (actually, had Moses transcribe) the entire "Pentatuch" (Torah) - the first five books of the Bible, including all the laws (moral, dietary, etc.).  This is why Moses was on the mountain for 40 days.  It is also why, when a new Torah is created, every single Hebrew letter must be meticulously hand-written from the Torah before it.  If the scribe "messes up" even one letter, he is required to throw away the entire "page" (actually, sheepskin), and start that page again - even if everything else was correct.  This is why the over 350,000 letters of the Torah have changed less than 2% after almost 4,000 years.

In addition, to state that "the Bible was written by men" negates the fact that, according to Judeo-Christian belief, every man (and, yes, woman) who "contributed" to the Old and New Testaments was "divinely inspired"; i.e., although it might not have been "written by God," it was, nonetheless, "given" by God through "revelation" or otherwise.

This is not meant to be proselytizing or "arguing," but merely informational re the history of the Bible itself.

Peace.

Velvetclown wrote: No but he would blame it all on me, that Leed Rover

No, I'd just use you as a protective shield to save myself!