I have and and did much more research and study on what is written in the Bible. My conclusions have shown to me that the Bible is not an inspired book but a historical document orginal passed down by word of mouth with a Mystic thrown in because man was to ignorant to understand the world that surrounded him.
I will no longer call myself a christian.
2006-07-09 10:45:17 · 20 answers · asked by The Shrub 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I'm not a christian but a child of God - I have read and studied the Bible and my conclusion is that it is a great book that inspires me to be the best person I can be. It fills me with love and understanding even for those who deny or lost their ways. No one can make you believe nor is anyone asking you to. It is a shame you couldn't find anything good from the Bible and have turned you against what it is. I think calling people Ignorant is not showing how smart you think you have become that you feel you have to step on someone because you could not understand yourself.
2006-07-09 10:55:29 · answer #1 · answered by Savage 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Being a preacher's kid, I read the bible more often than most people ever do in their entire lives. I was being prepared for the ministry LONG before I ever knew what the ministry really meant.
I remember asking my Sunday school teacher why God had to kill EVERYBODY and all the animals in "Noah's flood" story just because some people were bad. Her answer was that people had become so evil that God just decided it would be better to start all over. I asked her how the animals were evil. She looked at me like I was satan... and never answered my question. I was 6 years old.
My father often told me that if I would just learn EVERYTHING in the Bible, all the questions I have would be answered. I now understand that was his way of saying he didn't know the answers either. I did, however, learn the content of the entire bible. I had read it 28 times cover to cover before I turned 18. I studied it for 20 years. Went to Bible college, and the more I learned about it, the less it made sense to me.
The most frustrating answer was "God works in mysterious ways."
As an adult nearing 40, I can honestly and sincerely say that the Bible is one of the most horrible books ever published and people who claim that it is the holy work of God are terribly decieved. God doesn't do the things the bible says God did. God doesn't tell people to do the things the bible says God did.
It's ok if you reject that book as the word of God. Just because other people want to believe in a cruel and evil deity doesn't mean that you have to. I don't even see it as a decent historical book. It's not much different than Homer's Iliad. Some of those people might have existed and some of them might have done some of what is printed there... but it certainly doesn't mean it happened exactly the way it says it did... and God had little to nothing to do with any of it. It is shameful to assume that Bronze age/Iron Age men who didn't know why famine, flood, earthquakes, disease, and pestilence happened would know EVERYTHING about who and what God is. It's just not possible.
2006-07-09 11:36:48 · answer #2 · answered by Dustin Lochart 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have and I'm currently busy studying it in other languages and translations as well.
To those who have given their life to the Lord Jesus Christ and accepts Him as their true Savior, true wisdom, insight and understanding is given through the Holy Spirit to truly understand the teachings of the Holy Bible. Reading the Bible from cover to cover does not guarantee your salvation. I can read a Spanish novel and not understand a word of what I'm reading, but if I have a translator then I will be able to understand more and more of the novel over time. The Holy Spirit acts as your translator.
Many times I have believed that I know and understand what a certain passage in the Bible means or tries to say, and when that passage is finally handled in a service by my pastor, new insight is gained as to how that same passage applies to many different situations. The Bible is extremely complex, even if it doesn't seem that way at first glance (or research), and I truly believe that there is no possible way the Bible could have been written without the inspiration and guidance of God through the Holy Spirit.
2006-07-09 11:11:57 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes I have. I too have done much research in this area. I believe it to be inspired and without error. This, of course, is a matter of personal faith. I do not believe that there is a way to "prove" the Bible right or wrong though there is a great deal of evidence to support it. You may want to check out some books by Evangelical sources in support of the inerrancy of the Bible. I say this only to suggest that you balance your research from another point of view.
2006-07-09 10:53:34 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You are right about it being a historical document, but the lessons that are taught can be applied to our lives. If you have read it, then you know that it teaches about the rise and fall of civilizations, moral and ethical questions, and so forth. If you understand the stories in it, you would see that each can be applied to different situations in our own lives.
I don't think a mystic has anything to do with it. But that's just my own conclusion. And yes, I've read it more then once, and each time I read it I get more out of it.
2006-07-09 10:53:38 · answer #5 · answered by odd duck 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have not read the Bible cover to cover, but I have read bits and pieces, and though it may sound completely illogical, the largest component of christianity is faith. Believing in what you cannot prove nor see, even with all of the more logical answers floating around out there. I'm sorry that you have succumbed to the temptation to believe what makes more sense, but what I consider to be untrue.
2006-07-09 10:50:30 · answer #6 · answered by x 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Seems as though you have done good research. People seem to forget that we have developed higher cognitive processing which allow us to think and ask questions. I have done the research also, and I know where you are coming from. Yes, he was a Christian, and if others would be willing to ask questions, not only would the world average IQ increase, but people would be happier.
2006-07-09 10:53:04 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
When reading the bible through and comparing it to history I found that many things in the bible were prophesied about before they came to pass. If anything it gave me faith in the premises of true christianity.
2006-07-09 10:49:55 · answer #8 · answered by travallion 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I haven't read the Bible cover to cover.
I pray that maybe you'll read it again and become a Christian if you haven't in the past and if you have that maybe you'll return to God and allow the Holy Spirit to lead you and not your humanly ways.
2006-07-09 10:49:57 · answer #9 · answered by okiemom67 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have read the Bible cover to cover. Many times!
2006-07-09 11:23:22 · answer #10 · answered by doc_is 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋