another question about the bible?

Question

okay i have another question. is there any possible way in your opinion that some of the things in the bible could be wrong? i just cant get over the scaryness of it. in fact it almost seems kind of sick and demented. im sorry for my stupidity about this subject. and again i welcome all opinions from any religoin just please say what religoin you are.

Answer 1

Hello Sarah, I am a Christian. I truly believe that God's Word the Bible has been preserved for us by God. The Bible tells us of good news. The good news being that we are invited to live forever. Please read the New Testament. In it you will learn that Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, came to the earth as a human who never sinned even though He was tempted in every way that we are to sin..

The reason for his coming is because we (all of us) are born into the world as sinful people. The scary and bad news is that none of us deserve to go to Heaven and live forever with God because of our sinful nature.

The "wonderful news" is that God sent His Son, Jesus, to take our place for the punishment of our sins. Jesus' death on the cross cancels out our punishment if we just believe in Him, accept Him as our Lord and Savior, and repent (turn away from) of our sins.

We have assurance only through Jesus for our salvation. There is nothing we can do to earn eternal life. Jesus did it all. That is why Jesus died on the cross. He has sent His Holy Spirit to those who love and belong to Him to help them to do what is right.

If you will confess Jesus as your Lord and Savior. You will be saved and receive this precious gift of eternal life that God has made available for you.

If you do this please don't ever be afraid again. God loves you right now just as you are. You don't have to be good or perfect in any way.

Answer 2

Yes, there can be errors in translation. The writers could have misunderstood an event like the sun standing still, or it could be divine intervention. This becomes a matter of faith, opinion. Currently scholars say Moses parted the Reed Sea, not the Red Sea. These points are about as meaningful as know how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

What the Bible got right is far more important. Jesus is the Christ. The only begotten of the Father in the flesh. He died and rose again.

Answer 3

I am a Christian. Specifically a Traditional Catholic. I believe that Scared Tradition and the Bible go hand in hand. I'm not talking about the latest theological fad. I'm talking about the traditions handed down from Jesus to the Apostles to today. The problem is there are a lot of lousy translations. The New World Translation is one example. Another problem I have with Scripture Only or Solo Scriptura people is that has lead to many sects, cults and heresy. Sacred Tradition and the Bible go hand in hand. It doesn't lead to schisms. My understanding of your question is that you have never had anybody ever answer your questions. Faulty translations leads to many problems. It is not a stupid question, but an honest one. Why do you consider the bible scary?

Answer 4

First of all, what is faith. To me, faith and belief are very different. Faith is the awe inspiring feeling of glimpsing something larger than yourself, than all your comprehension. Belief is applying a structure to that. Personally, I stray away from that, and consider myself a spiritual agnostic, with Episcopal roots. ...I sound like a hippie.

Anyway, for each gospel, there is not just one ancient copy set in stone, but multiple versions across the years. Some contain different events, some omit things, many don't correspond with each other. This doesn't invalidate the basic principle teachings, but when it comes to historical accuracy, they were NEVER meant for that. The Jewish people then believed in telling the subjective truths of history, not bare bone facts like today. Also, when you look at the Bible literally, you misinterpret many ancient cultural contexts and don't get the full truth of the matter. The ancient Hebrew society was very different from ours.

I could spend many hours talking about this because I know something about Biblical history, but I'll just say that I writer can be divinely inspired and write basic truths, but it can be obscured by cultural, personal, and prejudicial noise.

Answer 5

I'm Catholic.

I've studied the Bible for almost 50 years, in several different languages and half a dozen translations, and I've yet to be able to prove it wrong.

The more you study the Bible, the more you come to appreciate it.

This is not to say that the Bible is the complete, sum total of all divine revelation. It certainly is not.

Without the guidance of the true church, and the teachings and sacred Traditions thereof, no one can properly interpret scripture.

The 20,000+ various Protestant denominations, each professing their own version of the "truth" are clear evidence of this.

Answer 6

I don't think wrong is the right word. Miss understood, yes. The translations through the years have changed and this makes us wonder if any of it is right. I am a Christian but have studied other religions. I have found that if you go back to the basics, many other cultures have the same beliefs. I have known many people that are theologians and they even differ on opinion. My thought is that if we could all just follow the ten Commandments, we would all be much happier.

Answer 7

You are not stupid, you are observant. The Bible, as we know it, was translated to English by the people who worked for King James after he authorized it. It was translated from Latin and Aramic. Now who can say with any certainty, that the men translating it got every word and nuance perfect? Not possible. I am an ordained minister in the Universal Life church. We follow the teachings of the Bible and traditions as handed down to us. Don't be scared. Use it as a guide and as a great source of History. There is nothing sick and demented about it. There is much beauty and great stories. Most people only hear about Revelations and who knows what that was about. Read the Song of Solomon. It is beautiful. The Psalms are lovely. The parts that are scary may be there for the reason the old Church wanted to control people and figured if they could not control them they could scare the "HELL" out of them.

Answer 8

I'm Asian Indian- Half RC and Half Hindu.
Honestly, I believe everyone should take the bible like everything else. Look at it, take from it what you find right, and leave the rest alone. Not everything should be taken literally in the bible, some might be made up while some might just be metaphoric. So, important thing is- leave the stories alone and just get the good lessons out of it.

Answer 9

Christian here. Try viewing this vid on the International Bible Society site it is about how we got the bible today:
http://www.ibs.org/bibles/about/translation/index.php

There is also a lot of other helpful stuff there and several modern day English translations that you could look at. Sometime you might want to visit a solid Bible beleiving church and talk to a clergy person about some of your questions.

Thanks for the polite question.

Answer 10

This is the way I like to think of it:

If I live my life according to what the Bible says, when I die I will go to Heaven.

But what if the Bible is wrong?
Well, I would have lived a pretty good life overall. When I die, I won't go to Hell, I just will become nothing.

Either way, I would benefit from believing in God.

Also, that is why you need to have faith.