If you have studied or researched Bible stories, why did you bother?

Question

After reading the first two pages of this book, any intelligent person must ask the question," Why am I , as a mature adult , reading stories about talking snakes, intelligent fruit, invisible creatures, a sun that roams around a flat earth while attached to a sky dome, and one of the creature's is making a man using dirt for raw material? ".---So why did you not just dismiss these stories as implausible and not credible?

I know this book is popular in many places, but is that enough to make you want to believe it? After all it is based only on hearsay evidence.

When you first read a Superman comic book, you were not inspired to start doing research about Superman's ability to
" leap tall buildings in a single bound, and run faster than a speeding bullet, " were you?
Why did you seek " experts " after reading the Bible ; Yet you needed none to help you understand comic books?

THERESA:---Do you believe that , perhaps, the sun roamed around the earth in those days.
If that's the thinking of those naive people, should you be trying to gain wisdom from them?

JB1234:---If a "human brain can't wrap itself around it", why was it written?

JB1234:---If a "human brain can't wrap itself around it",-- why was it written, and
how could a human write it?

DEMETRI W:---Sorry,I agree with most of what you say,-- but I just can't see any way that the statement "God created heaven and earth" is metaphorical.

SABBONIS:---Have you forgotten that millions of people believed in witches, a flat earth, and a "master race"?
Majorities have often been very wrong.

How did you arrive at the conclusion that I was "ridiculing" you, just by asking you an honest question?
If you're that defensive, your belief must be a bit shaky.

ITCHY:---If you see many people comitting suicide, does that make you want to suck on the exhaust pipe of your Toyota?

BLUTO:---So, if I write that I saw a white rabbit with purple spots and horns in Metropolis, you wont believe me; but if I say I saw it in Detroit, you'll run to the "experts" to verify it?

AVERAGE PERSON:--- I'm sure you're above average.

JAICEE:---I find it hard to belive that an all knowing god would need to follow the popular trend of using " metaphors" to communicate the most important considerations in life. If in deed the writers were "inspired" by God.

If he really wanted EVERYBODY to understand these "facts", why would he employ these tricky techniques.
Are you and a few other very intelligent people the only ones he wanted to inform?

JON B:---Your " challange" is met.---The sun does not roam around the earth.
I see science as an ongoing quest for truth.---Christianity claims ownership of truth.
If science makes mistakes, that will not leave creation as the only answer.

I will not have "faith" in science if it doesn't make sense to me.

DAVID P:---Oh. That makes sense.-- So it wasn't a snake with vocal chords, it was that invisible and inaudible devil of yours who was also hiding in the fruit.
I'm sorry, but did you just offer to replace one ridiculous notion with one just as silly?

PAK KOES:---Most Christians prefere to quote from the New Testament ,because it speaks of love, kindness,mercy and forgivness. These things are easy to believe and defend and sell to non-believers.
But it's not that easy , nor is it honest to dismiss the Old Testament, because if the O.T. is not true, then the New Testament can't be true.
If there is no father, there is no son.
You can't simply disassociate yourself from the simplistic stories of the O.T. by calling the N.T.a "new covenant with God".
That's a cop-out.

JIM B:---I have no problem, at all ,understanding why a person would want to study the Bible or it's history as an academic exercise. I must confess that I also have been interested in it's history.I have read both old and new Testaments, cover to cover, and I often revisit them out of curiosity. I might even study the history of Superman, out of curiosity.
However, I can't believe someone would do this kind of research on these simplistic stories to "strengthen" their "belief".

DALE M:---I want to say in the most respectful way, that I believe that you're
playing with your own sanity.

APOLLONI:---" history and first person accounts"?------Sorry----None.

Reading the answers posted here should convince any honest person that, a self-serving search for what one WANTS to believe, is by no means a quest for truth.

DEMETRI W: Yes ; now I understand what you were saying in your very well written response, and your're obviously correct.---Sorry I misunderstood.

Answer 1

Remember in the early days of Christianity, no one had a Bible of their own. They heard the stories by word of mouth, something like Christians today who never read the Bible on their own, but rely on their religious leaders to interpret it for them. So for many years the leaders preached salvation, how their followers could find everlasting life in a beautiful place without pain or sorrow. That sounded really appealing to those poor peasants, who worked through their hunger and pain until they died. Then the church became powerful and tortured and killed the unbelievers. The church became even more powerful. The church controlled the nations and the political leaders until no one dared to speak against them. The faithful were forced to brainwash their children to believe the Bible was true. And a child who is taught from early on that the Bible is true has a hard time realizing it isn't.

Children grow up and realize there isn't a Santa because on one plays the part any more. They may believe in Superman much longer but eventually when no one talks about him saving anyone, and no one sees him flying around, the child give up this fantasy as well.

But the Christian child is surrounded by people who keep the fantasy alive - at home, at church, and sometimes at school. By the time they reach adulthood, the fantasy becomes reality for them.

The concept of life after death cannot be proven or disproven. It has such a strong appeal that people are willing to overlook the obvious fact that the Bible is a fantasy book in the hope that it is really true. And who doesn't want love - even from an invisible sky-daddy. It may even give some people the ability to love themselves.

For early Christians, the Bible was a sci-fi thriller, a love story, a war story, bedtime tale, adventure story, astrology manual, and of course, full of lust and sex as well. It was the only book they had.

I suspect if Superman had promised a better, more sumptuous, afterlife and had bestowed glowing love on everyone he touched, that he may well have won the hearts and minds of those early goatherders instead. But his story would have had to have many more parts to it (the sex and the war parts especially).

If peple today would only stop and think for a minute they would see the earth the Bible talks about is not the earth we live on, so how could the God of that strange earth have any power over us? It's probably a stretch to call the Bible a comic book, but it certainly is a fiction book.

If Christians would study other ancient religions, they would find they are nearly identical to Christianity's stories. The story of Gilgamesh is very similar to Noah's flood. There are many God-men similar to Jesus - Horus, Krishna, etc. The halo around Jesus' and Mary's heads - is it a copy of the Egyptian headdress of Isis? Why are there so many statues and paintings in Europe that portray the Virgin Mary sitting or standing on a crescent moon (or venus) with 12 stars around her head? Could it be a reference to the astrological basis for the Jesus story? Are the 3 stars of Orion's belt really the basis of the 3 wise men, pointing to the east, where the star Sirius rises at the winter equinox (Dec 25), defeating darkenss and heralding the spring? (Remember Jesus called himself the bright and morning star). Remember the Egyptian pharoahs built the pyramids with shafts pointed toward the polar stars - the stars that never die - believing their soul could have everlasting life there as well.

There is much to research and learn about the underlying reasons for the Bible stories. It all becomes much clearer if a person does just some basic research into ancient religions and customs.

Answer 2

The same could be said as to why people read Harry Potter. Both are great works of fiction, one has just been around longer.

And the bible is based on fact, it is NOT fact by itself, but based on fact. It is a compilation of theories as to why things happened as they did. With no science to give the hard answers we now have, it was a way to calm the fears of the unenlightened.

Being passed down so many times it lost a lot in translation, but most of the "stories" at least had good moral teachings.

It is no different than the Greeks creating a system of gods for everyday mysteries to be explained. (ie chariot going across the sky to explain the sun).

Or the translation did not match th facts. Like the Red Sea and Moses. Moses did not part the Red Sea, but traveled through the area during a time of extremely dry conditions allowing the passage of him and his people to be made without incident. Weeks or months later when the Egyptians reached the same area, the Sea had filled in again from rains.
But instead of this the bible paints the picture of the Red Sea being parted down the middle. Just creative license by the translator or story teller.
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Answer 3

When I was young and stupid I thought I might use psychology in an attempt to relieve some of the guilt in true believers caused by ignorant preachers who preached hell-fire and brimstone causing gratuitous guilt amongst the flock. So I studied psychology and religion in an attempt to better understand both the dogma and the victim.

Unfortunately, for this early plan, and fortunately, for me, I became an agnostic while in college. It was not until later that I was honest enough to admit that I was really an atheist. I still remember much of the origins of the Big Three cults and much less about the various other religious cults.

So, ironically, I know much more real information about early Christianity than most preachers and almost any true believer you can locate. It’s ironic really and I have not read much religion in the last decades. The origins do not change except that scholars fine tune the information.

One example that really struck me was the habit of the original bible constructors to credit King David as being the author of the Psalms. You will remember the 23rd, as being most famous. This is important because a replica of a poem, translated from the Aramaic, two hunderd years before the supposed birth of David of the bible, hangs on the Anthropology section wall of the Denver Natural History Museum, written by an anonymous Baal poet …”Yeah though I walk through the valley of death, I will fear no evil…”

So biblical constructors had no difficulty plagiarizing the works of others, the “10 Commandments” and the earlier Code of Hammurabi is another example.

Anyway, that’s my excuse. I am most always astounded by how little true believers know about their religion, this is Jews, Moslems and Christians, et al.

Answer 4

In answer to your first paragraph, because I don't treat the first chapters of Genesis as a literal, factual account. It is poetic, symbolic, mythological language which contains a different sort of truth.

In answer to your second para, it is obvious that it is more than hearsay evidence. The Bible contains history and first person accounts which are as reliable as any historical text in the ancient world.

In asnwer to your third para, you're right, I wouldn't research into a comic book. But I would do research if I were trying to understand Shakespeare, or interpret a painting I had seen in an art gallery, or reading non-fiction. The fact that no research is needed to read a comic book says quite a bit about about the shallowness of comic book genre, doesn't it? And the average text in a whole comic book would barely fill 2 or 3 pages of the Bible.

And in response to your first question, it's worth studying the Bible because at the very least it contains great wisdom.

Answer 5

1- the bible might not be true, but it certainly has historical and social study value.

can you name be a better source than the writings of a people to reflect thier ideals and beliefs? It is a window into the minds of the people of the past, a book that records thier social norms, beliefs and customs. As such it is a historical doccument of great importance.

2- there are pieces of history which anthropologists can act upon in the bible that are legitimate.

while not every comic book is set in a fictional city, many are. reading superman might not give you an idea about how the fictional city of metropolis operated, but wouldn't reading spiderman or the x-men give you an idea about the current events of the time or the key aspects of new york city? All stories are based somewhere, usually that somewhere is an actual place so people can relate to it better. not some fictional world or city like metropolis, gotham or coast city.
Even metropolis, gotham and coast city are based on aspects of real and existing cities, they are just renamed. writers draw on what they know and are familiar with to tell stories so they seem more realistic. As such any historical doccument can be used in this fasion or at least investigated to see if there is a city there that might produce a valuable dig site.

an anthropologist doesn't have the option of discarding something just because part of it is ridiculous fantasy.

Answer 6

well now are you being truthful? perhaps as you see it but really it is not written that way. At least not to me. Let's start with the "talking snakes". It was the serpent, namely Satan or Lucifer which Eve was talking to. he is called the serpent not because he is a literal snake but because he is in a perpetual state of degradation. "lower than a snake's belly" is an expression which needs no explanation.

on to "intelligent fruit". You mean the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. that is yet another name for Satan. and his fruit will kill you. He is the father of lies as it states elsewhere. Eve partook and this was disobedience to God. not hard to understand really.

"invisible creatures" well maybe you mean the Holy Spirit of God. The Mind of God, being everywhere and anywhere He wishes to be. Again not so far fetched when described with respect.

That "sun that roams around a flat earth" remark is way off base and draws from (i think) an adherence by some believers to the "four corners of the earth" reference as evidence of a flat earth. Well now you and I can both recognize that the words "four corners of the earth" is an expression and not a declaration that the earth is flat.

Be fair to yourself by being fair minded about Scripture. You may decide its a great read after all. Once you become acquainted with the prerogatives of the Author.

Answer 7

I'm glad to hear you like it! It always makes me happy to hear how people find joy in learning about God's truths found in the Bible. The truth is that many people talk badly (and for the most part falsely) about our faith. Of course all religions fall victim to some sort of prejudice, but for some reason people prefer Witnesses. Anyways, you are currently experiencing the beginning of your relationship with Jehovah! Keep Him close in your heart and always confide in His Word. May Jehovah continue blessing you=) EDIT: People that have negative remarks about JW's: realize you don't necessarily get "thumbs downed" because we don't agree with you, it's because your approach is very untactful and rude. Just thought I'd mention that. Take care anyways!

Answer 8

Science has not answered many, many questions about our world, so it is good to be open minded.

Just because something doesn't make sense to you at a certain point in time doesn't make it untrue.

Just because things are not that way now doesn't mean they couldn't once have been that way.

I believe in critical study, not blanket swallowing of something people tell me is true, but I think that truth is relative to your situation.

Maybe that is the way that it seemed at the time to the people who wrote the stories down.

It is an interesting perspective on historical literature if nothing else.

Answer 9

Allot of people like yourself refuse to believe in anybody more intelligent that yourself. Science has discovered that at one time snakes did go around up right. Not to mention if a body is left undisturbed it will turned to dust even the bones. The fruit that you are talking about in it self is not intelligent. The tree of knowledge was what one got after eating from it. It was the tree of good and evil. There was also a tree of life there too. Adam and Eve was told not to eat from just the tree of knowledge. Yet they did what they was not supposed to. Just like you done when your parents told you not to do something you disobeyed them and did it anyway. Just think if they did not disobey God and did eat from the tree of knowledge. We all would be going around in our birthday suits and not think anything about it. But with that simple act we have had problems ever since. We have lost the intimate contact with God. But God has provided away for you to get it back and it is through Jesus Christ. With that simple act we must struggle through life and we have only a short time to do every thing. On top of that the earth was not flat then. But there was a dome of water around the earth. The reason I buy the stories in the Bible is because it is more possible that man descending from apes. There is no evidence of evolution what so ever yet allot of people are willing to buy in to that.

Answer 10

I read it as a historical document in school. However I didn't bother with what people normally think of when you say 'bible'.

I started off leaning ancient Greek which led me into some of the original documents which led me to learn Hebrew which led me into other biblical documents which led me to some of the Latin translations and learning Latin of course.

And then somewhat our of curiosity I read some of the more modern translations. When I say modern I mean the King James translations. Which led me to ask what documents were they reading because they didn't bear much resemblance to what I had read. Which led me to the conclusion that if you haven't read the original you don't know what is in the bible.

But my major was technical and not theology so it was more of a curiosity. However a friend of mine from Hebrew class wrote a paper he called "Where is the bible in the bible?"

There are actually many documents from the period that are not included in the bible. The stories you refer to are not so unusual for the period. People try to make sense of their environment with what they are familiar with and with the resources they have. Also what you begin to see particularly from the Hebrew texts is that it's what I would politely call "richly metaphoric".

The problem with metaphor is that it absolutely must be interpreted within the period that it was written. You absolutely can not remove it from its environment.

Example: When Britney Spears (sic) says "whoops I did it again" what does she mean? Of course we all know but only because it's contemporary. When someone 1600-2500 years from now reads that same statement what will they think she did? If they are like those who translated the KJ version of the bible they will translate it into their own period and frame of reference. Not just the words but the meaning itself will change. I just looked up the lyrics and just like most of the original documents the song would likely be wildly mistranslated.


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"Sorry,I agree with most of what you say,-- but I just can't see any way that the statement "God created heaven and earth" is metaphorical."

Ahhh big j. But is that what the original document says? Also if you're looking for a debate on the bible as a factual document you're pumping a dry well. I never said I was a theist. I only said I studied the language and documents which found their way into what people now call the bible.