Why do people take the Bible so seriously?

Question

I believe that some of the Bible is God's words being a Christian myself but the bible was never written by God it was written by Man and at the time it was written it was said it was wrong to be gay or lesbian, etc and also men were meant to be superior to women and the chances of people putting in their own words to match their is very high and you can tell some Bible verses couldn't have possibly been the words of God as there's one that says, "A good wife is a silent wife" which is sexest towards women and then there's one that says everyones equal and them to verses go against each other so Man must have added his own meaning not everything the Bible says can be taken seriously. I bet all the verses that say being lesbian or gay is wrong were made up by Man and not by God and I think seen as Man wrote it, it had to have been corrupted in some way.
Do you agree with me?

Answer 1

As a fellow Christian, I have read the Bible, some parts of it many times over, sometimes the parts I read more than once had different meanings to me when I read them again. I can only say what I think.

When the Bible was written, and I do thoroughly believe it is God's word, man was far less developed and sophisticated than we are now. Man knew far less about the world and its creation than it does now, far less about science and the planets. I believe that although it is God's word, much of it is in parable form, thus making it easier to understand what God wants us to learn. Also, some bits would have had people at the time running for the hills screaming if God had revealed all about His creation to them, so I believe some things like that were also in parable form. I could be wrong.

Man has done much disservice to God in interpreting the Bible. God does not judge us on our sexuality, He loves us whether or not we are gay or straight. What He is very clear on, is that there is a price to pay for acting immorally, whether that be sexually imoral, murder, theft or anything else. If we commit a sin and remain truly unrepentant of that sin, we must pay a price, and Christians pay a higher price than non-christians, as we have chosen to follow Jesus and His teachings, so if we sin, we are making a choice.

Most of the Bible is based on or around the Jewish faith, the New Testament, after Jesus's death, although newly Christian, was still heavily influenced by the Jewish faith and its laws. Let us not forget, that Jesus himself was Jewish, and that his birth line can be traced all the way back to Adam. Directly all the way back. In synagogues, certainly back then and in stricter ones these days, men are both the leaders of the church and the home, their wives being silent means that wives should not get involved in fighting and shouting and bringing disrepute onto their husbands, in a way, although it does sound remarkably sexist, it was protecting women. God understood that a woman at that time, and still in places these days, would not have any power over her husband to prevent him from doing pretty much what she wanted, so although her husband was responsible for her, for keeping her, teaching her the law, cherishing her and honoring her, if he got involved in a dispute or spoke out against the synagogue, she was not responsible for this, but as long as she did not do these things. If she did, and her husband was a good man, she would bring disrepute on not just him, but his entire family. In many countries and faiths this still applies today.

In temples and synagogues and certainly the early church, women were meant to take instruction from their husbands about their faith and other such matters. God insisting that women were silent and did not argue with their husbands also protects women from finding themselves flung out for disobedience, in other words, she did not have to argue with him even if she knew what he was doind was wrong. That way, she was protected.

In the wedding vows we take in church today, the parts that men and women say are different, and now, as then, a husband is duty bound to care for and absolutely cherish his wife. She should be silent, she should honour him, but in turn he absolutely must not abuse this. Much of it does not fit for modern day relationships, and God knows that. The amazing thing is, that even when He wrote it, He knew that He would speak to whoever was reading it at whatever time and get that particular message accross, which is why it seems to contradict himself. Those words were written for each and every person who ever read them, it is just up to them whether or not they chose to hear Him. He knew when He wrote it, every thought and problem of every person who would ever read it. Because He knows everything. I cannot get my head around that.

He does not say that we should not be lesbian or gay, only that we should not conduct ourselves with sexual imorality. Basically, if you are gay, not a problem, God is love and if you genuinely love someone, He is pleased with that, but he calls us to live without sex unless we are married. These days, same sex partners can be married, He knew this would happen, maybe then it is okay by Him, I do not know.

Man has certainly corrupted the Bible's meaning over time, and much of it gets misquoted, even by the church. As a Christian, all you need to do is accept that Jesus is the living Son of the Living God and follow Him. That's it. The rest is for our personal gain, enjoyment, fulfillment, enhancement and benefit. We need worry about nothing, ever, because God takes care of our every need.

Answer 2

For someone to take the Bible 'literally' (not seriously) and for them to believe that is it 100% the word of God, well that would be very extreme indeed. Bordering on psychosis if they really believe that.

Lets face it and I'm going to upset quite a few people here, anyone who can read a book like the Bible and take it literally and believes in a divine being (who they can't see) that determines our fate and stands in judgement over us is lets face it a frikkin nutter.

I always thought talking out loud to someone who isn't in the room (I think some people call it praying) is the behaviour that most people would call psychotic and all we have to do is call that imaginary person God and society allows us to get away with it.

In fact we build buidlings where lots of like minded people go to talk to the imaginary being and not only talk to it, but sing to it. This I would call collective psychosis.

We also have other places that have been built where these people do actually belong and those are called assylums.

A sane person would recognise that the bible was written by imperfect men and would see value in some of it, but would also see other parts which make no sense whatsoever.

Sane people are selective and balanced. Insane people are extreme.

Sorry if my honesty offends some people, but I'm not speaking about those people who choose to call themselves Christian because they live by some of the values set down in the bible. (although I would question whether they need to lable themselves Christian as most religions hold the same values). I'm talking about the extremists. And the truth is that all extremists are lunatics.

Answer 3

People are serious about the Bible, because the Western World is conditioned to do so much like the Middle East is conditioned by environment to be passionate or should I say serious about the Koran.

I agree the Bible as well as other religious text were written as a guide books used as tools to pacify and often times control societies. Now you have two concepts in conflict; religion and spirituality. Difference between the two, one is man-made the other is natural.

Answer 4

People take the Bible seriously.... no they don't!
How many of you have seen an adulteress stoned to death recently?? How many widows have married their husbands brother? People take what they want out of the Bible and conveniently forget all the rest! The Bible says that a man must not lift the hem of another man's robe.. not a peep about women because women were property. Divorce and adultery? The worlds full of it, but its bad in the Bible! Lets be realistic here... it says whatever a person wants it to say. That does not mean it isn't valuable. Just that it is open to too much interpretation.

Answer 5

I think a lot of people look for some kind of meaning in life through religion. Depending where they grow up they choose one brand or another. No problem, if it helps them and they don't use it as a stick to beat up others with.
Some are less secure in their faith so cling to a more literal interpretation. They're afraid to question anything in case their whole belief system crumbles. Hence they take the written word very seriously as something tangible to hang on to.

Answer 6

The first part of the Bible was based on the ancient Torah writings of the Jewish people, which were passed down in oral tradition for centuries before being written down.

The second part of the Bible, in which Jesus' story is told, was written across a period of several centuries.

Most reasonable people, including many Christians, would agree that the possibility of occasional mis-translation and error does indeed exist.

For most Christian people, the essential redemption and salvation message of the Bible is more important than whether all the commas are in the right place.

But everyone is different!

Cheers :-)

Answer 7

"Why do people take the Bible so seriously?"

Because there are tens of millions of gullible people out there, who desperately want/need to believe there is a reason for "all of this". What they don't realize is that there IS a reason, but it doesn't originate from ANY religion, Christian or otherwise.

There is some fact in every work of fiction. And to me, the Bible (or "Buy-bull", as I call it) is basically a glorified "Aesop's Fables": a lot of very imaginative stories with great lessons in them, mixed in with some incredibly life-enriching teachings by a MORTAL prophet, and with perhaps a few other factually-based people and events thrown in for good measure.

Also, I don't believe that the Bible was ever MEANT to be taken anywhere near as seriously as it has been. People read it and swallow it whole-hog with no hesitation, without once questioning ANYTHING in its pages. Then again, I guess that's where the term "blind faith" comes from...

Answer 8

I am going to say this. In order to understand the Bible you will need a Concordance to define certain words because, it has to be translated into English understanding. You have part Hebrew, and Aramaic language. So some words does not mean the same in the English language, and that is where we misinterpret the meaning in the Bible. Strong's Concordance is a good Bible Dictionary to study from to understand words, and their meaning. Yes man wrote the words of the Bible but the words were inspired by God.

Like Job when he said, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Prime example. God didn't take any thing from Job, but his ignorance of what was going on he blamed God.
There are statements in the Bible truly stated, but not a true statement. That is why you will have to study to show yourself approve equally dividing the word for true statements, and statements not true, like Job situation. He truly stated it, but it was not a true statement. Either you allow the Devil to take things from you, or you give it up yourself by your way of thinking.

Answer 9

The Bible is the "inspired" Word of God...men did write it but they were "directed by God" what to write...not just whatever they felt like writing or could remember. It's not just any book that we can pick and choose what to believe is God's Word if we truly believe it was written by God through men. That is why it should be taken seriously and not altered in any way.

Answer 10

The bible we read today has been altered several times. The real meaning has been altered each time. It was originally supposed to be like a guide book for the masses, but that has been lost in the translations also. Now it has some really interesting stories but it totally inaccurate in very significant ways.