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#2from the post: "If enough people say something, it must be true, right? No. Check everything, and dare to explore the inconvenient. Perhaps, some of the things you learn might surprise and impress you like they did me. Maybe they will not impress you much. You may be hard to impress and that is OK. Just do not mistake obtuseness for skepticism."
Insightful.
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#3Interesting to see the Bible viewed from someone with a Marxist / secularist upbringing. Growing up in the USA most people had a view of the Bible ranging from positive to unquestioning literalism.
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#4Many books are interesting and impressive. That doesn't make them divine.
After reading this post, I do wonder if the author has read the entire Bible. I haven't, but the parts that I have read ranged from mediocre to abysmal. The Pentateuch has some of the worst verses I have ever seen. Leviticus and Deuteronomy are rife with commands to kill people for trivial transgressions. And the Bible never speaks out against slavery. If this book is so holy and impressive, why is it wrong on the easiest moral issues?
Imagine what an actual divine book would look like. It would put every human work to shame. It would contain proof of its divineness by explaining things that 1st-century scribes couldn't possibly know. It would be so densely packed with information on math, physics, biology, and morality that today's greatest minds would study it to create new technologies. It would explain the germ theory of disease, formulas for antibiotics, and treatments for cancer, Alzheimer's, and heart disease. The book would be so incontestably divine that deniers would hold the same social standing as flat-earthers.
It would be so easy for a divine being to write such a book. Instead, we have a bunch of people squabbling over which millennia-old culture dump is authored by the creator of the universe. If that doesn't convince you of these books' human origins, I don't know what will.
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#5I think that the author is on the right track, but stops just short of an (possibly the) important conclusion. While it is true that the text of the Bible is relatively faithfully translated, discounting minor biases of the translator, many people have changed or popularized convenient interpretations of that same text. For example, I doubt that the Catholic church put a large amount of emphasis on the accusations against King David, especially compared to those that sided with the French Revolution. Of course, if we consider different sects, interpretations vary even more. In practice, every major movement in Europe likely had an interpretation of their own, including the Marxist secularist movement. After all, there's no need to be Christian to draw conclusions about the meaning of the text.
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#6Many books are interesting and impressive. That doesn't make them divine. After reading this post, I do wonder if the author has read the entire Bible. I haven't, but the parts that I have read ranged from mediocre to abysmal. The Pentateuch has some of the worst verses I have ever seen. Leviticus and Deuteronomy are rife with commands to kill people for trivial transgressions. And the Bible never speaks out against…
Hey friend, I am the author. I ended up reading every verse, and learning Greek and Hebrew on my binge of curiosity, and the Bible continues to impress me. I would say that something that you ask had actually happened, just not in exactly the same ways as you imagine. There are also some factual errors in your post. For example, the Bible has a lot to say about slavery and is directly connected to its abolition. If you're looking for easy introduction on that try Stefan Molyneux's video cast on youtube on this subject (he is an atheist).
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#7Many books are interesting and impressive. That doesn't make them divine. After reading this post, I do wonder if the author has read the entire Bible. I haven't, but the parts that I have read ranged from mediocre to abysmal. The Pentateuch has some of the worst verses I have ever seen. Leviticus and Deuteronomy are rife with commands to kill people for trivial transgressions. And the Bible never speaks out against…
I grew up in a mildly christian environment and read almost the whole bible. I never could get a message out of it that was consistent over all chapters. The Leviticus stuff is really difficult to square with other chapters. It seems everybody picks their favorite chapters and ignores others.
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#8Many books are interesting and impressive. That doesn't make them divine. After reading this post, I do wonder if the author has read the entire Bible. I haven't, but the parts that I have read ranged from mediocre to abysmal. The Pentateuch has some of the worst verses I have ever seen. Leviticus and Deuteronomy are rife with commands to kill people for trivial transgressions. And the Bible never speaks out against…
Hey friend, I am the author. I ended up reading every verse, and learning Greek and Hebrew on my binge of curiosity, and the Bible continues to impress me. I would say that something that you ask had actually happened, just not in exactly the same ways as you imagine. There are also some factual errors in your post. For example, the Bible has a lot to say about slavery and is directly connected to its abolition. If y…
Slavery was present in the US until 1860 or so, and I think the bible was around a little before that time. The Bible does not specifically condemn the practice of slavery. It gives instructions on how slaves should be treated (Deuteronomy 15:12-15; Ephesians 6:9; Colossians 4:1), but does not outlaw slavery. I would not assert that the Bible has any connection to its abolition.
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#9Many books are interesting and impressive. That doesn't make them divine. After reading this post, I do wonder if the author has read the entire Bible. I haven't, but the parts that I have read ranged from mediocre to abysmal. The Pentateuch has some of the worst verses I have ever seen. Leviticus and Deuteronomy are rife with commands to kill people for trivial transgressions. And the Bible never speaks out against…
> And the Bible never speaks out against slavery.
Most people, when speaking about slavery, are only aware of American slavery. Slavery in ancient times was generally a very different thing.
But yes, it does speak about what was American style slavery, which involved effectively kidnapping and forced slavery:
Leviticus 21:16 "Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper's possession."
Reading just bits and pieces of the bible doesn't give you the proper context to interpret properly.
As for what you think an actual divine would look like, what a divine book looks like depends heavily on what God's purpose was in writing it, which is evidently different than what you would have it be. But in many people's estimation, it does put every human work to shame.
As for explaining things that a 1st-century scribe couldn't possibly know, ummm, the Hebrew scriptures originated somewhere around 1400 B.C. or earlier depending on how you wish to count.
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#10Many books are interesting and impressive. That doesn't make them divine. After reading this post, I do wonder if the author has read the entire Bible. I haven't, but the parts that I have read ranged from mediocre to abysmal. The Pentateuch has some of the worst verses I have ever seen. Leviticus and Deuteronomy are rife with commands to kill people for trivial transgressions. And the Bible never speaks out against…
> And the Bible never speaks out against slavery. Most people, when speaking about slavery, are only aware of American slavery. Slavery in ancient times was generally a very different thing. But yes, it does speak about what was American style slavery, which involved effectively kidnapping and forced slavery: Leviticus 21:16 "Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is sti…
> Reading just bits and pieces of the bible doesn't give you the proper context to interpret properly.
Right, but if you read more you will be utterly confused and find conflicting views. Which is why most people only pick the parts that they agree with.