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ORIGINAL: MsMacComb

I think the overall message behind religious texts *can* be good. If one follows the train of thought of compassion, forgiveness, doing good, altruism. I also think its painfully obvious that the majority were written by men with their own best interests at heart. And sadly far to many people seem to want to pick and choose what they will follow and preach, and often its the more violent and self serving quotes.
To me one big issue I have is those that adopt it as direct quotes from God. The whole "only one, the true one etc". It really can warp an otherwise intelligent and logicial person wherein they no longer think for themselves but just take everything on "faith". Thats a cop out for so many people that they use to settle for second best their whole lives and/or to sell themselves short. Its "Gods will", etc.
Versions. There are so many versions, revisions, deletions, alterations, translations that the average lay person has no clue about. I do think it would be interesting to be allowed access to the acres of scrolls, text, writings etc that is burried in the Vatican vaults and basements purely from a curiosity standpoint. But of course these are heavily secreted deep within the bowels and will probably never see the light of day or the average person be allowed to view them.
With the exception of the whole afterlife thing (used to be the focal point but not so much anymore as its political) it can be summarized into about the same as the Golden Rule. Do unto others. That should be the template or guiding directive that is gleened from the Bible, Koran etc, but,,,, not really these days.

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ORIGINAL: meatcleaver

I don't claim to be an expert so I stand to be corrected. Much of the Bible (Old Testament) was wrtten in the 7th century BC and was a political tract taking stories from earlier times. Nebuchadnezzar exiled the prominent Jewish classes to Babylon, his seat and left the lower classes in Judah. When Cyrus, the Persian king conquered Mesopotamia, he allowed the Jews of Babylon to return to Jerusalem. This was when the Torah (the central text of Judaism) appears to have taken shape and apparently can be identified as written by one scribe or scholar, whose name defeats me. It is essentially a justification for the Jewish return to Jerusalem. Archeologists say that many of the places in the Old Testement only came into being in the later part of the 7th century so it is known that much of the Old Testement can't be older so the Bible is probably not as ancient as people think and the Iyliad and Odyessy are probably just as old and maybe older.

There are many anomalies in the Bible. One being the slavery of the Jews in Eygyt. No records have been found of Jewish slaves building pyramids or anything else in Egypt. In fact records exist as to how Eygptian craftsmen were employed to build the pyramids etc. in seasons outside seasonal agricultural work and in years of poor harvest, when the Egyptians bought extra grain from southern Europe to pay for craftsmen.

Such a long time since I read up on it I'll leave it there or risk being wrong in important details.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Kedikat
But do you identify as a christian? I sort of expect that christians who reply to this thread on this particular venue, might be more informed of, or at least, less constricted by biblical word. Or in some quandry of it.

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ORIGINAL: MsMacComb

quote:

ORIGINAL: Kedikat
But do you identify as a christian? I sort of expect that christians who reply to this thread on this particular venue, might be more informed of, or at least, less constricted by biblical word. Or in some quandry of it.

 

Not in the conventional sense, no. I was raised Methodist so have been exposed to it far more than I would like to recall. As in hammered by it through church, youth fellowship, bible studies, bible school, church camp, parents, relatives, etc.
Quandry may well be the operative word. Its all taken on faith, no fact. Its not presented otherwise although the followers endlessly search for anything that could be regarded as fact. It conflicts with the very core of human reproduction and desires. Thats a quandry for just about everyone, lol.

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ORIGINAL: Kedikat
It should have been continually edited. As it was at the times. Many writers from many times being collected. But sadly, cut off, and carved in stone as it were at some point. As the world continued onwards.

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ORIGINAL: meatcleaver

I was brought up in a moderate left leaning Christian family, religion wasn't a big deal but when I told my mother when I was around seventeen (when one starts to find ones own info I guess) that Christianity didn't add up she was shocked which surprised me.

I'm not a Christian now but whether one can totally shake off ones upbringing is another thing. I like to think I can but I'm probably being arrogant to think I can.

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ORIGINAL: indybbwsubbie

i stand proudly to say that i am a christian......as well as a submissive woman.  i find that there is not a contradiction in the two - but a wonderful melding and belonging of them as they function together.  i know who i am and that i desire to submit to ONE as the Word of God says.  i also show understanding and tolerance to those who do not follow or believe exactly as i do......and rejoice in the diversity that we all can possess in this lifestyle. 

i fought hard to throw off my "pseudo christian" religion and its beliefs - to grab hold onto the God and Jesus of the Bible.  And i am one wanting to open up others in the lifestyle that not all christians are "holier than thou" and want to expose and tear down ppl in the life - but to work and learn from each other - side by side.  Many christians do great disserrvice to those of us who simply want to live this life - and i am not one of them. 

Blessings to all....
subbie

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ORIGINAL: Kedikat

I did particularly note the comment " to grab hold onto the God and Jesus of the Bible". Particularly, the old testament God is pretty much a harsh hardline God. Jesus being so much more gentle and accepting/forgiving. It is a very conflicting situation. Even in the new testament. How do you reconscile the conflicts?

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ORIGINAL: nightphoenix

quote:

ORIGINAL: Kedikat

I did particularly note the comment " to grab hold onto the God and Jesus of the Bible". Particularly, the old testament God is pretty much a harsh hardline God. Jesus being so much more gentle and accepting/forgiving. It is a very conflicting situation. Even in the new testament. How do you reconscile the conflicts?

Actually there really is no conflict there if you have a real understanding of how the Old and New Covenants came about.  To give a whirlwind overview, in the Old Testament, there was no option of being "Saved"...God told Adam that if he ate the fruit, he'd die that day - and he did...and every one born since was spiritually dead, until Jesus was able to be brought into the world to fix that.  (To go into much more detail would takes hours more than I have the time for at the moment).

Really though, I grew up in a Christian background, but I didn't settle for just following along with what I was taught as a child, especially being such a rational thinker that a lot of conflicts in the Bible kind of jumped out at me....so I was very much the type to dig into it and figure this out myself, and what's funny is the more I dug, the more I saw that the Bible conflicts with itself very little if you actually understand what it's saying.

(One quick example, when King James translated the Old Testament, they didn't realize that there was a "Permissive tense" in Hebrew, so they translated a lot of lines to say "I will smite you" that were intended to say "I will have to allow you to be smited" etc). 

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ORIGINAL: pistachio

Actually...i could be wrong but i believe the bible just says the Hebrews were slaves in Egypt. i dont think it says anything about them building pyramids...you might be thinking about the old Charlton Heston movie, The Ten Commandments.

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ORIGINAL: indybbwsubbie

You said that You didn't want so much as a debate on it.  my feeling is that one should accept those comments for the validity on their own - and rejoice in all of our uniqueness.  While i don't necessarily believe as the pagans and wiccans agnostics and others so - i can stand for what i believe in without tearing down or questioning the intergrity of others' beliefs.  IMHO - that makes me the type of Christian that Jesus wants me to be - kind, and accepting - tolerant of others.  And from that standpoint - we can all learn from each other.